Dienstag, 13. November 2007
First Day in Nepal
ariella, 19:05h
Namaste from Kathmandu!
11 hours of sleep after a long flight with almost no rest helped me a great deal to recover from the fatigue I had in me yesterday right after touching ground in Nepal. I woke up in a hotelroom filled with soft sunlight and when I moved my blankets away the temperature felt almost like a nice late spring of early summer day in Germany. The weather here is really a treat, at least so far, while staying in the Kathmandu valley.
My father and I had breakfast in one of my favourite restaurants and afterwards we took off for our first tour around the area. My dad's old friend's sun, Mingma (who is a Buddhist monk in a nearby monestary) and his younger sister Pemba accompanied us in the taxi. At first we went to Changu Narayen, a very old temple in honour of Lord Vishnu. To my surprise there were almost no tourists there, the whole area was amazinglz quiet. The courtyard around the temple is filled with statues of Lord Vishnu, depicting him in all his different aspects, sometimes as Simha Narayana (the Lion-headed), sometimes with his lover Lakshmi, sometimes with Garuda, the winged Bird-man, serving as his vehicle. Such an abundance of ancient symbols and history. And so little attention on those sights.
Afterwards we went on to the old King's town Bhaktapur, which translates as "the devotees city". This is one of the most beautiful and appealing cities I have seen in Nepal. Of course tourism is main source of income there and therefore the city is well-kept.
What really moved my heart is the fact that around the city at 8 different surrounding corners there are 8 statues of Mother Goddess, Ashta Matrika, to protect the city. Isnt that a wonderful symbology? It reminds me immediately of the symbology of the heart and I think this idea could be transferred into a future community or ashram project.
I really enjoyed my first day back in Nepal. It feels so familiar to be back here again. Some people in the neighbourhood of our hotel still rememer me and it is nice to have some small talk with them. I eevn got a little "welcome gift" from the government: due to the fact that I have already been here once this year, they did not charge me the usual 30 USD for the visa. I could enter for free...!
This might be a repetition for the German readers but I also want to let the Americans know that the planned elections have been cancelled and postponed to a yet unknown point in time. This gave me a great deal of relief. On the other hand that does not mean that that any of the political issues are solved yet. The Maoists try to convince the other parties to abandon the king just like that without any elections.
Tomorrow we will take off for the high mountains, then it wont be so easy to access the internet. It will be much much colder there, especially in the mornings and at night.
As soon as I can, I will tell you all how things are going. I miss you all, my dear friends, whereever you are. Please receive my love this way.
Namaste!
11 hours of sleep after a long flight with almost no rest helped me a great deal to recover from the fatigue I had in me yesterday right after touching ground in Nepal. I woke up in a hotelroom filled with soft sunlight and when I moved my blankets away the temperature felt almost like a nice late spring of early summer day in Germany. The weather here is really a treat, at least so far, while staying in the Kathmandu valley.
My father and I had breakfast in one of my favourite restaurants and afterwards we took off for our first tour around the area. My dad's old friend's sun, Mingma (who is a Buddhist monk in a nearby monestary) and his younger sister Pemba accompanied us in the taxi. At first we went to Changu Narayen, a very old temple in honour of Lord Vishnu. To my surprise there were almost no tourists there, the whole area was amazinglz quiet. The courtyard around the temple is filled with statues of Lord Vishnu, depicting him in all his different aspects, sometimes as Simha Narayana (the Lion-headed), sometimes with his lover Lakshmi, sometimes with Garuda, the winged Bird-man, serving as his vehicle. Such an abundance of ancient symbols and history. And so little attention on those sights.
Afterwards we went on to the old King's town Bhaktapur, which translates as "the devotees city". This is one of the most beautiful and appealing cities I have seen in Nepal. Of course tourism is main source of income there and therefore the city is well-kept.
What really moved my heart is the fact that around the city at 8 different surrounding corners there are 8 statues of Mother Goddess, Ashta Matrika, to protect the city. Isnt that a wonderful symbology? It reminds me immediately of the symbology of the heart and I think this idea could be transferred into a future community or ashram project.
I really enjoyed my first day back in Nepal. It feels so familiar to be back here again. Some people in the neighbourhood of our hotel still rememer me and it is nice to have some small talk with them. I eevn got a little "welcome gift" from the government: due to the fact that I have already been here once this year, they did not charge me the usual 30 USD for the visa. I could enter for free...!
This might be a repetition for the German readers but I also want to let the Americans know that the planned elections have been cancelled and postponed to a yet unknown point in time. This gave me a great deal of relief. On the other hand that does not mean that that any of the political issues are solved yet. The Maoists try to convince the other parties to abandon the king just like that without any elections.
Tomorrow we will take off for the high mountains, then it wont be so easy to access the internet. It will be much much colder there, especially in the mornings and at night.
As soon as I can, I will tell you all how things are going. I miss you all, my dear friends, whereever you are. Please receive my love this way.
Namaste!
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