Well after a very long and uncomfortable flight I arrived in Kathmandu a couple of days ago.
There is currently a transport strike going on here, so luckily I had a friend arrange a private car to pick me up from the airport, or it would have been quite an issue, seeing as I am travelling with a kayak as well as my normal baggage.
The weather so far hasn't been what I was expecting. Seeing as it is the monsoon I expected alot of rain all the time, so far it has just rained all night and not at all during the day, although it is quite hot and muggy, which is a nice change from the Sydney cold. And has also lead to me discovering my new favourite drink... Sugarcane and watermelon juice - together - very sweet and refreshing.
Yesterday was spent visiting the Pashputinath temple and Bagmati river. The trip firstly involved a long walk across Kathmandu due to the transport strike. The temple itself is quite large, however you can only view it from the outside if you aren't hindu. I thought about telling them I was hindu to see if they'd let me in... But thought better of it. The temple is dedicated to Shiva, and as such there is a giant gold bull statue, from the outside all you can see is the massive backside of the bull.
The Bagmati river which runs past the temple is the holiest river in Nepal and is where alot of cremations take place. There was no actual cremations taking place while I was there, but there where some bodies, lieing prepared by the riverside. It is a strange thing to view and your not really sure how to feel. It is also disturbing seeing people bathing in the river as it is quite dirty, but it is a holy site and a hindu ritual to bathe there.
The other highlight for me was all the monkeys around the place, I am a big fan of monkeys, so I apologise in advance if there is an overload of monkey stories and photos. There where alot of baby monkeys around which are extra cute, although I may have got to close on one occasion as the mother started hissing at me..
The plan now is to do some monsoon (think leeches.. lots of leeches..) trekking in the Lang Tang region. This will happen soon, as soon as the transport strike is over, as it is a bit difficult to get anywhere at the moment.
