Blogs from Kathmandu, Nepal, Asia - page 6

There's a one eyed yellow idol to the north of Kathmandu There's a little marble cross below the town There's a broken hearted women tends the grave of Mad Carew While the yellow god forever gazes down J Milton Hayes My dad used to recite this to me when I was little, so the name of Kathmandu always sounded interesting to me. The approach to the airport was "interesting", I swear the wingtips were only just missing the many hill tops, fair play to the pilot it was a smooth landing, and anyone who knows me, knows I am terrified when landing! It was 22c, and we were still in our England is freezing clothes. There was dust everywhere, and our carbon filter face masks were buried in our luggage. On our first foray out, we ... read more

Given our always advancing ages, I would guess many (or most) of us seniors spend time thinking of death, what it will be like, what -- if anything -- happens afterwards, and pondering how does anyone actually prepare for death? I've heard that the Dalai Lama, at age 81, wakes each morning at 4AM to meditate for hours in mental preparation for death. Here in Kathmandu, Nepal, the people also focus on handling the bodily remains; with such a large and poor population in the city, having a system in place is imperative. And so as part of our tour, our group went to see the cremation ceremonies along the banks of the river Bagmati. Running below Nepal's oldest and holiest Hindu shrine, the Pashupatinath temple, the Bagmati eventually flows into the holy Ganges, carrying along ... read more

This is our first full day in Kathmandu. For this trip I'm travelling with Odysseys Unlimited, seeing how they compare with OAT and Road Scholar. The flights here were long, very long, and while award winning Qatar Airways provides adequate food and copious wine, it still took me from Monday morning until almost 5PM on Wednesday to move from central Maine to Kathmandu's airport. Being cooped up in any plane for that long a time is never comfortable no matter how many movies one watches, nor how many glasses of wine are consumed. But then finally, yesterday, I arrived in Nepal. Kathmandu is poor, very dirty, and hugely congested. Drivers scatter anywhere they wish, causing enormous traffic jams. People scuttle in and out of traffic, compounding an already horrendous mess. Most of the streets are unpaved, ... read more

Top of the World to the River of Death We started the day at 6:30 a.m. on a one hour flight over the Himalayas turning at Everest for a full on look, from both our seats and the cockpit, at the roof of the world. I doubt I will ever forget not only Everest, but the terrain and mountains that lead up to it, perhaps the most daunting square miles on the face of the earth. We enjoyed a glass of champaign on the way back to toast our adventure--those of you reading closely realize we had champaign way too early in the day. According to our host, we must have good Karma because the mountains allowed us to see them this morning. We then went to Bhaktapur, called the "City of the Devotees" for its ... read more

Geo: 27.7029, 85.3182 While Donna was travelling through Italy with Brenda, I spent the month trekking with my brother Jack and nieces Krista and Jessica in the Khumbu (Everest) region of Nepal. This was my second visit to the area. It's easiest for me to share the experience through the images I choose to capture and put up on my Flickr site (here). I truly hope you'll take time to browse through them, to get a glimpse of what we saw and perhaps a sense of our adventure. Our trip started with a flight from Kathmandu to Lukla, among the highest and most challenging airports in the world at 2,830 metres. With our guide Megh, we followed the trail past farms, traditional Buddhist vi... read more