What about Nepal...

The reason that Deborah and I ended up going to Nepal is because everyone from the client company bailed, and because of State Department warnings of Maoist Insurgency surrounding the capital city of Kathmandu, no one else from the engineering company working on the project would go. I think when I asked my boss if I could go, she thought I was kidding.

If you've never been to a third world country, it is truly indescribable. The entire country is a juxtaposition of the lowly to the sublime. From the heights of the beautiful Himalayas you can see the entire Kathmandu valley, but from the valley itself, the smog blots out the majestic peaks except in the late evening. Even in this picture to the left, taken on our second day there, you can barely make out the peaks. We were at 9,000 feet about 12 kilometers outside the city when this picture was taken.

We stayed at the Crowne Plaza in Kathmandu. Looking at this picture, our room was somewhere in the middle on the top floor. Every morning a crew hand-swept (yep, using a homemade whisk broom type thing) the lawn and gardens. The marble palisade was buffed to a high-gloss shine, and there were at least two or three door-men to greet you with a "good morning, madame" and a salute. I really could have gotten used to that. The hotel attracts a large clientele from nearby India, and the holiday and party saris that were worm by the majority of the female guests were beautifully dramatic. For the week that we stayed, there was a wedding reception held in the hotel function hall, every night. I think we may have looked a little out-of-place in our jeans and sweaters, but it wasn't like we could (or wanted to) hide the fact that we were American, anyway.

Our days were spent working (visiting the factory site), and/or resting, but on our second day, our host took us to the Monkey Temple in Kathmandu. It was busy and crazy, and really neat, but of course, our luggage hadn't arrived yet, so we couldn't take pictures. Our host took pictures, and nothing demonstrates the difference between the Eastern mind-set and the Western mind-set more dramatically than the way we take pictures. NO PICTURES OF MONKEYS! Although, they were everywhere. I was leaning on a railing looking down, when a large monkey swept right by my face. It was startling to say the least. Then, we took the walk down the 365 steps, back to the city. Our host informed us that his grandfather used to climb up and down these steps at least once/day. I was going to tell you all that we had climbed UP these steps, but as adventurous as I am, you at least know I'm not crazy!!

As far as our sightseeing went, I really have to say that this was the high point. Unfortunately, the only other ancient and historic surviving structures are creepy temples, and broken down palaces. I cannot stress how tired one gets of temples, after temples, after temples. The religion in the Kathmandu valley is a weird amalgam of Hindu and Buddhism, where they worship "all gods" (just not the one True God). Christianity and evangelization are still illegal in Nepal, although this law hasn't been enforced since about 1995.

Next... My wildlife encounter, and a trip to the zoo!