Sightseeing in Kathmandu: Swayambhunath

It was our last full day in Kathmandu before flying back to the UK.
Unfortunately it was the first day of a 3 day strike and there would be no transport. It was hard to understand why that a strike called by the minority Maoist party would be supported. The official line was that the police and army would ensure the strike was enforced and unofficially people were going to wait and see if it had any support!
Mo and I had planned to visit Swayambhunath, the Monkey Temple, which is about 4 miles from our hotel. Once we walked outside our hotel it was obvious that we would have to walk there, which would be nothing to the intrepid trekkers! 
The day before the streets had been full of cars, tuk tuks, motor bikes, bicycles, lorries etc, all jostling for position and not necessarily on the right side of the road. Today it was completely deserted, just groups of people hanging around chatting, or ambling down the street. So we set off walking down the middle of the road. It was terrific opportunity to walk through all the different neighbourhoods. We walked through some really poor areas with a very high profile  presence of police and soldiers, despite this because of the gentle nature of the Nepali people we never once felt uncomfortable or unsafe. In fact we got lots of smiles, which is so typical.
The walk was well worth it and as soon as we arrived at the foot of Swayambhunath hill we were greeted by the Rhesus Macaques monkeys.

 The temples were are the top of the hill, so once again were were tackling a very steep ascent!

 Once at the top it was a jumble of the most amazing collection of temples, statues and stoopas. 

 The central and largest stoopa is surrounded by prayer wheels, so we had a quick chant of "Om Mani Padme Hum" along with the other pilgrims! The white dome is said to represent the earth and the 13 tiered structure symbolises the 13 stages that humans have to go through to reach Nirvana - I think I've got a long way to go.

 The stalls all around the temples are loaded with trinkets of every kind. Fortunately you don't get the high pressure selling as in many Asian countries. A smile with 'just looking' and you are mostly left alone - another thing I love about Nepal.

 Masses of butter lamps everywhere

 The views over Kathmandu are extensive and very impressive.

After a couple of hours it was time go back down into the city and luckily we found a rickshaw to take us part way back to our hotel.
All that was left for us to do was have one final Nepali meal and several Gorkha beers