Sunday, October 30, 2011

Nepal 29


Our last day in Nepal, we made a morning visit to Swayambhunath, better known as the "Monkey Temple." It is perched high on a hill relatively near the center of Kathmandu. The Monkey Temple name derives from the hordes of rather bold monkeys that live there and harass visitors. Sadly, we survived our trip with no monkey-related incidents to relate.


The crowd at the temple seemed to be majority local, despite the World Heritage Site status and ease of visiting the site from the backpacker ghetto in Kathmandu. There were lines of people having various offerings blessed or burned or just left in strategic offering locations. And for those who found the view from the hilltop insufficiently impressive, you could pay a few Rupees to climb this platform for an additional meter of altitude. (Being honest, I think payment for platform entry also entitled one to use of one of several pairs of binoculars to try to spot your house in the hazy distance.)


Also: retail opportunities!

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