Happy Christmas 2012

Happy Christmas to you all.  Where should I go next year?

Some of the last photographs on my camera

It is amazing that there is any power at all  in Kathmandu with wiring like this.  

Are these tomatoes or chillies?

Ginger, but not sure what is on the left...

Radishes - ate them on most days

,

Yet another butcher shop selling wild boar

The stupa at Boudhnath, one of my favourite places to visit 

                                                            
                                                                   

 Pilgrims walk  anti-clockwise, around the stupa daily and  rotate  the prayer wheels
as they chant their mantras.

Now back home in Yorkshire.  Unfortunately brought home the dreaded Asian tummy bug as well as so many very special memories.   Will update photographs of my time in Kathmandu tomorrow. 

More Kathmandu Colour

 

 Street vendors in Kathmandu can be irritating but this lady from Kathmandu was charming and beautiful.   She had good English although had never been to school, and said she thought she might be 80.  I could not resist buying one of her 'coral' necklaces which were exactly the same colour as her shawl. 

One of the myriad number of beadshops in the city - and sensible tourist with smog mask

Marigold garlands similar to those made for me by the children

People and places in Kathmandu

 

Durbar Square




The woman in front of this statue was making an offering of a marigold and waving an incense stick



Rickshaw is probably the fastest and safest way to get around the city



Amazing face painting and extraordinary headgear.  This sadu tried to explain the meaning of his headdress but sadly I didn't understand a word he said

Terracota elephants  over a shop doorway



 

This is why the flight to Kathmandu was delayed yesterday.   I spent an extra hour at the lodge waiting for the cloud in the valley to lift and eventually left at about mid-day.  There are worse places to be held up.

 

And now to the bustle and chaos of the city.   This was one of the first sights to greet me in Kathmandu.  Is is really a wild boar?