Asan Tole

Traditional market is one of the best places to feel the local authentic atmosphere in everywhere. Surrounded by traditional and modern merchant buildings, Asan Tole असन टोल is located in the medieval marketplace in the central Kathmandu, which is just the most popular square where tourists can get a glimpse of the true daily life of Nepalese people. Asan means "Just There" and Tole a street or square.

Asan Tole is one of the old, busiest markets, crowded with shoppers and sellers from early morning to night every day. It is also a major gathering place for the commercial and religious activities. The crossroads for six streets that radiate from Asan Tole, the open-air market, are lined with many shops selling all kinds of household goods, rice, fruits, vegetables, dried fishes, cassette tapes, clothing, incense, shoes, and spices including saffron, cardamom, and many masala spices. 

The three-story Annapurna Temple in the southeast corner of Asan Tole is dedicated to the goddess of abundance or food grains. Annapurna is represented by a big silver jar called Kalash inside the temple for an image of Annapurna. In the north across the square from this temple is a two-story temple dedicated to Ganesh, an elephant-headed god.

The earthquake in 2015 unexceptionally struck Asan Tole, causing some old building regrettably to collapse. The above sketch was done from the east side of the square in 2002. This can be compared to the photo on the right taken in 2017. The white tent-roofed building right in the middle of the photo was damaged at the time and only the ground floor now remains.