The River of the Dead.

A truck pulled up to the edge of the river, the mourning families waited in line crying while holding handkerchiefs to their face to lessen the smell. A group of men piled wood onto the pire, and men were scavenging in the river below in hopes to find jewelry that may have been left on the bodies, without any respect for the dead or their families standing just above. The body was carried from the truck and placed on the pile of wood. We could see this persons feet out of the wrappings placed on the corpse, this made the experience real. Some family members walked around the body several times and placed flowers while saying prayers and stepped away. It was then that a man approached with a torch and set the wood pile ablaze. Al, Ali, and I sat silently as the flames grew and we watched the body burn in a cloud of smoke and ash. The smell of burning flesh is not one that is pleasant, and will remain with me for the rest of my life. This process was repeated again and again, as bodies came in one after the other, families waiting in queue like it was the D.M.V. to see their loved ones cremated. I don't think any of of knew what to say or how to react to witnessing this, and if it wasn't for the interruption, we may have sat there for hours. "Would you like to see my friend hang 90 kilos from his penis?" This statement drew our attention away from the funerals. "Excuse me?" I said. A ratty looking Nepali man stood behind us with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, standing with a bit of a hunch. "My friend over there..." He pointed to a Yogi holy man dressed in robes and painted in tikka "He is trained in advance Yoga, and can hang 90 kilos from his penis, would you like to see?" I thought to my self "Only in Nepal can you go to a funeral and get an offer like this." Ali Answered the question "Yea mate, I'd bloody love to see that!" "okay, for one thousand rupees each you can follow him into the forest and he will show you." "Sorry mate, don't want to see it that badly." We stood up and started to walk away, behind us we could hear the man yelling out lower prices in hopes to rope us into the show.

We spent the afternoon here visiting Pashupatinath, the most important Hindu temples in Nepal and one of the most important in Asia. Here lies very large temples to Shiva, though only Hindus are allowed inside. Outside the temple area is somewhat of a strange circus. There are vendors and sales people everywhere selling items for funerals, worship, and tourist souvenirs. Just 100 feet from the temple area is the funeral cremation ghats. Though nothing like you would see in the west. it is merely large piles of wood on the river where they burn bodies and spread the ashes into the river below. Dozens of bodies are burned here everyday. Just below the burning area there are scavengers digging through the remains of bodies looking gold or tooth fillings to cash in. It is an overpowering scene to witness. After walking away from the Penis Man, we took a stroll out into the forest and temple area to see some of the ancient architecture and statues. We explored the maybe half dozen temples and took a taxi ride home, not exactly sure how to discuss seeing dead bodies disposed of and men offering to hang weights off the penis in the same moment.