Nov 28-Feed the Birds, Rupees a Bowl, Rupees Rupees, Rupees a Bowl…OR…

The Day in Nepal where I Got chased by a heifer

We met in the lobby this morning at 6:00am to go to the Durbar Square Market. This is also the palace of the Kumari (the young girl chosen to be the vessel for a goddess until the child reaches puberty). It is said to be very good luck if you see her. 

We traveled by rickshaw again. 

Notice the dishwashing soap bottle? That’s the horn…sounds like a duck! We saw numerous rickshaws with bottle horns. Clever hack!

It was about a mile to Durbar Square. We got bindis on our foreheads. Durbar Square has many small temples. The reason we went so early was to see the people praying, and the market vendors. 

Bindis

There was a vendor making fresh deep fried saucer shaped rounds of deliciousness. Bhola got us all one. Soooo good!

Heather enjoying.

We wandered around for awhile. 

Bowls made from leaves. 

This guy was grooming this dog with what looked like a key. The dog was in heaven!

The Kumari’s palace. 



Reconstruction from the earthquake 



So many birds! You could buy a bowl of corn to feed the birds. Immediately started singing the “Feed the Birds”song from Mary Poppins. 

Heather called me over to where she was standing. I went over and saw this. 

Random calf. After I took this photo, he decided I looked like a good scratching post. I kept pushing him away, but he kept pushing up against me. Finally, Bhola stepped in to distract it while I ran and hid behind Sean. 

Instead of taking rickshaws back, we walked (it wasn’t that far). It was cool walking past all the vendors. 

Spices (Makaela bought a bunch)

Peppers. 

Need any shoes? On sale…500 rupees (about $4)

I really love all the color. 

Another little temple. 

This was a bit of a rough road. 

We made it back in time for breakfast. No banana fritters like yesterday, but vanilla waffles. Now we had until 2:30 before we leave for the airport. I went out to spend my final 4000 rupees (walking back from Durbar Square I had bought  a yak wool blanket for 1000 rupees, and two little locks that a Napali man finally convinced me to buy. Actually, I really wanted them for my grandkids. They were 500 rupees each. I’m sure he thinks he wore me down, but I really wanted them from the beginning).

I wanted another yak blanket. I found a big one, and also a pretty blue shawl for 1500. I had 1500 left. I had seen felted wool slippers. Now I just needed to find them again…

When I leave the hotel by myself, I make sure I remember which way I’ve come from. Usually, I go left, and make only left turns (then only right turns to come back). I went left, but wasn’t finding the shop where I had seen the slippers. I can back, and went right from the hotel. So now, only right turns. Eventually I did a loop, still not seeing any. I broke my rule, and went left down another street. Finally, I saw a shop with the slippers. Got a pair of red ones that fit, spending my last 1500 rupees. 

I made it back to the hotel. Jeff came down and said he was going to do a little shopping. I asked if I could tag along just for something to do. He said sure, so we went in search of some clothes for his daughter and girlfriend. I think I was, maybe, helpful. 

We went to lunch at Jeff’s favorite restaurant, The Roadhouse Cafe. We had delicious mushroom and truffle oil pizzas. 

Now, I’m just waiting until we go to the airport. Earlier, I heard music outside. It was this band. 

It’s been quite the experience here in Nepal. I will miss my new friends, especially my shopping buddy, Heather. But, it’s not over yet. We still have to fly to Doha, Qatar, spend 13+ hours at the airport, then a 15 hour flight home.