Kathmandus and Donts

Saroj ~ Number 1. Phenominal human . Brought me to my first open razor shave and barber shop. For a few rupees you can have your head boiled and your throat slit . Its quite an experience .

I didnt have to shave for days and days after this visit . They literally scared the hairs on my face so badly they didnt come out for weeks !!!!

The movie scene here looks just as bonkers as everything else

Wander any streets long enough and you are guaranteed to find something that will stop you in your tracks ..............

Today i found a sacred river filled with garbage and human bodies.

I watched from the banks as Hindu familys prepared dead loved ones for cremation.

So many people die in the city that these sacred alters on the river are in constant use 24hrs a day .

Fresh corpses laid on the steps wrapped in family cloths and sheets waiting to be dipped in the river .

Then the bodies are placed on these alters on top of a bed of wood and straw and set on fire . All along the river there are many alters and many bodies burning . A man takes 4 hours and a woman usually takes 3 hours i was told . It was quite something seeing it happen in front of me . I didnt take many photos . Families everywhere crying. I sat and watched and no one seemed to care . The smoke and smell was very unusual . Maybe they mix some potions in there also . After the remains are charred and the familys have left a last uncle or father pushes the ashes and parts into the river with huge pieces of bamboo. I watched pieces of human and wood fall into the river . Limbs still smouldering.

The river is about waist deep and absolutely filled with garbage and now lots of bodies . I watched . As soon as a body was pushed into the murkey waters little gangs of street children would start to gather at the shores . The kids were maybe aged 5 to 10. Dressed in rags and incredibly little . They started to undress and a few older ones would climb into the river. I had no idea what they were doing . They waded in and had these tiny little metal things on the end of string . They would wade over to the burning body parts and cast their strings down into the water . I had no fuckin idea what was happening . Then they come back to shore and all crowd around huddled in a frenzy to get their bounty. The strings had little magnets on the end and the kids were fishing for the few coins that get placed on the bodies . I was floored . It was mental watching this . These kids were moving like monkeys more than humans. If they got to close .....familys would shoo them away like pests . It was heatbreaking and fascinating at the same time . I was mesmerized beyond anything . The river just downstream from the temple looking like a smouldering rubbish dump . The waters so polluted . Giant birds , troops of monkeys and street children all scavaging in the waters.

I like not understanding lots of things i also like learning lots of things ..... Ive been many places but i will never understand why societies all over the world dump garbage anywhere especially in sacred places like rivers . I left this temple and sacred river and didnt speak for a while afterwards. I was very sad inside !!!

I went and found a quiet place to chill out but this damn monkey was about to jam a water bottle onto his weener .

This would never fly in the Western world . Homemade swing that would literally scare the shite out Rambo. I wish i had video of this to show how insane and sketchy this was ......

The blood of Kali

Amazing little alleys and backstreets

The Monkey Temple ~ This is where all the sunglasses end up !!!