This picture is of a long line of mini-temple-like structures with the same small "statue" inside. I don't know what these might be. Actually, I do know what they “might” be but don't know what they are.
Cremation takes place with the same indifference to the people around you that are not part of what you are doing that you see with everything else.
You can't wait for a quiet moment for none will come so you just get on with what needs to be done. As the funeral pyre is built the family males, wrapped in white and bear chested, help out. Once the body has been set alight, the family withdraws and a fireman keeps things going. We reeds keep the wood from burning too fast and not consuming the remains.
The gates of the main temple at this site show Vishnu (in blue per usual), Ganesh (elephant) and Hanumant (monkey).
Later we saw this bull, it was hardly able to stand up even though it seems pretty well fed. It moved a a sloth-like pace.
Next we visited a Buddhist shrine. An important one but I forget which. People's homes and businesses come right up to the edge of the shrine. No green space here.
Most of the shops are in the tourist trade. I was impressed by the quality of the stuff I saw in Nepal. It really looks locally made and pretty much on religious themes.
The woman is praying. She has wooden skates on her hands that allow her to prostrate herself in an easy sliding motion.
From that position she slides back into child's pose. There was something like the Day of the Dead going on at the time so lots of people were visiting the shrine as a family group.
The workers were white washing the temple. This guy is mixing the white wash.
There is a style of painting called Thangka. They are mandalas in exquisite detail. Just in case anyone is interested, the really nice ones, all in gold, are $1000.00
We could only admire, yet again.
There is a constant consumption of farm land by housing. It reminded me of what they said about the Mayans; that they used all the best farming land for building and eventually couldn't feed themselves.
A three story house is for a nuclear family; anything bigger is for several generations of the same family.
We left Kathmandu and headed for Baktapur. Temple complexes are one of the few places you can get away from motorcycle traffic
What is interesting is that these complexes, which appear to be everywhere, are part of people's daily lives since for many people, this kind if open space is the only open space available.
This is a nice wooden carving that I enjoyed looking at.
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