Nepal in Pictures

 Well, it's a big day!  After days of no internet or weak internet or slow internet, we finally have a strong connection.  But now so much time has gone by that it's hard to know where to start.  I thought I would just post some of my favorite pictures of Nepal with captions that give you an overview.


This is Madan and Sophie Shah, their children, and Sophie's dad.  They are very involved doing community development in Tikapur and sharing the love of Jesus.  We stayed with them, and Madan spent this whole week with us, showing us their different ministries and touring us around Nepal.  We loved getting to know them!



We visited a number of schools while in Tikapur, Nepal.  This was a container school in a community of ex-bonded slaves (called "kamaiya").  In 2000 Nepal outlawed bonded slaves and set them free, but that meant they were on their own with nothing.  A few were given just a small plot of land but many didn't even get that.  This school is now educating about 120 of the children in this community.  When these containers arrived, 400 people from the community moved the containers onto the slab and posts BY HAND.



After visiting the school and walking around the community, we stopped at this little store for tea (chai).  The tea here is made with a variety of spices and the way we learned to order is to ask for "milk tea".


While having tea, we watched these hens with all of their chicks.  It was amazing to see them all tuck under her wings.  "He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge." (Psalm 91:4)




We visited another school in a different community and these kids followed us around the whole time.  The Nepalese were beautiful people--attractive, but also very smiley and friendly.




We visited Tikapur Park and came across this group of girls touring.  They asked to "take picture" with our girls.  The girls have kind of gotten the movie star treatment.  They get stared at a lot and either get asked to pose for pictures or we'll see people snapping pictures of them with their phones.  Of course the white skin stands out, but I think it's also unusual to see white kids/teens.  And Trina is our little ambassador--she builds bridges wherever we go by smiling and saying "dhanyabad" (thank you)



A street view of Tikapur as we were headed out of town.



A view as we were driving east across Nepal.  These oranges grow fresh and are like little clementines--but even sweeter and easier to peel.  As cold as the weather was, we were surprised these oranges would grow here.




Tikapur is located in the lowlands, but as we traveled east toward Kathmandu, we began to see the foothills of the Himalayas (and we finally began to see some sun!).  We took a break from driving and walked the Karnali Bridge.




We saw monkeys!  Lots and lots and lots of monkeys!  This mom and baby duo was our favorite.  We ate lunch overlooking a mountainside and we discovered them jumping through the trees, with the baby holding on to the mom the whole time.  Zoom in on the baby's face--she's pretty cute!

On our drive from Tikapur to Kathmandu, we made a stop in Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha.  This building houses the rock with footprint that marks the spot where Buddha was born. In addition to this building and grounds, there was a whole "complex" that had Buddhist temples from many different countries (China, Austria, and others)

We rode elephants!  One of the more uncomfortable rides of my life, but definitely worth it for the experience.  Sadly, we saw no rhinos, but we did see some pretty deer and monkeys.  Chitwan National Forest, Nepal.

The girls went paragliding in Pokhara!  Celia was the very brave one who went first.  I think my heart stopped for a moment when she jumped off that cliff, but all four had good pilots and a smooth ride.

We chased the girls down the mountain on some crazy, hairpin turn roads and stopped to take in this view of the Himalayas.  The tall peak is known as the fishtail.  Pokhara, Nepal.  

After the exciting paragliding, we took a calm rowboat ride on Fewa Lake.  After days of feeling chilled to the bone, the sun came out and we were surrounded by these gorgeous views.

In Kathmandu, we visited The Great Buddha Stupa, one of the more important Buddhist temples.  

Many of the Buddhist monks and others would circumambulate the stupa--a ceremonial walking around--and spin these prayer wheels. 

 

After this, we headed over to Swayambhunath, better known as the monkey temple.  A "holy river" runs through here, so Hindu families often bring their dead relatives here to be burned on one of these pyres.  A family carried a body through just as we arrived and you can see the shroud being lifted onto the pyre.  Very sobering.  We've been exposed to a number of different religions, and I may share some thoughts later.  Let's just say I'm happy for the hope we have as Christians and the freedom we have through Jesus.

On our way into the temple, there were a number of vendors.  This was one of the more colorful stands with all the different colored dyes and beads.  

A traditional Nepali meal--chicken, dal (lentils), bhat (rice) and some potato and vegetable sides.  Really tasty but SO spicy for my bland taste buds :)  

 So that was Nepal in a nutshell!  Now we've moved on to India and are currently in Pune.  I'll send another update soon with what's happened since Nepal.