We awoke to find our hillside and whole valley below completely enshrouded in thick fog. This started to lift after breakfast and by the time we were back on the road there was a good deal of blue sky although the air was still quite chilly.
Early morning view from our room at Himalaya Drishya Resort
We headed back through the centre of Dhulikhel and were reminded by Om that this city was a significant trading post in the post 17th century as its position provided a convenient cross-road and staging post for Indian traders from the west and Bhutanese from the east with the Himalayan road leading north to the mountain passes into Tibet and China.
From Dhulikhel we drove towards Banepa and then southwards for half an hour to the town of Panauti which is at the confluence of the Pangumati and Rossi rivers.
Panauti
Our first stop was at the 17th century Brahmayani Temple which is adorned with intricate wooden carvings that have retained fine details even after three hundred years or more.
17th century Brahmayani Temple
Brahmayani Temple
Inside Brahmayani Temple
We then crossed over the very muddy and littered river to one of the only two known pre-Malla structures, namely the Indreshwar Mahadev Temple.
Pangumati River
This temple is famous for its 13th century exquisite woodcarvings especially the ornate roof struts. This important temple was severely damaged by the 1988 earthquake and has been recently restored with French assistance.
Indreshwar Mahadev Temple, Panauti
At the end of the temple square is a museum displaying an impressive selection of Hindu artefacts recovered from temples within the local region over the last seven centuries.
16th Century wooden hand artefact in Panauti Museum
Mask artefact in Panauti Museum
On our walk back to the bus station we passed through back streets where local people were busy and small shops offering goods for sale with garlic and spring onions being prominently displayed. Some men were photographed playing a card game that appeared to be a variation between poker and rummy.
Garlic drying on the street
Men playing cards
Once back on the bus we drove back up to Banepa observing potato harvesting occurring in the adjacent ‘paddy’ fields. At Banepa we took the minor side road via Nala so as to avoid the roadworks occurring on the main ‘highway’. This led us to our principal destination for the day, that being Bhaktapur.
Bhaktapur is referred to as the cultural capital of Nepal with a history extending back to the early 8th century. It was the Nepalese capital until around the 1600s and is now preserved as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
We first visited Durbar Square being the central part of the medieval city.
Durbar Square, Bhaktapur
The square offers a visual feast of pagodas, towers, monuments and elaborate buildings.
The Bupathindra Malla statue faces the ‘Sun Dhoka’ or Golden Gate appropriately regarded as an artistic masterpiece. This gate leads into the Royal Palace with its famous 55 windows.
Bupathindra Malla statue
Golden Gate
We walked through the Sun Dhoka into the religious and ritual courtyards and eventually came to the Sundari Chowk or ‘Golden Fountain’, the ritual bathing courtyard of the king.
Golden Fountain, Bhaktapur,
After a lunch break we walked around to the Taumadi Tol (square) which contains two great mystical temples both of which have been restored quite recently.
The Nyatapola Mandi is Nepal’s tallest Hindu temple standing 30m with a total of five storeys entailing elaborately carved timbers with the storeys diminishing in size successively upwards. It is regarded as the best example of engineering and architectural design for multi-roofed temples with it being balanced on five receding rectangular plinths. The steep central stairway is flanked by huge stone guardians each one being ten times stronger than the one on the plinth below!
Temple
Nyatapola Mandi Temple, Bhaktapur,
Our group at Bhaktapur
In the square there were two vast and elegantly decorated wooden wagons that are used in ceremonial processions and we’re told also participate in a ‘tug of war contest.
Wooden wagon, Bhaktapur
We finished our Bhaktapur visit by going to the pottery square where as it was Saturday, the local potters were not at work. We then visited the visual arts training centre and had a most informative talk on the Nepalese fine art work called ‘Thangka’. This skill requires artists to paint intricate circular patterns on woven cotton with the designs usually being incredibly detailed. Some of these Thangkas are ‘painted’ not with oil paints but with coloured sand.
‘Thangka’
We returned to our bus and Om then drove us back to our hotel in Kathmandu.
We are to spend the next three nights staying at the recently opened Hilton.
Tomorrow we’ll spend much of the day exploring more of the wonders of Nepal in and around Kathmandu.