Week One

Week One is an introduction to Nepal/Kathmandu . There is a haphazard "training" which included a quick chat about the " Volunteer Nepal / Nepal Orphan Homes" , a 2 hr "Learn to speak Nepali " where I caught about two words , a visit to the 5 Orphan homes sponsored by this charity and a visit to one of the KTM historical sites - in this case it was "Boudha" . 
Seeing as that was the first thing I took photos of I will start there : Boudha , also known as Boudhanath .  Its a Buddhist Stupa ( Im assuming that's the name for a temple ?) , the second largest in Asia and was built on the ancient road from Tibet . Due to its significance , there has been a whole load of Tibetan refugees relocated here and there are approx. 50 monasteries in the vicinity. Who knows when this thing was built ...doesn't appear to be something the Nepali people worry about as this kind of fact doesn't appear in any touristy brochures . It became a Unesco World Heritage site in 1979. Its a daily ritual for the locals and religious folks to walk around the Stupa in a clockwise direction at least three times repeating a mantra (don't ask me which one). Spot the unprepared tourist wandering around in the wrong direction!
Somebody on FB asked about the Buddha eyes ...as I didn't have a clue I had to do an internet search and here is what they say :
On virtually every stupa (Buddhist shrine) in Nepal, there are giant pairs of eyes staring out from the four sides of the main tower. These are Buddha Eyes (also known as Wisdom Eyes), and they look out in the four directions to symbolize the omniscience (all-seeing) of a Buddha. The Buddha eyes are so prevalent throughout the country that they have become a symbol of Nepal itself. Between the Buddha's eyes where the nose would be is a curly symbol that looks like question mark. This is the Nepali character for the number 1, which symbolizes unity of all the things as well as the one way to reach enlightenment—through the Buddha's teachings. Above this is a third eye, symbolizing the all-seeing wisdom of the Buddha

Did my first spot of bargaining whilst buying a pair of big woolie socks ( its so damn cold here ...approx. 1C during the night ...and with no heating its absolutely baltic in the volunteer house) , in one of the many stalls which are set up around the Temple. Managed to save a whopping 50p! Honestly they are so cheap anyway Id wouldn't even have bothered with the old bartering thing ( which I am useless at ) but I didn't want to appear rude . After that I went all out and wangled a yaks wool blanket down to a huge 15 bucks. Everybody appears to have one here ...to sit on, wear as a shawl , wear as a hat or scarf ..anything to gain any sort of heat !