Our last blog post of our year in Asia: Goodbye Asia. Pokhara, Nepal: Hike to Himalaya Mountaintop

It was monsoon season so we had a oft-sprinkly, wet hike in Nepal. That's our guide on the right. One of the more taciturn guides. In Nepal, we hiked around Pokhara, near the Annanpura Mountain, which most tourists in Pokhara visit but was too much for our young crowd. We took the very very long hike up an easier mountain instead, ending at a cushy hotel with a hot swimming pool for expats, instead of roughing it in a mountaintop tent.

They sweep the rice paddies in a wave.

The Nepalese women pass through the paddies like a colorful Tsunami, collecting rice as they go.

Ganesh

Jewish swastika???

Hike up, with some precious conversation

A tower worth climbing, but with an view obscured by the ubiquitous clouds during monsoon season

You have to work hard to survive in Nepal

Before Pokhara, we first hiked to stay overnite in Sarangkot, I think.

I was entranced by this girl, sitting next to her mom's sewing machine.

Typical rural mountaintop shed. Used to be made of thatched roof. This is actually progress.

A disturbing sight to see an impoverished woman, probably homeless, asleep off the road we hiked.

Click HERE to walk with us along this leg of the Nepal hike.

Nepal really reminds us of India, with their colorful decorated buses and more

The only health center for miles around

Think of this as the local Nepalese hospital

School

This mountaintop near Pokhara was famous for paragliders

View of Pokhara from the top, after we hiked very far to get to a restaurant up top. Click HERE to see the full 360 degrees of this view, live in action.

Sunset view from our hotel roof. Breathtaking of the Himalayas

Click HERE to see the sunset in action.

Shopping in Pokhara where there are many backpackers. And, there are many Tibetan ethnic groups who fled China as refugees in the thousands, when China took over Tibet in the early 1960's.

Chillin after a big hiking day outside of Pokhara. A great restaurant to play and relax on our last night in Asia!

Alice learns backgammon on her last night in Asia.

Boom learns pool on his last night in Asia.

Can you tell how emotional I am feeling about our last night in Asia? And, this is my last blog posting of our incredible year in Asia. This year feels like a gauntlet was thrown down across this point in the timeline of our lives as a family, with our lives demarcated as before-Asia and after-Asia, like BC and AD. I feel very strong, mixed feelings about writing this, my last blog post, about our year in Asia, closing out this blog. I am humbled by the growth I've experienced both through the writing process, my research, my partners in my work, and my family's openness to the richness of the world and life. Our life has been more colorful and mind-expanding as a result. Thank you so much for walking through our lives with us this year, making us feel less alone, as if you'd held our virtual hands, allowng us to be more brave, knowing you followed us closely on this blog.  If you'd like to follow our next blog, with our lives back in NYC, click HERE. The site is http://o-fnyc.blogspot.com/     Signing out, Colleen, Ken, Griffin, Alice, and Abraham. July 7, 2011

Air Buddha, Kathmandu, Nepal: Mount Everest and Himalayas Airplane Tour

Buddha Air, love the name. It takes you up above Mount Everest and the Himalayas, and I prayed to Buddha that we would not crash.

Mount Everest on the left.

Himalayas

Himalayan mountain up close

Ken loved it. A few weeks after we flew over Everest, we read the paper to learn that one of the few Buddha Air airplanes,  maybe the one we road, had crashed. An extended family from India died, traveling for a cherished trip together. Tragic. And, it freaked us out. We count this as our third close call on our year in Asia, behind Griffin's near death experience at the Malaysian jungle rapids and our KL condo explosion.  Still, we saw Mount Everest and won't forget it.                  July 4, 2011

Kathmandu, Nepal: Pashupatinath Temple Dead Bodies and ritualized cremation

When we arrived in Nepal, we were surprisingly shocked by the chaotic poverty of the warren of streets in Kathmandu. Underneath it all, we were feeling cynical about expecting to see anything new at any temple, after over a year of temple-going across Asia. We barely paid attention to our guide at this temple. But, then we saw a dead body being washed in the Bagmati River next to the famous Pashupatinath Hindu Temple. We stopped dead in our tracks, in awe. And, in inner conflict over whether or not to show our young kids their first dead body. I mean, even Ken and I had never seen anything so mortal and, well, dead. We chose to show them the entire ritual - body cleaning, river washing, carrying, flame-lighting, and cremation right in front of us. We didn't regret showing the kids one bit. They were fascinated and didn't seem freaked out at all. It all happened across the river from us, because only Hindus are allowed on the side of the river with the cremation and temple. These cremations happen 24/7. Click HERE for a video of the dead body washing by the male members of the family. Female family members are not allowed, as explained to us - women get too emotional during the cremation. Amazingly, they just toss the dead body items into the river, along with food and sewage.

Unwrapping the dead body.

The Pashupatinath Temple towering above the dead body cleansing ritual.

Carrying the same washed dead body to the cremation site. These sons had their elder mother die. Click HERE to see the carrying.

Before lighting the fire underneath the body, the sons walk around their mother's body three times. Click HERE to see them walk.

Watch them lighting the fire by clicking HERE.      July 3, 2011