Nepal

From David Scruggs

Kathmandu is a crazy city, lots of dirt, people, cars, motorcycles...
but an amazing place. Thamel in particular is awesome but not
necessarily for the faint-hearted (power shedding means electricity is
not always guarantee or available, lots of stray dogs, homeless 10
year olds sniffing glue in the street) but has lot of shops and
restaurants. The temples are all worth visiting keeping in mind that
Pashupatinath is quite moving. We were happy to leave and get back to
Kathmandu.

Chitwan was great... the people are lovely and the region is
beautiful, but you can admittedly get through it in a few days. This
is where Lauren and I did volunteer work so we stayed about a week,
but other than riding elephants or jeep through the National Park
(which you can walk through with a guide) there is not a lot to do...
there is a Tharu Cultural Museum that has a show which is definitely
worth the visit
(http://www.chitwanadventureresort.com/article-tharuculture_dance).

We rented a driver and a car to get from Chitwan to Pokhara and
stopped by Bandipur which was a very cool little town perched on a
mountain top. Worth stopping there for lunch and a walkabout.

Pokhara was great... lot more tourists than anywhere else we visited
but still wonderful. Has a beautiful lake that you could not pay me
enough to swim in and is at the foot of the Annapurna range of the
Himalayas. There is a lesser know museum on mountaineering which is
definitely worth a visit. http://www.internationalmountainmuseum.org/

We didn't have time for any trekking when we were out there so I can't
comment on that, but I know that you can't really go wrong, and it
worth the little money it would cost to hire a guide. You should also
parapente off the Sarangkot :-)

I sent a mail to Phil, a friend who works at the volunteer agency I
worked through in Kathmandu to see if he or his fiance would be
interested in showing people around the temples in Kathmandu. His
fiancee is Nepalese from Kathmandu and I am sure they could use a
little extra money as they are getting married soon. She showed Lauren
and myself around the temples and took great care of us (even managed
to shove us in a micro-bus, another must experience).

Phil is a great contact to have on the ground in Nepal. He can help
organize pretty much anything Jonna needs. His email is:
phil@ehn-nepal.org

and if you are at all interested, the volunteer site is:
http://www.ehn-nepal.org