Namaste from Nepal

We made it to Pokhara after 8 hours in a bus. The sad part is that the distance between Kathmandu and Pokhara is only about 100 miles, but it's a days journey. Pokhara is much more our speed of city- it's smaller, quieter, and the air is clean. The city sits on a large lake and has the backdrop of the Annapurna range of the Himalaya. Today we woke up to our first full glimpse of the mountains, which were pink with alpenglow and absolutely stunning! We are getting more and more excited for our trek into the mountains which begins in two days! View from our room in Pokhara of Macchepuchare

Today we walked up to a stupa, or Buddhist temple, above the lake. We were greeted by many people, but one group of kids linked arms and blocked our way. Then they sang and danced for us because it is the middle of a five day festival here and that is part what they do. The kids go from house to house, store to store, singing and dancing for money. They recieve a small token for their efforts. It's similar to Halloween, in a way. So, every day the streets are filled with the sounds of children singing and fireworks exploding (which scares me every time!) Also, each day they honor a certain animal, first the crow, then the dog, today it's the cow. The animals that are normally a ferrel creature, have their day of glory, in which they are decorated with flower necklaces and red paint on the forehead. It's funny to see the animals roaming the streets all decorated.

So, soon we'll be off to explore the mountains and I'm sure we'll come back with many stories and pictures, so stay tuned for that....
Erin