Kathmandu and the Valley

Three weeks of temples, river ghats and dust, in the last of the autumn light.

November 2011

A tiered red temple rising off its stepped plinth above the square, people sitting along the top step

A low temple with a red cloth valance under its eaves, a white dome behind it, people resting on the platform

A narrow brick alley with washing hung from the windows, a cow standing while someone crouches beside it

Down at the river the whole day happens on the steps: washing, offerings, cremations, monkeys working the gaps in between.

Two people laying out an offering on the ghat steps beside green river water

A dark carved wooden doorway in a brick wall, someone in red laying an offering on the step in the lit courtyard beyond — The temples are lived in: an offering at one door, the afternoon sat out on the steps of another.

Two sadhus sitting on the steps of a stone shrine in hard midday sun, one with a long white beard — The temples are lived in: an offering at one door, the afternoon sat out on the steps of another.

A bridge over the low river, temple roofs on one bank and a row of white shrines on the other

A row of pale stone shrines on a terrace, tall pines rising behind them

Two orange-painted stone figures either side of a post, Ganesh on the left and a kneeling Hanuman on the right

A whitewashed votive shrine with a lattice door and a weathered dome, against a pale sky

A brick shrine with a carved stone doorframe and a soot-dark dome, the valley dropping away behind

A hillside of stone shrines stepping up between trees, a path and steps running through them

Shrines crowded under a big bare tree, one man in a white shirt walking the path between them

Three sadhus in saffron robes sitting on a shrine step, faces painted, one raising a hand mid-sentence

Macaques moving across the brick terrace among the shrines in deep tree shade

A bright red painted shrine built into the base of a cliff, a wheel of dharma above the door

A macaque sitting on a ledge with its infant, a white shrine beside them

A river running white through banks of rubbish, town and temple roofs in the haze beyond

Long lines of prayer flags strung down a wooded hillside to a monastery below

Looking up at the great white stupa, prayer flags radiating from the gilded spire across a blank sky

A monk in maroon walking the base of the stupa past a marigold-covered shrine

Washing spread along the wall of a village bathing pool, women in the water at the far end

A brick gateway with a blue gate and a small white stupa behind, coloured bunting overhead

A string of marigolds hung across a mossy stone water tank

A carved stone lingam on its round base, scattered with marigold heads and white petals

The city spread flat across the valley floor in the haze, ridges layered behind it

A wide dusty crossroads at dusk, buses and motorbikes silhouetted under a deep blue sky

Bhaktapur on a festival day. A band comes through the square and everything else stops to let it past.

Two people standing in the shade of a temple eave, looking out at a white shikhara temple in the sun

A man cycling past the stepped plinth of a white temple, sky hard blue above it

Steep temple steps flanked by pairs of stone guardians, people climbing past in red and grey

Men in topi hats processing through the square, one carrying a drum, another swinging a mallet — A wedding band coming through the square.

A man in a patterned topi playing a brass shehnai, cheeks full, crowd blurred behind him — A wedding band coming through the square.

A man leaning on a stone grinding wheel in a courtyard, dyed red cloth drying on the roof above

Traders packing baskets of vegetables at the foot of a shrine guarded by stone lions

A brick street shrine stained deep red with vermilion, plants growing from the roofs above

A dark stone stupa at the end of a narrow lane, a carved white house front catching the sun beyond

A crowd of women in red sitting out on the ground under bunting, food being handed round

A striped canopy over a water tank, the reclining stone Vishnu heaped with cloth and flowers beneath it

The reclining Vishnu lying in the tank on a bed of coiled serpents, covered in marigold garlands

A hand setting light to an offering on a red-washed stone platform, flames going up pale in daylight

The same tree from further back, the whole canopy above the roots and the shrine below

A shrine completely swallowed by the roots of a great tree growing over it

Grain and nuts spread to dry on mats in a yard, a woman in red standing over the work

A shrine under a cliff hung with faded prayer flags, a white stupa and offering bowls in front

A fruit stall on a bicycle parked by a white shrine at a bunting-strung street corner

A carved stone deity laid flat and covered with red and yellow flower heads

A street of concrete and brick buildings in low sun, motorbikes parked along the near side

Out to the gorge, where the valley drains. Water everywhere after that: tanks, ponds, shrines standing in it.

A white stupa and stone shrines at dusk, prayer flags fanning out overhead against a darkening sky

A river breaking white over rocks below a road, wooded hills rising on both sides

Prayer flags strung across a narrow rock gorge above the river

The inside of a temple hung thick with brass bells and offerings, a lamp burning at the shrine

Ploughed fields in front of a village, the sun coming over a long dark ridge behind

A still lake with a single tree on a spit of land, lilies across the near water

A small stone shrine standing submerged in a shallow green tank, brick wall reflected on the surface

A deep blue-black pool under overhanging trees, a line of cloth strung across it

A red-roofed shrine behind railings crowded with trident offerings, two people standing at the gate

A quiet white temple courtyard, three men sitting talking on the plinth, washing laid out to dry

A cow crossing a riverside terrace in front of an old brick house, a man walking on ahead

A whitewashed building with a tin roof standing over a yard of small stone shrines

A three-tiered wooden temple seen straight on, carved struts under each roof, empty in the sun

A shrine standing in a village water tank under bunting, a woman in red carrying a load down to the edge