To join the Hindu sanctuary of Pashupatinath is to enter a world apart. To enter, you must first cross the sacred Bagmati River and leave the bubbling Kathmandu.

Then you have to take a little height. On the way, just turn around to discover the Kathmandu Valley which stretches out at the foot of the hill revealing its many colors.

To get your bearings, you can look for places to catch your eye. Here is the Bodnath emerging from the city.

But let’s continue to climb and crisscross between the many chaityas, these little chapels arranged like small islands of whipped cream.

At the bend of a path, a chapel allows us to remember that, regardless of where we live on this planet, we have all been marked by the Covid which has thus created a form of experience common to all peoples. .

At the top of the hill, you can see all the shrines and also the places where the cremations take place, by the river.

To enter Pashupatinath is to accept being led into another dimension. It means accepting to take the time necessary to understand what is going on there. It’s also an opportunity to let yourself go and give free rein to meditation and imagination.

Wandering through the sanctuary is an inner journey that will be punctuated by multiple encounters, such as coming across a sadhu feeding one of the many monkeys that live here…

… like coming across a monkey that has just pilfered from the cotton candy merchant, in no time at all.

Pashupatinath is both rubbing shoulders with death and letting yourself be carried away by the waltz of life and colors that arise from everywhere.

The sacred joins the modern, and it is natural that we stop for a few moments to take some shots of the Sadhus who live on the site… and who live from it, thanks among other things, to the offerings we leave them to take their picture!

And they lend themselves with pleasure to the photo which will be typical… or not.

Going down the stairs and heading quietly towards the ghats where the ritual baths and cremations take place means accepting to be disoriented and not to come out quite the same as when you entered them.

Here is the temple of Pashupati, with its golden double-roofed pagoda which dates from the 18th century and which, in all its majesty, dominates the other bank.

Here is the entrance, forbidden to non-Hinduists, but it is not forbidden to stroll in front, among the many pilgrims.

There is joy in living here…

… and it makes you smile, even if tired legs require a short break.

First meeting of a Sherpa woman… how not to remain a little taken aback and very admiring for a few moments?

Visit of the sanctuary finished, it’s back to the whirlwind of the streets…

… where all kinds of vehicles meet.

You can also choose, heading towards the Thamel district, to take a break in the « Dreams Garden » which is aptly named « Garden of Dreams »…

… and then enjoy another moment out of time, while staying close to the street, in the middle of the city.

Just enjoyed it !

Then we come out to meet on each sidewalk many merchants of pani puri, these little balls to stuff…

… and discover with amazement that Kathmandu is undoubtedly the largest store of trekking and mountaineering equipment in the world…

… with the largest range of colors available, for sale or for rent!

The Nepalese flag, so different from the usual flags, on sale everywhere…

…as well as a multitude of singing bowls.

The variegated colors found everywhere, in the temples and in the streets, as well as in the smallest stalls.

A confusing mix of beauty and accumulated grime. Perfection in the middle of the biggest clutter.

At every street corner the aroma of roasting corn on the cob.

Let yourself be carried away in a special atmosphere.

Be seized by the beauty of a sunset over a pagoda, right in the city centre.

Fall in love with the Tibetan market located at the end of the Thamel.

Accept to be surprised at everything or…

… nothing, except for the extraordinary kindness of the inhabitants.

And at the end of the evening, go for a walk to the Utse hotel, the first Tibetan restaurant to have opened in Kathmandu..

Here it is as it was in 1971.

And enjoy a delicious Tibetan meal…

… with the wellknown and famous momos.

The family that manages the place likes to pamper its customers… you feel carried away in a surge of benevolence.

Par Nathalie et Jean-Yves