After about a five hour walk, we finally reached Namobuddha, a fairly pokey Buddhist temple sitting isolated atop a hill. The temple marks the spot where the Buddha was wandering about Nepal and came across a tiger about to eat a child, and the Buddha offered up his own flesh if the tiger spared the child (to end the suspense, the tiger spares both). It's quite a beauty spot, and the day we came there was some community festival, and we had a bit to eat and drink with the celebrants. All in all, a great day out, but one last word of warning before you set out. The word Circuit in Namobuddha Circuit is misleading, since once you get to your destination, your only choice is to retrace your steps all the way back to Dhulikhel.

Don't worry, there are still plenty of temples in Patan for me to talk at length about. This one, the Golden Temple, is probably the most famous, although it's not easy to find. On a typical street lined with crumbling brick houses, a small pathway through one of the houses leads to this courtyard, which is almost completely taken up by the temple. In addition to making the temple look like it's fighting for space, it also makes it hard to photograph. It's a Buddhist temple, with a convenient rope hanging from the top to allow the gods to slide down from heaven to answer prayers. It was built here in the twelfth century when the king had a dream that a famous Buddha image wanted to be housed in a place where mice chased cats. Lo and behold, the king saw a golden mouse chasing a cat here the next day, and the rest is history. So this temple is probably a direct result of the ganja pipes being prepared by the priests at the palace. To this day, mice and rats are allowed to roam freely at the temple. Apart from the rats, the other reason this is a big tourist attraction is the wealth of detail and fine artwork inside and outside the temple.

One other difference between the two is that Swayumbhu feels ancient and eternal, while Boudha feels like a boomtown. The ancient temple is surrounded by new buildings, with more coming all the time. First monasteries were built for the Tibetan monks, then guesthouses for pilgrims, followed by tourist hostels and obligatory rooftop restaurants. These shiny new buildings take some of the patina off the site, and the presence of families, school kids etc. living all around the stupa makes it feel more like a community center than a holy place, although the whole town always resonates with the sound of chanting monks.

You can see the Tibetan exiles spinning the prayer wheels are quite distinct from the locals in dress and appearance. Speaking of differences, spinning a prayer wheel here is equivalent to saying the prayer on the wheel 11,000 times. Not an apples to apples comparison, but it seems that Swayambhu's ability to magnify a meritmaking act there 13 billion times would trump the Boudha multiplier effect.

This ancient Buddhist temple built on a hilltop, served as a landmark along the Kathmandhu to Tibet trade route. Today, it serves as the nexus for the exiled Tibetan community. It's basically the same look and story of previously visited Swayambhu, so I'm tempted to just write "ditto" here. But I do love to ramble, so I'll keep going. As you can see, the same set of glowering eyes look out in all directions from the enormous stupa, one of the largest in the world. While both Swayambhu and Boudha attract large Tibetan followings, the temples also serve the local Buddhist population. Nepal's ethnic makeup is very complicated with scores of different tribes and clans. So the main reason there are two nearly identical temples relatively close together is that Swayambhu served the Buddhist Newaris in Kathmandu, while this temple was for more rural tribes.

There are several major temple complexes on the outskirts of the city, the most important of which is the Buddhist temple of Swayambhu. (It's referred to as the monkey temple by tourists for obvious reasons). The temple sits atop the highest hill in Kathmandu, so you get great, though very smoggy, views of the city as an added bonus. The temple is reached via a very long staircase up the hill. It's been a place of worship for 2000 years, so lots of smaller temples and memorials have grown around it, but pictured here is the main stupa. The somewhat creepy eyes are a manifestation of the all knowing Buddha, and are an easy way to identify Nepalese temples.