Durbar Squares near Kathmandu

I spent the last two days roaming around the few Durbar Squares near Kathmandu. If you don't know what Durbar Squares are, I don't either. Quite likely, they are like a trade and parade center for the towns. Walking up to the Durbar Squares is quite impressive because you are strolling through these small maze-like streets that barely large enough for a car to pass through and then you come up to a huge open space with impressive looking temples, scultures, pagodas and palaces. The temples are all quite unique with the huge foundations and impressive stone statues at the bottom but rather small temple up above. Many of the walls and the doors are richly decorated with carvings and frescoes. Most of the windows are equally well decorated. My favourite Durbar Square so far has been the one at Patan. The focus of these old architectures seemed very different from the modern architecture where the art and the aesthetic play such an integral part of these buildings while the functionality seems of a lesser concern. Most of the heritage sites require a ticket to
enter - about $10 SGD.

For the Durbar Square in Buktapur, I took a public bus from Kathmandu. I took it because it
seemed more fun and I am a cheapskate who doesn't want to spend money on taxis. (However in Singapore, I take taxis all the time.) It would likely cost me $12-$15 SGD for the 16km ride to Buktapur whereas it costs $0.50 taking the public bus. Of course the bus itself is part of the fun - squeezing with the locals. In fact, the bus I took to Nagarkot (one of the mountain resorts that I went to after Buktapur) was so packed, the roof had over 20 people. If there wasn't a bicycle on the top of the bus, I am sure they would have tried to pack at least 6 more person on the roof. Anyway the bus roof ride is definitely not something I recommend for us city people, sitting on a metal railing on top of a rattling bus for an hour and a half is not that fun after 10 minutes. On top of that, it was already dark and cold (about 10 degrees outside). I was shivering cold after the trip but fortunately I quickly found a shop with good hot tea and a delicious Nepali rice set.