One day in Kathmandu!

September 1, or Bhadra 16 (Bikram Sambat calendar), or August 32 (the date one of my students guessed it would be), was the festival of Krishna Astami.  This time when I asked my students what would happen they were a little bit more helpful. I found out that the men will carry something around and it will be something big, yes, bigger than my husband, HUGE in fact, and that people will pass out candy to children.  What else do you need to know?!

Here are some children we saw starting to line up in the streets of Banepa:

Well, actually I did want to know a little bit more, so I looked it up.  Basically, this festival is a celebation of great rejoicing to mark the birth of Lord Krishna, one of the ten incarnations of the Hindu Lord Vishnu.  Processions move around the towns, there are rhymes and songs, and the people offer prayers, food, and flowers at the temples.

It was also our day off to go to Kathmandu, so we didn't stick around to see any happenings in Banepa.  As we drove in, we saw the usual sights--

...cows in the road,

 
...crowded buses,

...people doing their laundry,

...and other various chores.

Some children had to go to school

 

and some children didn't.

This picture was taken on our way into town in the morning:

...and the kids were still playing with the same (although now broken) Styrofoam box when we came home!

(Sorry the picture is blurry.  Must have hit a pothole as I snapped it.)

We felt lucky that the traffic wasn't so bad considering it was a holiday. 
Saw this adorable baby in the bus (can you see him?):

As soon as I took that picture he turned and I smiled.  He smiled back, and started waving at me. He was so cute I couldn't stand it. I quickly snapped another picture--just as the bus zoomed away! Rats!

Almost all the shops were open, so we hit a few craft shops which sell items made here in Nepal. 

(Prices are good too!  These bags were $6 each.)

Here's a little furniture store we ventured into--the outside:

the front room (!)

and the stairs!

We went to a nice mall,

...and ate at the food court,

 ...which was not crowded because of the holiday.

There's a nice little play area for the kids:

There was also an arcade for older kids, but I didn't take a picture for some reason.

Outside we saw these fellows hurrying down the street with food to sell. 

Yes, something was going on.

It started to get crowded.

I was glad I wasn't driving!

What an amazing experience to walk through this crowd!!!

The girl in blue appeared to be a little stressed.  Not this girl though:

Not sure what this one was doing:

The venders were out with the shoppers.

It was so interesting to be there!!!

It got more crowded as we neared this temple.

Something was happening, but we never found out what because we didn't want to pay the entrance fee!

More festivals are coming in October, so we're looking forward to seeing what will happen then. 

More stories are coming soon!  Take care and God bless!