Thalibites: Bhaktapur, Nepal

From Kathandu it is not far to Living Heritage village Bhaktapur. We took a local bus, which was very cheap, but then got a surprice payment at the entrancegate of the town; as a tourist you have to pay 11 euros to get in. At the moment you pass the gate you can imagine yourself being in Mediaeval times. Beautiful old buildings, literally falling apart or others overloaded with ornamental woodworks.

The streets are the place where many old Newari people spend their days. Men and women make gatherings, just sitting there, being extremely photogenic, in their daily traditional clothes.

Walking through the buzzling old fashioned shoppingstreet we found only very expensive hotels...luckily we managed to haggle the price down in the very nice Himalaya Guest House.

At night we found out that electricity is not only saved inside the houses but also outside; no streetlights make this town pitchblack after sundown. (We get a little less than in Kathmandu where they get electricity for only 14 hours per day..) You can think it's romantic or nicely nostalgic but with vague lights, only stray dogs breaking the complete silence and dancing shadows on the ancient walls I expected Jack the Ripper to appear out of any corner. While laying in bed we got aware of another creature of the night; the humming stickman. He, in all Bhaktapur's nightly calmness, walked every night through our street with a limping sound of a walkingstick hitting the streetstones. At a certain moment he started hitting the wooden or steel doors of closed shops, one after another, continuing his slow pase. Meanwhile he hummed a surpricingly peaceful song, the dogs kept barking loudly and they sounded wild and ready for a fight. Due to this we created some homemade earplugs of toiletpaper to at least have some sleep through this imaginative theatreshow held under our window.

At daytime the sunshine nicely warmed us after the cold nights. Through town there are many squares with monuments and temples to visit. The government has limited the amound of foreign visitors that stay overnight to only 250 in Bhaktapur so at the end of the day we luckily could see the sights without the touristgroups walking, standing and posing in our way.

Taumadhi Square

Durbar Square Bhaktapur

During our stay the people celebrated the Nepali New Year. This means: all come outside and join the streetfestival.

One of the chariots

There was a wooden chariot-race, music (marching old men with flutes, drumboys), dancing women, sacrificial offerings and the 'grand happening' of lifting up an enormous tree in the middle of town.