Happiness only real when shared

It is while waiting for the kids outside to shout “the light is back!!!” that I write on my macbook about the day that I spent in Bhaktapur, waiting for the www to be back into my room. I left Bhouda at around 9.30 on a local bus to Chabil (20 rupies: 20 euro cents). From Chabil I took a very very packed bus to Bhaktapur but on a half of the way I was feeling sick of that ride standing in the packed with no oxygen bus so I had to get off (30 rupies: 30 euro cents). I found myself in the middle of a dusty Arniko way, and had to wait 15 minutes for another bus – this time I could seat – to get me finally to Bhaktapur, the medieval town better preserved, this is what they say on tourist guides and that made me curious to go. The way from Bhouda to Bhaktapur takes around one hour.

Once off the bus I found one of the several gates where I had to pay a ticket of 1100 rupies: 11 euros to get inside the city. One man suddenly came close to me asking if this sexy lady needed a guide, having seen me doing the payment at the counter all alone because I had previously said to Sangay: “you go before me so they don’t ask money to you as well”. Strange but true, I still don’t know if they ask money only to people from non-saarc countries or only to white-face-blonde-hair looking people. I had to look the man very bad for a couple of times and avoid any answer (I would have been too harsh then) before he understood that someone was waiting for me some meters ahead. And then I found myself in the middle of medieval Bhaktapur. The most fascinating thing I know about this city is that it is geometrically designed into the Tantric fabric shaped Shree Yantra and has its historical origin back to 7th Century. It took about one hour to walk all the city and I have to say that it is really beautiful....It took about one hour to walk all the city and I have to say that it is really beautiful. The only thing I really did not like are the local people with a stalking-following attitude towards your pocket money trying to sell you crap things or offering some guide: a very very bad habit for such a well known and well preserved city. In Durbar Square I could admire the golden door made in 1754 by King Ranajit Malla. At some point I saw few white-face like me looking tourists all gathered under a Temple pagoda, outside on the street; so I looked up and I saw some medieval porn very well preserved and this is what you can get – I suppose humanity does it all the same way – not many changes from the middleage to our days.After three hours walking around Bhaktapur I was feeling quite tired and I managed to go back to Chabil and I also found a seat in the bus from the beginning of the ride, very well. On the way back I could see in the long distance and with some city dust all around, the shape of the biggest mountains of the World and again it came to my mind the frenzy to go to Everest Base Camp or to climb up whatever very high mountain, like I often do in my dreams. Dreams in my pockets I was back to Bhouda and went to eat some cheese-momos in a restaurant that I know and the worst that can happen to you there is to find some dead little fly in your food. Fair enough. I managed to save the life of an ant there. Our friend Karma came to see us to bring one book I really want to read and then we went to see the Bhutanese doctor of Tibetan traditional medicine in Schechen Clinic, to say hello and maybe to put him in contact with Simona for Kali’s future trip to Europe. Kali is the little dog Simona that rescued in Pashupati temple at the end of August. The dog is fine now but has to quarantene after all vaccines before leaving for Europe. So we need someone to bring the dog to Europe and maybe the doctor, who goes often to Switzerland, is our man. I am also very happy to meet him today. On the way we also meet a very very happy and smiling Khempo and after buying too many bananas and spare them among friends and beggars, we went our way back home. I also saved the life of a fly who went to sip some sprite in the glass but was drawing down there. And now the light is back and I can eat for dinner a new vegetable bean-like that I never had before, and ema (Bhutanese red chili) and rice.