First stop was the Boudhanath.
This was in the center surrounded by a road that had shops and various Buddhist monasteries. We walked around, bought some prayer flags and explored the monasteries. I'm generally adverse to taking my shoes off so I skipped going in a few places and just looked through the door.
Next stop on the city tour was definitely the most intriguing: Pashupatinath Temple. This is a Hindu site on the river and the significance is this is where the Hindus bring their dead to cremate them on the river. We weren't allowed inside - Hindu's only.
We walked to the opposite side of the river and watched some of the cremations. They brought the bodies to the river wrapped in white cloth, then washed their feet and faces. Coins were places on top of the cloth. There were also a few boys hanging around ready to grab any the fell off. The bodies were then wrapped in orange cloth and orange flowers and taken down the river and places on large platforms of wood. This was all done by the families. The platforms were set ablaze and the families then departed. It was a strange experience watching all of this take place with tourists, locals and cows all looking on.
Next stop was Patan Durbar Square. I hate to say that once you've seen one Durbar Square, you've seen them all.
Lunch was some excellent curry.
Last stop of the day was the Monkey Temple. With a great view of the city and lots of monkeys, this was a fun stop. It was a bit of a hike to the top to take in this view.
The monkeys begged for food and this one went into the fountain for a drink.
Throughout the whole day I felt pretty lousy with no energy or appetite. I'm not sure if it was the altitude, travel, malaria medication, food or a combination of all of them, but after the monkey temple I was done. No dinner - straight to bed.
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