I think that yesterday was the best afternoon since I have arrived here. After posting the pictures, I decided to go back to Swayubunath. I tried to take a shorter route than the one that I know which takes me back out to Ring Rd. And guess what happened? I got lost. I'm starting to enjoy this part. It allows me to see places here that I might not have otherwise. And this was true of this afternoon. As I navigated away from Durbar Sq, which I would have gone back into had I had my passport (this will allow me access for the full time that I am here w/o having to pay 200r everytime I try to enter) I skirted the edge of Thamel, you know that you are near here by the prolific amount of white people. I down one street, looked at my compass, realized that it was taking me in the wrong direction, it's a bit hard to navigate as none the streets have names or go in straight. I rode by a large statue of a lion which usually denotes the presence of a temple, kept going, changed my mind and went back. Walking into the courtyard of the stupa was amazing. A small 15m tall stupa with the usually accoutrements. There was a newer monistary to go with the newer statue of Bouddha they were building. I walked around the stupa several times before stopping to take some pictures. After I had snapped a few photos, a gentleman walked up to me and asked me where I was from, this is not unusual. I told him Ca. He has friends in Ca. Does business with them. Jewelery biz, very lucrative. Can make a lot more money there than here in Nepal. Problem is getting the stones out of the coutry. Gee, that must be a problem. Could you help me with this? It only requires a small cash outlay on your part, then you sell them to my friend when you get back to the states. GEE, that sounds like a great plan, but no. You're really missin, No. g out. Could make so No. Your loss. Sure, sure it is. I continued walking around the stupa. Saw him hit up several people. No one was biting. I was taking a few more photos when a "Monk" walked up to me. He spoke broken english. He was hungry. Wanted money. Funny thing occured to me, none of the other monks in the area were asking me for money. No. He followed me for a bit and kept trying to talk with me, I tried not to be rude, but he just struck me as a bit odd. As I was about to leave, two kids asked me take their picture, I did. Then they wanted some money. Chaina. Don't have any. My friends stomach hurts. Give us money. Mero pet dukyo. Rupee chaina. My stomach hurts, I don't have any rupee. I left to continue my journey to Sway. When I finally got there it was about 30mins before sunset. I walked up the 365 stairs, thankfully there were not to many hawkers out selling their wares at this time. When I got to the top I walked around the stupa for 15mins, just looking at everything that was there. There are so many monuments to gods and goddesses packed into this little hill top, it's just stunning. I ended up sitting down next to a gentleman from Tibet who is studying Psychology at Tribuvan University. We discussed cultural norms, religion, the blending of Western culture into third world countries. It was lots of fun. We talked for about an hour, exchanges emails and went our seperate ways.