October 11, 2003
On my second day I went to see Swayambhou or in common terms `The Monkey Temple`. Not surprisingly it was full of sacred Rhesus monkeys snaching festival food from the still celebrating locals and playing around the Stupa and the praying wheels.
Since Nepal is a melting pot and a traditional trading route between two huge empires (China and India), its people are a mixture of Mongolian and Khaukasian groups and their religion is mainly a mixture of Hinduism and Buddhism to different extents. The tribes with Mongolian origin speak Tibeto-Burmese and the Khaukasian tribes speak Indo-Europien dialacts.
Up to here it sounds simple but then comes the tricky part: there are three main geographical regions in Nepal (the Himal, the Tearai and the Kathmandu valley regions) and each has different tribes of people with different mother tongues (but all speak Nepali as well). Not only these regions differ but within them you can distinguish between the eastern, the middle and the western parts. All together about 72 different dialaects.
So, with these festivals you never know to what extent they are Buddhist or Hindu. Bon (the ancient Tibetan religion) and Shamanism also exist althogh the two main former religions tend to overtake them.
The best moment for me was when I was allowed to enter a Budhist monastery nearby the Stupa with the ever-seeing eyes of Boudha. Tibetan Lamas were praying in their traditional way with a drum, a long pipelike flute and shells. Their low throatlike voice was amazing to hear live! :)) The very air around the place felt sacred and very peaceful. Unfortunatelly they soon finished and retreated to their private rooms. Nevertheless, I stayed for a little while until the experience lingered on.
After this, I went back to Thamel (the main tourist district of Kathmandu) and just stayed in my room feeling very lonely for some reason. :(