SHOCKING

Jake and I didn't really expect it. I mean we knew that we are very close to, Dashain, the biggest Nepali festival. And we know that Dashain is the biggest animal sacrifice in Nepal. At the same time when we saw this old couple hanging around a small temple, with a small goat, we thought they were just going to bless the small animal, for some sacrifice that was going to happen in the next days. So I pulled out my camera to take some innocent picture ...The old lady was throwing some water on the goat. The old map was gently pushing the goat towards the temple. Almost an idyllic set. When suddenly the old man grabs the goat, lift it and put it inside the small temple. And there is the old man pulls out his loooooong knife and the impossible happens. He cut the throat of the goat. And it is really a bloodshed in the small temple.And here is when after the goat is beheaded, the old man cuts the stomach of the animal and pulls out a piece of intestine to make a balloon out of it. Really weird. But overall really shocking how you can kill an animal. A poor animal, that has really done nothing to us.At the same time, when I took the picture of this old couple, I saw in their eyes some pride. Probably the pride for such a long tradition. Probably they have seen doing it from their grandparents, when they were kids. And now they are doing it for their nephews. And probably this is one of the few times during the year, when this people eat some meat. And I left the small temple, paved by blood and I realized that is not really shocking the fact that this old man killed a goat. But really the fact that everyday we are killing animals without really any need. Nowadays we could easily have a vegetarian diet and let the animals live in peace.

BHAKTAPUR is MY FAVOURITE

Without any doubt Bhaktapur is my favourite town in Nepal. I really love it here. The architecture is wonderful. The people is really nice. There are lots of restaurants, but unlike Kathmandu, they serve more Nepali food than foreign food. And, last but not least, there are very few tourists. Not sure why. It is Nepal most intact medieval town and it is also an UNESCO heritage site. So it is not really a very well kept secret. And it is only 30 minutes by taxi from Kathmandu. Maybe it is because it is so close to Kathmandu, that people forget about it. Or maybe it is because you need to pay $10 to enter the old town. Who knows. Anyways I am glad that Jake and I are among the few tourists here.After a rainy day, the weather finally turned clear and the sky made this town, even more beautiful. This is probably one of its famous buildings. It is the Nyatapola temple. Not sure if you can see it, but it is a 5 floor building. And according to the local it inspired, temples thru Nepal, Tibet, China and Japan where the Pagodas were built using this as a model.And this is one of the thousands of the stone carvings that you can see, just wandering around the town. I think it is Shiva. But what is amazing about this city is that you can walk through it for days and still you are not tired of it.

I could have put thousands of pictures. But I didn't. I just hope you will get inspired and you will decide to go there. It is really worthwhile. Maybe before going to Bhakptapur, watch the movie "The Little Buddha". Most of it it has been shot here ... :)

BHAKTAPUR by NIGHT

It is time to move out from Kathmandu. Jake and I decided to go to Bhaktapur. Bhaktapur is in the so called Kathmandu Valley, but it has always been independednt fromKathmandu. The initial plan was to visit the entire town in just one day, but I loved it so much that I ended up spending almost five days. And when I left I was really sorry. I made very good friends here and I saw an incredible Nepali festival and I enjoyed wander through the wonderful buildings that are making of this town a UNESCO heritage site. And these are some of the pictures that I took during my first night here. The first two are from the main square, just after sunset ...And this is from our hotel room. This is one of the bands who played all night long, through the tiny roads of the city. Very choreographic, but a kind of annoying when it goes on all night long ...

TIBETANS in NEPAL

Nepal and Tibet have a couple of things in common. One is the Himalaya range. And the other one is the Buddhist religion. But their history in the last 50 years has been very very different. Tibet has been invaded by China, while Nepal is still enjoying Independence. As a result of the Chinese invasion, a lot of Tibetans moved here, to Nepal. And the Bodhnath stupa is where they are gathering everyday to pray. The monument is really big. Very difficult to picture if you have never visited it. Here the Tibetan exiles, and not only them, come to pray and to enjoy beauty of the stupa and the monasteries around and the Tibetan food and the warm welcome that everybody will give you here ...

I loved to spend time chit-chatting with the monks here. They are really exquisite people. They like to speak with everybody and if they like to answer questions, to ask questions, and to share some warm cup of tea.I have to admit that I really love when I meet kind people. It cheers me up. I really believe that people can be the best and the worst part of the creation.And unfortunately the more I am travelling into my life, the more I realize that it is really thin the difference between a good person and a bad person. In most of the cases, people is just afraid to show their real feelings, and to love. In a word they are just afraid. That is why I love here so much. This trip is such a blessing for me. I never met so many warm and welcoming people. And today was an other perfect day like those. I really loved to be here ad just seat down in front of the stupa, and speak about life, religion and love with those monks. At the end of the day we were lucky enough to spend some times in a monastery. This is a picture that we took inside it. And this is also the last picture of Lisa, Jake and myself together. Tomorrow morning Lisa will leave us , and she will continue her trip. And in a couple of days it will be Jake's time. Such a shame. But it will be nice, in a way. I will have to find new friends. And I am sure I will be lucky here in Nepal.

GREY HAIR

This is a picture that I took some days ago in the restaurant of a Buddhist monastery. I loved this couple. I loved how nice they were with each other and I loved their grey hair. And how much this couple was sweet, despite their grey hair. This is not something that you see everyday. I dream about being like this one day ...... and I really hope NeNe and I will be this lucky, to be still caring and in love even when we will have gray hair.

The STREETS of KHATMANDU

Even if the streets of Kathmandu are not all exactly like this, this is definitely a good collection of what you will see when you will have a chance to visit this incredible city. These a couple of cows, who are trying to find a good meal on the side of the street ...This is a local pharmacist. Not sure exactly what all these liquids are for. But, I guess he knows. And, as a matter of fact, I don't trust my pharmacist much more than this guy ...And this is a typical landscape. From left to right. A group of women waiting for a taxi, while a guy is taking a piss in the bushes and an other guy is finishing to work on a mattress on the curb ...And here the cows, who are after cars and motorcycles the third biggest population in the Kathmandu streets ...

PASHUPATINATH, Nepal

The name, Pashupatinath, looks almost impossible to read, but it is actually pretty nice to read. It has a sweet sound. Pashupatinath is probably Nepal's most important Hindu temple. Actually it is a set of temples ...... but the reason why so many tourists come here, are not the temples. The temples are built on the banks of the holy Bagmati river and this is the biggest cremation site in Nepal. As a tourist it is difficult to judge if it is right or wrong to take pictures here. Like many other tourists, I actually took some pictures ...... it is strange to see the body of a man burn in front of you. You wonder what the life is all about. I am not sure if the visit to Pashupatinath help me to better understand it. Definitely it did help me to realize that the answer is not simple and although the religions, with all their dogmas and ceremonies, are helping us to better understand the sense of life, at the end of the day it is in ourselves that we need to find the real answer to that question. And to me the answer that I gave to myself today looking at this cremation is that life is too short, and that we spend too much time in unimportant things. Looking to myself, and to the people around me, I have the impression that most of the time we give for granted that we will live forever and we forget what is really important in life ...

THAMEL

This is a picture that I took in Kathmandu. This was the street just outside our hotel. The area is called Thamel and it the most touristic in town ...... a kind of a touristic ghetto. But it is very colourful and it is also very convenient. In Thamel you can really find everything you need. Even ice creams. Here Jake & Lisa paying to the security officer of the shop for their ice cream ...... thinking about it. I am not even sure why a shop in Thamel should have a security guard ...