A short affair with Nepal

My very fresh relationship with Dhaka was on a tiny break due to a five days intensive affair with Kathmandu. Once again, I was lucky enough to be able follow my husband to a seminar (don’t worry, I pay my own travel).


Nepal is still recovering from the earthquakes that killed more than 9 000 people earlier this year. Entire villages were flattened but the damages in Kathmandu were less severe.





But in the historic town of Bhaktapur only ten kilometers from Kathmandu the earthquake damaged hundreds of houses and distroyed a vast number of heritages.







The reconstruction seems to proceed very slowly, many people still live in temporary shelters.






Bhaktapur is an area full of temples, narrow streets and historic sites where people also live their everyday life.












Leaving Dhaka meant also a temporary change of religion from islam in Bangladesh to hinduism in Nepal.

Hinduism was very visible in the streets with small temples and cows wandering freely, monkeys hanging around the holy places and dogs everywhere. 

The other holy animals - snakes, tigers and elephants - were present in pictures and sculptures.


One of the strangest experiences was to see open air cremations at the Bagmati river, a Hindu tradition.



Family and relatives of the deceased carried a strecher with the body on it. The body was covered with a cloth. The family members dipped the body three times in the river and then discreetly undressed the body. They threw the clothes in the river where they were soon picked up by young men who sell the pieces.
The body was then taken to the cremation place, a row of funeral pyres by the river.
Our guide told that the chief mourner is the eldest son who also lights the pyre and guards the fire. The body has to burn several hours.



There was one funeral after the other, closely followed by the public on the opposite side of the river. The audience consisted of locals, tourists and monkeys.

Our visit coincided with a historic event: Nepal adopted its first democratic constitution, after more than 65 years fight to create a modern state. There have been many and violent protests against the constitution but on Monday it was time for celebration in Kathmandu. 



I just happened to walk in the middle of the celebrations and enjoyed the show.



The day after there were rumours of unrest and possible shortage of gas. Consequently, there were very long lines of motorbikes and cars to gas stations. Which also might have lead to shortage of gas.