Exploring Nepal's Ancient City of Bhaktapur

The place where you buy animals to sacrifice and they're eating dogs or they're sacrificing dogs and we started like freaking out a little bit. Today we are exploring the ancient kingdom capital city of Bhaktapur. So this is Durbar Square of Bhaktapur, kind of one of the main squares, one of the main tourist areas of Bhaktapur. And this area was hit especially hard in the 2015 earthquake, as you can see behind me they're still rebuilding. And even before that this area was devastated by an earthquake in 1934, which destroyed a lot more buildings than the 2015 earthquake. So these statues of Urgachandi and Bairab here used to guard this entrance to what used to be a courtyard that was destroyed in the earthquake of 1934. An interesting thing about the artisan who created these sculptures, unfortunately his hands were chopped off after he created these wonderful pieces of art so that he could not duplicate his artwork for somebody else. So the entry fee is 1500 rupees per person and to catch a taxi over here from Tamil cost us 800 rupees. They really were trying to get us for like 1000 or 1500 but we found a guy who would take 800. So Bhaktapur is one of the three ancient kingdoms in the Kathmandu Valley. It's the biggest and most well preserved. The other two are Kathmandu and Patan. And the thing about Bhaktapur that a lot of people don't realize is that it actually is a city. It's much more than Durbar Square, there's actually several squares and in order to experience all of it, it would take several days if not weeks. So most people come here for a quick day tour or half a day tour and they see just a very small fraction of the amazing architectural and cultural wonders of this city. One of the things that Bhaktapur is known for is the ornate wood carving and details that you'll see around the temples. Most everything is made in these old bricks and you can see a lot of walls still being held up by these wood beams that got destroyed or almost destroyed during that 2015 earthquake. So this is a 17th century water tank where they used to practice ritual immersions here and it's surrounded by these cobras. The water used to flow out of this elaborate spigot here, but there's no knob to turn it on and off. It used to just flow all the time and then go into the pool there, but you can see as the water table has dropped that the water's not flowing anymore. Not only is it an environmental problem, it's also causing disruption in this cultural place here with this history of water flowing in. And actually there's several of these all around Kathmandu where the water just does not flow anymore. Also back here is Teluja Temple. Non-Hindus are not allowed to enter, but they have some ornate wood carvings over the top of some Hindu deities and stuff like that. And that actually is the entrance to Mul Chok, which is the oldest part of this area. Built in the 1500s. From the outside it looks really cool, but you can't go in and also can't film it. Can't photograph or film it. The Siddhi Lakshmi Temple here. It's built in the 17th century and the style that it's built in is common to northern India. You can see the steps leading up to the top. Have both male and female figures on both sides guarded by dogs. It's pretty interesting, but what I find interesting is that it's built in that northern Indian style. It really shows the diversity of influence, no doubt because of the trade route established between Tibet and Nepal that really influenced this particular area in medieval times. So this temple you can see was absolutely devastated in the 2015 earthquake. It's interesting to see they pieced back these elephants piece by piece and you can see kind of the grout joints on the elephants where they cemented them back together. You can see there's stacks of new bricks waiting to rebuild this temple here. Interesting side note, one of the things that contributes to the extremely poor air quality in the Kathmandu Valley is the manufacturing of bricks. So it kicks off this particulate and combined with burning garbage and burning wood as a fuel source, it really makes the air in the Kathmandu Valley super dangerous and it just kind of settles down into the valley. This is luxury, this is handmade. Handmade? Yes, sir. It's quality. No, this is handmade. This is non-metal. Non-metal. Yes. Very nice. Mandala. Very cheap price. Thank you. I don't have room in my bag. I can't bring it back. Yes. This is souvenir one. Yes, souvenir. It's beautiful. Very cheap price. Very cheap? Yes. How much? Rupees and dollars. I'm not going to buy it. I'm just curious how much. Rupees. How much? Rupees. 4,000 rupees. 4,000 rupees? It's too much, man. How much you got for you? I don't want it. If you want price. I don't want it. It's very nice though. It's very nice. Yes. Different sound. Very nice. This is non-metal. Yes. How much you got for you? If you want price. I don't want it. No 4,000. I have to go. My wife is walking away. Thank you. You ask your wife? I ask my wife. She doesn't want it though. Happen to see some blood on the ground here of this temple. Fresh blood from a recent animal sacrifice. Supposedly, I had heard those were outlawed but apparently not. Superstition is very strong in Nepal. Animal sacrifice has played a role in religious ceremonies for thousands of years. Even before Hinduism and Buddhism came to the area. The old ancient religions of the area practiced animal sacrifice. Most people, when they talk about destruction from the earthquake, they reference all the temples but like I mentioned earlier, this is a city and the entire city faced a lot of destruction and a lot of rebuilding still going on. You can see just piles of bricks that used to be ancient buildings everywhere. A lot of these housing structures were just as old as some of the temples that were destroyed. The peacock window is described as one of the most important cultural treasures in all of Bhaktapur. It's been described as the Mona Lisa of Nepal. It was carved in the 15th century and it shows a type of woodworking artisanship that can be seen all around the Kathmandu Valley. So this is the Navagirda temple here. Every year they have ceremonies where people will perform these ecstatic dance rituals wearing masks and they're said to be possessed by the spirit of Navagirda. After the ceremony, the masks are cremated as part of the ritual where the spirit leaves the body. So we came across this sign with animals on it, cows and chickens and goats and there was a picture of a dog on there. We didn't understand what it said because it was written in Nepali and having already seen the blood from that animal sacrifice at the temple, we were thinking this is maybe like a butcher shop or a place where you buy animals to sacrifice and they're eating dogs or they're sacrificing dogs and we started freaking out a little bit. Went down the alley to investigate and turns out it was like a pet store, like a pet supplement store where they're selling supplements for your dog and your cow and your chicken so that turned out much better than I expected. So known for a lot of artisanal goods here, especially pottery and they actually have a potter's square south of Durbar Square. Well that's it for Bhaktapur today. Plenty more coming from Nepal. If you want to visit Bhaktapur, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I know I haven't mentioned that before but I hope I have given you enough of a taste to spark your own interest in exploring this part of Nepal. Get out there, find your adventure and be infamous. Infamous.