how exactly do you summarize a trip that included both the taj mahal and the himalayas?
and reconnecting with friends and crisp weather and fifty cent plates of momos and spicy chai and ancient cobble-stone streets and pagodas and temples and terraced rice padies and lakes and beads and bangles!
[insert superlative here]
this being my third time back in nepal, and ryan's first, we had an amazing 2 weeks discovering and re-discovering this place i love so much. it remains as intruiging as my first visit. the sacred and the mundane so intertwined that it's impossible to distinguish a tree from a temple. the ancient and the new side-by-side: a 7th century buddha nestled in a side-walk next to a coca-cola vendor. the massive himals and imposing stupas towering over and yet somehow not overshadowing the tiniest most intricate wood carving or bright red drop of a bindi.
a highlight was our short 4-day trek in the annapurna range, which included a morning walk up to Poon Hill ("hill" here meaning 10,000+ feet) to watch the sun rise over the himalayas. ryan and i agreed it's probably the most stunning site we've ever soon! (and we're hoping that the friendly couple at the top with the nice camera will send us a few photos...)
{ view of poon hill & phewa lake with a dinky disposable camera we found }
and the kathmandu area is a gem...besides all the pollution...and the haze the blanketed the sky most of the time we were there. other than that, love it! a few pics we snapped on one of our final days with a new camera...
{ ancient creaky crooked architecture of kathmandu }
{ bouddanath stupa }
{ till next time! }
