With a free day and a lot of energy I rode my bicycle north out of Kathmandu and made my way uphill to Shivapuri Park. After grinding slowly up the side of Kathmandu Valley through varying urban neighborhoods the road suddenly ended at a gate guarded by frisky army soldiers. Behind me was all of Kathmandu and in front a lush and green forest plopped right at the edge of the city. Shivapuri is a ~20 square km forest preserve within a stone's throw of Kathmandu. After drinking some tea and de-sweatifying myself I made friends with a hard rocking Nepali guy and we embarked on a fun, if mildly unsafe, ride through the forest.
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| 'Morrison' (his adopted name coming from Jim Morrison) putting on his game face. |
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| The Megadeath poster is on the other wall. |
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| A Buddhist monastery in the middle of the forest complete with a hazy view of Kathmandu. |
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| Monks' slippers left at the door. We arrived just in time to hear midday chanting. |
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| A row of prayer flags outside the monastery. |
cant believe you are at an epicenter of Buddhist culture or religion
ReplyDeleteSo glad to see these traditions preserved and monks being able to practice
So glad you keep in touch through the blog. It sis like listening to you plus the pics are great! love the new prayer flsgs one
Love you
G