Namaste

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Hi Friends & Family (Namaste- is hello in Nepali & Hindi),

We are just leaving Delhi today, on our way to Bangkok Thailand. Nepal and India have been quite the experience- very different from what we're used to.

It took us a day or 2 to warm up to the differences in Kathmandu. In particular, the constant honking horns, chaos on the roads with cars, bikes, people, rickshaws, cows, you name it on the road, and continous solicitations from shop owners, resturaunt owners, trekking companies, weed peddlers, beggers etc coming up to us offering or wanting something. Standards of living are much lower than what we're used to... trash and mud on the roads etc.

With that said, Kathmandu really grew on us. The people were incredibly freindly and eager to share thier culture with us. Even the solicitors would leave us alone after a simple "no thank you". It was almost charming to see the narrow streets, shops, resturaunts (pretty good food!), and people in their everyday modes.

The highlights of the stay were seeing the "Monkey Temple", a huge Buddist temple on top of a hill (yes it had monkeys crawling around), and definitely our "Mountain Flight" on Yeti Airways to see Mount Everest! The Himalayas are spectacular!

Delhi was the craziness of Kathmandu times 10. It's pretty chaotic and redefined the word dirty. It does have it's contrasts: extremely poor and extremely rich, very dirty and very clean. We are in the area known for the "finest dining and shopping" but you wouldn't know it by looking at the streets.

The highlight of India was surely our day trip to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. It truly is incredible to see and look at all the detailed work that went into it.

All in all, this week has been valuable and an experience we'll never forget!

Love,
Ted & Caroline
PS: Our hearts & prayers go out to our friends in Minneapolis- we hope you are okay!!

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Photos

Monkey Temple
In Kathmandu, a large Buddist Temple 350 stairs up with wild monkeys and many prayer flags.

Mt Everest
Mt Everest is the hightest point on the left in this picture.

Red Fort
The Red Fort in Old Delhi. Built by the Mughal Empire witha 2km wall and moat.

Taj Mahal
Wow...enough said

Comments

[Sarah and Clint]

thanks for the updates!
It sounds like an amazing trip thus far! We envy you, but we have iPhones! ;-) -Sarah and Clint