Nepal

Here it is as promised- a post about my three-week trip to Nepal!!!

this was my first time in Asia, so there's another continent added to my list.

we flew into kathmandu on qatar airways- very nice airplanes. good airplane food (who knew that existed?) and little tvs on the back of every chair with lots of movies.

when we landed we were all a little tired and discombobulated (due to the 5 hour layover in Doha at 3 in the morning) but excited to finally be there!

we were greeted by the two students, Dechen and Robin, from the school we would be working at who would be coming with us on the trek, and Pemba, our trek leader.

we did some souvenir shopping around kathmandu and then went to bed early.

in the morning, we took a short and sketchy plane ride to pokhara, then an hour long bus ride THEN we finally began our trek.

personally, i found the first day the hardest, not only because of the change in altitude, but because all of us were a little unsure of what to expect exactly in terms of difficulty. i have experience with hiking and trekking, but it was still a little daunting.

i won't summarize every day of trekking for you, but there were 10 days worth and every second (almost every second) was simply spectacular. the views were amazing, the people we met on the way were really interesting, and the food was delicious!!

when we reached Annapurna Base Camp, our highest point, we got up at 5 in the morning to watch the sun rise over the mountains and although it was FREEZING (but no snow) it was beautiful. our descent was a little easier on the lungs, a little harder on the knees, but took a lot less time than going up.

when we finished the trek, we headed back to kathmandu, SHOWERED for the first time in 10 days, and headed to the school we would be working at.

we were assigned 'buddies' who would show us around and answer questions and be our new friends. every single person i met at that school was amazing, they all have such tear jerking stories of how they came to kathmandu, and seriously- buddhists are tHE NICEST people. i bought a book on buddhism while i was there so i could learn a little more about the religion.

leaving nepal was really sad. i cried. it was hard to say goodbye to some amazing people who i might never see again, but it was one of the best experiences of my life!

can't wait to go back someday!