Day 6, I see my first dead body. then my second, then my third...

Well, technically the first was yesterday; a small grey kitten swept on a pile of rubbish, the second this morning - a bloated rat in the middle of the road (it had been squashed by the time we returned down that street). For the first time in my life, though, I saw a person. We visited Pashupatinath, where bodies are cremated on funeral pyres. It was very unsettling. When we arrived there was already a few fires blazing, but at one site a person lay with their head exposed while people mourned the body. The sight of the body was too hard to comprehend to be upsetting - in the same way the many other bodies covered by bright orange or red sheets didn't seem real. It it hard to explain. We watched the mourners circle the body crying and screaming. It made me feel like I was spying on something very private. I saw a person who had to be dragged off the dead body by two other people wailing and crying before it got too much for me and I had to turn away and try to block out the sounds. This all happened in no more than 30 seconds, but I still feel a sense of shame that I watched for that long.

We moved along and explored a little (we were on the opposite side of the bank to where the pyres were) and I was delighted to see monkeys for the first time. I took a zillion photos of the monkeys and some videos. It was surreal to be smiling and laughing at the monkeys then turn around and see bodies and mourners on the other side of the filthy river. It didn't click to me at first that they were bodies, as they were under bright orange or red sheet-things, until I noticed a lady crying at one of them, with a red sheet over him/her. Our guide told us that a red sheet means that the person died before being married. Our guide said it only takes 2-4 hours for a body to burn completely, depending on the size and weight. It shocked me that there were so make smoldering pyres, I assumed that a body would takes days to burn, not hours.

After leaving we went to see a Buddhist Temple, the largest in the world I believe. It was interesting, very bright. We saw some people praying, and I am certain that my knees could not stand up to being a Buddhist!

After a long drive back to the hotel the group agreed to meet for tea at 6.30 and Vince and I went out for lunch. Vince found a place in the guide book that cooked wood-oven pizza which was just around the corner from us. The pizza was very nice! I ordered 4 cheese (including yak cheese and goat cheese) and bacon (mum don't tell Sylvia). Not exactly traditional Nepalese food, but after we leave Kathmandu tomorrow our options will become very slim, and we will be eating a lot of dal bhat. Since we've been here we've struggled to finish a full meal, simply because the sheer amount of food per serving. Vince was very pleased with himself this afternoon, however, as he managed to polish of his entire 30cm wide pizza and half of mine. I don't think he'll be finishing his meal tonight though!

We're about to leave for tea wit the group, so I'll sign off. In the group of 10, 4 are doing only the Nepal side, and the other 6 (including us) are going on to India. The group going on to India seem very nice, we haven't met the others as they were doing an Everest flight this morning so tonight will be the first time meeting them.

Oh, and I've talked Vince into growing a beard during the trip... Hehe!