Our tour of Nepal ends in the capital city, Kathmandu. It’s a time for reflection on this fascinating and beautiful country that sits at the top of the world. Together with my trusty and tiny Ricoh GR, we have journeyed through Kitipur and Patan, visited Madhypur, Thimi and Bhaktapur, explored the Kathmandu Valley from Sanga to Nagarkot, and examined the scars from the disastrous 2015 earthquake.
This is a truly diverse and fascinating destination that should be high on the list of must-visits once the Covid pandemic is finally over. “Heaven is a myth, Nepal is real” is a maxim that is, without doubt, fully justified.
Sadly, this is the last article of the Nepalese series and, fittingly, it ends in Kathmandu, one of the three former Newar capital cities together with Patan and Bhaktapur.
With a population of 1.5m, the city is the largest in Nepal and has grown dramatically since the hippies descended on the then 120,000-strong population in the 1960s
The city proper began to develop in the 10th century, but the Kathmandu valley is supposed to have been populated as early as the 9th century BCE. Kathmandu was seriously affected by the 2015 earthquake, and some of the royal buildings were damaged.
At an altitude of 1,350 metres (4,430 ft), Kathmandu is surrounded by the foothills of the Himalayas in the east and north, while some hills rise on the south side of the city. The location tends to exacerbate pollution, making mask-wearing in busy streets a good idea. Nowadays, though, that’s a normal state of affairs in most parts of the world.
Nepal’s holiest river, the Bagmati, flows through the city. Leaving the plane and the airport, this thriving city is an assault on the senses, with the noise of car horns, the smell of exhaust fumes and the flashy colours of some of the women’s clothing. The traffic is as hectic as that in any Asian capital city.
Perhaps for that reason, the capital one of those cities that is best explored on foot.
Everyday life
Our base was just outside Thamel, the former hippie district that features most Western food restaurants and souvenir shops that sell articles that are not so genuine. Fortunately, it’s easy enough to avoid this area.
As soon as we stepped out of the hotel, we would stumble on a traditional butcher’s shop and, sometimes, a vegetable seller. Not far away, one of the best Tibetan restaurants offers momos (a sort of vegetable-stuffed ravioli) which formed part of our staple diet. The other part was dal bhat, Nepal’s national dish of lentils and assorted vegetables with spices.
If you want to escape main roads, the streets often open to an archway leading to a courtyard, hiding a farm or a school. After asking for permission, we were invited to a school dance competition. It was pretty amazing how the children cared for the others, arranging their friends’ outfits or hair.
Back on the streets, you pass either small grocery shops and street vendors selling fruit directly from their bicycles or four-wheel carts. Traditional buildings are still standing next to more modern ones but appreciating the Newari architecture as you wander in the streets was a repeated pleasure that happened on every street corner.
At the time of our visit, the Durbar square in Kathmandu was quite affected by the earthquake, and many buildings had collapsed or were heavily damaged. However, we enjoyed the sight as the square was crowded with many pilgrims and locals there for the Maha Shivratri (a religious festival to honour Lord Shiva) that was to take place the following day.
The heart of the city
Asan Tol is the real heart of the city. That’s where most Kathmandu inhabitants go for their shopping. There are no shops for tourists, and this is an added delight. You can buy anything from cooking utensils, whether made of copper or iron, along with Himalayan salt or fruit and vegetables. The funny thing about Himalayan salt is that it is sold in big chunks, so different from the type we buy in the western world. It’s a wonder how they can break these big chunks.
The most extraordinary shops are the ones selling cloth for saris. The embroidered cloths on display are an explosion of bright colours. A great part of the area on main and side streets are filled with these shops, and they appear always to be busy with customers.
If you venture under the archways behind the main streets, you discover the heart of the old city where people go about their business, be it drinking masala tea (the Nepalese version of the Indian chai) or washing clothes or a motorbike or simply playing a local version of billiards. These backyards often house small temples and religious statues.
Religious life
Apart from Lumbini, where the Lord Buddha is supposed to have been born, Kathmandu hosts Nepal’s three most important religious monuments. Most Nepalese are Hindus, but the Newars often practise a syncretic religion that mixes Hinduism and Buddhism.
Pashupatinath is Nepal’s most important temple dedicated to Pashupati, the incarnation of Lord Shiva. It is often considered as the Nepalese version of Vanarasi. Although the temple was rebuilt in the 17th century, the original date back to as early as 400 BCE.
