kathy-mandu

hehehehe how amusing of me.
Well we're now in Nepal and have left beautiful Bhutan. We had such an awesome time visiting the gazillions of dzongs (temples) and looking at the snow-capped mountains. I never thought mountains were cool until i came to the himilayas... turns out they can be quite amazing. The people were all ridiculously friendly in Bhutan. We werethere for their National Day and saw the men perform in an archery tournament, their national sport. The target is 150 yards from where they shoot from.. i have no idea how they managed to hit it... especially considering the quantity of alcoholic beverage being consumed. After they celebrated by singing and dancing and El and I were able to join in. We had a few difficulties keeping up with the steps but luckily some of the men had been drinking Arra (the national drink) and were very patient with us! Very funny and embarrassing... stupid westerners who couldn't even do a simple circle dance! Oh well we had a lot of fun.

In Paro, one of the major cities, the highlight was hiking to the 'Tiger's Nest' monastery. It was very strenuous and very steep! I only made it halfway (coincidentilly the level of the cafeteria) but Eliza went the full distance, 3140 m, and visited the monastery which is built on the side of a cliff! Many of the dzongs were built in the sixteenth century out of wood and stone on the side of very steep mountains. The Bhutanese are extremely fit people! They walk everywhere, up and down massive mountains.


We are now in Kathmandu - a noisy and polluted city. Unfortunately the mountains are not able to be seen from the main city due to the pollution. We've visited Baktupur, a medieval city in Kathmandu. Yesterday we went on a bike ride to some of the villages outside Kathmandu. It was very interesting watching the women wash their clothes (in a bowl outside or in the river), wondering how some of the older people carry such huge loads on their backs and enduring the rocky, muddy track. The traffic in Kathmandu is manic with no apparent road rules. Cycles, motorbikes, cars, trucks and people use the road (what we would call a track) and you negotiate the way by looking for spare spaces and avoiding drivers using their horns. Eliza is still developing her cycle skills and found the whole experience terrifying. We both have many sore spots this morning (no further explanation neccessary). Today we're about to go shopping which is also an experience in kathmandu. Bartering is a huge part of buying and its fun discussing why you want the item reduced in price. The clothes are so cool and this is officially my favourite place to shop.

Hope everybody is well and good!

Merry Christmas to all... we will be thinking of you :)

Love kathie and eliza (mwa!)