Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Doing Katmandu Nepal

Thursday and Friday were spent in Kathmandu enjoying the company of each other and some of what the city had to offer. Sister Tanner and I spent a good afternoon shopping in the Thamel district which caters to tourists (see the video at the bottom). For once I had something I wanted to buy, a knife. I had seen one encased in a box hanging on a wall and thought that looked cool, so I was on a hunt for a Ghurka khukuri knife and found many shops selling them along with a wealth of other treasures, some of which we decided we needed of course.



Early in the morning, Archana, Elder Tamang's friend, came over to pick up her package. This was taken in the Borland's front courtyard. Notice the beautiful flowers in the background.






This is the Yak and Yeti Hotel in Kathmandu where Sister Tanner's parents stayed over 25 years ago.







We went through a meat market section and here is a pig laid out for purchase, even the head in the back righthand corner.








Fresh chickens displayed for sale.












We ate breakfast at a place called appropriately, Mike's Breakfast. The restaurant was started by an American. I enjoyed my eggs, hash browns, and sausage.









Not the normal breakfast fare, but I couldn't pass up apple pie a la mode. It was surprisingly good.









While the group went to see a ghat (funeral pyre) area, we stayed outside and made ourselves targets for the various street vendors. This gal hustled Sister Tanner for it seemed like an hour until she finally sold her the necklace Sister Tanner has on.






Now that's a load.









With all the farming terraces, tillers are the machine to use unless you want to hook it to something and drive it. This was a common site around the city, people using tillers as the engine to pull things with.




We visited Durbur Square which contains a number of old structures. Elder and Sister Zaugg had a harrowing experience while we were there. They were walking beside a structure similar to this one and Sister Zaugg stopped to take a picture and Elder Zaugg continued walking. A 3' tall, 2 foot square top piece from the building fell right between them, fortunately missing both. They took a picture of it, but I was unable to get it for this post.



A Durbur Square holy hustler. You can take a picture for 100 rupees.










It is amazing the loads people can carry. This gentleman is also wearing the traditional Nepali hat.






We finished Thursday with a delicious dinner at the Third Eye Restaurant.




A little out of order, but Saturday morning we attended church at the Kathmandu Branch. Saturday is the day off for this predominately Hindu country, so that is when church is held, when people are off work and can attend. The same holds true for the branches in Pakistan who meet on Friday because that is the Muslim holy day off. We meet on Sunday in India due to the English occupation legacy. The building contains the classrooms and office.


The chapel building can seat over a hundred people.





Some beauties in the front courtyard.





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