According to Wikipedia, this “extensive Hindu temple precinct” is a “sprawling collection of temples, ashrams, images and inscriptions raised over the centuries along the banks of the sacred Bagmati river”. The temple along the river is used for cremation. Ashes of the dead are thrown into the Bagmati river, which is as sacred as the Ganges in India. The temple is absolutely huge, and you must first climb a hill studded with smaller temples before descending to the river. The atmosphere is quiet initially but becomes more and more hectic as you approach the water On your way, you can find families on pilgrimage or sadhus living in the temple. The religious fervour is truly amazing.
Bodhanath is probably one of the world’s best-known stupas. It was built in the 14th century and ranks among the world’s largest. Since the annexation of Tibet by China, many Tibetans have sought refuge in Nepal, and the surrounding area includes around a hundred Tibetan Buddhist monasteries. Viewing the stupa, surrounded by a Tibetan village, is a mesmerising experience.
Circling the stupa, you’ll meet Tibetan pilgrims coming from all over Nepal. Looking at their traditional clothes, you would almost believe you are in Tibet. Pilgrims walk around the stupa, turning the prayer wheels, and seem happy to be photographed. A peaceful atmosphere reigns, and you can stay for hours just looking at people.
Swayambhunath is the other important Buddhist site in Kathmandu. According to legend, Kathmandu Valley was a lake. A lotus, from which a blue light faintly radiated, floated in the centre of the lake. The light was a representation of Swayambhu, the primal Buddha. When Manjushri opened the mountain with his magic sword, the lake turned into a river and freed the ray of light. The 2000-year-old stupa was built at a high point north of the city, on that exact location. Some Hindu shrines are also to be found within the precinct. The place is popular among Buddhists and Hindus.
The Ricoh
All my travels in Nepal have been captured on the little Ricoh GR, a wonderfully compact, practical and competent camera for the dedicated traveller. It is so small and that the burden is insignificant.
I kept the same settings with the Ricoh GR: Positive Film (available in RAW and JPEG), 400 ISO at f/5.6. It proved a great camera to capture the beat of this amazing city where lay and religious lives intermingle. I mostly used single-shot spot-mode using the well-tried and reliable method of focus and recompose. The 28 mm equivalent lens proved invaluable in tight situations while cropping to 47 mm for a narrower view was just a press away by pressing the Fn button. That said, most of the shots were taken at the wider angle.
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Mon anglais est trop mince. mais ce que j’ai pu lire ici et plus loin me paraît très construit et perspicace. Un beau travail de reporter. Utile à tous. Les photographies sont solidement justifiées .
bonsoir,
je ne répondrais pas en anglais. j’essaye de construire mes articles et la sélection des images prend également un certain temps et doit coller à l’article. Au Népal je suis revenu avec plus de 2000 images, énormément de photos de rue, de temples et cérémonies religieuses. certaines répétitives il en reste 800 après sélection. celles ci ont été faites avec un réglage film positif qui convenait parfaitement à la couleur du pays. je ne sais pas s’il y a un tel réglage sur le K10D mais ça vaut le coup d’essayer sauf s’il y a du vert. Sur le Ricoh on peut shooter en raw et garder ce réglage. ça marche comme les simulations de film sur les Fujis. Allez voir les articles de Farhiz Karanjawala et John Shingleton sur ce site, il y a de superbes images et textes.
j’ai oublié de mentionner si vous rechercher des articles sur l’Asie
Thanks Andrea for your kind comment. I like the 28m FOV and the 36mm equivalent on the X2. It covers most of my photographic needs. I sometimes venture to 50mm but that’s pretty rare.
Jean, this was a beautiful article, with excellent photos! It Is really fantastico what you manager with a single Lens camera!
Thanks Kevin for your kind comment. Red is the colour of bricks which are used for most of the houses in the country. Most saris are red, pink or orange and the colour the Nepalese use to adorn statues is red as well.
The Ricoh positive film mode (available in jpegs and DNG) enhances reddish hues. I’ve noticed it here in Normandy as well. My wife shot vivid mode in Nepal with another GR and that reddish hue is not as pronounced. I’ve also noticed that the positive film mode enhances microcontrast on the GR and adds a slight grain to the images which is quite pleasant to my eyes.
Converting some images in B&W I’ve got deep and profound blacks.
Jean
A very enjoyable article Jean, thanks. I thought about how the Ricoh dealt with the red colours and then, after a while, wondered why red is such a frequently used colour in Nepal. Can you shed any light on that?
