Bhaktapur

Last Thursday, Lava, one of my colleagues at READ Nepal, took me to Bhaktapur, where he was born and raised and still lives to this day. Bhaktapur was another of the three kingdoms in the Kathmandu valley, before King Prithvi Narayan Shah unified Nepal in late 1700's.

So just as Kathmandu and Patan, it has its impressing Durbar Sq and Royal Palace and several incredibly beautiful temples and monuments. The entire old town has brick pavement, donated by Germany, which gives a very distinct appeal to the town, very, very pretty and charming.

Siddhi Lakshmi Temple, Chyasilin Mandap, King Bhupatindra Malla Statue and Vatsala Durga Temple at Durbar Square in Bhaktapur.

Golden Gate and 55 Window Palace, Durbar Square, Bhaktapur

Siddhi Lakshmi Temple

Shiva and Krishna Temples, Durbar Square, Bhaktapur

Some of the interesting sites to visit are the Pottery Squares, I visited two of them one in the east side and another, more famous and larger, south from Durbar square.

Pottery Square, on the east side of Bhaktapur

Pottery Square, south from Durbar Square, Bhaktapur

The impressive, and highest in the valley, Nyatapola Temple is breathtaking and the view from the top of its plataform is amazing!

View from the top of the Nyatapola Temple plataform, Taumadhi Tole, Bhaktapur.

My friend Lava, on an alley leading to Taumadhi Tole, where is the Nyatapola Temple, in Bhaktapur

Nyatapola Temple, Taumadhi Tole, Bhaktapur

Another attraction at Taumadhi Tole is the beautiful Bhairabnath Temple.

As if all these sights were not enough to make me fall in love with Bhaktapur, as we walked in one of the main streets of the old town, I came across a shop proudly showcasing the Brazilian soccer team uniform... that sealed the deal!

Officially, Bhaktapur rocks!!!

My little Nepalese friends

These are my two little neighbors, Shraddaha and Sandhya. They also live here at READ office building.

They are really, really cute! The funny thing is that only since last weekend they became comfortable around me!

It is a shame that I am leaving next week...

Here they are with their mother, Gita.

This is Sandhya, she used to hide behind her mother every time I was around. Now she comes to my room, sits at a chair like a grown up and make beautiful drawings in my notebook.

This is Shraddaha, she was always more outgoing, but lately, we became really good friends, she teaches me Nepali words and I teach her English words. If I had been practicing like this since I arrived in KTM, I would probably be speaking a much better Nepali...

I will miss these two precious girls when I go home...

Another great week followed by great weekend...

I had another great week working with READ Nepal. My project is going well and I am learning a lot with READ staff and volunteers. During the week I have been so busy that I have no time or energy at the end of the day to enjoy KTM. Lots of work and, the best, having fun with it! No doubt this has been a very special and rewarding experience. And time is going by really fast... specially now that my return is getting close...

READ Nepal Team

Over the weekend, I went to Basantapur with Chetan and Julie. Basantapur is the neighborhood where Julie lives, just south from Durbar Square. We first visited Kathe Simbu, one of my favorite stupas in Kathmandu, a relatively peaceful place between Thamel and Indra Chowk.

Kathe Simbu

From there we went to see the night market in Durbar Square and to a rooftop bar to see the sunset while drinking an Everest beer. After the beer and nice conversation, we met Julie's nepalese family and had dinner in a Newari restaurant close by. It was a great evening, not only because of the many KTM's attractions, but specially because I was in really great company!

Hanuman Dhoka and Basantapur Square

Julie and Chetan

Durbar Square and Basantapur Square, Kathmandu

Julie and I

Sunday, I went shopping, after all it is almost time to go home and it is now or never... so, following Sanjana's suggestion I went to the Bead Bazaar at Indra Chowk to buy bead necklaces. It is overwhelming, so many choices, all so beautiful, I was just like a kid in a candy store! After the necklaces, some pashminas and cute stuff for Raquel and my niece, Luiza.

(me fez lembrar os velhos tempos, indo na Feira da Av. Afonso Pena aos domingos para comprar bugingangas... bons tempos...)

Bead Bazaar, Indra Chowk

The streets were busy, as usual, and from time to time I had to stop and take pictures, hoping that they will help me never forget this amazing summer...

Shiva Temple, Indra Chowk

Seto Machhendranath Temple


Colorful and busy Indra Chowk


Asan Tole


From Asan Tole to Indra Chowk

Asan Tole

A visit to Patan

This weekend I visited the city of Patan. Instead of taking a taxi, bus or tuk-tuk, I decided to walk. This way, besides the workout, I could also get to see some of the neighborhoods in Kathmandu I haven't had the chance yet, like Dilli and Bag Bazaar and Singha Durbar.

