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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.

On a hill overlooking Kathmandu is Swayambhunath — a temple where monkeys are integrated into the atmosphere just as much as people, incense, stupas and enormous temples. Swayambhunath, also known as the Monkey Temple — is a hot spot for Buddhist pilgrims as well as a social area for local Kathmandu people. It acts almost as a park or community space to many. However, it is much more than a single temple. Temples, shrines, stupas and religious spots mark the entire sacred complex — but wherever you are, you are surrounded by monkeys.

To get context of where this is, the top picture of this post on Kathmandu shows Swayambhunath towering above the densely populated epicenter of Nepal.

The iconic eyes that are often used as a representation of Nepal are seen repeatedly throughout the complex. The symbolic eyes represent the eye’s of Buddha. They represents non violence, peace, love and spirituality — or as one person told me, they represent an awareness of understanding.

The Tibetan name for Swayambhunath (स्वयम्भूनाथ स्तुप) means “Sublime Trees.” Prayer flags hang for hundreds of meters across an enormous variety of trees at the top of the hill. Monkeys swing from prayer flags, trees and the temples. An enormous staircase, reminiscent of Malaysia’s Batu Caves, goes straight up the hill at a very steep angle. Monkeys use this staircase and the adjourning hand railings as their personal playground.

As you walk up the hundreds of stairs to the brightly colored stupa at the top, monkeys fly from railing to railing showing off their dominance to their human neighbors. Its clear that this is actually their territory. Its also clear, they are not afraid of you.

These monkeys have been here for as long as recorded history. The mythology of Swayambhunath’s origin even mentions them:

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, meaning “Self-Created.” The name comes from an eternal self-existent flame (svyaṃbhu) over which a sūpa was later built.

Swayambhunath is also known as the Monkey Temple as there are holy monkeys living in parts of the temple in the north-west. They are holy because Manjushree, the bodhisattva of wisdom and learning was raising the hill which the Swayambhunath Temple stands 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 had transformed into these monkeys.

The Bodhisatva Manjushri had a vision of the lotus at Swayambhu and traveled there to worship it. Seeing that the valley can be good settlement and to make the site more accessible to human pilgrims, Manjushri cut a gorge at Chovar. 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.

There are two dominant form of monkeys found in Nepal. The monkeys here are Rhesus Macaques, which have the widest geographic range of any nonhuman primate. They are found in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Burma, Thailand, Afghanistan, Vietnam, southern China and throughout Southeast Asia.

Because monkeys are considered holy in Nepal, they are fairly well protected. However, this does not mean they are nice. In fact, they are pretty aggressive and if you are not watching your bananas, they will certainly steel them. According to Lonely Planet, many of the monkeys at Swayambhunath are carrying rabies — so its best to keep your distance or carry a stick or taser.

The relationship between Hindusim and Buddism is very evedent here. So much so that for someone who doesn’t know so much about the two cultures — its actually hard to tell them apart. While they are closely related the origins are different as are some of their key philosophies. The symbolic eyes of awareness truly are practiced here. There are Buddha’s deities in Hindu temples and Hindu’s deities around Buddhist Stupas. This is a little different than the West bank model of similar religious views.

Nonetheless, their architecture, symbols and prayer space look very similar. In places like Swayambhunath, both religions exist in seeming harmony. While people pray, sing and socialize — the monkeys watch from all sides — using the religious compound as their jungle gym.

… and this last picture — what’s this, you say? Well, its just not everyday your walking through an ancient temple and see a 20-year-old sign for Kodak film and a monkey jumps in front of it. Cheese.

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’