hippies, hikers, and himalayas

that would be kathmandu in a nutshell. but that wouldn't really do the city justice. the fourth 'h', or rather the first, would have to be 'holy'. i mean, you can't spit without touching a shrine or temple of some kind (note: while spitting seems to be common i'm guessing this would be frowned upon in actual practice). i've never seen a city this focused on faith; it even has jerusalem beat. of course, like the middle east, kathmandu is a bit of a mix. along with devout buddhist and hindu devotees there are the new age wannabes, hippies, and rastafarians, similar to the tour groups of pilgrims that flock to jerusalem (though i'm still not sure which group is more obnoxious).

what's first immediately apparent in nepal is that religion is everywhere. not just omnipresent, but almost tangible. kathmandu and surrounding districts - patan and bhaktapur - are literally filled with temples just feet from one another. a few days ago i had never seen a shiva linga in person; now i'm quite sure i've seen dozens, if not hundreds. in just a few days we were able to hit all the major highlights, spiritually and architecturally speaking. we even managed to squeeze in some views of the mountains.

i'll level with you. after a while, the temples - and there were hundreds - started to run together a little bit. and this is coming from someone who gives people dirty looks for saying that all cathedrals look alike. while i did appreciate the novelty of being able to identify certain deities i had just studied (thank you, non-western art history), the sheer amount of visual information is almost overwhelming. still, it was fascinating to watch the devotees - monks and laypeople - quietly chanting mantras or giving offerings. if you can get past the people hawking their wares or guide services, it's quite pleasant.

along with religion, nature seems to form the second of the twin pillars that constitute nepal. with the himalayas as a backdrop it's not hard to imagine why. so our first morning in the city we set out to see the famous mountains by air. we got up at the crack of dawn - 5am to be exact - to catch our flight. (side note: of the five airlines i saw, four were named after hindu or buddhist deities.) after paying extra fees and waiting nearly another hour at the tiny gate we boarded our itty bitty propeller plane. everyone had a window seat and as we ascended the flight attendants pointed out the mountains to each individual passenger. the views were stunning, and even through the scratched windows you could make out the craggy rocks and snow-capped peaks. certainly awe-inspiring and yet i still cannot understand people's desire to climb these things.

our second look at the mountains came this morning, when we got up at an even earlier hour (so obscene i won't even print it here) to drive to nearby nagarkot where we were promised a fantastic view of the sunrise. after an interminable 20 minutes of driving 10 miles an hour over bumpy dirt roads we started making our way uphill (this was when our driver decided to speed up to 50 mph). the road can only be described as tortuous (torturous, if you happen to get carsick, which miraculously we did not). with each turn you were sure there wasn't any higher point, only to be greeted with another hairpin turn. every now and then our driver would slow down to about 40 when we had to pass a group of mopeds or a delivery truck. did i mention there are no seatbelts in the backseat? at any rate, somehow we made it to our destination, a hotel at the top of the mountain that afforded incredible views, as promised. the mountain range was beautiful, with its staggered peaks, each level a darker shade of blue than the last. within a few minutes the sun began to peek over one of the crags and slowly lit the whole valley. the effect was stunning. definitely a top 5 sunrise. we followed this up with a delicious and expensive breakfast at the swanky hotel on the hilltop.

so there you have it: nepal in a nutshell. natural splendors, incredible architecture, the people's tranquil dispositions, and the delicious new spicy foods - i must say i'm impressed. and we haven't even gone shopping yet!