Trekking ABC

Our first year in Nepal Jeremiah did the Annapurna Base Camp trek. This year it was my turn! During our Dashain break, a friend and I went together to Poon Hill, and then I went on to do the rest of it by myself. I've never been so sore in my life, but it was absolutely stunning and I'm so glad that I did it. The weather was great, a few rainy days but mostly in the afternoons after I'd made it to a teahouse for the night, and there were amazing views of the mountains.

I did the trek in 7 days: Nayapul to Tikka Durga, Tikka Durga to Ghorepani, Ghorepani to Poon Hill (for sunrise) to Chhomrong (that was a long day!), Chomrong to Himalaya, Himalaya to ABC, ABC to Chhomrong, and Chhomrong to Nayapul.

Dinner most days: Dal Bhat

Poon Hill at sunrise

Sweet milk tea and toast for breakfast

I crossed a lot of bridges, this was the worst

See the guy at the bottom of the picture?

At ABC!

I made it!

Sunrise at ABC

Thamel from Above

Snapped a quick picture of one of the main streets in Thamel (tourist district) from the top floor of Helena's Restaurant.  The restaurant has been around for a while and has decent food, but one of the main reasons we like going there is because it's the highest rooftop restaurant (7th floor?) in Thamel and the views (looking west) are amazing.  As you can see, it was a pretty slow night in Thamel, which is to be expected since tourist season won't really start picking up until later this month or early October.

Still here!

Still here, as in...we're still in Kathmandu (starting our fifth year).  We're going to try and post some more pictures with a few sentences each week.  Here is the view just outside the Saleways Department Store up near the US Embassy in the north part of Kathmandu.  We usually go to breakfast, the Saturday market at Le Sherpa, and then to Saleways for groceries.

Boudha without its top

After damage from the earthquake Boudha is without its iconic top (see the image at the top of this page and here). However, there is an impressive structure of bamboo scaffolding and piles of bricks so hopefully there will soon be a new one.

Monkey Temple revisited

Previously.

Holi madness

Holi fell on Tuesday in Kathmandu this year. So, we celebrated on Saturday. Tegan pronounced in the midst of water and color flying "this is the best holi ever!" Liam, who last year was pretty sure he hated the holiday, was a bit more convinced this year that it can be a fun time.

Lisbon

A perk (or hassle?) of overseas work is the necessity to travel for professional development. I'm spending a long weekend in Lisbon, Portugal for a school counseling conference. While most of my time is inside the hotel, I did get a bit of time on the front end to see some of the city. It's super cute and will for sure be back sometime to see things properly.