Cremations, animal sacrifice ... and monkeys!

We had a couple of interesting days visiting the sites around Kathmandu! As the title of the post probably gives away, we saw cremations, animal sacrifice, and lots of monkeys...!

The cremations take place in a temple-complex called Pashupatinath. When the bodies are cremated, they are brought out wrapped in sheets to large, flat stone altars next to the Bagmati River... A bed of firewood is made on the altar, into which the body is placed ceremoniously and cremated.

Down by the river:


Stone altars next to the river, where the cremations take place:


Bringing out a body to be cremated:



In addition, we went to a crazy animal sacrifice festival in the town of Dakshinkali! It was insane! There were probably around ten thousand people waiting in line with chickens, goats, sheep, and fruit, all to be sacrificed. Unfortunately, foreigners (ie. us :P) were not allowed down into the actual 'area of sacrifice'. So, we had to settle for a view from the walkway surrounding the temple... After the animals are sacrificed, they are brought home and become dinner for the family! Essentially creating a glorified butcher shop... its amazing how hard you have to saw the get the head off a goat tho :)

People waiting in line to sacrifice their animals:


More people waiting in line! The sacrifical area is on the right-side of the photo, between four Naga statues (serpents):


Actual place where the sacrifices take place:


Incase you forgot your animal sacrifices at home, you can buy them along the way!:



.... and finally, MONKEYS! Who doesn't love monkeys? We went to an interesting temple on the top of a hill in Kathmandu called Swayambhunath, otherwise known as the Monkey Temple.

Some monkeys (they were everywhere!):


Swayambhunath temple:

Annapurna trek

Alright... Finally finished the arduous task of sorting through lots of lots of trekking photos!

The trek took us from little villages in a tropical climate, to barren, desert-like mountains high in the Himalayas. We started at 800 meters (2600 feet) and reached our highest point at 3900 meters (13000 feet), which is over 2000 feet above the height of Mt. Baker.

Tropical valleys, waterfalls, and terraced hills dominated the lower portion of the trek... notice the pack-mule train going down the trail in the first photo. Those things got to be a bit annoying, since you would pass hundreds of them in a single day.




The upper part of the trek took us into the Mustang region of Nepal (pronounced moo-stang)... It's an arid, desert region on the border of Tibet. Our furthest point (before having to cross a 5400 meter pass) was the ancient pilgrimage city of Muktinath.



Kali Gandaki river valley, on the way to Kagbeni:


Tibetan-style villages on the way north:



Prayer flags flying in the wind around a small shrine, on the way up to Poon Hill:


On the way to Muktinath... The scenery dramatically changed, once we got above the snow line. In the first photo, you can see the walled fortress-city of Jarkot behind me:





A stone gompa, with Mani stones in front:


Dal bhat! A traditional Nepalese staple -- basically lentils and rice... it's actually pretty tasty:


More mountain scenery from the Mustang region:

Back in Kathmandu

We just got back into Kathmandu from the trek! Took all in all 16 days of hiking though the Annapurna region of the Nepal Himalayas... It was an absolutely amazing trip!

Figured that I'd let you guys know we didn't get lost, or taken hostage by any Maoists... Although we are a WHOLE lot smellier, I'm sure...!

Pictures should be arriving in the next couple of days, once we get some laundry and other miscellaneous things taken care of.