Cooked our own breakfast. It was difficult to do toast as the bread kept breaking. Still it was better than yesterday.

We walked to the Swayambhunath Stupa, the so called Monkey Temple, but we didn't see hundreds of  monkeys; just a few. It is a Budhist temple on the top of a hill.. The buildings, with their striking gold roofs looked gaudy to me and I was interested, but not impressed; not like I was when I first saw the Taj Mahal. Maybe I shouldn't have gone to the Taj Mahal first. It is a hard act to follow. Everywhere was covered in a red powder, some type of offering maybe, and the eyes painted on all sides of the main Stupa were ever present, I thought to ward off the evil, but which actually symbolise the all seeing eyes of God.  I should have learned more about Buddhism so I would understand what I saw .... maybe when I got home I'd find out.


There were many people making offerings of flowers and grain ....

Besides the worshipers and sightseers were a small number of what appeared to be residents going about their daily domestic lives within the confines of the temple, including the lady pictured below laying out grains and peppers to dry in the son.

It seems we entered the temple by some sort of back way. We left a different way, by the main entrance, down a long flight of steps emerging to find another ceremony entering past the grand statues of the Buddhas.