'Look at Aunty's funny hat!'

I was walking to the Swayambhu Buddhist Temple and got sidetracked into a small temple courtyard where this child was in a party of gloriously attired ladies in their red wedding sarees waiting for the bride and groom to come and pay their respects to the relevant God. The bride came in and went up to her mother in law and then her mother to touch their toes. The groom and bride posed up on the first floor, looking out of the window. She had wonderful hennaed hands and arms and seemed to be enjoying herself but he, with a flower behind one ear, looked faintly embarrassed about it all and discarded the flower, topi and his glasses after a short while.

A football field was being used by the local laundries for drying hotel linen on lines and on the grass. Just beyond was a man washing things in a tub and a spin dryer going full tilt and a young man delivering bagged up sheets to wash. It is just so amazing what you can see if you just stand still for a while. On one corner I saw 3 adults and a baby on a motorbike, a half naked sadhu with a mobile to his ear, a sugar cane seller chatting up the vegetable girl, a minibus with people clinging on outside because it was full, a small lorry with lots of stacked up chairs with boys sitting on top going to or from a wedding reception venue and lots more. Then walking the bridge over the Vishnumati river I saw the miserable side of life with people living in tin huts and even under sheets. However cruising above the filthy, debris ridden river was a black eagle (I think) looking for lunch and I actually caught him on the water - what a fluke. There were pigs in the rubbish piles and dogs everywhere - the latter are remarkably placid. After watching the wedding group I found girls and men threading prayer beads, a man who had made singing bowls by beating them on his anvil and lots more. Eventually on reaching the steps of the Swayambhu Temple I took a few shots of the monkeys then my battery ran out so I came back to the hotel to recharge it and only went out for a look at all the shops for a while this evening so no Temple shots. But if you google it there will be lots to see.
See some of the shots today