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Happy Birthday to me!
With Liff heading back to London to celebrate Bubbles and Kevin's union, I was left to celebrate my birthday in Kathmandu. (So I will be the author of this entry -for a change)
The birthday celebrations kicked off early. To our surprise it was Mt Everest day and the street was in full party mode by 8am..... a ready made party, sweet!
Sadly this was the day we said goodbye to Rosie, Clare, Ling and Annie. Ling and Annie set off early for their flight. (guys, thanks for traveling with us, it was a real pleasure and a time we will never forget) GP and I made our way to the airport with Rosie and Clare, sad to see you leave too. (Hope your having a wicked time in India, keep us posted)
To our surprise Daryn and Charlotte decided last minute to fly to Kathmandu to be with me on my birthday- Thank you both so much for making the mission, I hope you are home safe by the time you read this.
Daryn and Charlotte took to the streets of Kathmandu with a vigour for missioning and shopping I have yet
to see matched by the hardest of travellers. Upon their arrival we went to Boudanath to have a beer and enjoy the sun setting over the golden stupa.
With a few activities in mind we set off for The temples of Patan's Durbar square where we witnessed the wrath of Khali as they sacrificed a buffalo and removed its head to be bled out in the temple. A great intro for Daryn and Charlotte to the religious affairs of the area.
The following day was spent running around Thamel shopping and hunting for silk scarves. Charlotte quickly learnt how to barter hard and would continue to do so for the rest of the week while Daryn tried to make sense of the 17 different bank notes they have in active use here. Including A Rs25.00 (Strange). In the evening we ventured out to the burning Ghats of Pushpatty. Not for the faint hearted we found a temple guide who showed us around and described in detail the Nepali process of Burning their dead. Charlotte held out well, and I think an enlightening experience was had by all.
Doom aside we booked ourselves on a Bunji jump. (3
hour drive from Kathmandu and 10km from the Tibetan border) Now Ive jumped before but little could prepare any of us for the 160m gorge with a swing bridge to jump from and hold us! Nerves were high, but GP, Daryn and I Made it off in good time, to climb the 30min out of the valley. Charlotte (the photographer of this crazy operation) kept an eye on things. Daryn and I climbed onto the roof of the buss to traverse the mountains in a higher state of consciousness. An adventure I will never forget (Skunk - please load the videos of the jump onto this blog entry) To see us jump check out our videos on u tube:
Guy:
Daryn:
The following day we once again climbed to the monkey temple, with its 600 year old stupa to watch the sun set. Closely followed by the temple dogs and monkeys. The 3 of us lit candles for our cousin, Greg, and spent quiet time spinning prayer wheels and watching monks in their daily operations.
We tried the warm Tibetan beer (Tongba) which was basically fermenting millet with high concentrations of yeast. You poor hot water into the mixture and allow it to ferment in front of you, sipping at the pungent liquid as it gets stronger by the minute. We made several walks along the narrow streets to Durbar square and the infamous Freak street getting lost at every opportunity.
To escape the madness we decided a day at the Zoo was needed. (This may be our only chance to see a tiger) Rhino's, tigers and a clouded leopard were the stars of the day though the caged animals were hard to bear after the Chitwan National Park experience.
Liffy returned to us on Thursday night giving me chance to celebrate my birthday again! Sweet. A pizza and Jack Daniels evening drew Daryn and Charlotte's trip to a close.
Sad, and with loads of hugs we watched them pass the armed guards to return to Delhi - Thank you both for making my birthday so special and coming here to celebrate with me. . Well here we are, Time to organise our trip to Tibet, we will keep you all posted...love to all
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Guy and Liffy
Travel 2009 - 2010- 2011
Happy Birthday!
Happy happy Guy, Being able to spend it with you meant so much to Charlotte and I. Love you lots and hope to see you again soon. Love D and C