Kathmandu and a bus ride

I have been in Nepal for about a month though it seems much longer and I wanted to give another update...We have been in Kathmandu for the last week. The father of the children I am teaching had some meetings here and we thought it would be fun to come to the big city for a week. The family went by plane but I wanted to experience the trek by bus. Oh what an experience:) It was about a 17-18 hour bus ride on the main highway in Nepal. If you look at the map I posted of Nepal you can see that I got to see a big portion of Nepal. It was beautiful! My seat was in the very back and I sat next to a very nice Nepali man whose English was hard to understand. My head was glued to the window for most of the trip. I saw wild peacocks and spotted deer in the jungle(they call it jungle but a lot of times it just looks like forest to me). After about 2 hours the bus driver pulled over and men started to get off the bus...I won't forget to mention that we were in the middle of nowhere and there were only some trees around us. I watched many men get off the bus and was shocked when I figured out that they were peeing...probably 10 feet away from the bus...probably 15 guys!!! I had to go pretty bad myself and I noticed two ladies got off the bus and went into the forest and found a tree. I quickly got off...found a tree...relieved myself while trying very hard to cover my white bottom so that I didn't give anyone the shock of their life.

After a couple more hours we stopped and ate dinner at a place that looked like a hole in the wall. It was delicious food that I ate with my hands...dahl (lentil soup), baht(rice) some vegetables and water. We got back on the bus and everyone fell asleep except me...the only white chic. It was just too darn bumpy and the big man sitting next to me kept falling over on me...so I just tried to enjoy the Nepali music. We had to go through probably 5  or 6 security check points all within an hour of each other. The bus stopped...the military got on and felt our bags to make sure we weren't bringing anything illegal into the next district...then we would drive a bit more and they would do it again. At around 5 AM we stopped for some chiiya (chai) and had a little break. I recognized a couple on the bus at one point and after we spoke a little I realized I had attended their wedding a couple weeks before. I also recognized a shop keeper of one of the shops I frequent...Dhangadi is small.

As we drove through the Kathmandu Valley it was so amazing to see the sun rising behind the mountains and the terraced farm land on the hills...just like I always thought it would look!

I have enjoyed getting to do some shopping here in Kathmandu as it is a lot easier to find things. Some things I bought that we don't have in Dhangadi are...brown sugar, matching plastic Tupperware containers, a bread pan, a SNICKERS bar!!! It has felt like vacation because I have got to have lattes a couple times this week and there are so many stores with everything you could need. Still...I miss Dhangadi because it is cleaner and just feels more like  home...I couldn't believe how big Kathmandu is.

Thanks for reading this and I will give you more updates as they come...Thank you all for your prayers and I covet them now too!

P.S. Please pardon my English...I feel like it is getting worse the longer I stay here and try to communicate with the locals.

Here are some videos from while in Kathmandu and the journey there...