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Caption: Nepali dancer Kanayah Shrestra in a classic pose in a scared dance

Keywords: Asia, Himalaya, Himalayan, Hindu-Buddhist tradition, Indian subcontinent, Kathmandu, Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, Nepalese, Nepali, Places, South Asian, adornment, anklet, asian, classical, clothing, costume, culture, dance, dancer, dancing, fashion, feet, je

Nepali dancer Kanayah Shrestra in a classic pose in a scared dance The city of Kathmandu Boy feeds sacred monkeys at the Swyambhunath temple complex overlooking the valley A fake McDonald's in Kathmandu The great stupa, or shrine, at Bodhnath with the painted eyes of the compassionate Lord Buddha watching in all four directions over the fields of the fertile valley. The Pashupati temple complex A mother cooks dinner on a kerosene stove -- this was up a couple flights of stairs in a small apartment building At Swyambhu, devotees have decorated this Buddha with red vermilion powder Tibetan families in Kathmandu celebrate with rice wine on the Dali Lama's birthday Men lather-up and wash in the sunshine at Sundhara, an open-air, public baths in Kathmandu, decorated with stone carvings of gods and a stunning gilded fount in the shape of a mythological beast, the makara, a sort of crocodile. This fantastic fountain is said to have been built at the order of an aunt of the king in 1832, but the ancient underground aqueduct system that feeds it is far older, its origins dating back, it is thought, to the sixth century A.D. A woman drinks from a splendidly carved, public fountain in Patan, the Kathmandu Valley's second largest city Rice farmer with gasoline powered plow in Kimtole village near the western ege of the valley The head of a goat scarificed to a taxi, on Navami, the ninth day of Dasain, to ward off accidents. Animals are beheaded all over the valley and, as their throats are slit, their fresh blood is sprayed onto all kinds of tools, even tractors and jetliners, to protect them. The valley's Buddhists, however, do not partake in this Hindu rite. Buddhist monk at the hilltop temple at Swayambhunath -- the music sounded like John Coltrane in his late, honking, screaming, yet solemn, high-energy period Nepalese classical dancer Kanayah Shrestra Nepali women in red wedding saris apply colorful tika marks on their foreheads during the Teej festival at Pashupati, where they re-enact a symbolic marriage to Lord Shiva A woman performs a rite at the temple of Hariti, a Hindu mother -- some say grandmother -- goddess, who, it is said, watches over children, and can protect them from smallpox and other epidemics. A curvaceous, life-size statue of Tara, a Buddhist fertiltiy goddess, at the hilltop temple at Swyambhunath Hindu and Buddhist icons plus slogans written on the wall at the sprawling Swyambhunath temple complex A bas-relief sculpture of a naga, a friendly, divine snake, is part of the intricate, gilded metalwork adorning the splendid Hariti temple at Swyambhunath Buddhist prayer wheels at the Monkey Temple