Here is what Raymond tells us about Pashupatinath: This is the most sacred of the Hindu temples in Nepal, situated on the Bagmati River, east of the city of Kathmandu near the airport. Dedicated to Shiva, the pagoda style temple with its golden roof and silver doors is closed to non-Hindus but can be seen from the other side of the river. There are many holy men and sadhus and also the official burning ghats where cremations may often be seen. The men first bring in wood and build the funeral pyre. Next the dead body arrives and is dressed and sprinkled with herbs and spices. The men carry it many times round the funeral pyre before laying it down and adding straw or dried grass which acts as the tinder when they light it. The bodies burn for many hours, often with feet sticking out of the end. When these drop off they are scooped back on top again. All the while the women folk keep up a howling and a wailing noise. When they consider the body to be sufficiently burnt, the whole fire is tipped into the river. Hopefully the ashes float down to join the most holy of rivers, the Ganges. Any wood not fully burnt is pulled out to be used again. While all this is going on there are other men wading in this filthy dirty river with rakes, pulling out all the rubbish to keep the water flowing. People wash themselves in the water as it is a holy river, and monkeys walk through looking for tit bits of food, and generally getting up to mischief.