Raiding the Ancient city...

As one my of assignments for Tourism Times, I had to go out into the wilds of Thamel and interview tourists about why they were visiting Nepal. It was during my failing attempts to talk to people that I met Abby, from Mississippi in the USA. She was absolutely lovely and happy to tell me everything about her current trip to Nepal.

After going out for drinks to get to know each other, we decided to go to Durbar Square on one of the following days. I had already visited the ancient city once before, but this time we both decided to get a guide and learn more about the mass of temples and shrines before us. We negotiated a good price (you never stop haggling in this country!), and set about touring temples such as Kasthamandap - built from the wood of a single tree and giving Kathmandu its contemporary name.

It's a shame, because she was very pretty

It is in the Kathmandu Durbar Square (there are three in total) that the living goddess Kumari resides. Her house is very humble compared to some of the other buildings. Luckily, we arrived just five minutes before she was due to make one of her bi-daily appearances at a window of the house. It was very exciting waiting for her to reveal herself, even for a non-religious visitor like myself. The Kumari is always a young girl, who is chosen and retains goddess-status until she sheds blood - through whatever way. She rarely leaves her house in the square, being allowed out only thirteen times per year. She is watched carefully at all times, and has a select amount of friends that come to play with her. Though her title is an impressive one, it seems a very sad life for such a young girl - she is only a child!

Our guide was very knowledgeable and also showed us the three towers that represented the ancient kingdoms of the Kathmandu valley. One each for Kathmandu, Patan, and Bhaktapur. The Kathmandu tower stood tall at nine storeys, which doesn't sound like a lot, but it is the tallest building for miles around. There are regulations that prohibit buildings within a certain vicinity to the tower to be higher than nine storeys, and so the tower of Kathmandu stands regal and imposing above Durbar Square.

Soothing my back against the Healing Pillar

During our visit, we picked a banyan leaf each, had our photo taken with a Gorkha soldier, and rubbed our backs up against the healing pillar in Kasthamandap temple. Crazy times in Kathmandu.