who has the vocabulary?

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not me
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i've come over all adjectival
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Bhaktapur

One of the most fabulous places i’ve ever been

And we so very nearly didn’t come here

After 3 nights up the nearby peaceful mountain resort of Nagarkhot ...where there was so much smog it wasn’t till we got down here and saw a tourist photo of it that we realised just how big and stupendous the view we missed is... high and white and variegated and Everest... bloody Everest... all smogged over ... bloody hell

Yet we saw none of it, though we liked the place and were only forced down here by lack of a currency exchange...

Here

Old city

10 bucks just to get in...

Here

Square after square

Street after street

Corner after corner

Ziggurats with temples/ stupas/ pagodas on top... with stepways up the ziggurats guarded by large lions and elephants and rhinos... or dogs and dragons and horses and lions and men and six-armed gods... the same pattern as Kathmandu Durbar square and Patan Durbar square.... not square, with a number of small temples and pagodas and shrines ... and high plinths... and statues ... positioned across it with some geometric planning... such a good-looking place most tourists seem to grin at the sight of it because it is so plainly special... and the old streets seem so eased... with their ancient awnings and shrines... and yet clean and ordered... well-kept and well-appointed... and much of it not old, 30s, 40s, after the earthquake ... and very good-looking to the relaxed passing eye wandering anywhere cos as soon as you get here you know you’re going to be here longer than planned and so it doesn’t matter where you go, and how slow you take it, and the main error could be speed... and where our hotel is right next the best square.... where, after sunset, the old men sing and drum and chant and chime bells... and so we’re in the heart of it, just by a small square with a stupa rising almost as high as our window, 3 minutes from everywhere but the farther eastern squares where we came in and we will soon, leisuredly stroll back to... past the fruit and veg sold from mats on the street side... the spuds and peas and cauliflower and chilli and onions and spring onions and tomatos... etc...

Ahhhh, the slow ease of it

the treasures in the powercut shadows

we're trying to leave, to get to darjeeling, but its a long way and it ain't getting any closer

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