I'm with Stupa

After collapsing at 4:30 pm our first day in Nepal and not rising until about 6:30 the next morning, the Acclimates were refreshed and ready to jump fully into wonderous Kathmandu. We took off into the city, kind of knowing which direction we should head in order to reach Swayambu (aka the Monkey Temple). Grabbing a quick breakfast off the street of some sort of fried dough (pretty excellent), we found the temple after about a half hour of wandering.

Swayambu is incredible both because of its age (something like 1400 years old), and its views that span the whole Kathmandu Valley. Climbing the Pilgrim stone staircase, dozens of monkeys sprouted up, and soon enormous simian gangs were running wildly about, generally with good-natured fun, but sometimes growing violent against another monkey pack or a pack of wild dogs. We spent a few hours walking about, looking at the homes that are built into the hill yards away from the shrines, talking with (excitable) locals, and receiving Tikas from an old, mostly-toothless woman.

Leaving the temple, we stopped in a small restaurant for some Momos (dumplings filled with mystery meat, but good nonetheless) and we met a young Brahmin named Daniel (pictured below), who shared a lot with us and gave us his number if we wanted to hang out this week (he’s in college learning to be a manager at a tourism agency). Really cool guy.
On our way home, we stopped in an art school and received lessons on Buddhist art from two young students and their master who taught us how different types of paintings are used in meditation. Although we had to weasel our way out of the school without buying anything, it was well worth our time.
That evening, we got our first taste of the Nepali nightlife: it was crazy. All the streets light up, and the glow from the motorcycles headlamps gives everything a little bit of an eerie, night-at-the-carnival type of feel. Avoiding the men offering us hashish and the “Teen Age Shower Shows,” we climbed up into a nice restaurant and enjoyed a fantastic meal before carrying our battered bodies back up to our hotel room.
Things are going great here, we’re learning a lot quickly, and we just received our packet of the 130 organic farms that we might possibly spend next month on, so everything is progressing and accelerating nicely. Much love to our families and friends, until next time.