At One of the Durbar Squares

There are a few Durbar Squares in and around Kathmandu, Nepal, but here is the one close to the tourist/traveler district of Thamel, and the city's old town section.
I should mention that the self-taught guides here are ferocious and wildly persistent.

The Bhairava statue - looks like a Hindu version of the Tibetan Buddhist fierce protector deity.




Some amazing carvings here. Your guide will joyously point out the carven depictions of tantric sex scenes. My lens just didn't have enough zoom, so you'll have to either look for the pornographic details with a magnifying glass, or else do a little exploring.


The courtyard of the Kumari, a pre-pubescent girl who has been selected as a living godess. She lives in the second story with a number of maids/attendents, who see to it that her feet never touch the ground. There is more on the Kumari at Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumari

A gurkha guard.

The siva-linga (read: phallus) within the Siva Temple.

EVEREST!

Any traveler worth his/her salt these days takes the bus from Lhasa to Kathmandu (or versa-vice), an intrepid, wild journey that takes a few days. Due to my 'budget deal' with the China International Travel Services office in Golmud, I received the ridiculously bare-boned Tibet travel itinerary of 'GOLMUD - LHASA - BEIJING.' My guide found this itinerary quite laughable.

Because of the minimalism of my itinerary, it would have been risky or impossible to go overland to Nepal, but totally kosher to fly out. Taking the flight was hardly an intrepid travel maneuver, and yet it offered a view of the world's tallest piece of rock: Mt. Everest (seen here peeking out of the clouds).


Incidentally, Nepal has two small tourist airlines, Buddha Air and Yeti Air, which run mountain flights to Everest and back. It sounds dangerous to me, but the price is reasonable (around $150 US).