Travel Photography | Boudhanath Stupa | Kathmandu Valley | Nepal

© 2012 Wazari Wazir | Boudhanath Stupa | Kathmandu | Nepal

Boudhanath (Devnagari: बौद्धनाथ) (also called Boudha, Bouddhanath or Baudhanath or the Khāsa Caitya) is one of the holiest Buddhist sites in Kathmandu (Yambu), Nepal. It is known as Khāsti in Nepal Bhasa Jyarung Khasyor in Tamang language or as Bauddha by modern speakers of Nepali. Located about 11 km (6.8 mi) from the center and northeastern outskirts of Kathmandu, the stupa’s massive mandala makes it one of the largest spherical stupas in Nepal.

The Buddhist stupa of Boudhanath dominates the skyline. The ancient Stupa is one of the largest in the world. The influx of large populations of refugees from Tibet has seen the construction of over 50 Tibetan Gompas (Monasteries) around Boudhanath. As of 1979, Boudhanath is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Along with Swayambhunath, it is one of the most popular tourist sites in the Kathmandu area.

– Wikipedia –

We reach Thamel from Syabrubesi at 1:55PM, after long seven hours journey from Syabrubesi to Kathmandu, after we keep our bag at Hotel Budget Multix, just next to Annapurna Guest House we went to have our lunch, actually we did try to stay at the same hotel, Annapurna Guesthouse, unfortunately it was flu house.

Anyway after we have our lunch, we decided to visit Boudhanath Stupa, actually we plan to visit Boudhanath Stupa on the second day we are in Kathmandu which is on Sunday 11th November after we visit Bhaktapur but we spent almost whole afternoon  there and not enough time to visit Boudhanath Stupa. The Kashmiri man at Almadina Restaurant told us, not to pay more than RS300 for a taxi to  to Boudhanath.

It’s not that hard to get a taxi from our hotel since our hotel is located at one of the busy street in Thamel, some of the taxi driver demand RS500, some even more than that but finally we manage to get one taxi who can take us there for RS300, since there are six of us, we need two taxi to get there.

It took almost 30 minutes to get to Boudhanath Stupa, I don’t know whether it was normal or not but the traffic was quite bad, maybe because most Nepali people here are still busy celebrating Deepavali or Tihar, according to Lonely Planet book, the distance between Thamel and Boudhanath is just 6Km.

We paid Rs150 per person for the entry ticket, from the main road, you can hardly see the Stupa even though it was quite big in picture, I almost think that our taxi driver drop us at the wrong place but after a few steps, we saw a big statue, right in front of our eyes. Yes it is so big and the good news is that, unlike Swayambhunath Stupa, we don’t have to climb any stairs to get by, it was built on a flat land and I’ve to say, it was quite clean also.

We spent the whole afternoon there until sunset. There are a lot of activities happening here, if you wanted to buy a souvenir, you can get it here and it is more relaxing compared to Thamel, but in term of price, maybe you will get a better price in Thamel.

All of the photographs above were taken using 24mm prime lens, I was  a bit lazy on that day to change lens and I think you will get a better result if you have UWA Ultra Wide Angle Lens with you, like 14-24mm or 16-35mm. If you have the latest edition of 2012 Nepal Lonely Planet guide book, you will notice that the front cover of the book is a picture of Boudhanath Stupa and finally I’m here, in front of one of the most iconic stupa in Nepal.