A WARM GLOW- Dhulikhel and Panauti, Kathmandu Valley

.....more Nepal- Begnas Lake and Bandipur......

The bus ride back from Bandipur to Kathmandu was typically chaotic, but beautiful looking out the window. The final two hours, driving into the western side of Kathmandu was like something out of a apocalyptic film. The dust was so overwhelming and seemed to enter every crevice. Buildings were covered in a thick layer, and it was hard to breathe. We wondered, where did it all come from?? After being out in the country side of the Middle Hills, Kathmandu seemed more noisy, busy and dirty than ever. We found a good cheapie hotel in bustling Thamel, and rested for a few days, trying to rid the colds we had picked up.

Our next destination was the Kathmandu Valley town of Dhulikhel, about one and a half hour's bus ride from the capital. As the bus progressed along the highway, and we looked out the window at the brick mills, building sites, traffic, built up never ending suburbs, and more bloody dust, we wondered if we had made the right move. But after being dropped at the Dhulikhel bus station on the main road and walking a short distance, we found ourselves a world away in a small town with windy back streets and a striking old center.

Drying their hair, Dhulikhel town

Architecture detail, Dhulikhel town

Decorative doorways, Dhulikhel town

Quiet back streets of Dhulikhel town

Basket man, Dhulikhel town

The Kathmandu Valley is traditionally the homeland of the Newari people, a somewhat mysterious tribe with mixed ethnic origins. Most typical architecture we had seen thus far in Nepal, was in fact Newari. The golden age for these people was in the 17th century, and lucky for us, many buildings from this era still existed in the Kathmandu Valley.

We checked into a very daggy guesthouse that boasted 40 years of being open for backpackers. We reckon it was also 40 years since anything had been cleaned or fixed. The upside was a delicious menu in their cafe, and we made the most of items such as chocolate French toast!!!

The town of Dhulikhel was small but very pretty, and we slowly wandered for a day impressed with the style of the place, especially the temple lined village square. Although the Newari buildings here were generally in worse condition than we'd seen in other towns (presumably because of the proximity to the devastating 2015 earthquake), the warm and glowing colour they reflected was quite remarkable. There were some differing designs to the Middle Hills towns, such as ultra-ornate window carvings.

Intent little boy, Dhulikhel town

Decorated streets, Dhulikhel town

Dhulikhel girl

Old beauties, Dhulikhel town

Ornate doorways, Dhulikhel town

Rich's new friend, Dhulikhel town

Lovely warm colours, Dhulikhel town

Waiting for Dad at the temple, Dhulikhel town

Hand painted Everyready signs, Dhulikhel town

Nice old fella, Dhulikhel town

A most atmospheric shop, Dhulikhel town

Carved window surrounds, Dhulikhel town

The down side to Dhulikhel were the dogs. As previously mentioned, there are way too many stray dogs in Nepal for our liking, but up until now they had been passive and non-aggressive. For some reason the dogs in Dhulikhel and around were not only extremely loud and annoying with their barking, but much bolder and threatening, and we took to carrying a stick around for fear of being attacked.

First on the agenda was to a walk to an important local monastery, Namobuddha. We were gutted when we were told the guesthouse there was full all through April. We'd been looking forward to staying the night, exploring the site and having dinner and breakfast with the monks.
Tackling the walk regardless, we found the scenery on the hike was not as scenic as we'd already experienced in other places in Nepal, and the foggy weather obscured any mountain views. But the path was quiet and easy to follow for the most part and we greatly enjoyed the walk. Unfortunately, the rubbish problem was again very apparent around Dhulikhel, as we'd seen everywhere in Nepal. We probably sound like a broken record, but it's so devastating to see such a magnificent landscape so diminished by thoughtless littering.

Friendly village people we encountered on the walk

Lovely old house, Namobuddha walk

Sal on Namobuddha walk

Scenery between Dhulikhel and Namobuddha

After Namobuddha, we started walking to the nearby town of Panauti, but decided to jump on a bus going our way to save our legs. It was a wonderfully bumpy and chaotic ride over the fields in a small bus full to the brim with loud village people and their produce falling around everywhere.

Walking around the country side near Dhulikhel, we again marvelled at the wonderful variety of bright, twittering birds of all shapes and sizes in the forests, and heard our first cuckoos and woodpeckers.This area had spectacular red rhododendrons in flower, and were very happy once more to be active and strolling in the beautiful nature of Nepal.

Beautiful light in the forest near Dhulikhel

We took the bus back to Panauti another day to have a proper look around. Panauti is situated on the sacred confluence of the Roshi and Pungamati Rivers, and is considered an important religious place by the Nepalis. You wouldn't know it, though, by looking at the black slime and horrendous rubbish that cover the "holy" rivers.

Unbelievable rubbish filled "holy" river, Panauti

The town itself, however, was like a living museum, and we were instantly enchanted. The same glowing coloured brick buildings as Dhulikhel were suitably decrepit and full of character. Little shrines, lane ways, walled gardens and falling down mansions were around every corner.

Home made shoes in Panauti market

Chairs and a door, Panauti

Red glow, Panauti

Friendly little girl, Panauti

Watching the world go by, Panauti

Delicately carved window, Panauti

He's spied us! Panauti

Panauti street

Temple carving, Panauti

Keen for a photo, Panauti

Panauti town square

The sacred temple area by the river was particularly atmospheric, and we spent ages there soaking up the early morning ambience. The drizzly, dark day added a spooky element to the spiritual place. A priest sang out songs and blessings, and accompanied himself on a conch shell and bells, and another group of men played instruments and sang songs on the temple steps. People walked around the various shrines making their morning offerings and lighting candles, and it was all quite lovely. The background of the forested hills and rivers made it a place we would have loved to seen 50 years ago when the whole town would have been clean and respected.

Musicians singing, Panauti

Down and out man, Panauti

Priest giving a blessing, Panauti

Temple complex, Panauti

Holy man in a lovely window, Panauti

We were once again fascinated by the easy intermingling of the Hindu and Buddhist faiths in Nepal. It makes sense that over time, saints, travellers and traders coming from India and Tibet would have brought new religious ideas to Nepal. The blend was quite unlike anywhere we'd visited before, and we were intrigued by the temples we saw with Hindus and Buddhists praying side by side. Temple complexes could often have a Hindu shrine with it's red coloured idol, Buddhist prayer flags flying outside, a white stupa in the grounds and perhaps a Ganesh statue next to it. Prayer and ritual is the focus of life for many Nepalis, and we found it compelling, whatever the religious mix.
Another interesting fact was that the Nepali Hindus have there own God, which doesn't exist in the Indian Hindu pantheon. Machhendranath is linked with the weather, especially monsoon, and protects the Kathmandu Valley.

Dhulikhel's famous Himalaya views evaded us, and unfortunately we didn't see the mountain view once due to terrible weather conditions. However, we figured we'd had plenty of luck with clear vistas in other areas, and were more than happy with what we had seen.

A couple of other walks we were interested in doing around Dhulikhel were thwarted by some atrocious weather that suddenly arrived in town. The temperature dropped to coat and beanie conditions, and great swathes of mist covered the town, to be followed by torrential rain. The ground was turned to slippery mud, even in Dhulikhel town, and the incentive to get out to the country side was quashed. Rather than hang out in our rather depressing room, we decided to escape to Bodnath, our next destination, and see if things were better there.

We thought it amusing people could by two cigarettes at a time, and also that it cost AU$0.30 cents!

....last stop Nepal- Boudhanath.....