Lost in Time at Changu Narayan

Our initial plan was to hike to Changu Narayan from our hotel but midway through, we thought better of it (chickened out?) and decided to just take a bus to the Tharkot junction and then do the 1.5-hour walk to the temple.

After waiting for 1hour just for a pancake at the AC restaurant (it wasn’t even good enough!) located in the town junction we went to the bus station but it is still another 30 minutes till the next bus so we decided to walk part of the way and catch the bus later on…

It was a nice, refreshing walk peppered with stories about previous travels, our personal life stories, and the exercise of simply talking to a complete stranger is so free-in and wonderful!! So cathartic! No talk about the office politics, about pressures from work, etc…..the ultimate holiday break!

After about 30 minutes the bus passed by and we hopped in for a 10-minute ride to Tharkot. I am so out of stamina for even a short trek! Good thing I did not go for any treks or else I will just embarrass myself! On the way to Changu Narayan village, we walked past tiny picturesque villages and met some smiling beautiful Nepali kids playing around. The Nepalese countryside is just so astounding!

Changu Narayan

Amazing! Straight out of a postcard! The village is just so compact and so pretty. I cannot believe there are still villages like these left in this modern world. Pang-Nat Geo talaga siya.

It is also listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and you have to pay 500NPR for entrance fees (a huge hike from the 100NPR fee listed in the LP guidebook) which is quite expensive but after walking around you be thankful of having the chance to go around places like these, no matter the cost. Truly, this is like a living museum and I am walking right through it.

The village is just made up of a few traditional houses with a brick-lined street cutting through the middle and at the end it goes uphill towards the temple. There are some thangka and traditional masks shops lining the street towards the temple entrance.

Despite the ancient village look, I found some familiar sights……the rooster and San Miguel Beer! Reminds me of home….hahahaha especially the rooster!

From the entrance (with the pragmatic message), when you enter the temple courtyard you are immediately transported into a world of statues and carvings dating from the Licchavi period between 4^th and 9^th centuries.

One example is the carving reliefs of a ten-headed Vishnu and Ananta, the stone slab is now broken but our “free” tour guides (we met some locals who gamely explained to us the history of the place) told us the story about the carving that it is divided into 3 different sections depicting the underworld, the world of man, and the heavenly world.

Marianne is such a good travel buddy, her ways to find a bargain or haggle for a discount is really great! Hahahahaha such a pro! I need to learn a few tricks from her.

After a late lunch of fried chicken momo, with the amazing backdrop of the village scenery…..it is time to go and part ways….Marianne is heading out to Bhaktapur and will be walking the 30-minute trail through the villages. Me? Ever the lazy one, I took the bus to Kathmandu! Hahahaha Bus rides here is so cheap. For a 1.5-hour ride, I paid only 40NPR which is about half a dollar or 20 pesos! Mas mahal pa an motor pasingod sa Lanang! Hahahaha

Time to go back to the noise and pollution of Kathmandu…..