Mt Everest

We rose early to take a 6:45 AM flight around the Himalaya mountains, but they couldn't get one of our turboprop jets running. After a couple of attempts, they brought us back to the terminal. We finally re-boarded the plane and took off about 8 AM. It was a gorgeous, clear day once we rose over the clouds in the Katmandu valley. We were able to see the entire range of mountains in Nepal from Langtang Lirung in the east to Nuptse, Mt. Everest, and Lhotse in the west. These major peaks all ranged from 20,000 to 29,000 feet in height. Particularly impressive were Melungtse, huge and alone, and Cho-oyu in a cluster of four peaks.

After breakfast, we walked through the village of Khokana, a farming community. Most of the town was engaged with the rice harvest - straw mats were laid everywhere, on the streets, the squares, and the roofs, to dry the rice in the sun. We also watched the crushing of mustard seed for oil. The first processing is done by hand, the second by machine. The fields were lain with rice straw - drying it out for use in mats and mattresses.

Drying Rice

We ate lunch just off the central square in the town of Patan, where our guide, Rajiv, was raised. Here we visited Patan Durbar Square - the palace of the local king (rebuilt in 1937-51) as well as a number of Hindu and Buddhist temples. Here one could clearly see the contrast between Pagoda (from China) and Shikawa (from India) architecture for the temples. We also visited the religious square of the palace indicated by buffalo intestine over the doorway. A short walk away was the 12th century Golden Temple of Patan, inside is a golden Buddha. Here the chief priest is a 12 year-old, who serves as priest for a month.

Patan Durbar Square

Finally, we visited Patan's Kumari, the living Goddess. (Yesterday, we had visited the home of the one in Katmandu. There are five of these girls throughout Nepal.) She lives in her own home and we were able to meet her. It is believed that energy leaves from your fingers and is absorbed by your head, so she applies a red Tilaka (dot) transferring energy from the goddess to us. This Kumari was chosen at age eight and is now ten years old.