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).

The Last Dance

I will conclude my photo-documentation of a trip to Lhasa with this evening view of the Potala Palace.

Sera Monastery

The Sera Monastery is one of the big three monasteries in the history of Tibet. Just outside Lhasa, snuggled up against the hill slopes, Sera has only one tenth the number of monks it once had. (This proportion, one tenth, seems to be consistent for all the monasteries around Lhasa).


The wheel of life. Try not to be reborn as a hungry ghost, an animal, or a denizen of the Buddhist hell!

The Tibetan snow lion!

The young monks of Sera engage in debate sessions in the afternoon.

The tourists engage in monk-watching sessions in the afternoon.

The Norbulinka

On a set tour schedule in Lhasa, your guide will most likely take you to 1.) Potala Palace, 2.) Jokhang Temple, and 3.) Norbulinka - the former summer palace and park grounds of the Dalai Lama. In fact, it was from the Norbulinka that the Dalai Lama and his family fled, after dark, one summer evening in 1959. They left in secrecy, all wearing disguises, so that when the People's Liberation Army began shelling Lhasa a few days later, they still assumed that the 14th Dalai Lama was in residence at the Norbulinka. A shot even landed on his personal quarters - was it a carefully aimed shot or a stray shot? one might ask.

Here is the former summer residence of the 14th Dalai Lama.


The elephant, the monkey, the rabbit, and the bird: an allegory of friendship.


A hot water apparatus. I saw these all around the city of Golmud, in Qinghai province, and was delighted to see one on in the Norbulinka as well.

Some Interesting Specimens of Tibetan Cuisine

One of the more singular items was raw, spicy yak meat. The raw meat has been pureed: it has a very pink color.

I also dined on yak tongue, but unfortunately didn't take a picture...

This item is deep fried and filled with ground yak meat. It is remarkably similar to the Mongolian hushur (though this latter snack employees mutton).

Almost every foreign visitor seems to sample Tibetan barley beer. Reactions differ, though I liked it, especially the barley aftertaste.

Explorations of side streets will be rewarded with views of traditional food stalls. Here, yak butter is for sale.

Crystallized honeycomb laid out on the street.

Girl Running in the Water Show

Opposite the Potala Palace in Lhasa has been constructed a huge, stately square. At night a massive water show begins (at around 8:30pm, if I remember correctly), with tremendous water jets squirting into the air in time with classical airs, or traditional Chinese and Tibetan tunes. I can't say that it harmonizes perfectly with the Potala and its other surroundings, but the show is certainly entertaining.

Here is an action sequence of one Tibetan girl making a mad dash through the water show.