*apologies for the delay in posts - Blogger was not working for me the last couple of days*

Oct 29/05 - The Monkey Temple



Today we had breakfast and then rented some mountain bikes to drive to the Monkey Temple. What an experience! The drive there was thrilling with the people and traffic - it was an adrendaline rush! After a while, you start to get the feel of it though and just go for it. The Monkey Temple was interesting - a mix of Hindu & Buddhist places of worship/ritual all at the summit of a hill. A few monkeys around, but not a lot. Lots of beggars and sellers, though.

On the way back, we went a different way and went through some of the back streets - the poverty was staggering. We went along a river which smelled like... uh, it smelled. Matt said he saw a dead girl lying by the street. Anyway, the group got separated and Roly and I were lost!! We got stuck in a big traffic jam, then had to start asking directions from various people. It was like being on The Amazing Race!! We finally found some military guys to ask and the pointed us toward Thamel. Then we met a traffic guard and a bystander, who argued about which way to go. We followed the advice of the bystander! And then we started to recognize stuff so we knew we were on the right track. We made it back to Kathmandu Guest House and withing a few minutes Gambu arrived back and was greatly relieved. Everyone else was relieved as well! It was a real adventure! But everything turned out well in the end.

After, we just relaxed for a while and then went to dinner at "New Orleans" which was a very nice restaurant just down the street. It was amazing how peaceful and nice it was, just yards from the craziness of the streets of Thamel. It was Matt's birthday and Anna had bought a cake, etc. for him, so it was very nice.