"Jam jam" means "let's go" in Nepali. I have been learning a lot about Nepali language and culture this week, and I'm getting ready to start my volunteer project soon. I think the most important thing I have learned to say is "malaai piro khaanaa manpardiana," which means "I don't like spicy food."
Yesterday we went sightseeing around kathmandu, and here are some of the pictures. (Diana - I took a lot of myself, just to make you happy :-)
Our first stop was the Boudhnath stupa which is the biggest Buddhist stupa in Nepal. In Nepali, "nath" means something like "a place to worship," and Boudha is the name of this part of town. This is where the Tibetan Buddhist community of Kathmandu is located, and it is also where a guy I met on the plane is studying Tibetan Buddhism for his PhD. There were lots of people (including tourists) doing their Buddhist thing (sorry, I don't quite understand what they do) like bowing over and over and doing prayer/yoga-looking positions.
This is me and Maria with a mess of prayer flags at the stuppa. Buddhist people like to put up prayer flags because they say that the wind blows through them and carries good will to people in the area. I bought a bunch of prayer flags to bring home with me. I paid $4 for like 50-feet of prayer flags, but the Nepali people probably think that they really ripped me off because they were all laughing at me when we finally agreed to the price. If I could change one thing about this place (in terms of tourism), it would be the bartering. It's so exhausting and makes me not want to buy anything.
The next place that we went was a big Hindu temple called Pashupatinath. (Again, Paschupati is the name of the area, and nath means "a place to worship.") The view of the temple from the outside wasn't very impressive, and you're not allowed to go inside if you're not Hindu, but here are some of the decorations that were on the outside. The one on the left is Shiva, who is the main Hindu god. The other two are his sons, Ganesh (the elephant-faced one), and the less popular son who everyone forgets the name of.
This is a sign that I thought was kind of funny. I don't really have much to say about it. This is where the Hindu people could leave their shoes before they went into the temple.
This is the Bagmati river, which is right behind the temple. It's a holy river (even though it's full of trash), and the stands are where they cremate dead people. Keshav was saying that when a man dies, his son has to shave his head, dress in white, and light the fire. Once the body is burned, they sweep it into the river. For next 13 days, the son has to stay dressed in white. On every anniversary of his father's death, the son has to shave his head again (but doesn't have to dress in white). If the man doesn't have a son, then another male relative lights the fire. Women aren't allowed to light the fire.
After visiting the stupa and the temple, we went out for lunch. Nepali people usually eat dal bhaat 2-3 times per day, which is rice with lentil soup poured on top of it. Since we know that we will soon be eating dal bhaat every day, we decided to have momos. Momos are dumplings filled with either vegetables, chicken, or buffalo. People here don't eat beef because cows are sacred.
After lunch we went to Swayambhunath, which is also known as the monkey temple. This is a picture of the peace lake. For good luck, people try to throw coins into the pot or between the statue's feet.
Here is a monkey at the monkey temple. There were lots of them. I'm not too sure what he meant, but Keshav said "if you think the monkey looks sad, please don't look too deeply into his eyes, because you will encourage his bad feelings." I think he meant that the monkeys will either become violent or they just won't leave you alone if you pay too much attention to them. Personally, I thought the monkeys seemed quite shy, because they would always turn away if you try to take a picture of them. However, they definitely become un-shy if you have food or something else that they want to take... While we were at the peace lake, one monkey stole a guy's souvenir and started running away with it.
The main part of the monkey temple is this Buddhist stupa and the smaller Hindu temple next to it. It was very impressive. In this picture, you can also see this guy who followed me around taking pictures of me (not very discretely). Once I started posing and taking pictures of him, he got embarrassed and stopped.
Around all of the Buddhist stupas there are prayer wheels. You're supposed to walk around in the clockwise direction and spin them.
Yesterday we went sightseeing around kathmandu, and here are some of the pictures. (Diana - I took a lot of myself, just to make you happy :-)
The next place that we went was a big Hindu temple called Pashupatinath. (Again, Paschupati is the name of the area, and nath means "a place to worship.") The view of the temple from the outside wasn't very impressive, and you're not allowed to go inside if you're not Hindu, but here are some of the decorations that were on the outside. The one on the left is Shiva, who is the main Hindu god. The other two are his sons, Ganesh (the elephant-faced one), and the less popular son who everyone forgets the name of.
This is a sign that I thought was kind of funny. I don't really have much to say about it. This is where the Hindu people could leave their shoes before they went into the temple.
This is the Bagmati river, which is right behind the temple. It's a holy river (even though it's full of trash), and the stands are where they cremate dead people. Keshav was saying that when a man dies, his son has to shave his head, dress in white, and light the fire. Once the body is burned, they sweep it into the river. For next 13 days, the son has to stay dressed in white. On every anniversary of his father's death, the son has to shave his head again (but doesn't have to dress in white). If the man doesn't have a son, then another male relative lights the fire. Women aren't allowed to light the fire.
After visiting the stupa and the temple, we went out for lunch. Nepali people usually eat dal bhaat 2-3 times per day, which is rice with lentil soup poured on top of it. Since we know that we will soon be eating dal bhaat every day, we decided to have momos. Momos are dumplings filled with either vegetables, chicken, or buffalo. People here don't eat beef because cows are sacred.
After lunch we went to Swayambhunath, which is also known as the monkey temple. This is a picture of the peace lake. For good luck, people try to throw coins into the pot or between the statue's feet.
Here is a monkey at the monkey temple. There were lots of them. I'm not too sure what he meant, but Keshav said "if you think the monkey looks sad, please don't look too deeply into his eyes, because you will encourage his bad feelings." I think he meant that the monkeys will either become violent or they just won't leave you alone if you pay too much attention to them. Personally, I thought the monkeys seemed quite shy, because they would always turn away if you try to take a picture of them. However, they definitely become un-shy if you have food or something else that they want to take... While we were at the peace lake, one monkey stole a guy's souvenir and started running away with it.
The main part of the monkey temple is this Buddhist stupa and the smaller Hindu temple next to it. It was very impressive. In this picture, you can also see this guy who followed me around taking pictures of me (not very discretely). Once I started posing and taking pictures of him, he got embarrassed and stopped.
Around all of the Buddhist stupas there are prayer wheels. You're supposed to walk around in the clockwise direction and spin them.
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