Happy Diwali

Woke up this morning to clear blue skies and birds chirping, seems like the storms finally left us. Two nights ago it rained very hard and got quite cold. There was an amazing thunder and lightning show which is very fitting as it was also the first day of Diwali, the festival of lights. This festival is huge...reminds me of Christmas in ways. Everyone hangs string lights and sets up candles everywhere (unsafe places seems to be the preferred space!) and beautiful fresh marigold garlands that the women so careful string. There are carolers and dancers (some with music that makes your head spin) and firecrackers are heard near and far every few minutes. They sure party hard. The weather is still fairly nice in the day...it's like Christmas in the fall. Except of course, Diwali is the celebration of the God Rama coming back victorious from battle with the "evil demons". Way back before Jesus's time.
Our first few days in Kathmandu we simply oriented ourselves, scoped out the best and cheapest restaurants and we ventured to Swayambhunath. This is a large stupa (but not the largest) and a very important site to the Tibetans Buddhist refugees in Nepal. We hiked up a huge set of stairs (steeper than 50degrees!) and were rewarded by amazing views of the Kathmandu Valley (with mountains all 'round) and an impressive white-washed stupa. It was also nice to see, amongst all the tourists, shops and restaurants, some saffron-clad monks spinning their prayers wheels and making offerings. This temple is also known as the monkey temple, not because it belongs to the monkey god hanuman, but because it is full of monkeys. Definetely the highlight of the day. What fascinating creatures to observe, especially these ones. They were totally unfazed by us. We could get so close. Logan and I had bought some fruit for our day-trip and decided to sit down and snack. Next thing we knew, the monkey were on to us. Logan decides to feed a banana to the nearest monkey and in no time at all we had 5 monkey sitting right beside us on the bench, slowly imposing themselves on our large bunch of tasty plantains. So I got scared. A monkey grabbed my arm and I quickly got up and booked it...leaving the bananas. The monkey proceded to peel and gobble up about 8 bananas while the rest watched and scrapped the peels. Disaster averted I thought...but damn, those were good bananas! Gave us a good laugh none the less. I can see how the monkeys have stolen tourist's cameras and such!!!
A few days later we went to Patan, a smaller village on the south side of Kathmandu. We took some public transit...chaotic but efficient, as usual. We headed over to the zoo and vene though it was tiny and pathetic, it thouroughly loved it! Asides from the poor conditions some of these animals were in, it was quite magical. They don't seem to have to same safety standards so I got within 2 meters of a leopard. There were monkey and tigers, elephants and leopards, rhinos and hipposk, eagles and a huge selection of colorful birds. And all this within 300 square meters! What a day that was...I felt like I was 6 all over again, seeing some animals up close for the first time!
Many days have passed I see since my last blog but we're really been taking it easy. Logan's finishing his nasty cold (he's still half-ogre through) and I got a bit of a cough also. We've had to stay in on the cold nights but now that we're both got warm wool jackets, we're toasty! I'm still feeling bloated at times...but I discovered that doing very slow, stretchy, yoga after meals helps a whole lot. Wouldn't that be funny, all this time my body has simply been telling me it needs a bit of yoga!!!
We're doing a little more shopping but trying to keep it light.
In the next few days we're going to see Bodhnath, the largest Tibetan stupa and then we're off to Pokhara. If we're feeling up to it, we'll do some hiking for sure! We're really enjoying taking it easy. Not having to get up early, go to work, make breakfast or do anything really, is a great feeling. Not to rub it in or anything...
Oh I almost forgot, I got myself a 1 hour Thai massage here. It was quite amazing! Hurt a bit, but my muscles were pretty sore. I don't know if it's the beds or what, but both Logan and I have been having some nasty neck and back pain, so massages everynight is in order!!
Happy Diwali everyone! (And Halloween I guess too!)
Haven't heard from some of you guys in awhile...I miss you!!
Namaste