The rest of the week

Well, we did rest! And also went out, to Patan Durbar Square. Julie lives in Patan; once it was a separate kingdom to Kathmandu, just over the river. Now connected by urban sprawl, it is still distinct from the main city - in fact, it's a city in its own right - and, of course, it had its own king and therefore its own Durbar Square.

Julie reassured me. "It's very different from the other place. And it's a lot quieter."

It was only a short walk away. Scooters zipped perilously close to us and the hooters rarely stopped. But the overcrowded, noisy streets dropped away as we turned into Durbar Square, Patan. Some enlightened official had refused to open the square to traffic and the result was a pleasant centre where people could sit, chat, sell things and generally enjoy living. AND they could look at the amazing variety of temples , statues and small stupas which clustered in the area - an amazing juxtaposition of gilded and plain, large and small, rounded and square. Carved windows, posts and doorways were de rigeur, showing scenes from Buddha's life, cavortings from the Maharbarata (?) or deities in various positions. It was beautiful! We watched Newari people washing or drinking from a fierce wild boar's mouth (luckily it had been turned into bronze), old men sitting on benches in the sunlight, parents playing with their children and, of course, the kites. Flown mostly by small boys, they were part of the festival, a reminder to the goddess of rain that in fact, the monsoon was actually over now, so please would she make sure that it didn't rain hard until the next monsoon season. (Not working too well right now but at least it hasn't rained for too long.)Boys with kites weaved and ducked through the crowds, following the winds and trying their best not to get kites stuck behind buildings or on rooftops. Less fortunate boys watched, eagle-eyed, gesturing to each other as certain kites flew perilously close to buildings. As soon as one seemed in trouble they would be off, darting through alleyways, climbing walls, to try and claim the grounded kite before the owner could reach it.

Great stuff.

It's pointless to describe the buildings - one day when I've worked out how to download photos from my state-of-the-art-make-you-a-cup-of-coffee-while-you're-waiting camcorder I'll stun you with visual art and beauty. Until then, imagine!

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We returned there today (Thursday) to look around the museum which is one of the best in the Indian sub-continent. Amazing images of Buddha, Shiva, Parvati, Ganesh (I'm showing off here!) were beautifully shown, along with relevant and interesting comments which explained the different poses of the gods and why they had, for example, not two but six hands. We could also puzzle out why the goddess Tara had no less than 7 eyes - and find out where they were. Great stuff!

And tomorrow we go to Bhutan - hopefully. Maybe. Perhaps. Well, the travel agent (who by now has provided us with ticket voucher - but not the real thing - and itinerary - the wrong one) explained with another helpful shrug of the shoulders that flights to Bhutan can be overbooked and, although our flights have been confirmed....