Kathmandu

Apologies for not updating the blog. Internet in Nepal was quite expensive for our liking, so the updates have been delayed. But we are back in touch with the world and will fill all you fans in on our travels.

We made it the Kathmandu airport painlessly, but getting into the country with a visa was another story! As we haven't been in the US for quite some time, clearly we have no US dollars. Normally when one arrives at a country that gives visas on arrival, there is an ATM to take out some cash to pay for the visa. Well, there was an ATM at the Kathmandu airport, only it was outside! How does one get outside to get money with no visa you ask? Apparently this is very difficult. An hour-ish later, M made it back to the visa counter, Nepalese rupees in hand. But wait, Nepal doesn't accept Nepalese rupees (yes, that is their own currency) to pay for a visa. And alas, the money exchange before the visa counter doesn't either. After much frustration, M convinced them to change the rupees to dollars and we made it into the country. Phew. We got rushed off in a "cab" and eventually found a crash pad that was acceptable. After so much hussle and bustle during our 2.5 months in SE Asia, we decided to take it easy and relax for a bit in Kathmandu before we got a move on. Of course this lasted a week or so. We followed Lonely Planets advice and visited a number of neighborhoods in the Kathmandu Valley. Boudha was clearly our favorite.
Boudha is an area in the valley with a strong Tibetan influence as many refugees live here. There is a giant stupa in the center of the circle and hordes of Buddhists circling the stupa for hours. The stupa was incredible, draped in prayer flags and decorated with the third eye facing each cardinal direction. We joined in and did laps until we were dizzy. Though neither of us practice Buddhism, we felt very special and blessed to be surrounded by so many people with such deep convictions to their beliefs. On April 14th we celebrated Nepalese New Year 2066 with a bang. We partied in the backpacker district, Thamel, with new friends from around the world to ring in the new year. We also spent a great deal of time wandering the streets of Kathmandu avoiding endless touts, glue sniffing street kids, and Sadhu impersonators and discovering 1000 year old monuments that should be part of a museum but instead are used as seats or a place to hang laundry. Crazy! There are many great charities based around Kathmandu to enable street kids so keep your eyes open when we get back for a fund raiser.