Nepal 4

Today was the last day of our set trip after today we are just going to explore Nepal for ourselves to get a real feel for it's culture and people so after today we will not be going to any tourist attractions. On our last day we decided to in the morning go to Swayambhunath an ancient religious complex in Kathmandu Valley.

Once we got there we learned that it is also known as the Monkey Temple as there are holy monkeys living in the north-west parts of the temple they are holy because Manjushree was raising the hill the temple is on, he was supposed to leave his hair short but he made it grow long and head lice grew. It is said that the head lice transformed into these monkeys. The Tibetan name for the site means Sublime Trees as there are many varieties of trees found on the hill. It is probably the most sacred among Buddhist pilgrimage sites but for Tibetans it is second only to Boudhanath. The complex consists of a stupa, a variety of shrines and temples, a Tibetan monastery, museum and library.

The stupa has Buddha's eyes and eyebrows painted on. Between them, there is something painted which looks like the nose - but is the Nepali symbol of 'unity', in the main Nepali language dialect. We also found that are shops, restaurants and hostels here. It has two access points a long stairway with 365 steps, leading directly to the main platform of the temple and a car road around the hill from the south leading to the southwest entrance. According to Swayambhu Purana, the entire valley was once filled with an enormous lake, out of which grew a lotus. The valley came to be known as Swayambhu (Self-Created). The water drained out of the lake, leaving the valley in which Kathmandu now lies. The lotus was transformed into a hill and the flower become the Swayambhunath stupa.

It is a gorgeous site on the hill and it was really interesting to see the different beliefs associated with the temple.

In the evening we visited Gokyo Ri in the Khumbu region of the Himalayas on the west side of the Ngozumpa glacier (largest glacier in Nepal) At the base of Gokyo Ri, is a small hamlet of a few stone houses and one of the highest settlements in the world. The scenery was unbelievable with beautiful turquoise lakes, moonscape-like glaciers, and stunning mountain vistas. We didn't trek all of it as it takes a few days (about 14) we just went to the base.

I loved the trip to Nepal! We discovered that Nepal is hugely religious and seeped in rich culture. It was a gorgeous place to visit with each site as good as the last.