Pashupatinath

Well, it happened.  I was the stupid tourist who was attacked by a monkey right outside the Pashupatinath temple.  Okay, attacked may be a BIT strong of a word, but it was close!  It grabbed my skirt and was very threateningly yelling and hissing at me and was very aggressive.  And what did I do?  Yelled "Katie Katie Katie" over and over again until Katie came over and scared them away.  Wow.  Who knew I would freeze up like that and not do anything and just yell for my friend to save me? 
I would like to emphasize that we WERE NOT doing anything to the monkeys at all when this happened.  We were not feeding them or trying to touch them or any other stupid thing.  I think they were just expecting us to give them food and the one aggressive female was upset when we didn't.  Now I am afraid of monkeys...great...

Today (Wednesday) is a holiday at PAHS.  The medical school is closed on Wednesdays and Saturdays.  Katie and I called a taxi driver (Harka - a friend of Katie's friend Suzy) and he picked us up at 6 am at Patan Hospital.  It was Katie's idea to go bright and early to beat the crowds, to have the beautiful light and so that it wouldn't be too hot.  What a great idea!  It was so nice and peaceful - okay, minus the crazy monkey - and it is so beautiful there!  It is a 264 hectare UNESCO designated World Heritage Site.  There are many Shiva temples and then the largest being Pashupatinath temple.  It is one of the holiest temples of the world revered and worshipped both by Hindus and by Buddhists.  Each Shiva temple has a bull statue or carving in front of it, as Hindu scriptures mention that the bull is the carrier of Shiva.

There were TONS of monkeys - I thought they were so cute, especially the babies, until the incident.  There were also some beautiful deer in an enclosed park area.  We saw a baby at first and then a Nepali guy pointed out an adult with huge antlers further in the forest.  It still had spots!

Now I am back home and working on my lectures that are coming up next week.  I have 4 lectures, 2 labs and 2 faculty development workshops!!

I think Katie and Sabita and I are going to go rockclimbing later this afternoon.