DAY 149 - KATHMANDU

149) WEDNESDAY, 23 NOVEMBER 1977 : 0KMS. - KATHMANDU

 

We went to apply for entry visa at the Indian Consulate for our visit to DARJEELING, a special restricted area of India.  We had to wait for five days to get our passports  back.

In the afternoon we drove to visit PATAN (about 5 kms. away from KATHMANDU. It is an old city and the appearance of Durba Square (Palace Square) looks  almost the same as in KATHMANDU but it is more beautiful and not so deteriorating  like the one in KATHMANDU.   Unfortunately, the beautiful carved wooden pagoda and these old palaces were abandoned to a poor state.  I was amazed  and admired  the skill and efforts of older generations, seeing  such carved patterns  in the construction of these beautiful creations.  

Until present, I still see traces of the splendor of traditional art. They were neglected and  did not get enough attention, either because of lacking of money, etc. So it has been left  to decay over the time. The younger generations will  have no chance of seeing the genuine works but only pictures of them.  It made me thinking of the collapse of Pra Tat Phanom (in Thailand) many years ago.

PATAN was founded in the reign of King VERA DEVA in 298 A.D., with its original name of  LALITPUR.  In addition to the pagoda and the temple of the Hindu religion, there is also a Buddhist pagoda too. 

 SWAYAMBHUNATH - Photo : wikipedia.org / Google images search

We left  PATAN  almost dark and  drove  through KATHMANDU to the parking area the main entrance to the stupa of Swayambhunath,  located on a small hill.  It is an ideal place and very quiet. Fortunately, it was not  forbidden to park in the area and no one chased us away.