nepal

Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, is a kaleidoscope of religion, nationality, and architectural wonders - and all in the range 30-minute plane ride from the most amazing mountains I've ever seen, the Himalayas.

We arrived in Kathmandu from Abu Dhabi after a four hour flight comfortable using Etihad Airlines, immediately greeted with the arrival of a troublesome procedure. There, visa photo I could fly from the hands of immigration officers, exit the terminal window to the ground plane, but fortunately the land officers immediately arrested by Etihad. After passing through customs, we waited 20 minutes to travel agents arrived. As we learned later, Kathmandu is not a city for those who are faint of heart, or search for a five-star luxury class.

But after these little difficulties, we arrived at Hotel Yak and Yeti, Kathmandu is one of accommodation is high class, get into a comfortable room with views of gardens and swimming pools (one full of water, only a blank) and found a bar near the center the city to celebrate our arrival in Nepal. Next, we ate curry at an Indian restaurant where we were entertained by two exciting singers Nepal.

The next day, we just started touring around the city. Our travel agent to pick up - we thought he was late again, but apparently the time in Nepal was strangely 15 minutes slower than most of the time zone - and immediately we were taken to various places extraordinary. Bodnath Temple, built in the style of architecture similar to neighboring Tibet, the roof you can see beautiful scenery and colorful surrounding communities. Next we stopped a little long in the Hindu religious site, Pashupathinath, final resting place for those who passed away. Our Nepalese guide gives an explanation of the funeral ritual. He brought me very close to the volcano is very hot, place the legs of humans that have not burned and skull shape that can still be seen. Ashes were then sown in a slow-moving river which is considered sacred.

After the place smelled of death, we are ready for a light lunch of fried potatoes and sauce in a cafe with beautiful views near Patan, full of temples and palaces built in the 18th century. We walked toward the square that busy after lunch, stop by and stopped at several temples before returning to Kathmandu. Once there, we walked for an hour enjoying the Durbar Square, where we see more temples, and ended the day in the hills looking at the city from a distance - and yes, to visit another temple, looking at monkeys swimming in a nearby pond.

After surrounding the exotic and dusty Kathmandu, next day we went to the Himalayas. We left Kathmandu with little fear of facing the track for three days to Annapurna, and after a 30-minute flight up the Yeti Airlines, we arrived in Pokhara, the Himalaya foothills. There shrines and concurrently the leader guides the track, Rottna, with porters who kept smiling, greeted us. We kept smiling Porter probably because we actually take the minimum required amount of clothes for trekking. He just had to carry 10 kg of goods than the goods that must be taken of other porters, assisted by several donkeys, which can be up to three times our luggage.

Our first day of trekking, we pass through beautiful valleys and along the riverbanks - which makes us surprised - through many small villages. We meet farmers, school children and parents to our first nights accommodation in a small village Tikedungha. There we enjoyed dinner with a dish of rice and chicken, followed by local wines that can make the eyes water, along with several walkers from Europe and America, as well as the guides and porters. Our overnight accommodations for $ 5, it would not be surprising if the bathroom facilities that we have been quite simple. At least the bathwater warm, though we never used to the squat toilet.

The next day, we were off again at 8 am. The reason is we have to climb 3000 stairs on the side of the mountain. After that, the path we passed a little flat and we passed more forests and villages. After walking for 5 hours and stopped several times, we arrive at Ghorapani, we stop that afternoon, after a strong storm passed. Even so, our guide insisted that this storm was a sign there will be sunny the next day. Where we live is simple, but becomes alive because yak steak and local liquor. We went to bed early that night, hoping that we could see the sun rise tomorrow at 5 am after the cloudy weather throughout the afternoon.

Currently, we have reached an altitude of 10 thousand feet and the next morning, we saw a warning on the risk of altitude as it passes through a kind of monument for visitors from Australia who died suddenly without warning. We climbed for an hour before dawn and were greeted by cool weather and clear skies at the top of Poon Hill, incredible views of the eight peaks of the Himalayas.

Our guide is correct, the storm the night before turned into a clear sky in the morning.

Then we went back to the lodge for breakfast eggs and bacon before running again for 8 hours to our starting point. Steep gradient seemed sharper as it goes down, we also felt the movements of the muscles which have not we think there is. Finally, after one hour taxi ride which makes goose bumps and very decrepit - and feel very proud of our trekking skills - we arrived at the Fish Tail Lodge in Pokhara. The next day we spent the morning see the amazing views from the hotel and walk to the shops before boarding clothes and books using the Yeti Airlines afternoon flight back to Kathmandu to spend another night there.

That night, we met an old friend from Sydney in a quiet vegetarian Indian restaurant and serves delicious food. He was retired from the British Consulate and spent three years in Nepal to learn the language and absorbing the local culture.

On the last day, we saw more and more mixing of cultures on small streets and alleys in the city of Bhaktapur stunning, with the temples of the 18th century who maintained her condition and another cafe on the roof to enjoy the atmosphere. After returning to Kathmandu for more busy streets that are still repaired and a little cake and tea in the hotel lounge is civilized, it was time to go to the airport and saying goodbye to friends, travel agents and Kathmandu.

Six nights are the trips that are too short, but enough to give a sense of amazing culture and scenery of Nepal. We could buy better clothes trekking, useful for the Philippines or in Europe, we are pretty sure to come back and feel the track is longer (five or six days) to catch a glimpse of the world's highest mountain, Everest. We are realistic enough to know we will not get to Base Camp, but sure enough to get through the track is longer in one

line with the most beautiful scenery in the world.