Monkey temple

Headed out to the Monkey Temple a few days ago. My Colleague Zak and I hired one of the hundreds of rickshaw drivers to haul us out there. After bargaining for a fair price we settled on this tiny little guy, though at the time we didn't think much of his size. On two occasions we had to get out because he got stuck in some mud. It was actually quite a terrible ride because there was so much dust you basically had to close your eyes and try and cover your mouth. In total it took about 40 minutes or so before he let us off at the bottom of a steep hill and near the entrance of the temple.

On the way there I saw some pretty horrific scenes of poverty and pollution mingling together in ways I never thought was possible. I photographed a couple of things that stuck out, but it would be quite rude and uncomfortable to take pictures of many of the other things I saw.

Soon after the rickshaw let us off we walked over a small bridge with a stagnant river passing underneath it. I could smell the water from above and it wasn't a pleasant smell to say the least. Never have I seen so much garbage, all piled on the banks of the river and in the river itself. What's more, looking down the river a bit I could see women and children swimming or bathing in the water. A picture of this is in the post as well as one from another account on the way back in which a giant cow decided to lay down in a pile of garbage and mud causing a traffic jam.

Now, the temple (Swayambhunath) was quite interesting being one of the oldest holy sites in Nepal. What I found most interesting was the fact that monkeys, stray dogs, pigeons, homeless people, orphans and monks could all live together and only fight a little.