Katmandu living

We have been pretty busy since arriving to Kathmandu and the last couple of weeks I have been busy getting my CV out to NGOs and the UN in search of work. However, today I decided to take a break and explore Kathmandu a bit. So I drove the 10 km or so through Kathmandu to get to the Pashutpatinath temple complex. This is one of the holiest sites for Hindus, not just from Nepal but also from the rest of the world. Some of the temples are only accessible for Hindus but there is still plenty to see. On the picture above, a Nepali wedding couple is emerging from the most important temple.



Pashupatinath is one of the most important cremation grounds in Kathmandu.When I was there there was four fires going. There is a whole hiracy to where you get cremated. This photo is of the expensive side of the bridge where a cremation cost 6000 Rupees (around 80 dollars) and up, so this is for the richer part of the population. On the other side of the bridge there is a platform that is only used for high ranking military people, a platform specially for the Dalits (the Nepali version of untouchables) and a platform for Bramins (the priest caste)




This platform is only used by the royal family - Now that Nepal no longer has a royal family it is not clear who will use these platforms - the white building behind is a hospis.

However, you do not only go to the temple complex to get cremated. On the top of the hill on the other side of the river there are a number of temples that is dedicated to fertility where you newly weds go to prey for many health children.

From the top of the the hill you can see the whole temple complex with the small fertility temples in the forground and the big shiva temple on the right hand side
On my trip home I came past our local cremation ground in Patan - However, as it can be seen on the photo there was not as much action as there was on the Kathmandu side.