Roaming Redhead: Nepal for July 4 Weekend-Day Two

Nepal Day 2-Bhaktapur, Mountain resort

There were two main highlights. One was another UNESCO site, and the other was a tour of a village up outside of the city. You'll get some great stories as you see the pictures below.

Bhaktapur

On the road to our mountain resort, we stopped at this place called Bhaktapur at Caitlin's suggestion. It is another of the 1000 Places to See Before You Die, and a really cool village area. It dates back to at least the 15th Century AD, and is also listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. It was so lovely and quaint, and really like stepping back in time.

A dried up well as we are walking into the main old area, looks good in sepia.

Detail of the well area

yes, this is the entrance to a school.

See the kid in uniform for school

Inside the main village area.

Isn't it just beautiful?

I think this is a temple, but not sure. Apparently there was another temple at which goats were being sacrificed. Only Hindus could go in to watch, which was just fine by me.

Protector dragons. You can kind of see how it is a distinct style from Indian and Chinese. Really cool.

Obviously this is Sandip.

A house in which people still live.

This was the place that tried to sell stuff on the outskirts of this village at which we stopped.

Giant statue of Shiva the destroyer.

Farmland on the way.

Mountain resort, our village tour

So we went to this mountain resort an hour outside Kathmandu. It was relaxing and green. A highlight was definitely our guided tour of the nearby village. All these kids followed us, and they spoke really good English. We got to see their soccer field, try some of their fruits, learned about the one TV channel they all watch, they told us about their school-girls and boys together, and learning English! And of course we taught the kids about interracial marriage (they actually asked both me and Sandip twice if we were married to make sure they got it right. We said yes, and made a point to say we met in post-graduate studies), and a bit about America. A true experience that reminds me why we wanted to come here in the first place.

At our mountain resort.

The main reception area

View from the mountain resort of the foothills of the Himalayas.

This is a goat on our guided walk through a nearby village.

These two girls followed us for the tour. Aren't they sweet? They were so great.

This woman has a store in which many of us came in to enjoy a beverage.

JC and Sandip enjoying the homemade drink.

A good view of the store.

This was a baby in the family of the shopkeeper.

A very cool tree which has a temple near it. It was up on a hill.

More kids.

A natural tattoo-the kids we spent the most time talking too pulled a leaf from a tree and made this impression.

Me and some village boys showing off our white tattoos. Notice you can't really see mine.

By the way-these boys are in the middle of nowhere, and they had great dreams. Two wanted to be on the Army, other wanted to do hotel management to see the world. So great.