Nepal Trekking - Kathmandu

It took me a while to get back to blogging, but here are the final Nepal photos... after our time in the mountains we came back to Kathmandu, where we spent 4 days (2 days too long:)











Tow Truck!

Kathmandu is a busy and chaotic city... as we flew into the city we could see the air go from clean to smoggy. The city is in a valley so the bad air just collects right over.



Recess!!!



The city may be a little dirty, but it is colorful!!!

Laundry Day!

Throughout the city there are many squares with Buddha Stupas or other Hindu/Buddist alters like the one above.

We visited Durbar Square, location of one of the old Royal Palaces and home of the 'living goddess' - (no, not me!!!:)

Lunch stop at a rooftop restaurant

We also visited the Buddist Monastary located on a hilltop in Kathmandu, Swayambhunath.

There are monkeys living in the park and spend most of their time hassling the visitors. I had to stop and laugh at one of them because he stole a tourist's plastic bag, dug into and started eating the Choco Pie which the man must have been saving for later!!!

Nepal Trekking - Descent to Lukla

We had made the decision to walk down to Tengboche from Pheriche. While trekking is still a lot of work, it gets easier as you descend altitude - easier to breathe! So our descent should take only 3 days while our trek up took us 6.

Lots of time for posin'!!! If you look at Scott you will see the mustache/beard he grew over the past 8 days. We barely took showers or changed clothes the whole trip - it was wonderful!!!

Even though we are almost done - we still made sure to practice chanting!

Some friends we met along the way...

Construction project in Nepal, check out the 'rock backpack'

Lhotse Shar in the evening

We tried to spend the night in Tengboche, unfortunately all the teahouses were full. So instead we had to hike a few extra hours and after checking with 2-3 other teahouses along the way we found this Sherpa House which doesn't really cater to the trekkers but a place for the Sherpa's to stay along the route.

So we stayed at this Sherpa Lodge and the family welcomed us, made us an excellent dinner of dal bhat (which we ate everday anyway) but was probably the best. It was also our first wood burning stove in a while!!!

We got to play with the kids in the little village, I took their photos and they checked themselves out on the digital screen... they loved it! I also showed them photos of the airplanes in Lukla, they had never seen an airplane before.

Above are the kiddos and below the Sherpa Kitchen.

With some extra time on our hands we visited a village called Khumjung, just 200 m above Namche Bazaar.

We loved this spot because it was a lot more traditional, catered less to the trekkers.

There are many monks who live in this village as well as Sherpa families, the mountain in the background (Khumbi Yul Lha 5,761 m) is a holy mountain. It is so sacred to the Nepalese that no one has ever climbed it and a big chance no one ever will. The government will not allow any permits to climb, even if a lot of $$$ is offered.

Village Stupa and Prayer Wheels

Scott playing with the kids

We were welcomed into a monastary, mostly to see the Yeti artifacts (unfort no good pix)

The monastary document library

The village school was funded/built by Sir Edmund Hillary.

The school library

Walking down into Namche Bazaar where we will spend the night and then trek to Lukla the following day.

We spent our afternoon in Namche at one of the bakeries stuffing ourselves with coffee, pastries and veggie burgers. Then we went back to the teahouse, took a nap and sat near the wood stove!

Saturday Market in Namche!

Final day!!!

This little pup helped to guide us on the trail ... maybe he was just taking care of us because I shouted and gave the look of death to some Nepalese youths who were throwing rocks at him!

The trail exit into Lukla

Our guide picking up a game of soccer with some local kids

Scott with our guide Sosi (left) and Shem our porter (right). They were both great.

Celebratory beer after a long 8 days.

Scott and I stopped into this local 'pub' ... had to give it a try. An Irish Pub with Prayer Wheels at the entrance, cool.

The bartender was playing a Bon Jovi CD, the best of 80's (think 'Livin on a Prayer' and'Wanted Dead or Alive' and you get the hint). I thought it was the coolest!

What was also exciting was the signed t-shirt in the picture above... yes, Sting had been sitting in the same bar as us only months earlier!!!!

The next day ... Time to take off! Back to Kathmandu...