Kathmandu

Aarti, sitting for tea in Newa Chen

Niki peering out her window at Newa Chen

Courtyard in Newa Chen

Newa Chen

Bedroom at the guest house Newa Chen

We ARRIVED!! Flight 5 hours delayed for a 10 hour layover in Bahrain, but it's cool cause I got to try a McArabia at the McDonalds, which was really delicious, and teach Arran and Niki to play Bohnanza, which is the best card game ever!! Aarti met us at the airport and took us to Newa Chen, the guest house where we spent last night and will spend tonight. It is a beautiful house from the 17th century in Kathmandu. I am blown away by the BEAUTIFUL wood carvings, friendly staff, and delicious breakfast served :) Just after arriving we left for our first language lesson from Dil, this amazing Nepali gentleman. Now we can greet and count in Nepali! The MacKinneys let us invade their home and shower and fed us dinner before the 35+ hours with 5 hours of sleep kicked in and we left to go crash in beds with hot water bottles warming our feet!

Today, 3/4/12, we woke up and had a wonderful meal of fresh fruit, eggs, and dal baat with fried flatbread, as well as Nepali Chia (tea!!). We practiced saying greetings and learned how to say we thought the breakfast was delicious. :)

Aarti Katherine and I took off for the airport to search for our bags which didn't arrive yesterday then met up for a day on the town. Aarti was an absolutely wonderful tour guide and we saw some beautiful places in the city today. We visited several stupas (Bhuddist temples) and Bhagmati (sp?), the holiest river in Kathmandu where the Hindu dead are cremated and have a very old temple. Afterward we visted Thamel, a shopping district, and shopped and had some Nepali beer (named Everest!) while meeting up with Aarti's friends from Accham where she worked last month.

The day has been so so so wonderful, and I am absolutely ecstatically happy! This is such an exciting place, with fantastic people, and it's so much fun to learn a new language and try all these new things! I really want to learn more about the religions we're experiencing all the "melting pot" of cultures in Nepal. I don't think I've ever been in a place with such ancient things interposed so much with modernity. I'm rambling a bit, and really don't want this to be a travel journal though that's what it was on this post, but I'm still swimming a bit in the newness of it all.

Miss you all and cannot wait to share the boatloads more of photos!