Patan Museum: Transported into the 1st World for a Day!

On Friday, I went to the Patan museum with Pieter, Ann, and Alison. I had an absolutely LOVELY day. The Patan museum is situated in their Durbar square, see most major cities in Nepal were once their own territory and had their own rulers (this is my vague understanding)....so most major "towns" have a Durbar square where the royalty/rulers lived. Patan is in Kathmandu valley, but it has a separate Durbar square than that of Kathmandu's...if that makes ANY sense!
The museum!!! It was beautiful! All of the exhibits were individually lit and each one had a plaque with interesting information...So! first world, I almost shit a brick. There were separate galleries, the main ones were; an area on Hinduism, an area on Buddhism, an area on the process of the beautiful metal work that they do in Nepal, and lastly there was a special exhibition with photography from around the capital. The last exhibit was really interesting because they had photos from the early 20th century and then "new" photos taken in 2009, it was astonishing the marked difference. There is a beautiful palace that was in the valley in 1900, but it is totally gone now and there is a high rise in it's place. So sad to me...I know that there has to be a balance between progress and perservation of the past, but there past is so beautiful and amazing and TOTALLY disrespected by so many.
I roamed around the museum for a solid 2 hours, it was like being in alittle piece of heaven. The museum reminded me how much I enjoy going to museums and art galleries, it was good fun. Then I met back up with Pieter, Anne and Alison. We had a DELIcious laid back lunch right at the museum cafe. Our waiter was a TOTAL hoot, smiley and conversational. While at lunch, we decided to meander over to this place called the Golden Temple.
Wrapped up lunch, checked out the gift shop...I bought an AWESOME book from the museum that had all the information from the plaques throughout the museum. To the Golden Temple! When you first walk in, it is quite unremarkable...it just looks like a usual Buddhist temple with prayer wheels and OFCOURSE it is under construction with scaffolding over half the structure. BUT! You go up these dark stairs to this tiny monastery where there are the most amazing frescos. It is really quaint in the monastery, there are people actually praying and making offerings to the metal representations of the Gods....the vibe was amazing, you could totally tell there was spiritual power resonanting in this place. It was SUPER cool!
After the temple, we snagged a cab and went back to the Volunteer house to have dinner and a laid back evening with Emma and Santosi. Perfect day in Kathmandu....it really makes me wonder why everyone complains so much about the capital. I honestly quite like it here, but I just love Nepal in general. Until another amazing day, worth writing a blog about :)