Shangri-La Kathmandu

... the car was a 37 year old corolla! I went to double check the flights out of here and discovered we had an extra day here! We spent the rest of the day having a few drinks and doing nothing, just what the doctor ordered!

The only other things we done in Kathmandu was Darbur Square and the monkey temple. Darbur square was nothing special, a few nice buildings but that was it. The monkey temple has some other name but it is full with monkeys. The temple is cool but ...

... the herds of cows or goats that appear like a barricade around blind corners. As we drive a crazy chicken flies out from the forest which surrounds us on both sides of the path. We dodge it and drive on, past tiny towns, small villages, prayer flags around secluded temples inside jungles. We're surrounded by views of mountains, rivers, and lush green rice fields arranged like furry steps, for miles on end.

Once inside the villages, he ...

... clipped to the side of his short hair. We all laugh as she continues her hair styling. Contrast...

Later on we go to the living room, Kp invites the other volunteers and serves his home made rice beer and Kusi starts us off dancing to Nepali music as she laughs and prances around. Such a happy and loved child. Her father and Arnej soon join her while Suni and I laugh at how the men dance. Kind of like animated chickens. Bok, bok, Bok-kah!

In madness and ...

On Sunday afternoon, one of the Projects Abroad staff members brought me to my home accommodation. It's a place a little outside of Thamel. There are four other Projects Abroad volunteers who live in the same apartment complex with me. Our hosts are Kanak (sp?) and Garret - both are Nepali.

Luckily, our accommodation is one of the few in Nepal that don't serve rice and lentils ( "dal bhat") day and night. In the mornings it ...

... They wear beautiful, colorful Nepali outfits made of silk or satin accented with jewelry and a red dot or tika on their forehead. They are beautiful! Many of the men wear traditional Nepali hats (Topi ) with tika on their foreheads as well. In addition to walking the streets Clint and I also took a bike rickshaw to Buddhist and Hindu temples and to a place called Durbar Square. Here we met a young guide who showed us around for a few hours ...

... get out of the airport you are inundated with hundreds of touts and taxi drivers all wanting to whisk you off to 'their' hotel, where of course they get commission...it can be useful sometimes I suppose, but is far easier if you have some idea where you are going and what to pay!! After catching up on some sleep, totally wasted!!! we headed off for a look round, this place is a shoppers paradise!! I love it!! but unfortunately anything i buy i have to carry, so its ...

... every street

Traders are gentle rather than pushy

Beer is available pretty much everywhere!



Examining this list it dawned on me that most of these observations were making a comparison with India. It is only now, after a few days in Nepal that I'm beginning to appreciate that traveling in India, especially as a lone female, was much harder than I realised at the time. Everything seems so much easier here.



Kathmandu, Nepal, Nepal fishtails04

... On this point, one thing I have noticed since my last trek in these parts is the sudden appearance of empty plastic 'mineral' water bottles along the trails and in the streams. Whilst in the past trekkers have relied on stream water and iodine tincture people now seemed to be purchasing 'mineral' water in bulk. I put quotes around the word mineral because what people are buying is in fact tap water put through a filter and sold in a plastic bottle; a neat exercise in both ripping ...