If Your Pee is Yellow, You Are Not Drinking Enough Water...

Today was our first full day in Kathmandu. We did have an early wake up call of 6:30 AM, but luckily everyone in the group had a good night's rest and were eating breakfast by 7:00 AM. The Tibet Guest House did serve a buffet style breakfast of eggs, toast, potato cakes, and your choice of coffee, tea, or hot chocolate. However, we also found out the Tibet Guest House offers soft drinks in the morning, so a couple bottles of Coke and Mountain Dew made their way to our tables.

We left our hotel around 8:45 in the morning to begin our day of sightseeing. Our first stop was at the Swayambhunath Temple. The Swayambhunath Temple is located in the Kathmandu Valley, just west of city centre, and is one of the main religious complexes visited by tourists. However, you may hear from your student, this place will affectionately be called the "Monkey Temple" because there are monkeys living at the top of the temple. Pictures will be provided upon return. We were able to get fairly close to the monkeys without any problems, except for one monkey stealing Denis' water bottle, climbing a small monument, trying to drink from the bottle, and then throwing it back at us. I personally did not see this happen, but I am sure the students have pictures.

Swayambhunath means "Sublime Trees" in Tibetan, mainly for the numerous variety of trees found in the area. Our tour guide, Raj, also mentioned that the Swayambhunath is probably the most sacred sites for Buddhist pilgrimages. It was very sacred considering we had to climb 365 steps to the top (each stair representing each day of the year) and prayer wheels were found along the outer walls.

In the center of the temple is a large stupa, which is a variety of shrines and temples. Painted on the stupa is Buddha's eyes and eyebrows and between them is what appears to be a nose, but it is no nose at all. It is actually the Nepali symbol for unity. It was awesome and made for some great photographs, which will again be posted later.

Small shops were set up along the perimeter and hawkers tried to persuade us to purchase Buddha figurines, swords, and other miscellaneous knick knacks at what they claimed were rock bottom prices. However, our students are becoming quite the bargainers.

After we left the temple, we were given the privilege of seeing the Kumari, or Living Goddess.A Kumari is the tradition of worshipping young girls who are believed to be the manifestations of the divine female energy. In order to be a Kumari, a girl must be from the Shakya clan, have certain physical aspects, such as black straight hair, neck like a swan, brown eyes, and no deformities or blemishes. The young girl must even spend the night in a dark room by herself with the heads of dead carcases. Kumari means virgin and a girl can remain a Kumari until she reaches puberty and begins menstruation. The current Kumari is six years old and no foreigner can arrange a private viewing with her, which I am glad for, because her reaction to you may mean imminent death:

Crying or loud laughter: Serious illness or death
Weeping or rubbing eyes: Imminent death
Trembling: Imprisonment
Hand clapping: Reason to fear the King
Picking at food offerings: Financial losses

I can live without the Kumari laughing at me. It was a special treat to see the Kumari because in Social Studies, we watched a documentary called "Living Goddess" which was all about the Kumari in Nepal.

After viewing the Kumari, we walked around the Old City of Kathmandu, taking pictures of old buildings, posing with police guards, and the Hippie Like priests of Kathmandu. We had a Nepalese Style Lunch on the roof of the Festival Restaurant that offered good panoramic views of the surrounding city.

We only had a half day of sightseeing, leaving the afternoon open for packing and some shopping. We leave tomorrow for a trek at 6:30 in the morning to catch a 7:45 flight to Lukla. All checked bags must be under 15 kg or 33 lbs, which hopefully everyone will be at once we check their luggage. I am not sure when we will update the blog next, but we will have a fun, safe, travel, especially after John went over the basics to make sure we avoid altitude sickness.

One way to avoid altitude sickness is to drink water or in John's words: "If you don't pee enough, then you are not drinking enough water or if your pee is yellow, you are not drinking enough water." There will be definite water parties on the trail.

Until the next blog entry, Namaste!