New Dhaulagiri & Mustang Kathmandu

Wow....1st of December!!!!! Only 20 days left in country and it felt like 2 and a half months would be long....well it does feel like ages since we landed in Kathmandu, years since we left Heathrow and a millenium since we have seen family, friends and most importantly a western toilet!!!!!!
But none the less, for me, my time in Nepal has flown by and it feels like we are only just getting started, yet we have already done so much here.
This week (you will be pleased to know ...

... knocked the ******* off!" Despite the accomplishment, people still come. More and more every year, like pilgrims seeking enlightenment.
What is there to be learned, up there in the sky? That was a question I hoped the next few weeks would answer.
Day 4 (Goyem)
From Kenja, we hike up a steep switch-backing trail towards Lamjura La, our highest pass yet. Eventually, after several exhausting hours, we walk along ridges ...

... meditation. I am not made for this... But on the 8th and 9th day I succeeded to do it all the times!! (Yes I was proud of myself :)) The pain breaks the rest of the mind and also creates aversion, you want to move of course, but also helps you to train the mind that everything is impermanent and that it will go away. Ok, some times I thought they were lying, this pain is permanent!! Good and bad sensations are both impermanent, so you should not ...

... a sherpa taking all of our ****. We were nearly going to go with Kumuka with the small group sizes but found a austrlian company www.nepalonline.com.au who just do independant trips to Nepal which I was blown away with. They were great and the lady I spoke to had been to Nepal and did the same trek I wanted to do.

When I got to Nepal I was greeted by our guide and went through our trek and bits and pieces like that ...

... group rejected and wanted to use some of the school ground as a flowered area!!! Which is now taking shape, looking good and planting is under way.
The group was also asked to move a mountain of 50kg sacks of cement, so in true union style we said ' Eh, No'. Just as well seeing as the next day we had the first rainfall we have seen so far in Nepal!!! Though by English standards most of us would have been sun bathing!!!!
We have cut more iron supports for the ...

... hours at the transit hotel in the airport last night, then on this morning to Kathmandu. Fantastic views of the Himalayas from the plane.

Kathmandu has everything I was preparing myself for before our aborted India trip last year - abject poverty, intense culture and religion, total chaos everywhere, cows in the street, a plague of honking (cars, bikes, etc.), intense beauty and grime and history in all directions. Its real overload. I haven't seen much yet, as I spent most ...

... br>
"Do you have Swine flu?"
"No"
"Ok please proceed to the baggage xray"

The baggage xray looks like it may actually be operational, but there is no one watching the monitor, so It doesn't really matter. A couple of guys are nearby smoking cigs, I think that they're the xray guys. My baggage came out in one piece and we were off to the exit. I can see through the doors and there are about 300 Nepali ...

... but then I re*lised you'd just lost consciousness." I w*s very b*d, but I remember looking out the window * few times *nd re*lising th*t the bus w*s b*rely clinging to * scree slope over * steep r*vine with * thin trickle of * river in the dist*nt bottom. I missed *ll the fun of stuff f*lling *round the bus *nd people being knocked out of se*ts, but I do know th*t it w*s * very bumpy ride. And th*t's *n underst*tement, if I've ever used one.

5 hours l*ter we re*ched * t*rred ...

... ten minutes it seems. I swear I will get used to this. When my project is done, of course. Haha.
Anyway, speaking of which, after about half of a document I spent 5 hours writing yesterday somehow got deleted by my partner, I give up. Well for today anyway.

I got up at 6:30am today and decided to read. Then go to immigration to pick up my passport and my new visa. No work for me today. It's killing my mood thinking about hours of lost work when I'm on a ...

... Most people use the ghats on the right side, and you use the one corresponding to the caste of the deceased person. You can stand right above it and watch the cremation ceremony, which sounds strange, but many local people come here to watch.

The cremations are performed on the same day as the death, so the vibe isn't as emotional as you might think. The mourners seem to be in a bit of shock. I watched the cremation of a young man. First, men of the ...