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THIMI , the valley's fourth-largest town, lies on a plateau 4km west of Bhaktapur. The name is said to be a corruption of chhemi, meaning "capable people", a bit of flattery offered by Bhaktapur to make up for the fact that the town used to get mauled every time Bhaktapur picked a fight with Kathmandu or Patan. Recently the town has revived its ancient name of MADHYAPUR ("Middle Place"), which recalls its midway location. Its mainly Newar inhabitants are indeed very capable craftspeople, and Thimi is the place to go for papier-mache masks and pottery. The Bhaktapur trolley bus will drop you off at the southern end of Thimi, but you'll get a far more favourable introduction by cycling in along the old road to Bhaktapur, which skirts the town to the north. Minibuses from Bhaktapur and Kathmandu also ply this back route. Several handicrafts shops - Thimi's only real attraction - are located along the north road. The papier-mache masks seen in tourist shops all over the Kathmandu Valley originated here, and Thimi's Chitrakar family, famed for generations as purveyors of fine festival masks, still produces them in a range of sizes and styles. Snarling Bhairab, kindly Kumari and elephant-headed Ganesh are most commonly represented by the masks, which are based on those worn by Bhaktapur's Nawa Durga dancers. Compared to those now produced in Bhaktapur and elsewhere, Thimi masks are cheaper, lighter, and have a duller, rougher finish. Lightness is an important feature in the larger festival masks worn by dancers, and cheapness makes the smaller ones the preferred choice for use in Nawa Durga puppets. Also available are hilarious salt and pepper shakers in the shape of the king and queen - though expensive, they make great, offbeat mementoes. Pottery is an even older local speciality, and you can watch potters at work in alleys and courtyards at the north end of town. However, Thimi's potters have largely abandoned traditional hand-powered methods for electric wheels and kerosene-fired kilns, and with help from a German project they're shifting from cheap terracotta housewares for the local market to export-quality glazed products. The remainder of Thimi is grotty and unglamorously primitive. Thimi's only temple of note is that of Balkumari , a sixteenth-century pagoda located near the southern end of the main north-south lane. Couples pray to the "Child Kumari" for babies, presenting her with coconuts as a symbol of fertility. Balkumari's vehicle is a peacock, which stands upon a nearby pillar. The temple is the focus of frenzied Bisket festivities in April, when dozens of deities are ferried around on palanquins and red powder (red being the colour of rejoicing) is thrown like confetti.
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