Flying to Kathmandu!

From Sylvie’s Journal – “Look out the window! There’s the Himalaya,” said my Dad! “Wow,” said Eliza, “I thought those were clouds!” I just couldn’t believe I was seeing the real Himalaya at last. Over green fields and rice crops, closer and closer to the ground of Kathmnadu we flew. They sky is sooo clear and lovely today. I can see everything… houses come closer and closer into view. Wow, I thought, I’m over the Kathmandu Valley. Looking out the window I saw the airport getting closer, and ‘Zoom,’ on the runway we go! I said, “Wow! I love walking down the stairs and onto the runway, instead of leaving through a tube!” Lupin said, “Me too!” My Dad said he’d tell us all about Kathmandu as we drove to our hotel. “OMG,” I thought, “I am finally in Kathmandu!!!”

Eliza’s thoughts – “A couple of days ago we got to Nepal on Kingfisher Airlines. As we were flying, I could see the Himalaya sticking up just out of the clouds. That made me want to climb Mt. Everest right away! After we landed, we got in a taxi and started driving to our guest house. Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal, is a lot like cities in India, but also different in some ways that I really like. Some of my favorite differences are that Kathmandu smells better, and there are so many beautiful temples. But it is similar to India because there is a lot of trash on the ground, and everyone pesters you to come into their shop.

When we finally got to our guest house, I already knew I loved Nepal and was going to have a great time! We quickly ran up to the roof to look at the mountains, but by then all we could see was clouds and the green hills of the Kathmandu Valley. I was disappointed, but my Dad explained that it’s usually cloudy this time of year. The cloudy weather will probably go away while we’re here, and we are going trekking right into the mountains anyway.

After we got settled into our room, we went on a walk to the nearest Stupa called Boudanath. It’s the biggest stupa in Kathmandu, and when I first saw it, I felt both excited and amazed! The Boudanath Stupa is exactly how I imagined when I thought of Nepal. After we walked around the stupa and spun the prayer wheels, we got to go inside. Going inside was awesome! We went up onto the big platform below the dome. When we came out, we saw tons of pigeons being fed corn. Tomorrow we might get to feed them too! That was by far the highlight of my first day in Nepal. I can’t wait to go Trekking!!!!