City public transport is dirty cheap, but little buses and microbuses are junk and usually you travel in the crowd. The microbuses to Bodnath start from Ratna Park. My travel was bumpy, but cost me only 25 paisa – like 20 US cents. Bodnath is famous for great Buddhist stupa shrine – it is on UNESCO World Heritage list and they charge here 400 rupees entry fee – from the foreigners only.
Every time I am coming here I am enhanced by the theatrum I see: prayer flags, prayer wheels, people offering flowers, touching with respect holy statues and stones.
Most of the people praying here are Tibetan Buddhist – easy to recognize by the ladies stripped aprons. All of us (me too) were marching clockwise around the stupa several times. Then I climbed stairs to the upper gallery (you must take off your shoes here) and walked around again -enjoying the views, the patterns made of flowers and taking pictures with the friendly locals.
The pictures of the day (I think) is a little lady in the national costume with pigeons in the background:
It was another great day of my voyage. I returned to Thamel by foot – to save my backbone bad experiences on the bumpy roads…