Much is happening in Kathmandu! Swoyambhu is a hive of activity, having many Buddhist monastery's in the district, devout Buddhist from all over the world are gathered for puja and retreat.
To disrupt the peace in the monastery's much noise is being made in the streets. Yesterday the Umbrella children along with volunteers stormed the road that surrounds the 2000 year old Swoyambunath (Monkey Temple) chanting 'Happy St Patricks Day'! There was much green paint splattered on faces with St Patrick himself (see photo) leading the parade and many locals not understanding what the fuss was about
It was the locals turn today to paint the streets and inhabitants many colours. Today is Holi (The festival of colour). It is virtually impossible to stay clean with children & adults (myself included) throwing water bombs, better still buckets of water from their roof times, combine that with brightly coloured tikka powder that gets thrown and smeared across your face! My WHITE umbrella t-shirt is now a wonderful array of colour to remind me of all the fun of this special once a year festival.
St Patrick leading the way....
smothered with water bombs, colour & laughter