Since we spent the better part of this month on the Annapurna Circuit... and I didn't have access to my computer or internet (which was quite nice)... this portion of the blog may be out of order and may take a bit of time. I guess it all depends on how WiFi is here in SE Asia.
But before we get there... I'll have to show a few more pics of Kathmandu and it's surroundings... here's some live chickens tethered onto a bike handlebar.
Durbar Square in Bhaktapur.
Pretty interesting... but with no monkeys this place doesn't compare to the other UNESCO World Heritage sites around Kathmandu. I guess "simian presence" isn't on their criteria.
Look how close people park their cars here. The drivers are crazy. I just got back to Bangkok, and I feel like the drivers are so courteous here... The bus drivers here all agree that one lane, one way dirt roads are appropriate places to pass other buses... on a blind corner. And the honking is non-stop! Bangkok sounds silent in comparison.
We visited Boudhanath the day before our departure... home to one of the world's largest stupas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boudhanath
The two must visit places IMO in Kathmandu are the "monkey temple" (Swayambhunath... will be featured in a later blog I assume) and pashputina temple. The former is a buddhist site with holy monkeys, and the latter is a hindu temple dedicated to the lord Shiva. There are monkeys at both temples... and I could stay there for days.... or until they decide to turn and attack (which we saw once... an oldish german tourist got attacked by a few monkeys... didn't look like much fun.)
Cremation ceremony on the banks of the holy Bagmati river.
Later that night, walking back from the Pashuputina temple, the clouds told us that the monsoon season hadn't quite finished yet... as we found out the hard way... on the trail.
... but it was a lot of fun watching this thunderhead...
The Annapurna Circuit starts approximately 200 km from Kathmandu in the small town of Besi Sahar... so you figure, oh just a few hours right? Nope...plan on getting anywhere in Nepal at a fast marathon-runner's pace... if you're lucky. The bus ride took the scheduled 7 hours for us, but we ran into a number of folks that sat on the bus for 13+ hours... literally "on the bus"... sitting on the roof of the bus is a common practice in Nepal.
This kid wanted out I'm sure...
But the bus did stop for a few good breaks...
And we stopped for lunch as well... which included some interesting food options.
... OH... and there was an owl in the back. A live, owl. We didn't notice him until we were about half way through, then I saw his head move.
After arriving in Besi Sahar, we were ready to walk... but you can hop on a jeep from here and go a bit further if you like... we felt like walking after looking at the jeep for some reason.
One feature of the hike is that you go through so many environments. From tropical, to desert, to alpine, to snow... it was hard to imagine on the first few days that we'd actually be cold soon...
to be continued...
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