Where We Be
| Talk about a room with a view! |
| We had a bird's-eye view of the plaza and temples at Taumadhi Tole from our hotel's rooftop restaurant |
| The teensy-tiny statue of Bhairab sits in the small gold shrine centered between two lion statues (inside the black circle) |
| Nepal's double triangular flag is the only national flag that's not rectangular |
| We spent hours people-watching on Taumadhi Tole and not once did we see a Nepali man and woman holding hands or touching in any way. But as you can see, it's perfectly acceptable for two men or two women to hold hands or show affection. |
| Here is fearsome Bhairab, all of 15 cm high, cradling a cheese ball as big as his head! His face has been rubbed completely smooth by devotees. |
| Robin peers out the window of our room at Sunny Guest House |
| Enjoying some downtime on the rooftop restaurant |
| Nyatapola Temple is the tallest in all of Nepal -- five stories high plus the five-story plinth it stands on |
| Bhaktapur’s Durbar Square is 5 minutes from Taumadhi Tole. It has a wide-open feel compared to Kathmandu's or Patan's because many of its temples collapsed during the big 1934 earthquake and were never rebuilt. |
| At the southeast corner of Durbar Square is the beautiful Siddhi Lakshmi Temple. Statues of female attendants, horses, rhinos, lions, and camels flank the stairs. |
| Don't worry, he's friendly! |
| Even within the city limits of Bhaktapur we saw tarps spread out and covered with golden grain |
| This is the Peacock Window, the most famous window in all of Nepal. It has been replicated thousands of times in woodworking shops around town. It's located down an alley near Bhaktapur's third major square, Tachapol Tole. |
| This artisan is working on a thangka painting, an incredibly detailed Buddhist painting on cloth |
| Robin's very happy with our new surroundings! |
| This power schedule was posted on the wall of our hotel. Electricity must be shared so there are ~12 hours of scheduled power outages each day. |
| Our "Room With a View" only cost us 1100 rupees per night (~$16 US) |
| Casually stacked against the north wall of the Bhairab temple are the enormous wooden wheels and runners from the chariot used to haul the image of Bhairab around town during the Bisket Jatra Festival in mid-April |
| We saw lots of people threshing grain by hand by pounding it repeatedly against a hard rock surface |
| Pairs of statues bracket the steep stairs at Nyatapola Temple on Taumadhi Tole |
| Sunny Guest House is just across the street from the three-tiered Bhairab temple |
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| Bhaktapur, Nepal |
Bhaktapur is the third and best-preserved of
the three great medieval temple towns of the
Kathmandu Valley. There are temples galore
here, and cobblestone streets that are
pedestrian-only (though not all motorcyclists
seem to have gotten the memo). We stayed in a
second floor room at Sunny Guest House on
Taumadhi Tole, one of three main squares in
Bhaktapur. Our window view of the plaza was
dominated by a beautiful three-story temple
(left) complete with bells hanging from the
eaves that jangled whenever the wind blew.
The temple is dedicated to Bhairab, the most
bloodthirsty of the gods, but amusingly his
statue out front is only 15 cm high. We watched
as a girl placed an offering the size of a cheese
ball in Bhairab's arms that was as big as his
head! The girl rang the bell to let Bhairab know
it was there, not that he could have missed it.
The only downside of a great location across
from an important temple is hearing the bell
getting rung every time an offering is made.
This can occasionally be a nuisance since local
farmers start ringing the bell as early as 4 am.
the three great medieval temple towns of the
Kathmandu Valley. There are temples galore
here, and cobblestone streets that are
pedestrian-only (though not all motorcyclists
seem to have gotten the memo). We stayed in a
second floor room at Sunny Guest House on
Taumadhi Tole, one of three main squares in
Bhaktapur. Our window view of the plaza was
dominated by a beautiful three-story temple
(left) complete with bells hanging from the
eaves that jangled whenever the wind blew.
The temple is dedicated to Bhairab, the most
bloodthirsty of the gods, but amusingly his
statue out front is only 15 cm high. We watched
as a girl placed an offering the size of a cheese
ball in Bhairab's arms that was as big as his
head! The girl rang the bell to let Bhairab know
it was there, not that he could have missed it.
The only downside of a great location across
from an important temple is hearing the bell
getting rung every time an offering is made.
This can occasionally be a nuisance since local
farmers start ringing the bell as early as 4 am.
| Close-up of Durbar Square in Bhaktapur -- what a lovely spot! |
| Zooming in on the statue atop the pillar |
| Bhaktapur is overflowing with fine art at every turn |
