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Note from Jonah: This is the continuation of a photo series from the Great Himalayan Mountain Range. The photos document a journey by car, foot, boat, plane and elephant from Tibet to Nepal.

Kathmandu has to be one of the greatest places on earth to get lost. The old city is an architectural and cultural labyrinth. Surrounded by steep hills, the narrow streets of the city are crammed full of people, temples, sounds, smells, sellers, buyers, trash and your occasional cow or monkey. The place is buzzing with life.

For the nomadically curious, this makes Kathmandu a gold mine.

Navigating these streets is a bit challenging. Between the trash, cars, bikes, rickshaws, markets and people — there is very little room to even walk. However, wondering through the streets is a wonderful sensory overload of the ancient and the new. The city was founded in the 12th century, during the Malla dynasty. Most of Kathmandu’s temples were built during this period as well.

One unique thing about Kathmandu, is the seamless integration of religious areas and temples within the city. I think you could be anywhere in the old city and throw a rock, and most likely hit a temple. Some of these temples have people praying at them, others have been taken over by the growing urban environment. In some cases, the city is dense enough that people have built their homes inside of temples.

Sadly, most of these temples have also become the place to put your trash. Almost every temple has an enormous pile of trash next to it which everyone seems to either ignore, or not care about (more on this next week).

Some of these temples look similar to other Buddhist and Hindu temples throughout Tibet and South Asia. However, the UNESCO World Heritage Area Durbar Square is pretty wild looking. The two shots above here, as well as the shot below show Durbar Square at night, day and sunset.

This is where former kings ruled Nepal from. Today, it is filled with locals loitering, sleeping and trying to figure out how to get money from foreigners. Its also where I met this colorful guy. Its a really bizarre kind of architecture that reminds me of a cross between Angkor Wat in Cambodia, the White House and the Mayan pyramids.

Kathmandu also has some of the most pornographic temples I’ve ever seen. Images on the sides of the temples depict some pretty hardcore scenes. This makes walking through the streets very entertaining and is a good way to bring out the immature teenager in you.

To get a better view of some of these scenes, click on the above photo to embiggin’ it.

Although the population of Kathmandu is only 1 million, the fight for space is evident (its also possible my judgement of population vs space has been highly altered from living in China). The above photo shows a larger street, in the next two upcoming posts documenting Kathmandu, you’ll see some of the tighter spaces.

Photographically speaking the city is amazing with an endless possibilities of cityscapes, landscapes and people oriented photographs. Hindi and Buddhist clothing is some of the most colorful in the world. The density of the buildings with the mountains backdropping the city would make the city easy to photograph even without looking.

While I really love the city, its certainly not all cake and cookies. Poverty levels are extremely high and in general, the place is pretty gross. Next post, we’ll explore photographically a little more of the grit of Kathmandu, followed by a post highlighting some of the colorful people of the city.

Road Trip on the Himalayan Shelf: If you’re just joining now, here’s what you’ve missed:

1. Road trip on the Himalayan Shelf
2. Lhasa: City of Sunlight, City in the Sky
3. In Tibet, People’s Liberation Army (mostly) out of site, but not out of mind
4. Attn: Crayola — a new color for you — Tibetan Blue
5. Tibetan Cloudscapes
6. Tibetan Prayer Flags Littering Roof of the World
7. Should you pay for photos? The ethics of travel photography
8. 29 Minutes and 15 Seconds on Mount Everest
9. Desertification stretching from Inner Mongolia to Tibet
10. ‘The journey not the arrival matters’
11. Namaste and welcome to Nepal
12. Kathmandu: The greatest place on earth to get lost
13. Kathmandu: Full of mystery, culture, history — and trash
14. ‘A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles’
15. Who has the strongest necks in the world?
16. Hey hey, they’re some monkeys
17. After the Himalayan: The Terai
18. Watch where you step: Chitwan National Park
19. At the end of the road: Pokhara
20. Final Destination 8 (in 3D): The luckiest travelers in the world
21. Tibet to Nepal: ‘The Journey Not the Arrival Matters’