Eating a Chapati and Relaxing

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We are in Katmandu, our first vacation spot on our trip. It is 180

degrees different then Tibet. Not only the scenery that changed from

our decent from the dry mountains of the Tibetan platue to the green,

river filled hills for Katmandu valley. If China was a very regulated place
then immediately after crossing the boarder you feel the chaos of the

Far East. The smells of insent (KTORET) and curry. The language is

suddenly familiar (English). Even the driving is done on the other side

of the road so not to confuse this place with china.




We also have for the first time in over a month a shower in the room at

a real hotel (with a lobby and everything) and all we could do is sing

the Holy-Holiday song 😊





In the heart of Katmandu are 4 streets called the Thamel. This is

probably the most advanced Backpacker ghetto in the world. There are

dozens of guesthouses here and an infinite number of restaurants and

bars serving every kind of food imaginable. In 1 week we had Nepaly,

Italian, Indian, Israeli, Jewish, Mexican, Stakes, German and ice cream.

this is our daily schedule

0600-0900 wake up with no alarm clock. at first we woke up

early due to 2.5hr time different between china and Nepal. as the

week passed we woke up later and later. shower #1


0900-1000 - eat breakfast. our favorite restaurant is a German

bakery with excellent sandwiches


1000-1200 - sightseeing. only 2 hr a day no more. we are on

vacation 😊


1200-1400 eat lunch in one of Katmandu’s many restaurants.

we have not yet returned to the same restaurant twice


1400-1700 - shower #2 and sleep. a very important part

of vacationing


1700-1800 - walk around in the 4 streets of the thamel around

the hotel. this is for sport and shopping


1800 - 1900 - our daily Internet hour. seeing how the war is

going along, sending and reading mails



1900 - 2000 -free time. we cant always be doing something we

are on vacation

2000 - 2100 the bakeries in town start selling their merchandise

at 50%!o(MISSING)ff. we buy some sweets and go watch some TV in the hotel

lobby (unfortunately CNN is our latest favorite)


2200 - drink something and then shower #3 and go to

sleep. tomorrow we have another full day of vacation.

Biet Habad

on Friday night we went to Kabalat Shabbat at the local Biet-Habad.

the tastiest food in Katmandu. Homemade Israeli salads followed by

chicken-soup with KNIDALACH and soup-almonds (Skediy marak) and a

main dish of Chicken (REVA-OFF). we have a very nervous time waiting

for the main dish not knowing if we get REVA-OFF or BOREKAS. (Hagit

was also worried how people will know she was an engineer’s-wife).




the cost of this fabulous meal - our sole to the Habadniks



there were about 20 other Israelis. all of them except us were 22 year-

old kids that could talk only of their drug trip in India...

Gali Atari Bird

ומספרים,
כלואה ציפור הפלא
שבאבן מפוסלת
בנפאל הרחוקה, הרחוקה.
צמאים פילי האבן
ומנגד
מבזבזת את מימיה מזרקה

our (measly) translation:

they say,
the wonderful bird stone ,
is caged
in far away Nepal
the thirsty stone elephants
stand in front
of a fountain wasting it's water

and the song continues by explaining that when the bird flies and the

elephants drink the water then there will be peace. by the last 2

weeks we were skeptical that would happen in the near future but we

went to look for the famous bird that is supposed to be in Patan's

Durbar Square. if you tell the local kids that you are from Israel then

they will start singing the song and point to the statue with a bird.



We were disappointed to find that it is not made of stone. it is made of

bronze. we did find the elephants though - they are indeed in front of

a water fountain. we think the whole thing is a scam or at

best "wishful thinking" of an Israeli traveler to Nepal thinking the song

is about a real place...



by-the-way - the local ledged said that the bird is there waiting for a

king that ran away from the spirits. he will return one day and the bird

is there to save him a spot. a window in the palace in front of the

statue is always left open for his return.

Chapatti

Chapatti is a round doughnut kind of oily Nepalese bread. it also rimes

very nicely in Hebrew in the famous saying "AHALTI Chapatti

Ve'NIRGATI" (I ate a Chapatti and relaxed)



thanks to Yariv Sh. for introducing us to that...

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Photos

Swayambhunath temple
monkey temple

Shoping
more bags

Patan - Durbar Square
the bird from the song

Kathmandu - Durbar Square
statues of Shiva and Vishu looking out of a temple window

Kathmandu - Durbar Square
wood decorated window

Kathmandu - Durbar Square
Kumari temple courtyard

Kathmandu - Durbar Square
temple enterence

Kathmandu - Durbar Square
selling flowers that will be given as offerings

Kathmandu - Durbar Square
offerings to the gods

Katmandu
there are small shrins everywhere in the ciry. many are used as a place to put up shop

Kathmandu
many house courtyards have little shrins next to the water pump

Swayambhunath temple
rocks colored in buddhist prayers

Swayambhunath temple
the temple is also called "monky temple" of obvious reasons

Swayambhunath temple
view of Kathmandu form the temple

Swayambhunath temple
we visited on "cleening day" and there where hundreds of people cleaning each cm of the complex

Swayambhunath temple
compasionate buddha

Swayambhunath temple
mask shop

Comments

[Hagit S]

Nice clothes buba!