16 de noviembre

last(?) day in kathmandu, this lovely and crazy place i don't particularly feel like leaving... but hey, the show must go on.
so i come out with jari to the bodnath stupa, which lies about 8 kms northeast of the center. it is a beautiful and peaceful tibetan enclave and buddhist shrine, so clean and so quiet. none of the wild turmoil and decay of hindu holy places.
bodnath was built by that same king tsongtsen gampo who built the potala and jokhang in lhasa. it contains, so tradition says, a bone from the buddha sakyamuni himself. here, for ages, tibetans have come as they start on their way to lhasa, or as they come back, either to pray for a safe journey, or to give thanks for one.

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on the way back we stop by pashupatinath, which is the most important hindu temple in nepal. as with most hindu temples in nepal, one cannot enter the main shrine itself, which is reserved for hindus only; it's fine by me, gut it is a clear symptom of the exclusive, rather than inclusive, nature of hinduism. the temple is on a bend of the river where the forrest grows wild and monkeys abound. it's only a twenty-minute walk from bodnath and the vicinity makes the contrast all the more remarkable.
now i'm back in thamel the crazy multicolout babylonian light-show, relaxing with a drink after another strenuous but formidable yoga class. it was my last in kathmandu and so i said good-bye to vikram, my teacher at the holistic yoga ashram. he's quite young and very good-natured, and boy this man can bend!