On Monday, 8th Dec. 2008, we all hostel children went to visit Kathmandu but Rita Ramtel, one of my hostel sister student didn?t come with us to visit Kathmandu because she had a fever and cold on that day. So we 14 children with our teachers went to see many places in Kathmandu.
Kathmandu is the capital city of Nepal and it is very famous for temples as well. First we went to Sywambhu temple which is also known as Monkey Temple. It is one of oldest Buddhist Stupa?s in Nepal. It is enlisted in UNESCO world heritage site.
In Monkey Temple, there are lots of monkeys living around the temple and in jungle.
Before we stepped in the temple area, through the main entrance gate, there are 365 steps (see photo), which we need to climb up to get temple. People believe that if someone walked up those stairs, he or she gets the purity from the sin which he or she had done in before unknowingly. It was my first visit to monkey temple but some of my friends already had been there. It was very nice and big stupa which surrounded by many small Buddhist temples.
Monkey temple lies on the top hill area. So we saw the beautiful view of Kathmandu valley from there. We took many photos of temples and our selves. There were many Nepali and foreigners visiting that time. Some people praying and offering to Buddha as well.
After Monkey temple, we went to Pashupati Nath Temple which is oldest Hindu temple in Nepal. In Pashupati Nath temple, only Hindu people can go inside the temple area. So Ian sir didn?t come inside the pashupati nath temple. He was staying and waiting outside the temple.
Pashupati nath temple also enlisted in UNESCO heritage site. Beside the Pashupati nath temple, there is a river named Bagamati. There are also cemeteries separated for normal and important Nepali people.
Lots of monkeys are moving, climbing and walking around in Pashupati nath temple. It has golden roof with golden pinnacles on the top. There are four doors in each direction but one main door is made of Gold and rest are silver. There is a huge statue of an ox, just in front of temple. There are also many small Hindu temple surrounding the Pashupati nath area. There are many statues of lord Shiva, known as Mahadev (the god of god).
After Pashupati nath temple, we went to another Buddhist stupa which called Boudha. It is very similar to monkey temple but there is no monkey in Boudha stupa. It is also enlisted in UNESCO world heritage site.
Many Tibetan people are living in Boudha area. It is also a very big stupa. We climbed up to the stupa there and walked around the stupa. We took many photos at Boudha stupa. Our teachers also took photos. There were many Tibetan monks taking round to stupa with chanting ?OM MANE PEME OM?..
We went to see Thanka painting as well. there are many shops for foreigner people. Our Ian sir also bought one nice Thanka Painting for his brother. After Boudha we drove to Durbar Marg ( king?s way). We stopped there and had cakes and Ice- creams in a shop at Durbar Marg. It was about 7 pm in the evening, so we came back to the hostel. it was really fun and nice visit to Kathmandu since many of us just had once yet.
