Afternoon tea in the Garden of Dreams

 

We returned to Kathmandu with a couple of days left to explore.  On the afternoon we got back we decided to walk to The Garden of Dreams, which wasn't far from the hotel.  This is a neo classical historical garden, also known as the garden of Six Seasons which was created in early 1920. After the completion of this garden, it was considered as one of the most sophisticated private gardens of that time.  Within the garden walls are six pavilions, each dedicated to one of the six seasons of Nepal. Today, only half of the original garden is in existence. It was restored in cooperation with Austrian Government during the period of 2000 to 2007.

Peaceful Pokhara

We decided to spend the middle of our week in Pokhara, about 200 kms away from Kathmandu.  We took a bus from Kathmandu and it took a bit over 6 hours to get there, with stops for breakfast, lunch and a burst tyre!  Pokhara is the base for trekkers to the Annapurna Range, which contains 3 of the 10 highest mountains in the world.

Heading up to the Himalayas we caught our first glimpse of snow covered mountains in the distance.
We arrived in Pokhara mid afternoon and walked down to the Phewa Lake for something to eat.  We returned there for sundowners as well!  The lake is really beautiful.

The following morning I got up early to look at the sunrise.  It was spectacular to see the high mountains from the roof of the hotel which gradually turned from blue to pink as the sun came up.

We decided to walk by the lake after breakfast and then catch a taxi up to the World Peace Pagoda on the hill.  We first walked to the Kedareswar Mahadev which was beside the lake in a small park.

Even though we took a taxi up to the World Peace Pagoda there was still a bit of a climb at the end.   We had visited another Shanti Stupa before when we were in Leh (Ladakh).  The aim is to build 100 of these around the world. This is number 71 and was completed in 1999.

From there we walked down to the lake.  It takes about 30 - 40 minutes to get right down to the bottom of the hill and then we had to wait for someone to come across with a rowing boat to get us back to Pokhara.  I'm glad we decided to walk down - not up!  The rowing boat stopped at another small temple on an island in the lake, the Varahi Mandir.

We wandered back to the lake again for sunset - if you look carefully you can see the Shanti Stupa on top of the hill.

At times it got quite cloudy - so we had planned to go up to a viewpoint to watch the sunrise, but as it was cloudy we didn't go.  Generally, though, the views were lovely.

Temples of Kathmandu

On our second day in Kathmandu it was Holi.  We did try to go out to walk to the Garden of Dreams, but discovered that many people were throwing water and coloured powder, so we retreated back to the hotel to wait it out.  Later in the afternoon, when things were a bit quieter, we took a taxi to 2 temples on the outskirts of the city.

The first place we went was the Buddhist stupa known as Boudhanath. The ancient Stupa is one of the largest in the world and it's surrounded by about 50 Tibetan monasteries built by the influx of refugees from Tibet in the 1950s. As of 1979, Boudhanath is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The stupa was built on the ancient trading route from Tibet, and Tibetan merchants have rested and offered prayers here for many centuries.

We spent about an hour here, and then moved on to another temple complex called Pashupatinath. This temple is considered one of the sacred temples of the Hindu faith and since 1979 has also been a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

This Hindu temple precinct is a sprawling collection of temples and ashrams built over many centuries along the banks of the sacred Bagmati river.   Cremations take place on the banks of the river.  Only Hindus are allowed into the temple - visitors have to look at the main temple from the other side of the river.

New Year in Nepal

In India we always get a week's holiday for Holi - the festival of colours that marks the end of winter and the start of spring.  Holi is traditionally the Hindu New Year.   It's a pretty crazy time in India, so this year we decided to try our luck in Nepal.  We planned to fly to Kathmandu, spend a few days there, travel to Pokhara, and then back to Kathmandu again for the end of the week.  It was a lovely time to visit Nepal - the temperature was about 10 degrees cooler than in Mumbai.  Actually on the first day that we got there it was cold and rainy.

We walked through the muddy streets as far as Durbar Square.  It was immediately clear that there was a lot of damage from the earthquake 2 years ago, as some of the buildings had been completely destroyed.  Others were propped up or were in the process of being rebuilt.

Kal Bhairav (representing Shiva in his destructive manifestation) 

Basantapur Durbar - a 9 storeyed tower built in 1770.

Part of the palace complex

We went into the Kumari-ghar Temple of the Living Goddess, and then went back again at 4pm to catch a glimpse of her at the upstairs window.  She didn't stay long - someone had a camera and she quickly disappeared.

 

After Durbar Square we went to Swayambhunath, the "monkey" temple.  It was quite a walk up to the top - but there was a great view over Kathmandu.

Ho Ho Ho Chi Minh

I attended the Vietnam Technology Conference along with several other ASB teachers.  I was making a presentation there about sustainable innovation.  It was a long flight to get there - via Singapore.  I've been to the north of Vietnam before but never to the south, so I was keen to see how it compared.

Saigon South, where the conference was held, was quite a way out of the "downtown" area.  We stayed in a hotel downtown which meant we could walk to all the major sights.  These included the statue of Ho Chi Minh and the Notre Dame Basilica.  Some of the architecture had a definite European feel (as did some of the food).

But there were also other parts that were very reminiscent of South East Asia, for example take a look at this woman who has set up her entire shop (selling pop-up cards) on the back of her motorbike.  Not quite Thailand - most of the pavements were very wide, well maintained, and clear of people selling things on them - and so definitely very different from India.

One of the most moving things we did there was to visit the War Relics Museum.  Outside the museu in the yard there are various pieces of military equipment, for example helicopters and fighter planes and bombers.  Inside there are several rooms devoted to photography showing the impacts (even right up to the present day) of the use of Agent Orange and napalm, as well as photography of various war atrocities such as the My Lai massacre.

The War Remnants Museum is close to the Independence Palace (also known as the Reunification Palace).  It was the home of the President of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War, and symbolized the end of the war and the fall of Saigon in 1975 when the North Vietnamese tanks crashed through its gates.  We took a walk around the outside of the palace, before heading off to the market to go shopping.

New art in Bandra

There's some great new art popping up around S.V. Road in Bandra.

Not so boring Bahrain

I came to Bahrain for 2 days for a NESA PD Meeting.  I arrived early on the Saturday morning so had most of the day to myself before meeting up with some of the other members of the Ed Tech leadership group.   Once I'd dropped my bags at the hotel, I set off for a morning wander through the souk.  On the way back I stopped and took a photo of the World Trade Centre (quite an amazing looking building)

The hotel courtesy car took me to the Bahrain National Museum which is full of great interesting art and other exhibitions.

It was also possible to take a boat from the museum to a local fort at Bu Maher.  On the way there was also some lovely art.

I met up with these IT teachers from Bahrain and Pakistan and they went with me on the boat to Bu Maher Fort.

 

It was great to have the opportunity to visit this country - though a weekend was just about enough to see most things!  I spent the last evening I was there hanging out at the Movenpick by their pool, before heading back to the airport.  It was a great weekend!