We have a day in Kathmandu before we leave for home. We decide to start the day at Swayambhunath, the monkey temple, which gave us wonderful views of the city after we climbed its 365 steps. It was a trip down memory lane for me, since Sandi, Maggie and I visited this temple together back in 2001, when Maggie was a little girl of 7 and we were living in Singapore.
As we entered Kathmandu Derbar square we started to see throngs of women, of all ages, dressed in red, on line to purchase offerings and dancing in groups in the square. Today turns out to be "the festival of the women." The hallmark of this festival is that women come together and dance in groups. The dance is unique - while the women dance together, the dance is individual, not coordinated. As I think you'll see in the video, the women seem to be appreciating themselves on their special day. This culture puts a big burden on women, so having at least one day to celebrate themselves seems like a good idea to me!
After being in throngs of women for 40 minutes or so with loud music and quite a bit of shoving, I needed to, well, have my head examined...watch the video:
Then we did some shopping. Since we three guys were on our own to shop (and we couldn't really consult any of the women around - they were busy) we may have made some questionable purchases.
Left, the monkey temples main resident, right, the stupa at the top of the steps
Kathmandu (just a small part of it), seen from the monkey temple
Buddhists believe that prayers inscribed on wheels spin off into the universe when the wheels are turned.
As we entered Kathmandu Derbar square we started to see throngs of women, of all ages, dressed in red, on line to purchase offerings and dancing in groups in the square. Today turns out to be "the festival of the women." The hallmark of this festival is that women come together and dance in groups. The dance is unique - while the women dance together, the dance is individual, not coordinated. As I think you'll see in the video, the women seem to be appreciating themselves on their special day. This culture puts a big burden on women, so having at least one day to celebrate themselves seems like a good idea to me!
After being in throngs of women for 40 minutes or so with loud music and quite a bit of shoving, I needed to, well, have my head examined...watch the video:
Then we did some shopping. Since we three guys were on our own to shop (and we couldn't really consult any of the women around - they were busy) we may have made some questionable purchases.
I was tempted...
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