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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’

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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.

In Kathmandu, the smell of incense fills the air as one street becomes a place of worship, a place of business and to some — home. As if a painter threw a wet brush at a blank canvas, the hues visible on any street in Nepal seem to cover the entire color spectrum. The variety of color is only matched by the diverse backgrounds of the people who inhabit the area.

Although the Nepalese were never colonized, the population has come to include a large variety of people — without a single ethnic group really dominating the population.

Nepal’s 28 million people are made up of 15.5% Chhettri, 12.5% Brahman-Hill, 7% Magar, 6.6% Tharu., 5.5% Tamang, 5.4% Newar, 4.2% Muslim, 3.9% Kami, 3.9% Yadav (32% are classified as other by the CIA World Fact Book). After a quick run down of that list, it occurred to me that I had never even heard of most of them.

This makes exploring a place one step more interesting — you are exploring both the place and the people.

While the population is Nepalese by nationality, the cultures within are greatly varied — a canvas of culture.

All of these groups have their own traditions and culture — including the way they dress. This makes walking around a place like Kathmandu a fantastic place to people watch. Although the predominant style reminds me most of Indian attire, there are many in the streets who look like they are all from different countries. A man in a Greek like toga, a man wearing traditional face paint, a woman in traditional Tibetan clothing, or a man who looks like he just got off a camel in the Middle East — there is a large variety of styles which reflect much more than preference of jeans.

These clothing styles denote history, culture and family identity.

I always found this interesting when I was working in North Africa. My colleagues could always tell where someone was from based upon the style or color of their Dashiki or Jellabiya.

Hanging out amongst this cultural grab-bag of tradition made me question how I dress and brought up some questions. When I look at these people and compare my clothing — I feel like my style of dress is just bland and boring. However, its hard to look at the situation from their eyes. Do my pants and t-shirt look exotic to them?

My residual self image, or my mental projection of myself is just that though — jeans and a t-shirt ( “… do not try to bend the spoon”). Picturing myself in a toga type outfit just doesn’t fit. However, for these people — the clothes they choose to wear is in fact, their residual self image. It is normal to them. Ergo, it would only make sense for them to look at my clothes as — unusual.

Certainly the fault in this argument (there are probably many) is, people dress like me all around the world. However, you won’t see people who dress like them in all other parts of the world. Perhaps, their clothes are more alien to us, than ours are to them.

The mix did seem more dramatic than what I have seen in my travels in other parts of the world. People in North Africa seemed to have a couple distinct styles that were all along the same lines, as did people in Tibet , China or Malaysia.

Regardless of how people dressed, most seemed very friendly and approachable, beyond the normal annoyances of people trying to weasel money out of you in any way possible. Especially those that were not trying to take your money, people seemed very genuine about talking to you and where you were from.

While I traveled across the country and back, it won’t be the miles I remember — it will be the people.

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’

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Share

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’