Doors of Nepal (Nepal 2017-02)

Gateway to house in Junbesi, Solu Khumbu district.

During my October 2017 trip to Nepal, I had not planned to do a series on doors, but we kept passing by these fascinating examples. Most were home-made in craftsman-built buildings, with interesting signs and paint patterns. I really like seeing what local workmen can assemble as opposed to the dull factory-made uniformity we have in more industrialized countries.

Hotel above Junbesi, Solu Khumbu.

Unused lodge at Phurtyang.

Hanging around in Phurtyang.

We stayed in the nice little Sherpa town of Junbesi for three nights and then walked to the town of Ringmu. These closed hotels/lodges were along the trail.

Numbur View Cheese Factory Lodge, Ringmu, Solu Khumbu

We stayed in the Numbur View in Ringmu for three nights. The lady who ran the lodge prepared the best food that we had in the Solu Khumbu. The accommodations were OK, the toilets pretty rough. She heated the dining room with wood in the evening, but by morning, it was cold. The hot water for the shower came from pipes that circulated behind the wood stove.

Shop at Taksindu Pass - more beer than cheese.

Maoist symbols, Taksindu Pass.

Taksindu Pass (Taksindu La) is at 3031 m (9940 ft) elevation, about two hours walk uphill from Ringmu. The pass gets significant tourist traffic because the traditional trekking trail from Kathmandu to Everest Base Camp crosses Taksindu. Most tourists now fly into the town of Lukla further to the east and trek (stampede) to Base Camp from there. But some intrepid hikers still want to walk the traditional route, which can take three weeks, thereby getting acclimated along the way and sampling more of the local culture. On the return, they fly out of Lukla rather than walk all the way back to Kathmandu. When the American Everest expedition came through here in 1963, they had 900 porters to carry supplies.

Grocery/beer/cola store, Taksindu Pass. Note the leaning building.

The earthquakes of 2015 caused damage even here in the Solu region. In the photograph above, the building had been made of limestone blocks without mortar or a reinforced concrete frame. The cracks show how the building settled, and the door frame now really is a trapezoid.

Store near Taksindu Pass with Maoist posters.

The wise shopkeeper attaches posters extolling the Maoist regime, which, as of November 2017, was in power in Kathmandu.

Takgon Tharling Monastery

Takgon Tharling Monastery dormatory

The Taksindu Tharling Sheddrup Monastery, a short distance below Taksindu Pass, is an expansive complex of buildings and school dormatories. We hung a string of prayer flags for a friend who was injured shortly before our hike and could not join us.

Phera, Solu Khumbu, Nepal

On the trek back south to Phaplu, we passed Phera and more doors.

Shop near Phaplu, Solu Khumbu

Phaplu has an airport and road access, so it is bustling with tradesmen, shops, and guesthouses. And chickens.

Gateway to Siran Danda, Gorkha region, Nepal

Much further west in the Gorkha region of Nepal, we stayed in the town of Bhachchek at 1790 m elevation. A walk uphill took us to the tidy little town of Siran Danda and this welcoming doorway.

Siran Danda house and guard chicken.

Siran Danda had been partly rebuilt after the 2015 earthquakes with very neat houses, funded by a UK charity organization. The town's residents included a number of former English Army Gurkha soldiers, and they kept the place clean and orderly, like an army camp. There was no trash, the corn was hung in perfect rows, and the paint was fresh.

Siran Danda guesthouse

We saw neat stacks of beer bottles like this in several towns. Eventually, a truck comes to take the bottles away to a bottling plant for reuse.

Hanging around in Anbu Khaireni

Back to the city via a brutal jeep ride down rough rutted roads with mudpits as deep as a jeep. A short stop in Anbu Khaireni on the Pokkhara highway for lunch and a change to a minivan was very welcome.

Royal Palace Ratnakar Mahavihar, Patan Durbar Square, Patan, Nepal

Finally, we returned to the big city. The spectacular golden door is in the Royal Palace in Patan. Patan is also known as Lalitpur City, one of the three ancient cities in the Kathmandu Valley. At one time, the three were separate, but now the urban sprawl has grown to form a large urban mess. Patan's Durbar Square is one of three Durbar Squares in the Kathmandu Valley, all of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The palaces and temples in Patan Durbar Square, masterpieces of Newa architecture, were badly damaged in the 2015 earthquakes.

Most photographs are from Kodak Ektar 100 color negative film, exposed in a Yashica Electro 35CC rangefinder camera with Yashinon 35mm f/1.8 lens. I scanned the negatives with a Plustek 7600i film scanner, controlled by SilverFast Ai software. Four photographs are from a Nexus 4 phone.

Historic Temples, Patan, Nepal

I want to follow-up on the previous post of hidden courtyards of Patan with some photographs of temples and more common tourist sights. Patan is a visual delight in every way. Most tourists are dropped off on Mangaal Bazaar in front of the ticket booth at Durbar Square and proceed north past a series of temples and the palace complex.

Note that in Nepal, temples are not just sterile monuments visited by tourists, but are used by local residents in their every day lives. Old folks sit and watch the view, younger folks play games or chat.

