Swayambhunath Stupa

I have to admit that I was pretty lethargic today. After arriving back in Kathmandu I dropped my stuff off at a cheap hotel, updated the blog, ate a big breakfast, and then laid around for a few hours. I still feel exhausted from the Base Camp trip. I got a lot of sleep every day and had a lot of naps, but I'm still tired as a dog.

This afternoon I walked to a secluded park called “Garden of Dreams”. In a nutshell the garden was created in the 1920's by a former King of Nepal, then got neglected and fell into decay for several decades, then was restored just a few years ago. Kathmandu is a pretty chaotic city and there are very few places that feel relaxing, but the Garden of Dreams is one of them. I spent a half-hour or so walking through the garden past statues of Hindu goddesses and baby elephants. The garden also has a few covered pavilions that are used to house cafes or just as places for people to relax. After walking through I really wished that I had relaxed there earlier today instead of in my hotel room, but it's no big deal. Maybe on my last day in Kathmandu I'll go back and just lay around on the grass for a while.
I went back to Swayambhunath Stupa today. I went there in 2007 and really enjoyed the place, but I think that I've seen so many Asian temples and stupas on this trip that the novelty of them has worn off a bit. It's funny, my impression of the place was completely different this year than it was last year. After flying in from India last year, Swayambhunath felt distinctly Buddhist. This time, after spending time in the Buddhist countries of Myanmar and Bhutan, it felt almost completely Hindu. In reality the stupa is used as a place of worship by both Buddhists and Hindus, but it was funny just to see how my perspective is influenced so much by whatever place I've flown in from.
Last year when I visited Swayambhunath the sun was just setting and the light was perfect for taking photos. Today the sky was cloudy and I wasn't so lucky. I figured that I took enough decent pictures of the place last year that there was no reason to try to take all new ones with crappy light. Instead I just wandered around the stupa and watched people do their thing. It's funny, last year I spotted three old monks wandering around at Swayambhunath and I tracked them down and took their pictures. Well today I saw the same three monks hanging out together. I wanted to ask for their pictures again just for kicks, but I thought that they might remember me and it would be awkward. I guess that when I'm concerned that the locals might recognize me then I should start getting more creative with the places I visit. I feel like after this trip I'll have seen a lot of Nepal and won't need to come back for a while. Last year I only had five days here and there was so much stuff I wanted to do that I felt like I absolutely had to make a second trip. Tonight, while walking past several discount travel agencies, I realized that there's not a whole lot that they offer that I haven't already done. Nepal is a great place and I'd love to come back again sometime and see some more obscure parts of the country, but I'm pretty satisfied with what I've seen already. If 'sometime' isn't for a lot of years, then that's alright with me.