Taking in Nepal's History and Saying Farewell

Today is Rick’s and my last day in Kathmandu.  Leena and Yogesh Satyal, BSF’s Executive Director and Board President, respectively, took us on a tour of a few World Heritage Sites. The Kathmandu valley has 7 of Nepal’s 10 World Heritage sites, and five of those are within 8 kilometers of each other, the highest concentration of World Heritage sites anywhere in the world.

Jim at the Boudhanath Stupa

First, we visited one of the holiest Buddhist sites in the world, the Boudhanath Stupa. The stupa in its current form dates to the 16th century, but the temple has been in existence since the 8th century.  The damage from the 2015 earthquake has been fully repaired, and it looks exactly the same as I remember it from my 2011 visit. The Boudhanath Stupa is the largest Stupa in the world, and many people from around the world come to the Stupa each year to seek power from above and inspiration — you can feel that this is a very special place.  

Careful, Rick, legend has it that the statue comes to life every now and then!

Next we went to the ancient city of Bhaktapur, once the capital of Nepal. It dates back to the 8th century, and many of the buildings and temples are centuries old. Yogesh explained that much effort is taken to maintain the old ways in Bhaktapur. It serves as the cultural capital of Nepal and has almost 100,000 residents, mostly peasants, practicing Buddhism and Hinduism in religious harmony. With its ancient architecture and simple way of life, Bhaktapur is a living museum. I did have to chuckle at one historic building that now houses a typical Nepali restaurant (I knew it was a typical Nepali restaurant because the English lettering on the side of the building read, helpfully, “Typical Nepali Restaurant”). The temples and the statues are incredible, although some are still in the process of being restored after the earthquake, and many buildings have buttresses in place.

Jim’s “Typical Nepali Restaurant”

Practicing the old ways of cooking. Yogesh said this restaurant had been in the family for generations.

Our final visit was to Swayambhu Mahachaitya, which is known as the monkey temple because of the large number monkeys that live in and around the temple. The monkeys will come right up to you, although you are not supposed to touch them or make eye contact.  Back when I visited in 2011, I had my picture taken sitting in the giant buddha at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the temple.  It was very special for me to have the same picture taken 9 years later. 

We had dinner with Leena and Yogesh at a Nepali restaurant and then returned to our hotel.  Today was the perfect ending to our journey, and we are both looking forward to our next trip to Nepal to continue Mitrata’s work with BSF and the children we serve.

— Jim Craig, Board President

A monkey at the “monkey temple”