Swayambhunath (Monkey Temple) and The Natural History Museum?!

30 September 2010

Today we walked over to Swayambhunath, about 30 min stroll through the outskirts, to check out; firstly the monkeys, secondly the temple!

One of many Buddahs around the temple

The temple is set high up on a mound that stands well above the rest of Kathmandu, which according to legend spontaneously rose up to from what used to be a lake. 

This is just part of the MANY MANY steps upto the temple...

Since the Stupa sits high up on the hill, a fairly steep climb has be made first. I didn't count the number of steps but the picture above shows about the last third, enough steps to get both of us fairly sweaty!

A view out over Kathmandu - massive low rise city

Once at the top the view was superb, luckily we had picked a very clear day (by Kathmandu standards - you can still see the air pollution) so could see to the hills in all directions. At the top looking out we got a good sense of how massive Kathmandu is. 

Swayambhunath Stupa

The eyes on the Stupa are those of the Buddah, the squiggle that looks like a nose is in fact the Nepali number ek meaning 'one'. The whole temple area is a maze of religious statues, smaller temples and tourist shops selling the usual tat - paintings, singing bowls, prayer flags, etc. 

A very amusing baby monkey that entertained us with its highjinks on the railings

We were disappointed with the lack of monkeys at the top of the hill, so wandered back down the stairs to where we saw one on the way up. We found not one but about eight monkeys all variously playing and eating, including this little one /\! He (she?) had a great game of running and jumping onto the bottom railing, invariably missing and swinging under it, and then climibing up onto the top railing with about the same success rate as the bottom one. We sat watching them for ages, all the while keeping a close eye on the painting I bought since monkeys will steal anything that rustles. 

Saw these two a bit further down and was amused when the groomee looked straight down the lens!

You scratch my back...

Just around the corner from Swayambhunath is the so called Natural History Museum. Since we had time to spare we decided to go and check it out. We weren't disappointed!

The Natural History Museum / Wierd Taxidermy!

The museum was rather more a collection of the wierd and wonderful, all in formaldehyde. Some of the star attractions included an eight legged goat, a four legged chick, the skin of a 21 foot snake and various embryos; rhino, elephant and even a human one! All in all very odd, but quite interesting. Just out of view is a pile of bones that they had collected from Chitwan of an elephant - including its massive skull. 

Roadworks - Nepal style (notice the traffic that is waiting - that drive all over the new tarmac as soon as the orange 

jackets are gone!)

Not an intended tourist attraction - the roadworks in Thamel did amuse people. Rather than closing the road and doing the job properly, the work party wandered along, filled any hole they saw fit and then let the cars drive all over the brand new tarmac, before even the steam rolled had come along to compact it down. The result was bitumen strewn over most of the roads in Thamel. Nice one guys!