Boudha

Boudha! It is indisputable that spending the last 14 months in America has totally spoiled me.

Arriving in kathmandu yesterday, you would think I'd never been here before with the way I was overwhelmed...

From the airport, we trudged with our packs out to the street, where we finally got a taxi and then proceeded to immediately get stuck in a crazy traffic jam, breathing in kathmandu's polluted air. And then, then the monsoon rains began, sheets of water pouring down and the car became fogged and the driver had to keep repeatedly wiping the window with newspapers.

And then, boudha. Throngs of people circumambulating the stupa. Lepers and disfigured people, mangy dogs and blind singing beggars. A pant-less baby pooping in the gutter. Butter lamps and incense and the smell of sewage. Overwhelming!

Today we're a bit more well rested and things didn't seem quite so crazy. Now, we're about to hop in a taxi up to the green rice paddies of pharping...