Bakhtapur

Surprise! Bakhtapur has a Durbar Square too. It was the third one we saw in as many days. Curiously, they are all different. They're all great, but Khatmandu's is the most cluttered. Patan's is more well-arranged with a great museum. And Bakhtapur's is the most open; no squeezed-in feelings here. Unfortunately, this is partly due to a great earthquake in 1934 which destroyed many temples and buildings.


Bakhtapur -- Durbar Square	Durbar Square

Sun Gate, entrance to the Royal Palace	Detail of Sun Gate

Naga Pokhari

Inside the Royal Palace complex, there is a water tank which has a stone cobra (naga) around its sides.

While John and Anan visited the palace, of which there isn't really much to see, since the museum was closed for the holiday, Siv waited in an arcade at Durbar Square. We stuck our heads in the lovely courtyard of the Tadhunchen Bahal, formerly a caravaranserai, a rest house for pilgrims.


Waiting Siv	Court of the Tadhunchen Bahal

Stairs at Siddhi Lakshmi Temple	Second square

In the second part of the Durbar Square is the Siddhi Lakshmi Temple, which has a curious stairway leading up to it. On each side of each step is a statue of an adult, a child and an animal.

We then walked down to Taumadhi Tole (another square), site of the five-story, 30-meter high Nyatapola Mandir, the hightest temple in Nepal. The temple is quite impressive, both from approaching streets and from the square.


Nyatapola Mandir

Poultry market	Ducks for sale

As we were there, people were selling and buying chickens and ducks in one corner of the square. It was a festival, after all.

The we walked down and around to the Potters' Square. We had never seen so many pots in one place in our lives. All over, people were preparing pots and cooking them under piles of straw and old ashes, to hold in the heat. It was nice and warm there!


Potters Square	Preparing pots for cooking

Cooking pots	Nepali kids
	Lots of pots

As we were walking back through Durbar Square, we met a group of young Italians playing with a frisbee. Nepalis and tourists alike stopped to watch.

Bakhtapur was much calmer than either Kathmandu or Patan. We really liked it. After seeing it, we drove straight on to Dhulikhel.

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