Nepal here we come...

---

Hi all
Keep those comments coming nice to hear from you all.
We the 6 of us were liking 6 students off on our first trip away from home. We were all so exicited and didnt know what to expect. Our flight to Nepal was full of security checks and the plane looked like it had done a bit too many trips. Anyway as we were driving thru Kathmandu our 4 friends were ohhhh - ahhhh along the road - they have been living in India a wee bit too long and were shop starved! The hotel was nice and could have done with a bit of decorating and the rooms needed a good updating, but then we really only slept there - hard bed an all. The electricty was so good that it couldnt even charge our cameras!!!!! So our video camera only had 59 mins of filming on it and as you know with the zooming in and out this takes a lot out of the filming time.
The following day we got up at 5am to travel to the airport to catch Buddha Air to fly to the Himalayas. This was the most amazing journey I have had in a lonnng time. To see all the mountains and then to see Mnt Everest was just amazing. We all had window seats and one by one we were taken up to the cockpit to see and film Mnt Everest. The video just made Mnt Everest and then it said enough is enough! What an expierence this was for us.
Anyway back on the bus we stopped at a Tibetian refugee handcraft station where we watched them spin the yarn dying of the yarn and then the making of carpets. No we didnt buy any carpets this time. From there we travelled to Khokana a village about 10 km outside of Kathmandu. This is a village gives you an insight as to how the rural people live. It was so tranquil and peaceful. You felt it so much. The people all greet you - "namasta" and have are so friendly. They dont speak English but handsigns kick in now and again. The people are very proud of their culture and go to such lengths to save their culture and tradition. We walked past narrow lanes and streets and took in all the sanitation and living conditions and appreciated everything that we posses. The windows and doors were beautifully carved and very impressive. We dont appreciate the talent these people have they spend hours just sitting cand arving beautiful designs on the doors and window frames that are been made.
We then travelled to Bungamati vilage which is 10 km from Kathmandu. These people have also been untouched by the urban population and the globalised way of living and are also living the life that they know best which is every bit rural and date back centuries. These people keep themselves occupied with carpentry, masonry and other manual works. The women doing weaving and knitting. Many of them work on the rice paddies which you see all around the village. For the first time I expierenced how rice is made! It amazed me to see they way these people were living as their homes have very low ceilings and you can smell the mustyness - can you imagine us in one of these places we would be dead in no time. But then when you are born into such poverty your life goes with the flow. They are all so friendly and greet you with a smile full of teeth.

---