It’s stinking hot today and there is as usual a haze to ashen the sky. I plan to visit more of the monasteries in the afternoon but as I start preparing to go, I thunderstorm rumbles in the distance. It’s impossible to see because of the haze but the sound is unmistakable. Do I go and risk getting wet, or stay? It hits the town and there is wind, rain and plenty of thunder and lightening. By 4.30pm it has passed, plenty of time for a bit of a walk. I walk the length of the long canal and continue along the brick paving, which has become a series of ponds at this point. I’m wanting to get to the World Peace Stupa that I can see in the distance. This is one of two of these stupas in Nepal, and one of 80 located around the world. A Japanese Buddhist sect started building these after WW2 and the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The brick ponds don’t make walking easy here and certainly not negotiable by cycle. I continue on by tins that my way is blocked by a road. I can’t get to the Stupa. I walk back to my hotel.
angusmccoll 
Maybe this is why its hazy – http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=87854&src=nha – Plumes of smoke have dispersed across the country.
Nepal’s forest fire activity tends to peak at this time of year. A record number of fires were reported on April 10, according to Zee News. The report also noted that 13,000 square kilometers (1.3 million hectares) were burned over the span of 15 days. The Sindhuli District alone lost 40 percent of its forest cover.
Great research. They really need to change the way they do things here. The villagers dispair because they can rarely see the mountains anymore. And it will effect tourism.
Wow, just looked at the website. That’s shocking. And I know it makes people angry here. They don’t understand why they do this. Nor do I.