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Merchants and nomads on the lucrative commodities trade between Nepal and Tibet used to stop by a site northeast of Kathamndu since ancient time to meet and to pray. Boudhanath as the site is now known has one of the largest stupa in the world. While there is no official record of anything significant being interred here at this 1,500 year burial mound, it is widely believed that a fragment of Buddha's bone is held here.
Pilgrims normally enter this site from the North to pay tribute. It is believed that walking the stupa in a clockwise fashion for seven times would fulfill one's wish.
On April 25th an earhquake measuring 7.8 struck between Pokhara and Kathmandu levelling many ancient historic sites across Nepal with thousands of fatalities, rising quickly on a daily basis as we speak of in this unfolding humanitarian disaster in one of the poorest country in SE Asia.
Boudhanath fortunately sustains only minor damage so far. I hope this set of panoramas from a happier time could evoke a strong sense of national pride and identity for the people of Nepal at this difficult time.
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Home to Mt. Everest and a wide range of ethnic groups speaking almost 100 languages and dialects, Nepal is a study in diversity. Climate ranges from sub-tropic to arctic, offering an unparalleled variety of ecosystems – humid plains, tropical jungles, forested hills, frozen valleys, and of course the Himalayas. Hinduism is the major religion although Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, was born in the south of the country and Buddhism has a strong tradition in Nepal as well.