One of the first temples on the left is the Hari Shankar Mandir, dedicated to both Vishnu and Shiva. Note the fantastic carved doorways and lintels, and the unusual "ears" off the doors. Most of these temples needed major rebuilding after a powerful earthquake in 1934.

The young ladies are taking portraits of each other at the Jagan Narayan Mandir, built in 1565.

The next one north, with an old lady enjoying a cig, was the Bishwanath Mandir.

I did not take many photographs in the Palace, but many of the architectural details showed interesting shadows and patterns. The wall by the main entrance is a popular place for the local gents to sit and watch the local scene. The Palace was mainly constructed in the second half of the seventeenth century and substantially rebuilt after an invasion in 1769 and the 1934 earthquake

Many visitors go to the Hiranyavarna Mahavihara, popularly known as the "Golden Temple". It may be one of the most opulent small temples in Patan and occupies a cramped courtyard of the 12th century Kwa Bahal Buddhist monastery. Tourists are not allowed to take any leather inside, but modern synthetic running shoes are all right. I am not sure about the symbolism of the monkeys sitting next to the prayer wheels, or the purpose of the chains draped over one of the monkeys. Possibly a reader can enlighten me. The monastery is active, and upstairs, I saw a European gent chanting and leading a group in prayer.

Again, I want to emphasize that Patan is a living city, not some dead architectural site. People, shops, traffic, noise, and smells are everywhere. It's a bit run-down, but from constant use, not abandonment and neglect.

Another theme that impressed me about Nepal is the commerce being carried out everywhere. The jolly bald gent sells singing bowls. Amazingly (or diplomatically) he remembered me after an absence of four years. He even convinced me to buy another bowl!

The gent with the flowers threads them on long strings.

If you don't want brass bowls or flowers, why not buy a chicken?

This petite mother was taking her children to school. This was another theme that impressed me about Nepal: the strong education ethic. Families believe strongly that education will help their children achieve better lives. We in USA could learn from the Nepalis.

Photographs taken with Olympus E-330, Panasonic G1, and Fujifilm F31fd digital cameras.

Hidden Courtyards of Patan, Nepal

Patan is one of the three independent kingdoms that once flourished in the Kathmandu valley of Nepal (the others being Kathmandu and Bhaktapur). Urban sprawl now encompasses much of the valley, but Patan still feels distinct and features unique architecture and cultural institutions. The historic name is "Lalitpur," or City of Beauty. According to The Rough Guide's Nepal, legend credits Patan's founding to King Arideva in 299 AD. By the seventh century, Patan had emerged as the artistic and cultural center of Nepal and a large expanse of the Himalaya. It remained a sovereign state until 1769, when Prithvi Narayan Shah conquered the valley and chose Kathmandu as his unified capital. In many ways, the historic core is frozen in time as it was in 1769. Therefore, Patan is an architectural gem well worth a visit.

The tourist map shows Patan's location south of Kathmandu City. It is a short taxi ride there, but, depending on traffic, it may be rather time-consuming. Walking would be unpleasant with the constant cacophony of horns and stench of exhaust. Odd note: the tuk-tuks, that formerly belched terrible 2-stroke exhaust fumes, are now electric!! The electric motors and batteries were installed as a simple upgrade via a program funded by US Aid and the Asian Development Bank. The tuk-tuks retained their original transmissions, and the motors were connected to 2nd. gear. The photograph shows the normal status of a tuk-tuk: packed with customers.

Most tour groups alight from their taxis or buses in front of the historic Durbar Square, where the palace and many of the temples are located. This is a UNESCO Heritage Site. We tourists have to pay an admission fee, and there is another admission into the Palace.

In this article, I want to concentrate on streets and alleys that tourists might overlook.

Patan, like the rest of Kathmandu, is a full of tiny shops selling all sorts of goods. You can buy fabrics, pots and pans, clothing, incense, magazines, food, singing bowls, religious goods, brassware, cosmetics, and more.

Remember the Ladies of Nepal? This must be where they buy their underwear.

Once you get off the main thoroughfares, the narrow alleys are shaded and private, often only wide enough for motorbikes.

But wait, there is a hidden side to Patan: many of the houses and apartments were built around a courtyard that is accessible via narrow arched passageways. The courtyards feature a well that provided drinking water for hundreds of years, and many are still in use. I was amazed that the residents aren't using piped municipal water.

There is another world in these courtyards. Some are dingy, others joyful and full of life.

In some, individuals sit and watch the scene. In others, children play ball. The people I met were very friendly and probably wondered, "What is this odd tourist doing here? Did he lose his way to the palace or the toilet?"

Some of the houses are really old, mid-1800s I guess. Often they are intermixed with 20th century flats. The next serious earthquake will be real trouble here. Some of the old bricks had the swastika symbol baked into the surface. According to Wikipedia, the symbol was widely used in Indian religions, specifically in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, as a tantric symbol to evoke 'shakti' or the sacred symbol of good luck.

The sunnier courtyards often had piles of grain with ladies carefully tending it. No mice and rats? Maybe the cat or snake population takes care of the vermin. Regardless, it's a fascinating place to explore. Highly recommended.

I took these photographs with a Panasonic G1 micro four-thirds (µ4/3) digital camera with 9-18 mm Olympus or 14-45 mm Lumix lenses, 22 October 2011.