In Pictures: FACES OF KATHMANDU

Kathmandu, the capital and largest city of Nepal, sits in a valley about 4,200 feet above sea level.  Once a popular destination for hippies and the inspiration of a Bob Seger song, Kathmandu in more recent years has gained attention for both its political instability (murders in the royal family, a king who overthrows the government, and then a people who wrestle back power from the king) and its civil war (which on at least one occasion cut the city off from the rest of the country).

The decade-long civil war between government forces and Maoist rebels, which took the lives of almost 13,000 people and displaced considerably more, came to an end in November 2006.  The people you will see in the pictures below have certainly rejoiced at the news.  They are some of the 1.5 million people who call Kathmandu home.  All these pictures were taken in July and August 2004.

A husband (above) and wife (below) who, having no children to care for them in their older years, live in a decrepit room inside a temple on the Bagmati River.

The two men here were sitting in a city square, the one listening intently to news headlines on the radio.

One afternoon, a local fellow I met (not pictured) took me to his village on the outskirts of Kathmandu.  After a 30-minute ride on the back of his motorbike, we came to a stop in front of his house and then went for a walk to meet his neighbors, including the man above (the village "doctor") and his wife (below).  The woman's red necklace indicates she is married.  She was one of the man's three wives.

These two girls, Meena and Pushpa, are sisters who live in a poor area of south Kathmandu.  They and their mother took me into their home one night after I had been robbed.  (You can find more of this story in my article "A Reason to Travel: Children." )

Children on the outskirts of Kathmandu, watching me eat lunch.

Click HERE -- In Pictures: FACES OF KATHMANDU (PART 2) -- to view more photographs.