To Dharahara Tower
|
Our Final Bimble in Kathmandu to the Sundhara
Area   Off we set, this time heading to the
fourth and final quarter to explore, heading to the once famous city tower. Same
ol’ same ol’ little shops bursting with stock,
weaving motorbikes and noise.
  A typical laden push bike and along a fairly
‘normal’ bit of road to..............
  ..............Hanumandhoka Durbar Square.
  This lad has his work
cut out for him. In one corner of the square a building that looks very out of place.
  Off we wiggled down a side street to be overtaken by a man
carrying a fridge and a removals man coming
the other way.
 The man with the fridge took a short-cut
through a building site.
   Every so often we saw a stunning piece of
old architecture crowded by modern stuff. This prettily painted trishaw held a family of four and a weeks
worth of shopping, tooting his little horn, off he went with a groan. Another
shrine as we took the next left.
   Spices, fruit
sellers and another junction.
 Hardware area
and a lady construction worker loading her next head
basket.
   Electronic area.
Bear bought himself a four-plug extension bar for eighty
pence.......
  Shrine and bike park surrounding a discreet gravel pile.
  Teddy bears and
electrickery, yep, another
shrine.
  We walked past loads of shops selling sewing machines and headed through the butchery area.
  Mmmmm.
 Oooooooo.
 We came out by a stepped well.
  Finally, tower
square and a busy information
board.
  The Dharahara or Bhimsen Tower was commissioned by Queen Lalit Tripura and built in 1832 by Prime Minister Bhimsen Thapa. The two hundred and three-foot tower contained a spiral staircase of two hundred and thirteen steps, was recognised by UNESCO but was destroyed in the 2015 earthquake (the 7.8 magnitude epicentre was some eighteen miles away). All that remains is the stump we had to photograph through the pattern of part of the original wall, most was destroyed and corrugated iron now makes up the surround.
The tower in better times. A popular tourist attraction that had an observation balcony on the eighth floor where visitors and locals alike could enjoy views over the city, sixty bodies were found in the rubble. In February 2016 the Prime Minister and his cabinet each gave a month’s wages to the rebuild collection, the new foundation stone was to be laid a couple of months later and work was to commence in November 2017, we saw nothing to suggest anything has been done to build the new earthquake-resistant replacement tower.
ALL IN ALL BUSTLING, BUSY, UNFINISHED WITH A VERY SAD TOWER THESE HIGH STREETS ARE ANYTHING BUT EMPTY |
