page 2
travel supplement
frlday, february 17, 1978
Freak Street to temple
East, West meet in Katmandu
-i . ... . a
4'
By Rex Henderson
Katmandu.
The name rings of the exotic, of ancient, ornate
temples and mystic rituals. Although the city is now a
regular stop on the 15-day whirlwind tours of the east,
it is still as exotic as it sounds.
Katmandu is the capital of Nepal -a nation the size of
North Carolina, wedged between India on the south,
west and east, and China to the north. For centuries
Katmandu was the crossroads of trade routes that cut
through the tropical forests in south Nepal to India, and
through the mountains, sometimes by rope bridges, to
Tibet.
According to Robert Stoddard, a UNL associate
professor of geography who spent a year in Katmandu
on a Fulbright grant, western influence is confined to a
few blocks in the downtown district. Just around the
corner in the Orient
There are two pockets of westernization in Katmandu,
according to Stoddard. In downtown Katmandu, western
hotels and restaurants offer a haven for tourists.
On Freak Street young 'western people spend their
days hanging out and taking advantage of inexpensive
drugs in the city. Katmandu lies just west of the opium
producing Golden Triangle and in the heart of the hashish
producing Himalayas.
According to Stoddard, tourists can "play it safe" by
eating and sleeping in the expensive western' hotels. But
for the adventuresome, or die poor, native food and
hostelries are much cheaper.
Stoddard said a native restaurant near where he lived
in Katmandu served a multi-course dinner for only 50
cents a person.
As for sights, on a clear day, six of the highest moun
tains in the world are visible from the city.
To the northwest the Himalchuli lifts itself to 25,897
feet. Further east the Annapurna II towers to 26,041
Northeast of Katmandu the Hindi holy mountain, Gauri
Sankar, 23,443 feet high, hides Mount Everest.
Katmandu lies in the temperate Katmandu valley
between the forbidding wall of mountains to the north
and dense tropical rain forest to the south.
It was never a part of either the Chinese-tibe tan culture
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or the Indian culture. The people, culture, and religion are
a unique mixture of the two.
" ';
The author of a photographic essay on Nepal, Jurgen
Winkler, said, "TH is hardly another place on earth
where so many temples, shrines and works of art are
concentrated in such a small area as in the Katmandu
valley."
The great eastern religions, Hinduism and Buddhism
exist side-by-side. -
Prince Siddhartha, who spent years in meditation to
become the buddha, was born in what is now Nepal.
A Buddhist sanctuary, the Svayambhunath just a mile
north west of Katmandu, is said by local legends to be
more than 2,500 years old. j
Just east of Katmandu is the Buddhist shrine
Yakshevara. The explicity erotic carvings on the outside
of the shrine are said to frighten away the goddess of
lightning who in local mythology is said to be a virgin.
The exotic mysticism of Katmandu may not cost much',
but getting there is expensive and takes two days. I
According to the Four Seasons Travel Agency in Lin
coln, the Flight leaves New York's Kennedy International t
Airport at 10 p.m. There are plane changes in London and
Deli, India. You arrive in Katmandu at 8:55 p.m. almost J
48 hours later.
The cost of the marathon flight is $1,135 plus another
$224 to fly from Lincoln to New York. f
i m m a i
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