At Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle there is this type of minature deer called a pudu. I watched a pudu baby grow up there and I like the animal a lot. I read in the paper about the baby having been born and that is when I went to the zoo for the first time and when I got a membership.
On the way to see the baby pudu I was telling my friend Lee that it would be a mean animal and that it would growl and try to bite. When we got to the pen there were two little kids there, both around four years old, and they were both crying hard. They had approached the pudu pen and the animals did something that made them cry. I presumed that they were bitten and when I asked their father he did not disagree with me.
I wanted to see a pudu at Kathmandu Zoo today because I expected like the Lucknow Zoo for there to be lots of deer. I got myself worked up thinking about the silly rhyme of those words. Perhaps this was because of all the repetitive chanting which I hear around this city, or perhaps it is because of having my weight drop 40 pounds, being dehydrated, and experiencing hallucinations.
The animals at the zoo were very happy, in good pens, and well taken-care of. That zoo is a good place for the animals there. I saw animals playing. I saw a lot of animals eating fresh vegetables and fresh meat. The animals also had good places to hide from visitors, and yet they came close to look at guests. The only animals that seemed too confined were the cheetahs, the tiger, and the hyenas, but those are problem animals to house because they all need to run.
It seemed that many of the animals actually posed for me. I am pleased with the pictures that I got.
Yesterday I took a guide for 250 Nepali Rupees (1 USD = 43 Indian rupees = 66 Nepali rupees). I have no guidebook and had no map, plus I had questions about getting around the city. He showed me the two bus parks and now I know how to use them for myself. He also showed me the best map, and now I have a copy. I would cite the map but it does not have a title or publisher, but it does advertise for Mandala Book Point which must be a supplier.
Anyway, the guide took me to Boudhanath Stupa by bus and then we walked to Pashupati Nath Temple on foot. In both cases we entered through the back so as – according to him – not to pay a Rs 100 entry fee. I felt a little bad about sneaking in when the dollar fifty would mean more to the Nepalis than it would to me, but then I thought that if I were in Seattle and I snuck somebody into a theatre or museum or someplace, then I would consider that hospitality. So I got over it.
Boudhanath was a huge mound surrounded by prayer wheels. There were small monasteries around it as well as all kinds of tourist traps. I went to a nearby temple and saw a huge Buddh statue and a huge prayer wheel. My guide could not speak good English so he could not explain much to me. He showed me a room full of teenage monks and they were all chanting. The incense was heavy and the way the sound resonated made me feel spacy.
We walked to Pashupati Mandir and I went around the grounds, but there was a sanctum into which I could not enter. I looked through the gates and saw a Nandi which was about twenty feet tall. Presumably in the building it faced was a comparably-sized Shivaling.
I saw other Chinese-influenced Hindu temples. Small Shivalings were everywhere. I saw some erotic carvings- strange by Christian standards for a holy place, and in the Western world the Christian church is less conservative than Hindu society.
I have been trying to get a business visa. Tomorrow I would take either that or a tourist visa, if I could. I applied Monday and the three-day wait should be over now. If things go well I will leave tomorrow night, but if I do not get the visa then I will explore more now that I am comfortable with the bus system here.