Namaste

The Kathmandu arrival was a happy one. No one questioned all the crazy things we have in our luggage, bras, jams and sharp knives all went through customs just fine. Pemba met us with his own car and took us to the Yak and Yeti hotel which is showing its age. Aren't we all. Then to Pemba and Tenzing's house for a fine dinner and great reunion. Ang Rita was there and his children too. We met the second daughter Tashi Utten and she was like all almost three years except she speaks a few more languages. We sang Old McDonald and Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes. It was wonderful.
Next day and the chaos begins. This city is pretty overcrowded. And they are all on the streets. We wove our way up to Kopan Gompa outside the city to go to a Dharma talk at the monastery for Westerners. The talks are not scheduled this week so we got to walk back to town. Great view of the green Kathmandu valley and the first of our purchases of souvenirs were made. Then to the Bhuddist temple of Bouhdanath and a few turns around the stupa. Absolutely as divine as it was 25 years ago. Pemba picked us up and took us back to town where we recovered from the car exhaust before heading back out to Old Kathmandu and Durbar Square. We arrived in time for the Hindu festival and a viewing of the Kumari, the living goddess who is about 5 years old now. You'll have to google Kumari because it is too complicated to explain what a living goddess is. First one I've ever seen and the crowds went wild. Then we went back to the hotel to recover. Kathmandu is best viewed in 3 hour bites otherwise you suffer from car exhaust, sensory overload, hoards of people practicing their English with you and the rapid depletion of rupees from your pockets. We are slowly acclimatising.
Genuine smiles from lots of people though. I think they are happy to see the tourists come back. It means security for them and hopes for a legitimate government some day that will install traffic signals. We can only hope. There didn't appear to be any anywhere. The newspaper is full of car and pedestrian accidents. We congratulated ourselves after every street crossing.
Happy 7 years of marriage to Rebecca and James today. James did get a little something in honor of the day and the shop keeper gave them his blessing.
Rebecca still does not have malaria and her bug bites are too many to mention. I am watching her closely. The food is good, the beer is warm and the humidity is not so bad here. It was actually a perfect day and we are ready for another day in the big city.