Raj, Madhu, and family friend Pritiki took me on a rainy-day excursion to Bakhtipur.
The three major towns in the valley (Kathmandu, Patan, and Bakhtipur) were each once the seat of a rival Newari kingdom.
Having long ago come under political dominance of Kathmandu to the west, Bakhtipur remained for a long time a nearly medieval backwater, known for its crafts, particularly pottery.
Public porch on a drizzly festival day.
Neighborhood gathering spots like this appear throughout the city, each inhabited by a select part of the population. Men of all ages call this one their own.
Other spots specialize in young men gambling, mothers with young children, old women, children of particular ages, and so forth.
Up the street, young girls play on another neighborhood gathering porch.
An old man views the Tachupal Tole square from his window lined with beautiful traditional Newari carvings.
The same man viewed from a further distance. His neighbor to the left clearly has more modern tastes.
When I first visited Nepal in 1985, a visit to Bhaktipur felt like traveling back in time to the Newari middle ages. Motor vehicles were prohibited in the city center, a welcome change from the constant beep-beep of horns in Kathmandu.
Sadly (at least from the tourist's point of view), those restrictions have been relaxed somewhat, and kids on speeding motorbikes delight in scattering market crowds.
A goat, sacrificed during the Hindu festival of Dasain, being lightly smoked in a public square to remove the hair from its skin in preparation for cooking.
