February 5 - A Dream Comes True

I'm up at 5:15 A.M., virus be damned, because Mount Everest awaits. At the airport, our group is joined by three adorable Danish girls who've taken a year off to travel before they pursue advanced degrees in business. They are in Nepal to volunteer at a children's home and are delightful. We fly off on Yeti Airlines each with our own window seat for the one-hour Everest experience. Joan gets the close-up view of a string of peaks staring with Langlang Linug at 23,734 feet. There are many beautiful mountains, but when I get my 30 seconds in the cockpit, the pilot points and says, "There's Everest", and I say, "It's my dream come true." Incredible. The plane turns back at Everest and now I sit and stare at its glory with my head pressed to the window until it is completely out of sight. Our group drives to Bhaktapur, one of the three main cities in Kathmandu Valley. This city used to have the distinction of being the dirtiest in the country but the Germans installed a plumbing system and brick pavings and it is now quite delightful and quite clean. We visit a square with the beautiful Fifty-Five Window Palace and a 15th century temple. I rest while Joan and the others buy some lovely pashminas. Darn this virus. We lunch at Dwarika's Hotel which features restored handmade brick and woodwork construction and we enjoy this garden oasis. Joan and I make friends with one of the managers who's son is in grad school in MN, although I am not able to determine which school. He insists on giving us a private tour after lunch which was quite fun and then it's on to Boudhanath - the largest Buddhist stupa in the world. It's shape is based on the mandala and is so beautiful - we take the clockwise walk around the stupa, spinning many of the prayer wheels and then spend time in on of the monastery-run shops to see the artistry that goes in to make the mandala paintings. This area is known as Little Tibet because refugees continue to pour across the border from Tibet, walking several days across the Himalaya to escape the current political regime. Our local guide is Buddhist and does not disguise his dismay about what is happening to the Tibetan culture. Although Nepal has diplomatic ties with China, they do what they can for the numerous refugees. I notice an interesting mix of Hinduism and Buddhism and a great tolerance between the two religions. Our last stop is to one of the most sacred Hindu shrines in the world, Pashupatinath. Only Hindus may enter the temple so we see the complex from the other side of the sacred river Bugmati, a tributary of the Ganges. The river is nearly dry this time of year and strewn with trash, but it is the site of the city's funeral ghats (steps down to the river) and we see six cremations going on when we approach. The bodies are placed on the funeral pyre and various rites are performed by the priest and the deceased's sons. All of the loving care is designed to release the person's essence from earth. It is very moving. I rest for the remainder of the evening while the group goes to dinner at a restaurant featuring ethnic folk dancing.