Day 4 Saturday: Off Day

5:00 AM came quickly and monks were up with the routine of bells and gongs. I am getting used to them and was likely up a few minutes before. After working on the blog for few minutes, I got ready for the morning prayers at 6:00. After some of the explanations from previous night, lot more elements of the prayer fell into place. For instance, the seven large bowls filled with water represented the seven steps Buddha took upon his birth. The books that monks read turned out to be part of a series of 15 main books and of overall set of 100 books of Buddhism. The three large statuses in the temple had attributes which identified them as Buddha of compassion and past-present-future Buddha and made more sense.
After the prayer, breakfast was the next item and this morning we were surprised to have salt tea, a mix of hot water, salt and tea, and plain toasted flour. The flour was a mix of grains and sugar and 2 servings were provided with more for asking. The trick was to mix the salt-tea with the flour and turn it into a thick or soupy paste based on preference. I preferred mine thicker like dough and remembered my mom making something similar. Taste was actually quite good.
Rain has been a constant companion since we arrived here and we were hoping for a break. We agreed that if the rain and clouds broke, we would go see the Swayambhu Mandir (or Monkey Temple) and Durbar Square. About 10 we got our break and went to see the temple, which sits on the highest point in Kathmandu valley. The temple lived up to its tourist name of Monkey-temple since red faced monkeys (and babies) were everywhere. After spinning the prayer drums and climbing a thousand steps up and down on two sides, we came down to the waiting taxi which then took us to Durbar Square. We spent a few hours there and were heart-broken at the devastation brought about by the April earthquake. It seemed like the Durbar Square was the hardest hit area of the city. Buildings that were simple piles of rubble and bricks, will likely never be same as those by the original craftsman. Some were blocked off due to major visible structural damage.
Once done with small souvenir purchases, we had a nice lunch of local Momos, a dumpling, and headed back to Monastery in our hired taxi.
After Dinner, as we congregated at the office (for internet), kids joined us wanting to play with our phones and my computer. When not allowed, the little ones are happy to simply look over your shoulder. Power was off again and so we were left to hang there. While showing them the game of Sudoku, which I thought was better than the other games, one of them noticed the folder for music. Which then had to be viewed. Upon discovering Hindi songs, we played and danced to several like “Senorita”, “Lungi dance”, “Macarena”, “Badtameez Dil” etc. Party wrapped up about 8:45 with kids still pestering for more videos and cartoons etc.
It was tiring day, perhaps due to altitude of the temple, and we quickly fell asleep.