Kathmandu, Nepal

S and I just arrived in Kathmandu, Nepal two days ago. It was very sad saying good bye to our wonderful guide at the Chinese border crossing and to also leave China. The border crossing is over the Friendship Bridge, a small path over a flowing river that divides the two countries. Despite the bridge name that represents kind relations between the two countries, we were hurried along the bridge by an army commander as several soldiers lined the bridge with big weapons. We changed our money on the black market, getting a pretty good exchange rate and hopped in a jeep with Brandon and Jill headed towards Kathmandu.
While just a river separates Tibet and Nepal at that border crossing, the regions feel quite different. As we crossed the bridge into Nepal, we came to a dilapidated customs office that is in stark contrast to the Chinese office on the other side, which is sparkling, shiny and new. Smells of curry wafted through the air and women walked around in colorful saris. Nepalis look much more like Indians and the local temple's blessing adorned the foreheads of all the local women as we walked through town. The drive to Kathmandu was also quite stunning. Our taxi wound through the mountains as the driver blasted America's most popular hip hop and R&B music from his radio. Since being in Nepal, we have surprisingly heard a lot of reggaeton. The villages along the drive were bustling with people, selling their produce, bright colored bubble coats, with the occasional cow roaming alongside us on the highway.
As we got closer to Kathmandu and left the mountains, the pollution haze became increasingly more noticeable and somewhat bothersome and the cars increasingly jammed the narrow streets, with rickshaws, bikes and motor carts whizzing by in all directions.
As the city streets are not named, it was quite difficult to find our hotel, as the address only indicated the neighborhood that our hotel was in. We are staying in Thamel, the town's tourist area, with many restaurants and shops selling anything you could possibly want. Despite being such a commercial hub, the buildings in the area are falling apart, electricity wires dominate one's eye view and power outages are frequent during the evening time. That evening, we dined at a very nice Newari restaurant with Brandon and Jill where colorfully dressed women performed traditional Nepali dances. During the last song, diners were in invited to dance with the performers and, after a tiny bit of nudging, I got up on stage, bouncing my shoulders and shaking my hips. The group got a kick of out it and the lead dancer dragged me into the middle of the stage to dance with her. Very fun!
Yesterday, we spent the whole day walking around central Kathmandu. We started the day at Swayambhunath Temple, one of the most important temples in the area. Monkeys surround the mini-temples and the long stairway leading up the hill to the holy area. A kind Nepali man attached himself to S and insisted on giving us a free tour of the temple in exchange for visiting his shop at the end. He blessed our foreheads with an orange vermilion paste and sprinkled marigolds in our hair in the complex's most important temple. I bought a very nice braided brass and copper ring for 50 rupees, or 65 cents.
We spent the rest of the day walking around Durbar Square, a complex of temples, squares, towers and shrines, built up during a competitive building boom in the 15th and 16th centuries between the three neighboring kingdoms in Nepal. The area is full of hawkers trying to sell you guided tours, Nepalis going about their everyday business and worshippers following carts carrying cows, Hinduism's sacred animal.
The food here is amazing and today we are going to get out of the tourist zone and wander through the backstreets of this capital city.

Border to Kathmandu Valley