Day 10 – 11/29/09 – Kathmandu, Nepal; Delhi, India

That's right.

Our last day in Nepal, and last day together on this trip, saw us finally fully adjust to the time zone and sleep until the comparatively late hour of 7:00 am.  After packing and wondering around Thamel for the last time in search of a bakery we had seen at some point, we went to the National Museum at 11:00 before heading to the airport. 

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Day 9 – 11/27/09 – Kathmandu Valley, Nepal (part 3)

Patan Sacred Cow

During the day’s travels, the Lady unfortunately came down with her own bad stomach.  Fortunately it wasn’t debilitating (or she’s a lot tougher than me – a distinct possibility), but by the time we got back to the hotel she wasn’t feeling too hot, my food poisoning had morphed into a head cold, and my abs were sore as hell from the past 2 days’ puking.  In other words, we weren’t happy campers, the Lady was ready to get home (her return journey began the next day) and your Blogger, who can’t believe he’s saying this, was ready to get back to the relative sanity and modernity of Delhi.  As with all trips, regardless of length, we had hit the “almost done” point  at which we were more interest in wrapping things up than in enjoying where we were.  We did, however, have a few more hours on Friday and Saturday morning before we hit the road, so we decided to make the most of it and wander around Thamel one last time.

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Day 9 – 11/27/09 – Kathmandu Valley, Nepal (part 2)

Pashupatinath

From Buddhism, we turned back to Hinduism with a trip to Pashupatinath, a really large temple complex on both sides of Kathmandu’s river, home to lots of monkeys, Sadhus and Hindu cremations.  As we nearted the entrance, a troop of monkeys was frolicking around generally making pests of themselves but looking extremely cute and photogenic.  Your Blogger did dare to stop for a picutre or two, but since his last close encounter with a monkey resulted in a chunk out of his ankle, a year’s worth of rabies fears, and a tattoo of the little bastard that bit him, he moved along with some haste.

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Day 9 – 11/27/09 – Kathmandu Valley, Nepal (part 1)

That Triangular Peak is Mt. Everest

Friday the 27th turned out to be one of the most full and interesting days since leaving Delhi.  For the first time all trip, we actually arranged for a wake-up call at 5:00 so we could leave at 5:30 for a “Mountain Flight” courtesy of Buddha Airlines.  Of course, we woke up well before the call came into play, but it was nice for it to be an issue for once instead of having to kill 2-3 hours before the day could begin.  As is often the case with 3rd world airports, the international side of Kathmandu Intergalactic Aerodrome actually functions pretty smoothly.  The domestic side is another matter alltogether – especially when the majority of the flights at a particular time are 20 person tourist flights that circle the mountains for an hour and then land back in Kathmandu. 

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Day 8 – 11/26/09 – Pokhara / Kathmandu, Nepal

The Look of Food Poisoning

Today was something of a blur for your Blogger, though it was quite a bit more of a blur for your Blogger’s intestines.  We had an 11:50 flight on the mighty Yeti Airlines from Pokhara to Kathmandu, and your Blogger spent most of the morning either sitting on, or with his head over, one of the local porcelain goddesses, which I’m sure is an incarnation of the goddess Kali who does most of the God Shiva’s dirty work when he’s living up to the “Shiva the Destroyer” title.  I’m sure some of you Hindu experts out there won’t hesitate to tell me how wrong I got the various gods there, so fire away.

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