Walk the kora at Boudhanath

The kora is the walk around the stupa, always clockwise. At the end of the day it fills with monks in maroon robes, older Tibetan women with prayer beads, families and visitors, all moving the same way at the same easy pace.

Join in. There is nothing to buy and nobody to ask. Spin the prayer wheels set into the wall as you pass, and go round as many times as you like. Three times is a common number.

Boudha is the centre of Tibetan Buddhist life in Nepal, and the lanes behind the square are full of monasteries. Many welcome quiet visitors in the courtyard; take your shoes off before you go into a shrine room.

The square itself is ringed with shops selling singing bowls, thangka paintings and incense, and with cafés that have rooftop seats looking straight at the dome. Climbing up for a tea is the best way to see the whole kora moving below you.

Boudhanath is one of the largest stupas in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. After 1959 thousands of Tibetan refugees settled around it, and the area grew into the living heart of Tibetan culture in Nepal, with dozens of monasteries within a short walk.

That is what makes it different from a museum visit. The kora is not put on for anyone. It is people's daily practice, and visitors are welcome to share it as long as they move with it.