Monday, October 26, 2009

Baktaphor, Changu Narayan and Nagrakot (now say that three times fast)



This weekend, as is beginning to become tradition, we travelled an hour and a half away from home to visit Baktapor, Changu Narayan and the mountain resort on the top of Nagrakot. We managed to visit all three places all in one day (saturday) and enjoyed the mountainous views that Nagrakot had to offer.
Baktapor is a small historical town, outside Kathmandu, famous for its Pots. They are simply terra cotta clay pots which are hand made and painted. I say simply, because they look fairly simple, but the work and effort which goes into making each pot is laborious and long. After walking through Durbar Square we stumbled upon the "Pottery Square" which is where they hide all the pots. At first I saw many rows of small packable pots which had two colours on each pot, black and terra cotta red. I had my eye set on one when a man came up to me and explained that these pots were sitting out to dry and I was not able to purchase one. I was a little disappointed because those pots were so beautiful, but then he took me into his shop and showed me an array of finished pots (all one colour), so I settled for one of those. After we were all done walking, taking pictures and browsing we all walked back to the bus to begin to make our way further up to the mountain toward Changu Narayan.
Changu Narayan is a small temple which is a common pilgrimage site for many devote Hidus. This site is also a World Heritage Site, and one of the temples is said to be built in 464 AD. Words cannot describe how incredible and serene the temple is, I loved how silent it was compared to the rest of Nepal, or compared to Kathmandu at least.
Our final stop of the day was winding up to the top of Nagrakot, which is 7200 ft. high. From this spot we were able to see (when the sun was out) all of the Himalayas range of Mountains, and on a very clear morning you can even see the tip of Everest. Our whole group woke up at 5 am to climb to the top of the hotel to look out and take pictures of the mountains. Unfortunately we did not have good visibility that morning so we couldn't see too many of the mountains, but later that day we were able to see the mountains from a higher lookout point.
All in all I felt very small looking at the mountains which tower over me, it is somewhat humbling to see them and their beauty far away in the distance. This is all in preparation for our much anticipated Mount Everest plane ride, which we will take at 6am on Friday morning. Cross your fingers for no clouds and perfect visibility! I will post more pics when I have them.

1 comment:

  1. Okay, I am going to stop commenting on what an amazing time you are having. But, come one, how amazing is riding elephants and exploring one of the oldest civilizations on earth? Again, so jealous andI can't wait to hear more about your students. Some of my favourite photos that my bro took in Nepal were of the kids and older peoples faces. They are so beautiful.

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