Kathmandu Day 1

We finally got our hotel sometime between 11 and 12pm local time. We were exhausted. Getting a Visa and entering Nepal was a long process. Lots of really long lines and we were tired. Even though I didn't have a change of clothes (no luggage), it felt great to take a shower and get some sleep. I was soooo tired.

I slept great and we woke up to a wonderful continental breakfast. We stayed at the Mulberyy Hotel. It was very nice. The accommodations were great and I loved that it provided breakfast, and lots of options with breakfast.

We decided to visit the Swayamhunath Temple also know as the monkey temple. This is a popular tourist spot in Nepal. Against the discretion of the hotel workers we decided to walk there. We had been traveling so long the days previous we knew a walk would be great. We headed out and walked to the temple. It probably took as an hour to get there and we walked through a lot of different neighborhoods on the way. it is always so fascinating to be in another country and see what life is like for the people that live there. Nepal seems to be a pretty poor country. it was interesting how roads would just turn to dirt in the middle of a neighborhood and then it would turn back to pavement later on. As a visitor I had no idea why this happened but definitely different than what I am use to.

To get up to the monkey temple you have to walk us 365 steps. One for each day of the year. They were steep and that was a lot of steps to get to our destination.

Part way up the stpes. We still have a ways to go.

 Little did I know I would see so many Stupa's in my time in Nepal. Nepal is the birthplace of Buddha and there are Stupa's all over the country. It is really interesting to watch the local people come and worship at their temple. They are very kind to let strangers enter. It definitely takes away from some of the sacredness, in my opinion.

 There were lots of shops set up selling the most beautiful paintings.

 The temple grounds were actually very large. Unfortunately they were also filthy. There were multiple Stupa's in this location.

 It is nicknamed the monkey temple because there are tons of monkeys that live there. They are native to the area and a whole lot of them live at the temple. They seem friendly unless you have food on you.

 The monkeys really are everywhere.

Looking down on all the steps as we are about to leave.

This visit took up all of our morning which was nice. We walked back to the hotel and got back in time for lunch. We had to exchange money too. $1000 rupees in Nepal Money is just over $9 american dollars. It was crazy to exchange a little over $300 and end up with so many bills.

We spent the rest of the day wandering around Temille. This is the area where our hotel was located. It is also where most tourists stay when visiting Nepal.

 Kathmandu is a very crowded and dirty city. Definitely not my favorite type of place. There were so many people everywhere we went.

 Their electricity is all above ground and it was crazy to see all the wires everywhere.

 Finally at 10pm we headed to the airport to see if our bags arrived. Luckily they did!!!! I was so excited I had to kiss my bag. It would have been awful to have to go and rent everything. Expensive and awful so this was a BLESSING!

 We had to hurry back to the hotel and get everything prepared for our 6am departure time. I must say a shower and clean underwear (after four days) never felt so great. I didn't sleep very well this night. There was too much anticipation for the trek. i was excited and nervous.

Getting to Nepal

So for a while now, like years, I have had in the back of my mind that I want to go to Everest Base Camp. Here has been the problems: 1. The best time to go is October - May, smack in the middle of the school year 2. It's a long hike. At least 12 days of hiking to get there and back 3. All the tours I had seen were sooooooo expensive, like so so so expensive. These three things put it out of reach for me for a number of years. Every year I would look at it. See if the dates over Christmas break would work, see if it magically got cheaper. Turns out they don't usually get cheaper. Well sometime in 2018 I found a company that was significantly cheaper out of the UK, Kandoo Adventures. They are more than 50% less expensive than any other company I had seen. So CRAZY! This year they also had a tour that lined up perfectly with my Christmas break. I decided that it was meant to be and started to communicate with the company. I am not going to lie I was crossing my fingers that is wasn't a hoax because it was so affordable. Luckily it wasn't and I just returned from an extraordinary trip in Nepal.

One of the trickiest things was packing. We were only allowed 15 Killograms for the trek. This is fine except it is very long and you want to be able to change your clothes, turns out we didn't get to. It is also winter there so we needed lots of warm clothes which take up space and add weight. It took a lot of looking at my gear and work to get just the right stuff and make sure it all fit. I also wanted to bring extra clothes for after the hike. Laying everything out that I wanted to take.

 It seems like so much stuff but we were gone for 17 or 18 days.

After lots of reaaranging and eliminating I got everything to fit!!!!!

 Nepal is a very long ways from Utah. Getting there was not easy. There are no direct flights and pretty much every flight required a long layover somewhere in Asia. Cyndee and I flew out of Salt Lake on December 19th. We went to LA and then Hong Kong. We had a 15 hour layover in Hong Kong before making are way to Katmandu.

We were ok to do this because we thought a day in Hong Kong would be fun. And it was fun to see a place I have never been. It was just complicated by the fact that our luggage didn't make it from LA. Are you kidding me? That was stressful and meant that we had to spend a couple of hours dealing with that. Eventually we kind of figured it out and were able to get out and see some of Hong Kong. It is a very busy city. We enjoyed walking around a nice park and their down town. It was really nice to be out moving after such a long flight. The weather was also amazing, actually the weather was HOT!

We made our way back to the airport a little early because we had to check on our luggage. Luckily they found it and told us it would arrive in Katmandu the night after us. This was great news but also a little scary because we would be leaving for our hike at 6am after it was supposed to arrive. If it hadn't shown up we would have been in trouble!

Sunday/Christmas Dinner

Since I will be gone for Christmas I wanted to have all my Utah family over for dinner before I leave. I hosted this on Sunday. I made a ham and funeral potatoes. All my Utah siblings came along with Curt, Loralie, Katie and Nancy. It was a fun evening. I wish my house was a little bigger because I sure love having it filled with my favorite people. We enjoyed the food and company. We played the Merry-Bells and had a great time. It went by too fast.

 I wish I had gotten a picture of everyone but no such luck. I feel so blessed to have so many family members living so close. It is so fun to spend time with them during the Holidays (and always).

Random December

 We finally got our first snow storm in the valley. It was on a Sunday. It was beautiful. There is something so magical about the snow.

Because I got such a cute picture of Moki I decided to do Christmas cards. This was a first for me. It was fun but time consuming.

 Anthony and Caleb came over and made dinner one night.

 They did most the coocking which was nice.

 Audrey is about the cutest thing that ever existed on planet earth.

 I am trying to get ready for my Nepal trip. I have been buying stuff for 6 months. Now it is time to pack it all. I think I am excited. School has been so crazy I haven't really had much time to think about it. I am sure once I am on the plane I will be excited.

The pile to pack started like this:

 Then it got more organized.

 I leave in two days!!!!!!!!

 My Christmas tree is a favorite. I love it so much!!!!

 The sunrise this morning at work. Utah is such a beautiful place to live. I love these mountains!

Another Weekend Another Adventure

I am coaching basketball and that keeps me really bust. in fact I rarely see the daylight, which is really hard. This winter I have made the most of my Saturdays and that has been so nice. On December 8th Amber and I hiked up Rock Canyon to the campground. We didn't need snowshoes because there is so much traffic there but we used our Microspikes. We hiked 6.5 miles and got in a great workout and saw some amazing views. The inversion was terrible in Provo. Luckily we got high enough to get above it and really enjoy the sunshine. It was an amazing hiking day.

 I got some great shots of Moki!

 There was so much snow at the cmapground.

 After the hike I went home and showered and then headed to Salt Lake. Amanda had an orchestra concert and I wanted to go. I met Sam and family at their ward Christmas party and then joined them for the concert. It was a great evening. I got this adorable picture of Emerson.

It was another crazy busy Saturday filled with the things I love the outdoors and family.