Thimi: The Potters' Town Between Kathmandu and Bhaktapur

On the road from Kathmandu to Bhaktapur, a ridge of old houses rises to the north of the highway. Tour buses do not stop. This is Thimi, formally Madhyapur Thimi, a Newar town that has supplied the Kathmandu Valley with clay pots for longer than anyone can say. It is one of the best places in Nepal to watch a traditional craft carried on as everyday work, without a performance being made of it.

A town of clay

The name of the potters' caste is Prajapati, and many of Thimi's families bear it. Their raw material is the dark clay dug from the valley floor. In several neighbourhoods, open squares and lanes serve as workshops.

What you will see:

• Wheels. The traditional wheel is a heavy disc, sometimes an old truck tyre filled with concrete, set spinning by hand with a stick. The potter squats beside it and throws a pot in a minute or two while the momentum lasts. Electric wheels are now common too.

• Drying. Rows of grey pots are lined up in the sun on every flat surface, turned regularly so they dry evenly.

• Beating. Some vessels are shaped and thinned by hand with a wooden paddle and a stone anvil.

• Firing. Pots are stacked in a great mound, covered with straw and ash, and fired for days in the open. Smoke seeps from the heap and drifts over the roofs.

The products are practical: water jars, flower pots, yoghurt bowls, piggy banks, oil lamps for festivals, incense holders and the wide basins used for distilling rice spirit.

Alongside the traditional workshops, a few studios produce glazed stoneware, cups and tableware in contemporary designs, and welcome visitors. Some offer short lessons at the wheel.

Masks

Thimi is also known for papier-mâché masks. They represent deities and demons and are worn in the sacred dances performed in Bhaktapur and elsewhere during the autumn festivals. Makers build them up from layers of paper and clay over a mould, then paint them in strong reds, blues and whites with staring eyes. Smaller versions are sold as decorations. You can find workshops in the lanes of the old town.

Walking through

Thimi runs north to south along its ridge. A simple route:

1. Enter from the highway at the southern gate and climb the main lane.

2. Pass the Balkumari temple, the town's principal shrine, a pagoda dedicated to a guardian goddess, with a peacock on a pillar in front.

3. Continue north through small squares with shrines and rest houses, turning into side lanes wherever you see pots drying.

4. Look for the pottery squares in the central and northern neighbourhoods.

5. Exit at the northern end onto the old road, which was once the main route between Kathmandu and Bhaktapur.

The walk takes about an hour with stops. There is no ticket booth.

The new year festival

In mid-April, on the second day of the Nepali new year, Thimi holds a festival in which dozens of palanquins bearing deities from different neighbourhoods are carried through the streets, while crowds throw clouds of orange powder over one another. A neighbouring village stages a rite on the same day in which a volunteer has his tongue pierced with an iron spike. Both are closely tied to the larger celebrations in Bhaktapur.

Practical details

• Getting there: any bus or microbus from Kathmandu to Bhaktapur stops at Thimi, about twenty to thirty minutes from the city centre. A taxi can drop you at the southern gate and collect you at the northern end.

• Best time: dry, sunny days, when pots are out. Mornings are busiest. During the monsoon, much of the work moves under cover.

• Food: tea shops and snack stalls in the main lane.

• Combine with: Bhaktapur, a further ten minutes east. Thimi fits neatly on the way there or back.

Good manners

This is a workplace. Step around drying pots, never over them. Ask before photographing a potter at the wheel; most are happy, and showing interest in the work is appreciated. Do not pick up unfired pieces. If someone takes the time to demonstrate, buying a small item is a fair thank-you.

Why stop

In Bhaktapur's pottery square, the craft is partly on show for visitors. In Thimi, it is simply how people make a living. You can stand in a lane and follow the whole process, from a lump of wet clay to a smoking kiln, within fifty metres. It takes an hour, costs almost nothing, and gives a glimpse of the working valley behind the monuments.