Walking around Kathmandu is always very interesting but my favorite day to walk is Saturday, because it is holiday there are few cars in the streets and less pollution.

The town of Patan is just south of Kathmandu, across the Bagmati River. It is the second largest town in the valley and it has amazing buildings and temples! My guidebook said more than 600 stupas and 185 bahals.. obviously I did not have the chance to see all them or check this information...:-)

I entered the town thru the footbridge at the Gaths of Sankhamul. Although it is a footbridge, animals, motorbikes and bikes take much of the space in this bridge, taking pictures and enjoying the scenery can be very dangerous...

Ghats of Sankhamul

From the footbridge to Durbar Square, I could see several stupas, temples and bahals. Among them the Northern Ashoka Stupa ( there 4 Ashoka stupas, one in each corner of the town) below. Ashoka was a famous Buddhist emperor, who ruled around 250 B.C.

Uma Maheshwar Temple

and Kumbeshwar Temple, one of the valley's three five storey temples. All of them very beautiful!

A little farther, I arrived at the impressive Durbar square. Truly beautiful!!!

Royal palace

Gorgeous wood carvings on Vishwanath Temple
Khrisna Mandir and its Garuda Statue (Garuda is the man bird that is Krishna's vehicle)

Entrance to Vishwanath Temple

I just loved the architecture and town of Patan, it is less crowded than Kathmandu and it has endless buildings and scenes to appreciate.

Naga Bahal, one of the many courtyards with hitis (water tanks) in Patan

Besides the fancy and famous temples, there are small and unpretentious temples everywhere I go... I love them and I like to observe how much they are a part of the Nepalese life.

Patan Dhoka (Gates of Patan)

On the way back, I crossed the Bagmati river on the main access Bridge, then I was back to the hectic traffic and crowded streets. This is what is fascinating about the Kathmandu valley, the scenery completely changes from one neighborhood to the next..

I walked past the National Stadium, Thundikel Parade Ground and Ratna Park arriving at the beautiful Rani Pokhari. To recharge the batteries I ate lunch in a nice Japanese restaurant in Sherpa Mall at Durbar Marg. I was so lucky that it only started drizzling when I was almost home, after a 17 km walk.

What a great way to spend the Saturday!

Ratna Park

Rani Pokhari

Another great experience

Since I came back from the Regional Meeting in Nagarkot, I have been very busy with the preparation for the three day training I had planned to provide to READ Nepal staff and volunteers. The training was scheduled for July 6th, 7th and 8th. ( so yes, today was the last day!)

We discussed marketing, web and newsletter design, digital story telling, video and photo editing. It was very challenging to prepare a training so broad and encompassing so many different and interesting topics to be delivered in just three short days... It was hard on me and on the trainees, to endure long days and a lot of content in this July heat...I hope they were able to learn new skills that they can readily apply in their work.

I have learned much from this experience! And I am very grateful for the opportunity not only to share some of my knowledge and experience but also to learn from this very special group of people. I feel blessed!

Now it begins a new (and the last) phase of my IPSP. I am amazed as how fast time goes by, in 21 days I will be going back home...I know I will miss KTM and I am starting to feel the pressure to enjoy as much as I can while I can...

READ Regional Meeting

This past weekend I participated in the first READ Regional Meeting. The meeting was in a hotel in Nagarkot, Nepal, and gathered staff members from READ Nepal, READ India, READ Bhutan and READ Global (the umbrella organization).
Nagarkot, located 32 km from Kathmandu, is one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited and the Hotel Country Villa, where we stayed, is nestled in the mountains overlooking the Himalayas. Unfortunately, for the 3 days we were there, the entire region was filled with a heavy fog that prevented us from seen the mountain range in all its majesty.

The meeting was very productive and represented a great opportunity for READ members from different offices to get to know each other. Besides having workshop sessions from 9 am until around 6 pm everyday. There was also time for fun activities such as walk to a nearby village (coming back uphill to the Hotel we all got a ride on the back of a truck, it was such a great time!!!)

and a presentation of local Shamans.

I also had the opportunity to do a very brief Marketing presentation and share with the entire team some of the topics that I plan to discuss with READ Nepal next week.

After the sessions on Sunday we all came back to KTM for some sightseeing and a lovely farewell dinner, at Nepali Chulo ( Chulo is a traditional Nepali oven). During dinner, which in the traditional Newar style had several delicious courses, we enjoyed several folk dances, such as the peacock dance, and even a yeti "impersonator"... (kind of scary sometimes... but lots of fun!!!)

It was the perfect closure for a really great weekend! Who says work can not be fun!?!