Taken in May of 2018 in Kathmandu
FUN w/ FLAGS FACT: Nepal’s is the only non-quadrilateral national flag. A fact that is much less fun for the Foreign Ministry / State Department minions who have to find a way to fly it.
Taken in May of 2018 in Kathmandu
In Kathmandu, if you’re having tooth pain, you can nail a coin to the root knot of a special tree to request the analgesic intercession of the gods.
Elsewhere, I’d recommend a dentist.
Taken in May of 2018 in Lalitpur (Patan)
Taken in May of 2015 in Kathmandu
Taken in April of 2018 in Kathmandu
Among the brick rubble, down a side street from the temples encased in spiky, cuboid scaffolds, next to a bulging wall bolstered by beams knocked in at a slant, someone painted this graffiti of Heath Ledger’s Joker.
I stare at the maniacal face and can’t help but wonder whether someone painted it in the seven years between Ledger’s portrayal and the 2015 earthquake that broke Bhaktapur, or whether it’s a commentary on disruptive forces.
Bhaktapur, Nepal; Seen on a cable spool
Taken in April of 2018 in Bhaktapur, Nepal; Bas-relief on door frame
Kathmandu; On a pillar at the base of the stairs to the monkey temple (Swayambhunath)
Kathmandu; Minor stupa
Kathmandu; Near Kathesimbu Stupa, I believe
Kathmandu; On the [in]famous Freak Street
tight warren of streets, alleys, and stupa-laden courtyards
— a junky’s labyrinth
low portals force a bow to the ever-watching Buddha
how’s someone, hot-wired and strung out —
slipping the sacred geometries —
kink their way through this dusty burg
without clocking a noggin on bricks
— blocks of brown, dried blood brown
how do lost self-medicating masses find themselves
where it’s so easy to be lost
