Back to Pokhara. It's been a great 11 days. We're recovering, and tomorrow, we go to the world peace stupa. We'll take a boat across the lake, hike up 1 hour, have breakfast there, then hike and boat ride back. It's been an amazing time, and I'm not sure I want to be back to civilization. I love the mountains and the people. Greg is a fellow traveler, and below is his take on Kathmandu.
Subject: Katmandu day 3 or 4 C
Walked through our area of Katmandu called Thamel, did a little shopping; our guide led us down this Main Street to a westerners market( where I bought a bottle of wine). On the way a couple of street urchins tried begging for us (4, maybe 5 yrs old, stumps for legs, filthy, persistent) then a much younger child (also with bad legs) crying and crawling across a busy street, oblivious of traffic. A woman (its mother?) came running from across the street to grab up the wastling as traffic came whizzing by. It was a disturbing event that left all of us gasping.
Later, back in batville Robin was......(oops, wrong story). We went by small beat up taxi to visit the Stupa of Boudhanath which is a giant whitewashed round temple imbedded with prayer wheels great and small that pilgrims come from everywhere (lots of Tibetans) to circumvent in a clockwise direction multiple times some prostrating themselves fully on the brick paved street. A marvelously diverse crowd full of crimson robed monks, little Nepali girls all dressed up and of course, the ubiquitous Nikon toting Japanese pseudo photographer tourist. Surrounding the scene were 3 and 4 story ancient buildings, all seemingly designed by a different architect every few feet where anything and everything was being sold. It was pretty different from Salina, Kansas.
Note to Gary....22oz beer is usually around 50 cents or less on a rooftop bar.
Later, toward dusk a group of around 20monks aged from 20 something to may be 190 (or at least looked liked it) gathered at this smaller temple at one end of the shrine and while some chanted, others playing Himalayan horns, still others playing drums, and one of the younger ones emptied bags of rice (think 100 lbs bags), smaller bags of popcorn, bags of several different types of candy bars, and other treats onto a huge, really huge pile while a guy in civilian clothes put the candy bars back into a different bag but left all the other stuff in the pile. Some other monk was getting some kind of liquid from an unrobed dude and was pouring it into what looked like a large brass candle holder. It was a pretty unique experience somewhat akin to picking a new pope (in other words, incomprehensible at least to me) it did seem to be highly orchestrated though.
Then there was the taxi ride back through the impossibly narrow, crowded streets ...only at night.
New York is pretty tame compared to this.
Got a 90 minute massage today for around 30 bucks; they started with washing my feet (which probably were pretty dirty).
Well yaw'll, we start trekking tomorrow. We take a bus ride (should take may be 8 hrs but could take 18......from what I understand here you never know). The trek takes around 12 days. We hike for 4-5 hours, take a break for lunch and rest (3 hours) then hike a few more hours. I think maybe 2 days of the trek are pretty light hiking but some are solid climbs. We are going to the Annapurna base camp at 13,800.
The guest houses and food are a mixed bag with some having pretty primitive conditions. When I ask the guide if there would be showers he said sometimes. When I asked about hot water I got the same answer.
This is my last email for awhile as we won't have Internet and I'm not taking my computer anyway.
My best to all,
Greg
Subject: Katmandu day 3 or 4 C
Walked through our area of Katmandu called Thamel, did a little shopping; our guide led us down this Main Street to a westerners market( where I bought a bottle of wine). On the way a couple of street urchins tried begging for us (4, maybe 5 yrs old, stumps for legs, filthy, persistent) then a much younger child (also with bad legs) crying and crawling across a busy street, oblivious of traffic. A woman (its mother?) came running from across the street to grab up the wastling as traffic came whizzing by. It was a disturbing event that left all of us gasping.
Later, back in batville Robin was......(oops, wrong story). We went by small beat up taxi to visit the Stupa of Boudhanath which is a giant whitewashed round temple imbedded with prayer wheels great and small that pilgrims come from everywhere (lots of Tibetans) to circumvent in a clockwise direction multiple times some prostrating themselves fully on the brick paved street. A marvelously diverse crowd full of crimson robed monks, little Nepali girls all dressed up and of course, the ubiquitous Nikon toting Japanese pseudo photographer tourist. Surrounding the scene were 3 and 4 story ancient buildings, all seemingly designed by a different architect every few feet where anything and everything was being sold. It was pretty different from Salina, Kansas.
Note to Gary....22oz beer is usually around 50 cents or less on a rooftop bar.
Later, toward dusk a group of around 20monks aged from 20 something to may be 190 (or at least looked liked it) gathered at this smaller temple at one end of the shrine and while some chanted, others playing Himalayan horns, still others playing drums, and one of the younger ones emptied bags of rice (think 100 lbs bags), smaller bags of popcorn, bags of several different types of candy bars, and other treats onto a huge, really huge pile while a guy in civilian clothes put the candy bars back into a different bag but left all the other stuff in the pile. Some other monk was getting some kind of liquid from an unrobed dude and was pouring it into what looked like a large brass candle holder. It was a pretty unique experience somewhat akin to picking a new pope (in other words, incomprehensible at least to me) it did seem to be highly orchestrated though.
Then there was the taxi ride back through the impossibly narrow, crowded streets ...only at night.
New York is pretty tame compared to this.
Got a 90 minute massage today for around 30 bucks; they started with washing my feet (which probably were pretty dirty).
Well yaw'll, we start trekking tomorrow. We take a bus ride (should take may be 8 hrs but could take 18......from what I understand here you never know). The trek takes around 12 days. We hike for 4-5 hours, take a break for lunch and rest (3 hours) then hike a few more hours. I think maybe 2 days of the trek are pretty light hiking but some are solid climbs. We are going to the Annapurna base camp at 13,800.
The guest houses and food are a mixed bag with some having pretty primitive conditions. When I ask the guide if there would be showers he said sometimes. When I asked about hot water I got the same answer.
This is my last email for awhile as we won't have Internet and I'm not taking my computer anyway.
My best to all,
Greg
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