The History and Beauty of Nepal: A Photo Essay

Posted on May 6, 2015 by compassionatenomads

First of all, I want to send love and light to Nepal and all who were affected by the tragic earthquake on April 25, 2015. I never thought after visiting Nepal last November that the photos I would share would be images of buildings and places that are now destroyed by the earthquake and a part of history. Even more sad and heartbreaking is the unfortunate loss of lives. I wish I could find out if the people and animals I photographed and the locals who showed us around are alive and well.

The People:

The people of Nepal consist of over 103 ethnic groups. There are many monks and sadhus and they share and worship at the same temples. It’s common to see both Hindu and Buddhists at the same temples, some follow a combination of both religions. We also attended a full moon festival of the Tamang culture, who worship nature and shamanism.

The Land:

Here is Kathmandu valley – the amazing views on our day pilgrimage hike up to Champa Devi (a Hindu shrine), passing by a very peaceful Buddhist temple high in the hills and another one at the bottom of the hill, plus great views of the Himalayan mountain ranges. We had a great time hiking over all these hills- over 6 hours barely running into any other people- a great refuge from the busy and pollution of the city. Although, you can still see the air quality is bad in the distance. In the 1960’s, they say you could see Mount Everest from the valley and now that’s impossible. We did see in on the plane ride in though!