Kathmandu Temples part two

Bouddhanath Stupa
Bouddhanath is one of Nepal's most holy sites for Buddhists.

Ok, I'm on a roll as far as my posting goes so I'm going to try and continue the trend.

On election day in the US, November 5th, 2008 in Kathmandu, we were scheduled to fly to Lukla to begin our trek. We got up before the sun and were at the airport by around 6am, only to hear the news that weather had delayed all flights in and out of Lukla. Of course we were extremely bummed to hear this. Our group hung out in the airport for several hours before we found out that all flights for the day were cancelled.

Once we got over the bad news of the cancelled flight, we journeyed back out to Kathmandu to check out some more of our surroundings.

Bouddhanath is one of the oldest stupas in the country (A stupa, often dome-shaped, is a monumental pile of earth or other materials in memory of Buddha or a Buddhist saint and commemorates an event or marks a sacred spot).

With a diameter of about 100m and a height of 40m, Bouddhanath is among the largest stupas in the world. The Bouddhanath stupa covers a vast area that has a circumbulatory path at the bottom and another path made of three-tier plinth. This stupa features pinnacles as well as 108 Buddhist Gods and Goddesses. One of the most attractive parts of the Stupa is the all-seeing eyes of the Buddha painted with red, white and blue.

It is believed that King Manadeva built the Bouddhanath stupa during the Lichavi period. It has been renovated time and again and the present form of stupa was renovated in the 17th century.After 1959, many Tibetans came and have settled in Bouddhanath area.

The most popular festival celebrated here is the Tibetan New Year festival Lhosar that falls in February. The festival starts with prayers and worship. Thousands, of Tibetans dress traditionally and dance after lighting incense to Buddha. Lots of Tibetans come from Laddakh, Sikkim, Bhutan as well as other parts of the hills to celebrate this festival.

Shortly after arriving at Bouddhanath, we heard the news that Barack Obama was declared the winner in the election. At one of the cafes surrounding Bouddhanath, Americans and Europeans along with Tibetans and Nepalis, gather to watch President Elect Obama give his acceptance speech. The experience of watching this and hearing the news from Kathmandu is one I'll never forget. It was so drastically different from sitting at home watching it all play out on CNN.

(NOTE: This photo has been altered. In this frame, the image on the television was obscured, so I took another one, from the previous frame and pasted it to this one)

Prayer wheels surrounding the stupa.

This woman, walking near the stupa, asked our group to buy milk for her daughter. Danika, one of our guides, kindly purchased the milk. The woman seemed elated.

Shops surround the stupa. Cows are everywhere in Nepal.
I love this picture!

Now it's time for the TREK!! Stay tuned. Jill