I like the way you capture the gestures which add so much to the story. Looking forward to reading your future articles!
Kevin
Thanks Farhiz for your kind comment. Taking images of people here in Europe is more difficult, at least for me.
Hope you won’t be affected by the virus in your country as the reports we have down here are pretty alarming.
It’s my X2 fifth birtday so I think the next article will be X2-centered. I still have Bali, central Scotland, Andalucia and Thailand in store for later articles plus some more home or camera-centered ones. I find it difficult to keep to an article a month discipline while working.
Keep safe
Jean
A fitting end to your Nepal travels, Jean. Even though your little Ricoh let you get real close to the action you must be having a lovely knack with people, making them comfortable with your presence so that they continue doing whatever they were doing.
Now where are you taking us next? I know I want to head off to the north east again. But first me and the family have to shake off the virus that came knocking on our door. Lucky for us we had had our shots and the attack was mild compared to some. Keep well.
Thanks William for your kind and always encouraging comment. If my memory is good McCurry shot Nikon in his kodachrome days. I’ve seen his recent images taken with the Leica SL2 but I must admit I’m not so keen on his recent images for which he chose much more muted tonal values but I guess it’s a matter of personal taste as I like punchy images.
As for travelling my wife would like to travel in Europe once Covid is over and there are plenty of places on our wishlist, which I’m sure will offer plenty of colourful photo opportunities.
Jean
Lovely photos and a great sense of place. As well as the religious side of life, which is ever present in that region, you have captured the everyday aspects of life, including work and play. And those reds and memories of McCurry, who is now doing a lot of promotional work with Leica, even though he used other types of camera for his most famous work. That ‘no photo’ taboo was also ever present in the Middle East and I was occasionally asked to delete images. It was possible to work out was and was not ‘haram’. For example, my wife was able to take photos of young girls reading the Quran, but I could not. The strange thing is that when you are in such countries such taboos seem to be very natural.
Well done Jean and you are tempting us to travel again when Covid is under control. The news coming from the Indian sub-continent is not good at present.
William
Thanks Wayne for your kind comment. The Ricoh is a great little camera to travel with. Crossing roads wherever in Asia is frightening at first but once you’ve understood they are not going to knock you out it is much easier.
Enjoy the weekend
Jean
Thanks Jean for putting your Kathmandu memories together for us. Your images convey the wonderful nature of the people in that fascinating city. And the GR provided you with an excellent little unobtrusive machine to capture those images. Non-threatening.
Having been there a couple of times an abiding memory is how to cross the busy roads = be downstream of a local pedestrian, cross when the local does, look straight ahead, stay on the shoulder of the local, and don’t alter pace (just like the local). The traffic just finds its way around pedestrians like a fluid stream. Nerve wracking until you get used to the procedure.
Your memory of crossing the road reminds me of a moment I witnessed years ago. A couple of middle aged ladies, probably on their first visit to India, rocked back and forth balancing themselves on the narrow divider of a busy road in Connaught Place. One said to the other, “Half-way there, dear, half-way there.”
Just proves that in your retirement, just do photography ! Your photos always leave me wanting more. I looked up that Nepal Chronicles, something else to follow, thank you! I wish the Hindu and the Muslims in that region would practice that syncretic model maybe it would lessen the hostile environment in the region. I don’t know where the colors are more vibrant ! Thank you, jean
Thanks John for the kind comment. I will follow your piece of advice for retirement. I’d like to improve my skills in landscape photography.
Enjoy the weekend
The partnership between you and that little camera is – once again – awesome!
Thanks John for the kind words. The Pentax Ricoh cameras are very good ones.
What an amazing adventure and collection of images Jean. I love the colours, the people and the wonderful backdrops.
You clearly have that knack of getting up close and personal with the people, and the little Ricoh produces some cracking images.
Thank you for an enjoyable pre-weekend read.
Thanks Dave for the kind comment. Don’t risk to get too close to picture people down here. I’ve done it a few times and was asked to delete the image in the best cases. I almost had my Leica broken once. I guess i have to learn how to shoot from the hip.
Enjoy the weekend
Jean
More fabulous street photography in a fascinating location. The pictures are great at capturing people in their everyday lives. It really makes the place “come alive” for me. Yet another place I must now add to my list of must-see countries. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks Richard for the kind comment. Nepal is indeed a great place to visit for its people.