Nepal up close and personal

An opportunity to travel to Nepal doesn’t happen every day, so when your best friend from childhood gets married in Kathmandu, you pack up your bags — and your sketchbook, of course — and you fly across the world. 

I spent 13 fascinating days there in December — an optimal time to visit, as the weather is dry and mild — visiting and drawing in different locations around the Kathmandu Valley. The experience was dazzlingly beautiful, stressful, inspiring, exhausting, and awakened my curiosity about South Asia. 

I saw gorgeous golden temples, dodged motorcycles in rush hour traffic, hiked for miles across terrace farms, shared sketches with locals, watched monks pray, and stared in awe at centuries-old intricate wood carvings still holding up the everyday architecture of ancient kingdoms.

A pond of wholesome fun

Walking on this beautiful plant-lined path surrounded by calm water, I enjoyed a feeling of serenity that was hard to come by in other parts of Lalitpur, a city south of Kathmandu that is just as historic and well preserved as the Nepali capital. It was a rare place where I didn’t have to worry about colliding with a motorcycle.

With many cafes and restaurants, the area around the ancient Pimbahal Pond is a prime evening hangout spot for students, but not for the kind of partying one would expect back in the U.S. I saw groups of young people drinking tea and coffee and playing Uno under the roofs of the centuries-old pagodas.

It was interesting to learn that a watercolor painting by a British artist from the 1800s was used as a reference to restore the pond after it was destroyed by a major earthquake in 1934.

How could I not make my own painting?

No menu, no problem

A young woman sat surrounded by pots and bowls of ingredients, frying eggs and batter to make lentil pancakes (bara). There was no menu; we pointed to each dish, and younger guys ladled out dishes such as water buffalo curry and spicy chickpeas in sauce (chana tarkari) over beaten rice (baji) onto metal plates for us. 

Eating a meal at Honacha, a casual restaurant tucked away off the main square of Lalitpur, may be as close as a tourist like me could get to experiencing traditional Newari home cooking. The Newar people are the indigenous residents of the Kathmandu Valley and still dominate the local culture.

This family restaurant has been in business for at least 89 years, and apparently hasn’t changed the menu or décor much in that time.

I showed the chef my sketch as we departed, and she gave me a quick smile and nod before getting back to work.

Work party

On a walk around Lalitpur, I came to the Tapahiti Water Spout. It’s one of the city’s oldest water sources — at least 1,500 years old.

Underground springs were tapped and used to provide clean water to the city. However, many of these spouts are now drying up, in disrepair, or no longer potable. Now it’s more common to use the central water system; however, with the exploding population of Kathmandu there are problems with overdrawing from the supply. 

Just as I started to sketch the impressive pagoda with colorful flags, several women came into the square and began pulling weeds out from between the bricks. One of them told me that their neighborhood community just finished fixing up the two buildings I was drawing, which were damaged during the 7.8 quake of 2015. 

Temples, tourists, monks

Swayambhunath is one of the most important Buddhist sites in Nepal. But for us tourists, it’s mostly famous for the large macaque population that lives there. The temple grounds are on the western edge of Kathmandu city, on a forested hill. The monkeys apparently get a regular feeding schedule, so it’s a nice place to be for them.

It wasn’t the first time we saw monkeys in the Valley. Earlier, we spotted some gracefully climbing across Lalitpur rooftops, and even walking on the side of a busy road, just like the humans. As development spreads, they lose their native habitats, and sometimes end up living in the city. A familiar story.

Before this trip, I knew almost nothing about Theravada Buddhism, a branch of this religion that emphasizes achieving enlightenment through monastic life and self-deprivation. I often felt quite lost about what I was supposed to do at holy sites. I did at least learn to always walk clockwise around a Buddhist holy structure. In my sketch, I captured a woman spinning the prayer wheels while ambulating the whitewashed dome.

Hundreds of young monks all in deep red robes, mainly 12-18 years old by the looks of it, were reciting chants in a huge pillared room before a huge golden Buddha statue. All the voices overlapped with each other, along with horns and drums and bells ringing out, and it was hypnotic and gorgeous. Photography was forbidden here, so I felt compelled to covertly capture the scene in my sketchbook.

Watching the monks pray was a great payoff for our 13-mile trek in this area, ending with a thousand stair climb to the top of the hill where Namobuddha Temple presides over the Kathmandu Valley. By the entrance, vendors were selling ghee lamps and prayer beads for pilgrims’ convenience. But this was no tourist trap. It was peaceful and beautiful.

The story of this temple fascinated me. It was built in honor of Prince Mahasattva, one of the early incarnations of the Buddha, who gave his body up to feed a starving mother tiger and her cubs.

The Newar people of the Kathmandu Valley are mainly Buddhist, but about 80% to 90% of Nepali people align with Hinduism. I felt confused that I couldn’t parse the differences between Hindu and Buddhist things sometimes. But in fact, these two religions are so blended in Nepal that people sometimes worship at both kinds of temples interchangeably. 

To balance my own experience, I went to a Hindu temple in Lalitpur on a Thursday, the main worship day. I sketched people lining up to pay respects and receive blessings in one of the buildings — and a cute street dog who seemed curious about all the activity.

On our trek, our guide said he believed in all religions, or rather, that “everything is holy.” I love that concept — instead of trying to separate people and stories by their differences, looking at the greater picture of spirituality on Earth.

A parting gift

As my trip came to a close, I made a point to draw Pimbahal Pond from a different viewpoint: the rooftop of the bed and breakfast in Lalitpur that had served as my base for this trip. It was a quick sketch, drawn between bites of fresh fruit and rich Nepali yogurt. I gave it to the family who runs the hotel as a token of appreciation for their hospitality. 

Thirteen days in Nepal was only enough time to scratch the surface of its rich and ancient culture. The trip wasn’t always easy. It took so long just to get there, and moving around the Kathmandu Valley could be complicated. But the reward of experiencing a vastly different country from my own or any other I’ve visited was huge. The aesthetics of the architecture, the multitheistic religious practices, and the flavorful food were eye-catching and eye-opening. Hopefully, next time a friend gets married in Nepal, they’ll invite me to the wedding.

• Seattle-based sketcher Eleanor Doughty has traveled and sketched in 24 countries (and counting!), from the Seto Inland Sea of Japan to the canals of the Netherlands, creating ink and watercolor drawings that capture the character and essence of places. She works as a full-time freelance illustrator.