| After my stop over in Hong Kong I arrived in Kathmandu. Taking a late night taxi to the Kathmandu Guesthouse showed me that the dusty poorly lit streets hadn't changed in 10 years. There were no upgrades to the roads since I had been there last. The first part of this movie is looking out of my Hotel window at Kathmandu Guesthouse. This guesthouse is the most famous in Kathmandu because it once was the hotel for some of the most famous climbers. Almost immediately I met some older gentleman, one of whom used to teach at the local University in the Zoology department. They invited me to take a tour of the staff, class and lab rooms. Unfortunately, in 30 years there had been no improvements to the education system nor the buildings. The lab had no running water so they could not perform dissections. After visiting the University, I climbed up to Swayambhu (also spelt Svayambhu) called Monkey Temple which is my favorite little hike in Kathmandu. The large white Buddhist temple is called Boudhanath Stupa where Buddhists come to do pusa by laying down on the ground and standing repetedly. The Hindu worshipping area is where they burn the bodies of dead Hindu's is called Pashupati. Pashupati is a sacred Hindu site with a river of human ashes and monkeys playing. I had dinner at a tourist restaurant which offers a bit of entertainment. The last part of the movie is the beginning of the Manaslu trek. |