Sunday, October 23, 2016

Nepal


For some, seeing Mt. Everest is a life-long dream. Many will never hike to it, let alone climb it. In order to get our shot at seeing it, at least for now, we took a mountain flight from Kathmandu early in the morning. After waiting for a while with no signage and un-discernible announcements, we boarded a bus to a 30-seater plane on Yeti Airlines. Armed with a map of the skyline, we rose up out of the city for 50 minutes of amazing views. Crystal white snow-caped peaks soared out of the clouds from the valley below. Mesmerized by the size of these features, we stared, breaking contact only to go to the cockpit to get a panorama of Everest before swinging back toward Kathmandu. A champagne toast and a certificate before we landed celebrated up the experience.

Mt. Everest from the plane

After eating breakfast, we decided to head into Kathmandu for some shopping. We chose Thamel district, the crowded, touristy shopping area. With knock-off trekking gear and cashmere in every other shop, it was a bit much. But we found some nice posters of the mountains and shirts before stopping for a "craft" Nepalese beer and momos. Shopping and city life satisfied, we headed by car into the mountains to get to the hill station of Nagarkot.



Our next two days were spent gazing at the mountains, breathing crisp air, and hiking around the trails. We watched the sun crest the peaks, bathing the snow-capped summits in pink during the dawn.  Our favorite part was probably the celebration of Diwali at night.  We had dinner at a nice place and watched the sunset, then stopped and had a beer at this little roadside hut.  The people didn't speak English, but welcomed us in.  A family of 4 slept in one room, in a single bed (with a dog and chicken), and the main room was the bar.  We drank terrible beer on the cheap and watched the kids chase a chicken around the dirt floor.  Local children came outside and sang and played music, attempting to raise small amounts of money.  The place was lit with candles.  It was truly a unique experience.

   
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