Week 27

Where We Went: Kathmandu, Nepal

First Moment Here: It started before we even landed.  It was a little breezy making our airbus sway over the humungous mountains.  It was the kind of landing where everyone applauded when we were on the ground. Yeah.  I was one of four women on this full airbus, ya know, the plane with 9 seats across.  And there was a guy taking pictures of me before we even got off the plane.  I loved everyone saying “namaste” in the airport, hello. In the airport parking lot we saw, well heard first, then saw, a guy toting nine crates full of chicks (below).  A few times, it looked like he was about to lose a box and I can’t even imagine what the scene would have been with 100 little peeps on the loose.  On our drive to the hotel we saw three cows in the street, maybe they were bulls, not sure.  All I can say is oh. my. god.  And the honking, don’t even know how to describe it.  Anyway, I can’t wait to fall in love with Nepal.​

Funniest Thing We Did: One morning while at breakfast in the hotel, the waiter asked, “How was your sleep?” but we thought he said, “How was your trip?" (we had just gotten back from a scenic everest flight) so we replied, “Cloudy, very cloudy.”  He gave us a strange look so we continued on, “Very sad” since we were disappointed that we didn't see the Himalayas and Mt. Everest.  We haven’t stopped laughing about this interaction since.  And we see the guy like every day.  

Craziest Thing We Did:  We visited a holy temple where every Hindu must come once in their life.  Outside they cremate about 35 bodies per day and send the ashes down the river which meets the ganges.  People are in the river looking for gold that comes from the gold teeth of the deceased.  As we’re watching recently deceased have their feet washed before being cremated there is a monkey eating an orange popsicle right behind us.  This is a random and crazy place.

Best Thing We Did:  We had hoped it would be the scenic mountain flight over Everest but sadly the clouds lifted over the mountains rather than letting the peaks break through.  So, instead, it was the sum of the interactions we had with all the amazing Nepalese people we met.  We also saw an awesome band play live one night.  The guy had such an amazing voice and I’ve never seen such a good electric guitarist.  Amazing.

​Tastiest Thing We Did: Milk Tea!  And the typical nepalese meal.  Had it a handful of times and it never disappointed.  The presentation is probably one of my favorite parts of it.

Dumbest Thing We Did:  Drink liquor, not beer.  Even though we were ordering name brand off the menu, it was a far cry from what we are used to and we got the worst hangover ever.  Nothing like being hungover in Nepal.  Ughhhhh.
​
Coolest thing we Learned: Nepal is the one of least developed country in the world with the only 15 minute increment time change and NON rectangular flag.  Kathmandu is about 100 miles from Everest.  The 1,500 mile long Himalayas including Everest are formed by collision of the Indian Subcontinent and Eurasia.  The Indian plate is still moving 2 inches per year so Everest is actually getting taller!  They speak 92 languages here and 15 of their provinces aren’t connected to the others by year round road access.  We learned SO much here, I could go on and on.

Biggest Surprise:  Everest beer cost $4.50 (pint and a half bottle).  

Mystery Solved:  This thing out in front of our hotel (and other hotels) is some kind of machine with “current” as the man out front explained.  I asked, “electricity?”.  He nodded yes.