It’s currently 6pm in Kathmandu and I don’t even know where to begin this blog! It seems like I’ve done so much in the last three days that it will take a novel to tell everything, but I’ll do my best to catch up and not go on for too long. Saturday we went out as an entire family; Sneha, her brother Rohit, her mother Sangita, and her father Rajan. We traveled for about an hour to a second Dubar Square. There are three total, one for each of the kings who used to rule the Kathmandu Valley. The ruins are amazing! They are made primarily of brick and wood, with exquisite detail. We watched pottery being made, as well as made some purchases. There is an art to buying things here. I tell Sneha (or anyone who I happen to be with who speaks Nepali) what I want and they bargin for it. If I were to do the same, the price would increase significantly, so I just stand by and act ignorant as they talk the price down for me! I wish I could speak Nepali fluently. It would be great to see the look on the shopkeepers face if I could, instead of speaking in English! I also had my first mishap with dog poop…stepped right smack on a big pile of it! Sangita got water and washed my foot with it. In Nepali culture a mother washes a daughter’s foot during their wedding ceremony, so even though I’m not getting married soon, Sangita says she is my mother. The next day, Sneha and I packed up and headed to Pokhara. We met up with three of her friends and took a 7 hour bus ride through the hills of Nepal. It was gorgeous country, but not such a pleasant ride. I could never drive here, I would die of a panic attack! There were times when our bus was only inches from dropping off the side of the “hill” and if it were to do so, I’d hate to try to estimate how far we would drop, but there would be absolutely no chance at survival. We drove next to a river most of the way. I was fascinated by the cable/rope bridges that were constructed across it. Even though I am adventurous, I don’t know if my good judgement would let me walk across one. We met up with three more of Sneha’s friends once we reached Pokhara. One of them also had an American friend with him, so I wasn’t the only pale person traveling! I thoroughly enjoyed my time with all of her friends and their kindness toward me. We ate out a lot and they were sympathetic to my inability to tolerate spicy foods and would first test things before I was allowed to take a bite! We got up at 5:30am one morning and trekked up a “hill” to see the mountains. It was probably taller than the mountains I climbed in Belize, although there were stone steps most of the way, but we climbed it in flip flops! Flip flops are the all-terrain shoe here. If I were in the US, I wouldn’t consider wearing flip-flops in half the places I go here, but it’s the culture, so I go with it! I finally saw MOUNTAINS!!! And so I now understand why they make a distinction between what I thought were mountains and the actual mountains. We rented a paddle boat on the lake, visited many temples, climbed to the Peace Pagoda, looked at Davis Falls, and went into a cave. I do have to say, I wasn’t a fan of the cave we went to. It was dimly lit and very wet, with water constantly dripping. It also isn’t like any caves in the US. Here it’s a free for all: pay the admission and you can do whatever you want inside the cave, and of course, tennis shoes aren’t worn… flip-flops. For the great time I had in Pokhara, I’d like to give a shout out to my new friends KC, Prateek, Manish, Pramish, Brian, Sne, Ayush! Thanks for taking such good care of me! I sincerely appreciate everything! And a warm thank you to Sangita and Rajan for treating me as if I were their own.
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