theboonedoggle

NEPAL After Bhutan we spent another week in Kathmandu waiting for our Indian visas. It was nice coming back for round two -Kathmandu seemed much more manageable the second time around. Our first full day back was great -the Maoists were protesting (as they do about once a week) and the party was forcing businesses (whether they supported the cause or not) to shutter their doors. Moreover, all vehicles, including public transportation and even bicycles, were forbidden from operating within the city. This made the otherwise lunatic streets of Kathmandu pleasantly palatable for an entire day.... we enjoyed a full day of walking about town, with thousands of others, free of the ever-present danger of being run down by a bus or auto rickshaw. As long as we gave the protesters a wide berth as they marched down the major thoroughfares, we were at no risk whatsoever of violence against our good selves. Five days of bumming around Kathmandu earned us our visas, and we made for the Indian border...

Hi everyone! We just finished a gruelling 16 days of trekking around the Annapurnas in the Nepali Himalayas. In that time we walked over 200 kilometers (about 125 miles) and reached elevations of 5,500 meters (almost 18,000 feet). We're tired, we're sore, we're skinny... and we are happy. We arrived in Nepal on the 5th of May and spent one very short night in Kathmandu getting situated and supplied for our two week trek. The thamel district in the city is the tourist spot and has just about anything a trekker or climber would want - thousands of little shops selling North Face knock offs for next to nothing! The first hour in the city was pretty hectic as we tried to get used to the constant honking, packed streets, and walking in a single line as close to buildings as possible to avoid getting run over by cars - all this while stepping over animal (and sometimes human) poo. Aghhh Nepal. But before you cringe, I have to say, there is something magical about Nepal because...