Greetings from the roof of the world!

[20 Jan email sent to friends and family from Kathmandu]

We would like to thank everyone for all the responses to our emails.  We love getting responses but since we have limited email access we can't get back with everyone.

We had a great time here in Kathmandu.  We had a smooth trip over flying through Qatar.  The weather has been gorgeous, sunny and warm during the day.  We have mostly been relaxing and seeing the sites in town.  We walked to Patan, just south of Kathmandu for a day and took the bus to Bhaktapur for a day, and have spent the rest seeing the sites in Kathmandu.  We have visited the Durbar Squares in all three towns ( the main square around the old palace).  All three are world heritage sites.  They are filled with Hindu and Buddhist temples that are hundreds of years old and covered with intricate carvings.

One day we walked out to the monkey temple, a huge Buddhist temple just outside Kathmandu.  It is on a large hill with spectacular views of the whole valley and the Himalayas to the north.  We had to walk up some very long and steep steps to get to the top.  There are monkeys running all over the temple and they like to show off.  The temple is covered in colored prayer flags all blowing in the wind.

Everything is very cheap and we are getting lots of great food for cheap.  ( Steak dinner with all the trimmings for $3)  There is tons of shopping but we are holding out for now as we will be back in April to go trekking.  We have enjoyed wandering the back alleys and seeing local life.  Kathmandu is a very energetic, chaotic and exotic city.  All around the city are Buddhist and Hindu temples.

Tomorrow we fly to Singapore.  We only plan on staying for a couple days as we have both been before and want to avoid the cities and spend more time in the countryside.  Sorry this one is so short but our connection is very slow and we will be back to see lots more of the country in April.

  Love Eric and Emma