I’m not really much of a shopper but it’s hard not to look at the stuff for sale, especially when there’s a lot of it and it’s everywhere.
One of my favorite places to *window shop* was Kathmandu. There, the vendors not only display their wares on tables and shelves but they also use whatever surface they can place items on. Sometimes, items were simply placed on mats spread out on the ground. Other times, the display shelf was the ledge of a low wall.

Often, items were hung on the side of the buildings. As often as I walked up to a table to look at something up close, I also found myself walking back to admire the entire lot as if it were artwork hung up on a gallery wall. Seeing the souvenirs displayed this way often gave me design ideas on how I could present all my travel finds on my walls at home. I came across this building and its souvenirs on the grounds of Swayambunath stupa.

By the way, Nepalese has a long history of woodcarving so if you want to bring something back with you, think about something made of wood like a mask. You can’t go wrong!