Monkey Temple, Durbar Marg and Friends!

Our last few days in Nepal were spent with my family from the village, who now live in Kathmandu. That's Machendra--he was six years old the last time I saw him. It was awesome being with them again. And they were thrilled to meet Debbie. We also did some last minute touring, to Swayambunath, a huge Buddhitst stupa, and Durbar Marg, the old site of the Royal Palace. Both sites have buildings that are over a thousand years old.






Now we're resting up in Bangkok before heading to China!

Chitwan Nat'l Park, Nepal

Tigers, rhinos, and crocodiles....oh yeah! We just spent three days at Chitwan National Park. We took an early morning elephant safari--yes we rode on top of elephants. There are wild rhinoceroses in the park. Rhinoceroses are the second largest land animals in the world. They don't see too well, they don't hear too well, and they have a really nasty temper. This makes it easy to sneak up on a rhino, but not so much fun once it realizes you're there. When a rhino is disturbed, it charges. Therefore, the only safe way to see rhinos is to ride the largest land animal in the world--elephants! A rhino will charge an elephant, just like it charges anything else. But the elephant will make a low rumble to let the rhino know that it's an elephant, and the rhino will stop. Which is nice for everyone.

We also took some walks once the sun warmed things up, and found these crocodiles, or muggers as they're called here, basking in the warm winter sun on the river bank. Of course, our guides like to have a little fun at our expense. To get the goofy American to walk under the elephant, they tell you that it's good luck to do so. The only lucky thing that happened to me was that the elephant didn't pee on me. Which I guess is pretty lucky...have you ever seen how much pee comes out of an animal that size?

Aside from these animals, we also saw a barking deer, tons of birds, monkeys, and fresh tiger tracks. If you're ever in the Indian jungle, remember, if you see a rhino, run! (but not in a straight line). If you see a sloth bear, bunch up in a group and make noise! If you see a tiger, back away slowly and maintain eye contact! Or, just ride your trusty elephant.

Pokhara and Sarangkot, Nepal

The most colossal collision on the planet! The unbelievably massive Indian subcontinent is crashing into the staggeringly huge Asian continent. The result of this enormous collision is the jagged mountain range known as the Himalayas. This is the youngest and highest mountain range on Earth. The word 'himalaya' means 'place of the snow.' The mountains are so high that snow falls on their upper slopes all year long. Even when the valleys 30 miles to the south experience 100 degree days.
The mountains are also very jagged because they are so young. There hasn't been time for weather to wear down the sharp edges. Although weathering is always going on, the mountains are still being thrust skywards by the colliding continents. It's winter here, and in the deep mountain stillness at night, you can feel the subsonic rumble of the collision as you lay under a warm blanket in a village inn.

Amidst the awful violence of this clash of land masses, a group of Japanese monks have built this stately Peace Pagoda on a hill overlooking Pokhara.

The Village, Nepal

Namaste from the village! We arrived in Ghalechap, walking up the stone stairway just like I used to do it 18 years ago. Of course, there's now a dirt road and an incredibly durable bus that makes the climb once a day, but we wanted to walk into town after a brain jangling and dusty bus ride to the base of the mountain.

Once in the village, we were welcomed by some of the people that I used to hang out with. The first house we stopped at welcomed us and invited us to spend the night. The old man got on the cell phone (another huge bit of "progress") and before we knew it old friends were showing up to say hello and get caught up.

We stopped by the schools where I used to work and re-united with some of my teacher friends, and had some fun with the students.

It's winter here in the foothills of the Himalayas. Everything is a little brown and dusty, and only a few fields are planted--mostly with potatoes and spinach. The rest of the fields lay dormant until May when they will be prepared for rice planting in June. Bananas, papayas, and oranges still ripen on the trees, and there's a little plowing and fertilizing to be done, but work slows down a bit on the mountain farms. This leaves time for other chores, like making new straw mats.










































After a couple days in the village, we continued on to the district center--Damauli. This is a bustling town where Mohan lives with his wife and kids. Mohan is the elder son of the family I lived with in Ghalechap. He was 10 years old the last time I saw him. He now has a seven year old daughter, who took quite a shine to Debbie, along with her two best friends as we sat on the roof of Mohan's home and got caught up.