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Nepal and some final thoughts
I've been back in DC one long hard week now, and had some time to reflect and get back into the swing of every day life. It's hard to put into words the experience of so many places and people.
After my run in with the Chinese officials trying to get out of Tibet, I had an amazing week in Kathmandu and the surrounding valley. KTM is a crazy ramshackle place, noise, smells, the traffic, the pollution (probably the worse I have ever experienced), the rickshaws, the street children, the absolute poverty. On the other hand, a walk in the backstreets takes you through an amazing cultural and artistic heritage, revealed in hidden temples overflowing with marigolds, hobbit-sized workshops unchanged since the middle ages, and the most colourful of people. A short ride into the Valley brings stunning views of the Himalayas and on a clear day, a snapshot of Everest's South face, not to mention six UNESCO Heritage sies scattered among the surrounding hills.
I spent the week exploring the three ancient Kingdoms of the Kathmandu Valley: Patan, Bhaktapur and Kathamandu itself, as well as trips to the ancient Buddist stupa of Swayambhunath (the Monkey Temple) and the Bodnath, the Pashupatinath Temple, Nepa's most important Hindu site, which attracts pious pilgrims and dreadlocked sadhus (holy men) from all over the subcontinent. I also spent considerable time ambling the streets of the tourist district - Thamel, which was all a little crazy, but great for shopping, and I managed to get in that small matter of the Champions League Final.
And now I am back! The quickest route possible from Kathmandu took 36 hours, so a considerable amount of movies later I arrived back to Arlington in need of a good holiday to recover! It has been emotional (points for movie recognition).
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