Bhaktapur and back again

Today Rachel and I went to Bhaktapur, which, along with Patan, was one of the cities right next to Kathmandu that was also historically powerful but eventually was completely outgrown by Kathmandu. It was nice how quiet and empty the streets were compared to Kathmandu. It still had a lot of amazing old architecture, and their 'Durbar Square' is definitely at least as nice as the one in Kathmandu. Bhaktapur is especially known for their ceramics and woodworking. We spent most of the day just wandering through the city.


Rachel in Bhaktapur's Durbar Square.


We found 'Pottery Square' but apparently there are also some pretty cool ash kilns and pottery wheels that we missed somehow


Not all the wood-carving is as devilish as this...


Rachel is a pro at bargaining.


Me at a shrine.


One of these things is not like the others...


This gazebo-ish thing was in a square in a more residential part of Bhaktapur. When Rachel and I went up to see what was in it we found... goats! It looked like they might do sacrifices there.


Really tall 5-tiered pagoda at the square where Rachel and I ate lunch.


After spending the day walking through the city Rachel and I decided to be clever and not circle back to the touristy part of town to catch a taxi back to Kathmandu. Only the funny thing is that the taxis don't really go to the outer residential road where we ended up, so we hopped onto a bus to Kathmandu. It took a lot longer but we enjoyed the adventure for the first hour...