Approaching Durbar Square through crowded alleyways with small shops and workshops, full of busy buyers and vendors, colourfully clad women, begging children.
Whatever you are looking for, you’ll find it
First thing you see from far away is: Talleju Temple, one of the most extraordinary examples of Newari craftsmanship.
a sigh of relief, the heart is there but is it beating?
Foreigners pay the entrance fee, the city needs the money more than ever, but from the Tourism Board you can get a ticket for as long as you stay in Nepal, just bring a foto and your passport.
It’s gods against all odds
lucky temple
Worship is part of everyday life
Praying
Kal Bhairav, can there be mercy?
Where zillions of visitors, local and from abroad, were taking pictures, listening to guides in all languages the square is now abandoned.
stray dogs have taken the place of visitors
Many temples are inaccessable
the red sign says: restricted area
or totally gone
Vishnu, preserver, protector, did you do that to your own temple?
Saddhus used to sit on the big steps
Reconstruction – resignation – helplessness
You see neatly piled up bricks and signboards that show what the buildings or pillars looked like before the earthquake.
woman trying to get by selling pigeon food
woman with prayer chain
Reconstruction work at the Hanuman Dhoka, the Royal Palace, once a wonderful Museum: scaffolding made of metal tubes not of bamboo, as usual. For the workers: insufficient safety measures.
workers risking
intentions to work on the royal palace
The monsoon doesn’t help!
follow the tour lane?
What’s left? For one thing the questionable tradition of having a Kumari, a very young girl revered as a living goddess. (for information, see Internet and Wiki!).
The window where she appears at 4 p. m.
clearly: no photos, you gotta respect the culture! … what can be done in the name of culture?
strictly prohibited to take a picture of a living goddess or a human rights abuse?
A young man from Bakhtapur tells me, that in his town the girl is is locked away for ten days only, with her parents.
The plight of the vendors: no one there who buys …
beautiful souvenirs
souvenirs waiting
last not least: the picture that probably everybody takes
an open wound
once a beauty
Greetings from Durbar Square; Kathmandu
Gerburg
gerburgkamm 
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