Leaving #Bhutan

9th October 2011
We were up at 4:00 this morning, had a quick breakfast then headed off to the airport for the 7:00am flight.
Even though you are heading home, It is always sad to leave a country and the guides you have got to know. However on the drive to the airport Singey , putting it into Buddhist philosophy terms said, everything is impermanent all things end. It was good to think of it in that way, so we said our goodbyes to the guides and drivers and headed into the airport. Once in the departure lounge things were not so impermanent, we had a three hour delay.
I don't want to mention what nationality she was, but sitting behind me on the plane was a very loud lady who gave two great quotes during the flight. She must have been on a whistle stop tour of the region, her first quote was "I have only been in Bhutan for three days but I saw it all". At the same time she mentioned that she did not climb up to the Tiger's Nest, but she was driven down the valley to take a look at it. Next quote followed the pilots announcement that for those sitting on the right of the plane we were passing Mount Everest, "Once you have seen one mountain you have seen them all". And the say travel broadens the mind!
After the short flight we were back in Kathmandu. The entire population of the country of Bhutan is 750,000, Kathmandu city population is 3,000,000. Having being in the quiet of Bhutan, Kathmandu is an assault on all the sensors.
After checking into our hotel we went on a city tour, all of these places I had visited in 2007, but it was nice to see some of them again. First we went to Durbar Square and the Kumari Gahr, home of the living goddess, Kumari Devi. Next on the list was the 40m high stupa of Bodnath. The stupa has the all seeing eyes of the Buddha looking out in each direction. In Kathmandu terms, Bodnath is quiet place, although there are shops and lots of people the lack of traffic helps to make it a calmer place.
After the stupa we went to the Temple of Pashupatinath. You don't really see much of the temple since it is on the other side of the river and tourists are not allowed on that side. What you do see can be quite disturbing, this area is also one of the city's most important cremation area. The cremations are carried out in the open on the ghats, these are steps leading down to the river.
There were a number of cremations taking place at the time of our visit. Just passed the bridge over the river there where also a number of wrapped bodies awaiting cremation, the feet of the bodies are washed in the river. I can't remember seeing this part of the ceremony last time I was here. It's a little bit like watching a train crash, you want to look away but at the same time you are curious of what is going to happen.
Tomorrow most of the group are going to take a trip to Bhaktapur. I have been there before so I'm going to head off on my own to Swayamburnath, also known as the Monkey Temple. I missed this site last time around.

Phil