Monday, March 26, 2018

Mary Beth and I skipped the opportunity to take a flight over Everest this morning- not because it cost extra but because we'd have to leave for the airport at 5:30 AM!  The road between our resort and the airport was one of the worst because most of it was under construction.  We happily slept in.

Today's itinerary included the former royal palace- unfortunately, cameras were not permitted.  It had a very sad history.  In 2001 the crown prince, a spoiled young man who lived high off the hog and was a drug abuser, massacred 9 members of the royal family (parents, siblings, a pregnant sister-in-law) before shooting himself. The king's brother was out of town and escaped so he was named king but the monarchy was dissolved in 2008.  The king left the palace and it was immediately turned into a museum.  It's frozen in time- furniture is from the 1950s or so.  Not an inviting place- it's all formal with a lot of tiger skins and other remnants of game animals.  The current party in power is Communist- they have huge support from the very poor in the villages.  They just took over recently.  Interesting times ahead.

Later in the day we visited the cities of Patan and Kirtipur.  Unfortunately, I'd left my cameras on the bus during a bathroom stop, not realizing the bus would go on and we'd continue on foot.  So, I borrowed this picture from Mary Beth taken at one of the most interesting points.

This is the Living Goddess, venerated by both Hindus and Buddhists.  More information is available at this link about her significance and about how a new one is selected.  When a Living Goddess reaches puberty, she is said to have lost her divinity and is sent home to live with her family.

We visited the current Living Goddess, after taking our shoes off and having water poured ceremonially over our hands.   She anointed those who wanted it (I did not participate)- you had to kneel, and then back away afterwards.  We learned that the Living Goddess does get an education, but after she loses her status she pretty much returns to an ordinary life.