Monkeys and moo cows

'prayer wheels' at Monkey Temple. The idea is that you walk along while spinning them during your prayers. Very fun!

Wishing fountain at Monkey Temple. If you toss your coin into the small pot at the base of the statue, your wish comes true! My aim was off that day...

Buddha Temple

Mama(?) and baby monkey. Must be something good in that spot because baby was working on it for a good five minutes!

Proof that we are both on this trip!

Geoff lounging in OR2K

Moo cow!

OR2K

Top of the stairs at Monkey Temple

Altar

Geoff's first (giant) beer in Nepal

Buddhist Temple

Monkey Temple

Monkeys!

More Monkeys

I'm glad I didn't have food around this guy!

Mama and baby

View from Monkey Temple

Last entry was written in the Seoul, South Korea airport. I want to take a moment to praise Korean Air, the best flight I have ever been on was the one from Seoul to Kathmandu. We had great food (including raspberry cheesecake ice cream!) and the free movies and games kept us occupied when we weren’t sleeping.

Once we arrived in Kathmandu, we got some Nepalese rupees, completed our visa applications and went to pick up our luggage. Surprise…Geoff’s bag didn’t make it! Thank goodness he thought ahead and packed a change of clothes in his carry-on. He is supposed to go pick up his bag from the airport tomorrow afternoon, which is fortunate because I was getting tired of seeing him in the same outfit for the third day in a row! We were greeted by Mountain Fund staff and escorted to the house. The taxi ride was great because it was mid afternoon so there was lots to see in town. My favorite sightings included cows lounging on the sidewalk, women dressed in beautiful clothes and the overwhelming traffic patterns. We rested for the remainder of the day and joined some of the other volunteers in the other house for a yummy curry dinner.

Today I felt very well rested when I woke up…at 4am! After breakfast we went to Monkey Temple and it certainly lived up to it’s name! We took almost 200 photos between the two of us and most of them turned out great. First stop was a Buddhist temple about 25 minutes bus ride from the house. Everywhere there were bell shaped metal things that you spun and when they made one full rotation they would chime. We called them prayer wheels but I’m sure there is a different name for them. From the temple we began to climb up through some jungle to the monkey temple. Tourists have to pay 200 rupees ($3.10) for admission and then you can walk around all day if you like. There was a wishing fountain, many places to pray, beggars, venders and many locals. Shanti advised us to walk around for a few weeks before buying anything so we get good deals, although there were some very nice items at Monkey Temple that we didn’t see in Thamel. After the monkey temple we walked to Thamel for lunch where we found a few book stores and a third storey restaurant called OR2K, from the hebrew word for 'light' (OR) and K for Kathmandu. It was delicious, I had something called ziva (cheese in pastry with tomatoes and hot chutney) geoff had falafel with the most amazing hummus! He also had a giant Everest Beer and I had a lemonade that was actually real lemonade (fresh squeezed lemon juice). Walking through Thamel was great and I’m sure I will find perfect presents for everyone. There was a shop dedicated to felted wool items like purses and decorations (thinking of you DS!) and many shops selling beautiful clothes and crafts. I will barter my heart out when it comes time to buy presents. Many places here seem to use the bartering system, including taxis, buses, markets and food venders. The bus today from the house to the Buddhist temple cost 15 rupees ($0.30) and the taxi all the way from Thamel was 200 rupees ($3.10) after bartering.

Once we got back to the house, Geoff and I decided to explore Bhat Bhateni (BB) the giant 4 storey grocery/electronic/clothing/furniture store! Once we were done with BB we were exhausted, not so much from the walking but from the experience of crazy traffic and all the new sights, sounds and smells…mostly lots of smells! We had a nap before supper (water buffalo curry, mmmmm!) and now it is almost 9pm…ie bedtime.

I know the purpose of this blog is to document my experience in the maternity ward at the hospital and with a midwife so hopefully I can get going on that once we begin our placement on Sunday. Until then, I can’t wait for some rocket babies!!

NOTE: The internet at the house does not support transferring photos onto here so hang on and I will post some adorable monkey pictures as soon as I can!