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We all had a great time in Kathmandu and left looking forward to when we can return. The poeple are very different than the Indians, although most people in Nepal look Indian or Chinese. They are all very nice and welcoming and they dont chase you down the street.
The flight was good into Kathmandu, maybe like 10 people on it for a 100 plus seater plane. When we arrived a whole bunch of people were offering us bicycle rickshaw rides as they said there were no taxis, we thought this was strange but once we meet our guide he told us that there was a taxi and bus strike as the government had raised gas prices by 25%. He also warned us that Nepal is a country that is changing a lot, and that there is a lot of unrest so we should really be in our hotel by 10pm at the latest.
When we drove to our hotel we notice that the streets were a lot cleaner, just nicer looking. There were basically no cars on the road so getting around was just a mattter of dodging all the people who were walking. We got stopped once by a crowd of protestors but since we had tourism tags they let us go by. The rest of the day we walked around and checked out all the shops. We immediately noticed that everything was cheaper than India. So we all got excited about buying some things as in India we only spent about $150 each over 10 days, and most of that went on tips for people. Then we went and used the interent for a while.
Day 2 in Nepal was spent waking up early again, I think the 4th day in a row waking up before 6am. Then we were taken to the airport for our Everest flight. We waited for about an hour and they cancelled it!! They only fly if they can see the mountain of course, so since it was overcast it was a no go. Luckily the tickets are fully refundable or transferable, so we booked onto the next days flight. Then we went back to the hotel and had breakfast.
Our guide meet us around 10am and he showed us a couple of temples in Kathmandu. The first one was called Patan the monkey temple. It is called that as it is located on top of what the locals call a hill, but since i now live in Florida it is definitely a mountain, and monkeys just live all over the hill. Our guide gave us tons of history and meaning into how Kathmandu was formed and how the religons combine in the city. At the top of the hill was what I would call a Budhist Pagoda, but instead the teirs are very small and there are 11 of them. It had a great view over the city which basically lies in a valley surrounded by large hills on 3 sides. One side being the Himalayas.
Then we drove to downtown where one of the oldest and last kingdoms of Nepal use to exist before one King decided to take over everyone in a form of uniting the country forcefully. Inside the Kingdom is lots of temples with very delacitelly designed sculptures and eves. We also just walked around the surrounding area and took in the atmosphere. Then our tour was over and the rest of the day we spent shopping for all sorts of stuff.
I got to say if you want any mountain wear or gear, this is the place to buy it. They have absolutely everything and it is all so cheap!! They also have the fake stuff as well as the real stuff so you choose what you want, the fake stuff is like 10% of the price in the US, and the real stuff is about 30% of the price in the US. We all bought a few things, lots of presents for others and some random stuff for us. Of course they had fake DVD's for about $1.25 each, Im not saying if i got some or not.
Day 3 in Nepal started out the same way with us trying to get the Everest flight, but this time it was successful!!!! I got tons of photos and it was just fantastic!! You cant really tell how truly high they are as everything slopes up to it, but it was still better than what i have seen of Alaska from a plane. Everyone on board gets a window and you even get to go up into the cockpit for a view. I cant wait to post the photos, and as I promised by Japan.
After the great high of Everest we went back for breakfast and to pack up. Then off again for a few more sights before flying off to Delhi. We went to another Buddhist temple that is populated by people from Tibet. It is another Stupa which is surrounded by shops. You can go up on it and walk around it, it also had tons of flags hanging from it like you might image there would be in Tibet. These flags are actually wishes that the wind is suppose to blow to the gods. Then we went to the area where ther local Hindu people get cremated, kind of like Varanasi but more open and less private. The river was also only about 5 meters wide. When we arrived there was a thick smoke in our face and at the time we had no idea where we were. Then we saw 5 piles of wood and bodies burning. Our guide told us a lot about them. Then we walked up the river to where they were preparing a body to get burnt, it was luckily wrapped in cloth but strangely a whole bunch of boys arrived and stripped down and started swimming right where everything was happening. Another funny thing was when they push the ashes and hot wood into the water a boy about 2 meters away starts collecting the large logs to use again. I wondered how they knew that there were no bones left in the ashes etc....
Then they took us to the airport where we went through about 5 body searches and layers of security. Our flight was a little late but that didnt matter. We arrived in Delhi and got a taxi into the city and went to a market to spend the rest of our ruppee. We didnt really buy much or do much as we were tired. Then back to the airport and we had to wait till 4am for our flight. We tried to sleep a little and then checked in around 1am. Got to the gate and found some nice couches and had a nap. We missed our alarm and when we woke went straight onto the plane. It was about a 6 hours flight to Hong Kong but we slept most of the way.
We had to say a sad goodbye to Woody and Tomo but we will see them on Monday!!
Love all Si and Amy
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