We woke up at a reasonable time and took a taxi to the northern part of Kathmandu where the Bangladesh embassy is. On the way, we stopped at a cafe for some breakfast. The food last night was alright.. But this food was freaking amazing! This is the food I thought I was going to be eating when I came to Bangladesh. I love Shati's cooking so much but she cooks a lot of American foods, not so much cultural foods. I have also found that Bengali food is generally pretty bland, but they throw chilis in like crazy and that is supposed to be good enough for flavour. This cafe had naan STUFFED with slices of garlic, chick peas curry, dhal, and an amazing tofu dish. Oh my goodness. I ate until I was soo stuffed and reeking of garlic. The cherry on top is that my slight sore throat went away with all the garlic I ate :)
We headed to the Bangladesh embassy and after filling out the form, I was told by the receptionist that there was another option that I hadn't been offered before. Instead of paying $51 for a single entry, two month visa, I could pay $100 for a multiple entry, three month visa! Unfortunately, I didn't bring enough US cash so we have to go back tomorrow and apply but if we get the visa in before 11am, I can pick the processed visa later in the afternoon on the same day! Awesome eh?
Outside the embassy, we hesitated as we pulled out our Kathmandu map and attempted to ask which way to Pashupatinath temple. Apparently it is one of the most famous temples in the world. It's not just one temple, it's maze of many many many Hindu temples. In other words, it's absolutely incredible! But more on that later. First, I should tell you that we had help. As we were looking at our map feeling utterly confused on how to get from Point A to Point B, a young guy looked over our shoulder and asked us if we needed help. When we explained where we were going, he said he knew the area, was heading that direction and offered to show us how to get there. He helped us get on a city bus (taxi's cost about 200-300rupees while city buses only cost 10rupees) and navigate towards this huge temple. On the ride over, we found out he is a Christian guy in his third year of medical school.
When we got off the bus in the general area around the temple, we all said thank-you and were looking for our way when our Christian friend started walking with us. He ended up spending FIVE HOURS with us, explaining what different things signified, and helped us get the local price (or close to it) for souvenirs. Elliot and I weren't allowed into the actual 'sanctuary' part of the temple because tourists aren't allowed, but Joe and our new friend went in and got busted about 20feet in lol. So we spent about an hour and a half wandering around the hundreds of small shrines and temples set up around the grounds.
HIGHLIGHT: I've officially seen my first monkey, up close and personal, and not in a zoo! In fact, there were like 30monkeys traveling all in a group! No joke, we have photographic evidence! They ran all over the temples, climbing roofs, running up and down the streets. It was sooooo cool!
Also at Pashupatinath temple, they are famous because this is a major site they do body burnings. I have a picture of the next body wrapped and ready to be burnt on a platform. It's pretty gruesome but I guess in the Hindu belief system it's important. We also got some pictures with old yogi men painted from head to toe and chilling next to a shrine. These guys were intense... lol I'll show pictures later when I'm not so tired! :)
After spending a lot of time at the temple and the surrounding temples and shrines, our friend took us to Boudha which is a big Buddhist temple. Our friend had to go for a while, which in my mind meant that he was leaving for good but he said he would come back and find us. We walked all the way around the temple a couple times. This temple is really cool because it has little rolly balls in the wall that surrounds it and you can spin them as you walk by. I guess each time you spin the balls it sends up a prayer of good luck or something. We took a ton of pictures on the temple itself and then went to a nearby restaurant for some dinner. As we were just finishing our meal, we spotted our friend walking across the top of the Buddhist temple! He had been looking for us!
On the way out of the temple, we stopped by the road because there were tons of "North Face" puffy puffy jackets being sold. Our friend got them down to 600rupees (about $8USD) and now I am warm! lol I call it my "South Face" jacket but I really don't care--that's how warm it is!
Josiah headed back early to the hotel because he wasn't feeling well and our friend volunteered to take us to the Monkey Temple. It was still daylight, lots of people were around, and this guy seemed really nice. He helped us get on the bus towards Monkey Temple and it started to get dark on the way so he suggested that we head back towards our hotel. We had to take two buses and one extremely overcrowded van but that transportation was still 100x better than anything you could take in Dhaka. Elle even fell asleep on the bus it was so comfortable--and everything smells sooo good here! Yay for incense!
Anyways we got back to Thamel (the tourist hub where all the hotels are) but Thamel is HUGE! We wouldn't have known how to get back but this guy stopped and asked how to get back. He walked back with us in the dark to make sure we got back safely, didn't ask for a dime, said thanks for letting me hang out with you guys, and then asked us if we wanted to come to his church on Saturday! We got his number and are definitely going to check out his church. I can't believe it. He was such a God-send!!!!
I'm really excited to go to a Christian church because I've seen Buddhist, Hindu, and Muslim worship but I really haven't seen Asian Christian worship. At the orphanage, it's a American-style church, complete with singing the Doxology every week. We told him we didn't have any church clothes but he said that didn't matter--all that matters is that you have a good heart. Seriously, we were so lucky to find this guy!
there's more to tell but for now I'm going to run...
ami tomake bhalobashi!!
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