Around Kathmandhu

Slept in until 830- wahoo! then headed to Pumpernickel for breakfast. I ate TONS-- eggs, toast, croissant, fresh juice and coffee- great food and so cheap, less than $10!

We headed off to Shona's a shop where you can buy all kinds of trekking/ winter gear for cheap. Bought thermal underwear, fleece, jacket, socks and gloves -- I'm so not used to the cold now! We headed over to pay the balance of our trip to Bhutan, then hopped a cab to go see Pushupatti. Pushupatti is the 3rd holiest site for Hindus and a UNESCO World Heritage site. it was definitely a different experience. I was so shocked by how dirty the site was given that it's such a holy shrine. There's a river that runs through the site than empties into the Ganges, so this is where the funeral pyres are located. Here they're called 'gatz' (not sure of the spelling) and there are a series of stone slabs onto which the pyres are built. The gatz are all along 1 side and there's a bridge across the river between the series of gatz-es. The gatz on one side of the bridge used to be reserved just for the royal family and the other side of the bridge was for the regular folk. Nowadays people can use the pyres reserved for the royal family, but it's so costly that few can afford it.

We entered the site and crossed the bridge- we could see 2 bodies on pyres in the process of burning. The smell of burning flesh is something I'll not forget- it has a definite smell- one I can't quite define or put in to words.

We walked over the bridge and sat down across from the pyres while Chips explained the process- the bodies are washed, then covered in ghee and the fire is started in the cadavre's mouth. Once the body had burned, someone sifted through the ashes and anything that wasn't completely burned was then buried in the mud of the river. The then other ashes were simply swept off the gatz into the river. Sadly, the river was a mess with garbage, garlands and pieces of cloth. There were people in the river dredging it for goods I guess- I sure wouldn't want to be in there.

Up on the bridge and around the compound were sadhus- some kind of holy man. They had painted faces and in many cases, dreadlocks. Kinf of reminded me of hippies. Must admit, they freaked me out a bit. On the site lives the "Milk Baba"- a sadhu who supposedly only lives on milk, but he wasn't around that day. We then walked over across from the "royal site" and happened on a funeral ceremony and stopped to watch what they were doing. The body was wrapped up and laid on a kind of cot/stretcher on the stone walkway in front of a pyre. The family sat in front of the body, wailing and crying while friends comforted them. In one case, an older lady (presumably the wife or mother of the deceased man) had to be lifted up and carried away from the body when they went to begin preparations for the funeral pyre. After a time, the men took the body down to the river. They uncovered the feet and placed them in the river and then proceeded to wash the body. Once that was done, they covered the body in ghee, carried it over and placed it on one of the funeral pyres, then lit the pyre. At that point we opted to walk away as the smell of burning flesh became overpowering again. It was such a strong smell and there were only 2 or 3 bodies being cremated at that time- I can't imagine how strong the smell would be if there were many being cremated at the same time.

We walked up to the top of Pashupatti, grabbed a cab and headed to Bhoda, another UNESCO World Heritage site (& another Hindu site- or was it Buddhist? Can't recall now). When you enter the gates, you must walk around the square in clockwise fashion... not sure why, but that's how it's done. We walked around, then went into the site. When I walked up top, I was struck by how many prayer flags all strung up, then I was struck by the view- a 360 view of the square, nice.

We circled around, then went to a rooftop restaurant and had coffee as we watched the crowds and the sun set over Kathmandu. When it started to get cold, we headed back to Thamel so we could go shopping for our Christmas exchange gifts- then off to dinner at the Third Eye. Kathmandu has electricity issues, so lode shedding is common. Part way through dinner, BOOM! Power out. The restaurant went on back up generator so the people in the place could finish dinner, but they pretty much shut down after that and we ended up leaving around 10 to go back to the guesthouse. Tomorrow it is off to Bhutan!