Boudhanath

Debbie and I walk away from Pushupatinath and through the back streets of the nearby town to find the Buddhist temple of Boudhanath, which is a world heritage site. In the past traders pilgrims and travellers sought blessing here for safe passage over the mountain passes out of the Kathmandu valley and gave thanks for their safe arrival.  It is still a major destination of pilgrims and is one of the largest and most significant Buddhist monuments in the world.

We enter the site through an ornate gateway off the main town road and suddenly it feels like a different place. The stupa rises up grandly in front of us and is surrounded by a circus of shops, houses, restaurants and monasteries. It looks almost like the set of a musical and I quite expect people to start throwing open shutters and dance into the street singing, 'Who will buy this beautiful morning?'

 The stupa

 

The buildings around the stupa

We walk once around the street, following the crowds in the usual clockwise direction, then we go through a small gateway which leads onto the stupa. There are prayer wheels, big and small; Buddhist monks sitting and walking and tourists wandering. We circumnavigate the stupa again this time following a narrow open-air passage just inside the wall. This temple accepts devotees from all over the world and at one place there are wooden pallet on the floor which people are using for meditation.

 Buddhist monk and prayer wheel

A couple of monks are washing out small stainless steel bowls and not far away the same bowls are lined up along a wall, each with a marigold floating in water. We don't know how these are used, but they look very pretty.

 Bowls of marigolds

We are in need of refreshment and find a restaurant in the circus, with a roof terrace. The view from here is stunning, with the stupa and its surrounding buildings set against a backdrop of hills.

Stupa and surrounding area