Further to my two previous dismal messages of the border blockade disaster in the Nepalese capital, it’s sad to report that the focal points for many visitors to the city have received devastating damage.
Only Swayambuthna, the famed Monkey Temple perched on a miniature sugarloaf mountain a kilometre or so from the city centre, escaped almost unharmed by the 7.8 earthquake earlier this year.
In Durbar Square, the most extensive cluster of historic places of worship, many centuries-old temples have vanished, with the survivors propped up with flimsy wooden buttresses and bearing ominous cracks that would appear impossible to correct. The highly-photographic white palace is swathed in blue plastic sheeting and the whole area is littered with barriers and “Danger, keep out” signs. In Patan, also a major drawcard for photographers, the situation is much the same.
I was unable to even GET to the holy site of Baktaphur. a mere seven or…
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