Kathmandu, the Valley and Pokhara

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We're in Nepal now since over 3 weeks now and should leave in the next 4 days or so, which will make it about 4 weeks.

The way from Lhasa was an experience, to say the least. We couldn't find people to share the ride to Nepal, so we went looking for locals. We had someone written for us in Tibetean, our plan and then we went on the search. Quite funny. We found a monk, who was interested, so we went to a "translator" and made the arrangements. We were with 5 other people and seemed that we're the first foreigners they had ever communicated with- and it was not by speaking..........

The trip was an overnight ride, which took around 12 hours. A stop to eat and drink their butter tea. A few police inspections. Several pee stops and driver swapps.

We arrived in the morning, however Nepal is 2 hours and fifteen minutes earlier, so we spent these couple of hours sleeping in the car, before crossing the border.

The border is a big nothing and not much more than trucks lining after one another. We found a ride to Kathmandu, so we were pleased.

We spent a week in Kathmandu and visited the sights around here, which include Durbari Square, which is an old part of Kathmandu, the Monkey Temple, which got its name for the monkeys that live there, Buddnath - the biggest stupa in the world, Pashaputinath, where are Hindu temples and it's lying on the Bagmati River, which is a holy river for the Hindus and where they creamate their bodies. Great.

We went one day to Patan, which is a few kilometers away and was a very nice walk. There's as well a Durbar Square and it's even nicer than the one in Kathmandu. We walked around the city and it was very nice and different than busy Kathmandu.

At the end of this day we went to meet the family of ex-students of my Mom, who are Finnish-Dutch and they live in Kathmandu. It was very interesting to hear their views of Nepal and I personally enjoyed the company of 4 boys aged 6 to 11. Was lots of fun.

Then we went to the "resort town" of Pokhara, which lays on a lake, the second biggest in Nepal. From there you can see some of the toppest views of the world and if you walk far, you can see even higher peaks, we didn't bother though. The sun and temperatues were just perfect and we enjoyed our roof, books and basically resting from travelling. It can get tiring.............

We took walks, a boat ride, bicycles, but not much else than that. So after a week or so in Pokhara, we came back to Kathmandu, fixing our stuff, visas for India (which was a big hassle), cloth, etc. we're ready to go to India. Or at least we think we're ready and should be leaving tomorrow or the day after, in a city called Varanasi.

We wish everyone Happy Hanukka, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

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