Everest, yak's balls and the godess of smallpox

Just a quick entry to let you all know we have arrived safe and sound in Nepal. After a long layover in Hong Kong, spent mainly snacking on various types of Chinese treats, we flew over the Himalayas with strong turbulence and lightning storms to land Tuesday night in Kathmandu.
Our first day here (yesterday) was spent firstly getting ourselves sorted out, and then getting out and about in Kathmandu. Highlights included a beautiful walled garden where we sipped posh tea in a quiet enclave away from the crazy hustle and bustle of the streets outside, and then a chaotic trip to Kathmandu's Durbar Square. This is a hugh temple complex in the center of town, complete with traffic, beggers, street sellers, cows and people ... oh so many people. The site is a Unesco World Heritage Site, but it is still most definitely used to this day. Got to put a little tika (red dot) on the Ganesh statue in his temple, and ring the prayer bells! However, it didn't take long to get completely overwhelmed by it all.

Up early today, getting dressed by flashlight as there is only electricity for parts of the day, to catch our once in a lifetime flight around Mount Everest and the Himalayas - yes we did it! Dropped some serious cash to do it (thank you again mum and dad!) but my goodness, what a site!!!!

Spent this afternoon at the Swayambhunath temple complex, a huge Buddhist site with spectacular statues and temples and lots of monkeys too ... including a temple to Hariti, the goddess of smallpox. Also braved the crazy traffic again to find the toothache god' s shrine in the middle of grand central (Kathmandu style!!!). On the way to the site, we passed the cremation ghats by the side of the sacred river where Hindu funeral cremations occur.

Already had some great food - including momos (fried and steamed dumplings) sitting at a rooftop cafe overlooking the Buddhist temple site, and yak cheese balls (Not yak's balls with cheese) at a garden cafe in Thamel!
We head off to Pokhara tomorrow .... more to follow!!!

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"It's true; life really is generous to those who pursue their personal legend." (Paulo Coelho)