Himalayan Honeymoon: Thursday, February 9

We had hotel breakfast, which was the same as yesterday except we had a funfetti half-muffin instead of a slice of cake. The server was a little creepy. We left for our temple and monastery car tour at 10 a.m. Our first stop was Patan Durbar Square. The museum was very nice, but like Kathmandu Durbar Square, it was kind of depressing, partially because of the earthquake, and partially because of the general surroundings.

It’s weird that most places when you go to the very touristy parts and pay to get into an attraction/exhibit, it’s very annoying. But in Kathmandu, that’s the only way to get any peace and decency. Hindu theology is completely baffling to me. Driving in Kathmandu is completely batshit. A list of things we saw in traffic today: a 7-year-old girl barfing out the window of a van, head clean out the window, vomit streaming down the door of the van; a 5-inch asscrack pressed against the side window of a van. 10-passenger compact vans are used as buses, and they probably have 15-20 people in them most of the time. Several bicycles are carrying rebar and 10-foot sections of PVC pipe. Next stop was Pashupatinath, which is probably the most depressing thing I’ve ever seen. It was like a county fairgrounds with beautiful historic 400-year-old Hindu temples wherein one or more bombs were dropped, the remains were left setting wherever they laid, and the survivors were left in place with their missing limbs. Lining the main pathways were never-ending rows of cheap items in booths, with child beggars thrown in for sport. And it’s a World Heritage Site. No signage, and what there was was in Nepali. Motorcycles were whizzing past, and grifters at every turn. We went to the Boudha Stupa (Boudhanath) next, which after I avoided stepping on a man passed out in the street and got into the World Heritage Site, was pretty excellent. It was the best 250 Ru we spent all day. It was peaceful, and there was a ring of 3-story buildings surrounding the stupa that gave it a protected feel, especially compared to the chaos outside.

We decided to take a break from authenticity and had lunch at the Roadhouse Café. We split a ham & pineapple pizza and goat cheese salad. Molly had a lemonade with mint.

It really hit the spot overall. It feels good to get a little taste of normalcy sometimes. The Buddhist temple was beautiful and quiet. We drove on the ring road for a while to get to Shyambunath Temple, or the Monkey Temple. It lived up to its name, and in addition to monkeys, there were dogs, a cat, a calf, and chickens. Molly got a pic of the calf with two monkeys fucking in the background. It was super smoggy/hazy today, but the views of Kathmandu from the top were still pretty great.

The stupa at the top was fantastic, and the outbuildings had sustained a lot of earthquake damage. There were women carrying rubble in back-baskets down the steps. There were lots of child beggars, including one who was quite persistent. We survived a day on the roads of Kathmandu, which has to be counted as a victory. We walked a couple of blocks to Maya Cocktails for dinner and drinks. Molly had nachos and guacamole, and I had veggie fajitas. Molly had a pina colada and I had a margarita, and then we both had a zombie. It was a totally pleasant experience. We stopped at Best Food Market on the way home and got some beer (Kathmandu and Everest) and some Happy Happy cookies. We watched Back to the Future II and ate the cookies, but only drank the Kathmandu, which was fine. The cookies tasted like McDonaldland chocolate chip. We are homesick and it was good to eat and drink comforting things today.