This is a first-person YouTube travel vlog by Nate Buchanan documenting a solo visit to the Pashupatinath Temple (referred to informally as a 'crematorium') in Kathmandu, Nepal, while his partner Kara is ill. Nate records his trip to the temple, interactions at ticketing (one-day ticket; main golden-roof temple restricted to Hindus; photography limits), a hired guide explaining Hindu beliefs (Shiva as principal god) and cremation practices (open-air burning; use of wet rice straw and removal of bamboo ladder), and his ethical hesitation about filming a cremation. The video closes with Nate rejoining Kara, travel logistics (checking out, food, airport pickup) and brief personal remarks.
Chapters
Hope you feel better.
Don't vlog while you're crossing the road.
Kara was up all last night with her stomach hurting. Can't be very far away from a bathroom right now. So sadly, I'm having to go to the crematorium by myself. This morning, before we even started traveling, we made this deal that if one of us was sick, the other one would still go out and do stuff. Enjoy the city, shoot the vlog. And unfortunately, I'm the first one to have to hold up my end of the deal. Hope she gets feeling better. Just jumped in a cab. Feels so weird going anywhere without Kara. With that said, I'm so surprised that in five months, this is the first time that one of us has been, like, too sick to leave the room.
Thank you.
Karen. Doing what you told me not to. Walking in the road and vlogging. I apologize. It's really muddy over here. So I'm going to this place that I've been calling the Crematorium. I don't think it's actually a crematorium, but they do burn bodies in the open air. It's a Hindu temple. Apparently, that is one of their death rituals. The place I'm going is actually called.
The P word. I just can't pronounce it. So I've been calling it the crematorium.
From the U.S. thank you.
So, sir, the ticket is valid only for rest of the day.
Sure.
Only one day.
Okay.
And the main temple here, the temple with the golden roof, you are not allowed to visit.
Okay.
It is only for the Hindus.
Okay.
Even though from the terrace, you can have the panorama view of the temple and the city.
Okay.
Right now you will see dead body burning.
Okay.
Cremation.
Yeah, yeah.
Some places. Photograph is not allowed.
Sure. I think this is going to kind of be like visiting a funeral home back in the US don't know how much I would be able to video because I definitely want to be respectful. I hope that nobody thinks it's disrespectful that I'm even coming here in the first place. Just seemed like a really unique cultural experience that you can only have in a few places in the world. I wanted to go take it in.
Shiva, he is the principal God of the Hindus. He is the God of destruction and recreation. And these temples are especially visited by the couple who don't have children, who are proved by the doctor. You can't have children.
So before they start the cremation, they have to remove the bamboo ladder from the pile. But if they make the rice straw Wet and keep it at the top of the body. The rice straw. The fire will not catch the rice straw easily and it helps the heat to remain inside. It works as an oven. Health vaccination.
Yeah. Yeah.
Well, I am leaving the temple. Normally after something like this, I'd try to sum up what I had seen. However, out of fear of being disrespectful, I'll just tell you what I did. Basically, I've just been here for the last two hours. I ended up hiring a guide to take me around and kind of explain the process to me. This is one of those places that I came not for entertainment but to learn about another culture. So hopefully nobody views this as too disrespectful. Now that I've battled through my moral and ethical dilemma of filming at the crematorium. Time to head home to Kara. Time to head back to Kara. The hotel's not home.
Sam.
How you feel?
Somehow we have to fit all of this junk, plus all of the souvenirs we bought into three tiny bags. Somehow, two hours later, everything fit into three suitcases. I cannot wait to get rid of that thing.
It's a miracle.
Just checked out of the hotel, put our bags in storage. Now we're gonna go grab some Indian poop for lunch. Hopefully if they're open today and probably do a little bit more shopping before we get picked up to go to the airport at 5:30. How you feeling? A little better.
I think I'll just stick to some naan.
Good idea. No spicy Indian food. Yeah.
I got some garlic naan. Got the chicken masala again.
Hopefully it's as good as last time.
Looks as good as last time. One last four meal before we go home and pig out.
We just got picked up and we're on our way to the airport to fly home in business class. We've been looking forward to these flights for so long. We get a total of 20 hours in face class in the next two days.
So excited.
Can you talk? Nate's being cooked in the kitchen right now.
