I have been home now as long as I have been gone and am finally posting about the three days in Kathmandu, Nepal. Before I get to that, let me touch a little on my homecoming.

The flights home seemed like they would never end. I couldn't sleep at all and the movies offered weren't appealing. The only interesting thing about the flight is that Jean Claude Van Damme, his wife and kid were on with me. As well as the band Hoobastank. There was another band too but I am not sure who they were. They were coming back from the AsiaAid concert held in Thailand.

It couldn't have been a more beautiful day to fly in to LA. The sky was pristine. I could clearly see downtown, the Hollywood sign and the gorgeous, blue ocean. It is by great fortune that I live in this amazing, free country. And to top it all off, I live in southern California - in my opinion one of the best places to reside. It must be mentioned that I have lived here my entire life but I have traveled throughout the country and still maintain SoCal as the best. California in general is a gem. I love NorCal too.

Brett met UR and I in the airport. I was so tired and out of whack that it all seemed unreal. We drove to UR house in Huntington Beach and my mom was waiting there for us with a handmade sign welcoming us home.


Yes, it is good to be back. Now on to Nepal stories.

Mendhi

While I was in Kathmandu, our travel agency guide, a really nice girl about 24, took me to get the "mendhi" done on my hands. It is henna painted in designs. I really enjoyed sitting in the tiny shop, about 8' x 5', getting this done. Henna is squeezed out of little tubes onto my hand in a design that I picked out from a book. It took about 2 hours. It comes out really thick and olive green. I had to wait for it to dry and then pick it off. That was the only part I didn't like. I had both sides of my hands done.


A Bloodless Coup

As many of you know, I was in Kathmandu, the capital, when King Gyandendra sacked the Prime Minister and had all the political leaders put under house arrest. In doing so, he also cut off all communication of phone, internet, and cell phones. It was a bizarre and claustrophobic feeling. There was a noticed posted in our hotel lobby from the US Embassy advising USA citizens to remain in our hotels during this time.

We still went out and had no problems at all. However, there was increased military around and I was a little afraid that the Maoists may stage an attack near us. Considering our hotel was about a mile from the King's palace wasn't comforting as well. The only thing that really scared us was the fact that international flight was cut off too. I really didn't want to be stuck there. Especially since our hotel was less than 5-star even though the agency and the hotel's website says it is. The name alone can describe this place, the "Yak and Yeti". I think in the 70s when it was built it may have been 5-star but absolutely nothing in the design, furniture, decorations, workers clothes, anything has changed since the seventies.

Here is one of the military "tanks". Hahaha. Anyway, I shot this from the car.


Obviously, I made it back safe. The fighting between the government and the Maoists rebels is still going on. In fact, I just read an article describing a skirmish that happened today with 14 civilians losing their lives. I hope that everything can be settled there soon for the sake of everyone out there.

Nepal Sites

Nepal is gorgeous. I much prefer hilly regions to flat lands. Being at the base of the Himalayas you can imagine how hilly it was.


Everything seemed cleaner and more affluent than India. My guide explained that this is only because I was in the big city. If I ventured out of the Kathmandu valley and into the tiny villages I would find many similarities with India.

The people had a definite Asian look. In fact, Asian architecture surrounded us in Pagoda type temples. Here are two little Nepalese girls in front of a temple. They are holding goats that are gifts to the temple. The goats can never be killed and are well taken care of. They even have names and collars.


In Kathmandu, like many places in India, the little streets we walked seriously looked like movie sets. There was just too many good shots to take. I will try to post more pictures later. Most of the people don't have running water in their homes so they all wash at a communal water spot.


Religion

I can't remember the exact percentages but Nepal is something like 95% Hindu and the only Hindu government. The remaining faiths being Buddhism and other. I was told that Hinduism and Buddhism are pretty much intertwined with many rituals and cultures overlapping.

Unlike India we were able to witness cremations taking place. Here is a picture of a person being prepared for cremation. The head mourner, probably the eldest son, is walking around with the flame. He walked three times with the flame around the body. They also walked the body three times around the altar before resting it there.


Watching this all take place didn't really bother me. I didn't feel emotion until the women started weeping. I also saw one man privately break down after he and probably his brothers finished all the ceremonies with the deceased and lit the altar. That was emotional.

Here is a picture of "prayer wheels" high atop a mountain at the site of one of the Buddhist temples and a large stupa.


The temple is home to many Tibetan monks. I was able to witness them in prayer. They chant and bang drums and sound large horns. It was really neat. I will try to get the video up later.

This is a neat shot that I got while there. There was a little garden like set-up of a bunch of little shrines. Monkeys were relaxing on them.


And finally here is a scary picture of some kind of beast in a little Buddhist temple in one of the villages.


The rest of the Nepal pictures that I have uploaded can be seen here.

A Friendly Face
OK, this guy was our agency contact in Delhi. I really think he looks like my Director of HR from Targus, Greg. What do you Targus people think?