Around Nepal

So, it feels semi-inappropriate for me to continue to post about my time in Nepal now that I've been home for almost a month (CANNOT believe that it's been that long!)...Here's a little bit about some of my other excursion in Nepal. It's impossible to share everything, and even harder to describe how much the it changed me, but I'll try to post about some of the experiences I haven't shared yet and let the pictures do the talking...

My first full day in Kathmandu was spent at an ancient stupa nicknamed the "monkey temple", and it isn't hard to figure out why. Excuse the National Geographic-esque photos, but these monkeys were everywhere! The Himalayan prayer flags and ancient sculptures were beautiful also.

Another "field trip" I took was a trip to a nearby (aka. 2 hr public bus ride) to the nearby mountain village to observe maternal and child vaccinations. During our walk up the mountain, we passed by houses on the side of the mountain. Everyone was more than welcoming and offered food, water, and a place to sit and rest for a few minutes.

We took a day trip white water rafting on the Trisuli River - beautiful views and exhilarating. And we only had three people in our group fall off the raft....

Bhaktapur, an ancient city, was another great day trip. The buildings and wood carving were extremely intricate and almost a thousand years old - and still used every day!

By far the best part of the trip was stumbling into a random, but also Lonely Planet recommended ;), paper goods store. All of the paper is handmade from jungle reeds and after purchasing a plethora of goods, two friends and I got a private tour of the factory, a peek at a 12th century building with carvings of Buddha's life that the owner was renovating, and a VIP rooftop view. Breathtaking. 

Lastly (I promise!), another volunteer and I took day trip to another city in the Kathmandu Valley, Nagarkot, to try to get a glimpse of the Himalayas. We were mostly unsuccessful - you can see a snow capped peak if you look at the picture for a long time - but the hike was fun and traveling alone on public transportation was an experience.

After all the fun times and learning about Nepal and myself, it was time to leave. I was happy to head home but sad to say goodbye to good friends and the most adorable kiddos I have ever met!!