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Published: June 25th 2017
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Mount Everest
And there it is, in all its glory. The top of the world. Perhaps the romance with Kathmandu began in the seventies, as the words from the Cat Steven's hit song of the same name created visions of a mystical, enticing city in a far away exotic land. I believe I have yearned to visit this city, and this land, ever since. And here we are, finally. It only seemed right to perform this song for a small audience at our guest house the night before we set off to Kathmandu, and the next day Cat Stevens set the tone perfectly as we approached the city listening to his "Kathmandu" repeatedly.
In spite of a few tourists we met in Pokhara suggesting that Kathmandu was a busy, noisy, dirty, polluted city that they could not wait to leave, we agreed, once we got here, that those people could not have experienced India, because Kathmandu does not, in our opinion, hold a candle to Delhi or Varanasi or any number of Indian cities in the noise, bustle, or dirty department, although it does indeed have major air pollution issues. In an effort to begin to address this problem, tuk tuks have been banned in the city, so the noise factor is considerably lower than
Everest from a Distance
This was taken as we drew nearer, and the closer we got the more excited we became anticipating its greatness. usual. Instead, in the Thamel area where we stayed, we discovered relatively clean, long, narrow winding streets, lined with endless merchant shops (whose merchants do not aggressively harrass you) and countless restaurants and coffee shops hidden everywhere in even more narrow alleys, all with an energy that seems to echo the lyrics from the Cat Steven's song, when he says " your strange bewildering time will hold me down." It is a city one could become hooked on, as it has lots of energy, much of it creative, but is far more relaxing than one would expect any large city to be. The old cliche " different strokes for different folks" evidently applies here as everywhere, as some love it and others do not. We could easily come back here.
But of course, Kathmandu is also the kick off point for Mount Everest, and seeing Mount Everest was another on the list of things on our bucket list for this journey. However, because we had stayed much longer in Pokhara while I was recovering from the assaults of Pete the Parasite, we did not have the time in Katmandu to take advantage of any of the many hikes available
Getting Closer to Everest
Yet another shot of the famous mountain we are approaching, as well as the overwhelming Himalayan range. that would get you a view of Mount Everest. We should clarify, though, that hiking to the base camp was never in the plans, because it requires trudging through snow and cold, something we were absolutely not signing on to. Instead, working within our short time frame, we cheated and got on one of those charter planes that take you right to the mountain, and we enjoyed the view from the air. This is probably something you only do once, but seeing the top of the world is also something you won't forget quickly, if ever.
But alas, our time in this paradoxically mellow but adrenalin charged country is coming to an end, as we will soon be embarking on the last leg of this particular dream chasing adventure, when we soon fly to Bali, Lombok, and the Gillie Islands in Indonesia. Having had the distinct pleasure recently of gliding alongside the eagles, we now look forward to swimming with the turtles.
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