 Krystal and Mark climbing the final section to the Monkey Temple |  Paulene at the Monkey Temple |
We all had a busy but enjoyable day around Kathmandu yesterday. The team spent the morning in the trekking shops stocking up on clothing and equipment in preparation for tomorrow's planned flight to Lukla and the start of our trek up to Everest Base Camp. A very productive few hours (as well as some top-up items last night) has resulted in most of their shopping now completed.
We then walked to the Buddhist Monkey Temple. This is an approx 10km return hike, which passes through several back streets of Kathmandu. It's become a real favourite over the years. Again, we saw some extensive earthquake damage up on the temple. For those of us who know how beautiful these parts of Kathmandu are, it's sad to see the devastation. The repairs will happen, but it will take time. As usual, the cheeky monkeys that are abundant throughout the site kept us amused. We managed to lose Vidia for a little while, but after scrambling together a team "search and rescue" mission, we found her near-by. Oh, lots of new puppies along the way had several team members stopping to admire.
We had an enjoyable dinner last night at The New Orleans outdoor restaurant, just outside of the Guest House. Very pleasant, although it started raining just as we were finishing our meals. Yesterday was overcast, warm and quite humid, and it felt like rain was imminent. Not sure what's happening up at Lukla...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The sad (and rather emotional) news of the day was the decision by Paulene not to join us on the trek on Monday. With some ongoing health issues frustrating her prep over the last few weeks, she just felt that she wasn't up to the challenge of climbing to altitude. Her announcement to the group after breakfast was a tough one. At this stage, she hasn't decided if she will wait for us in Kathmandu, or return home early. She still enjoyed yesterday's walk and is looking forward to doing more with us today.
Today's plan is to visit the Hindu cremation site (one of the oldest areas of Kathmandu), then spend the afternoon getting our kit bags ready for tomorrow mornings early flight to Lukla.
We then walked to the Buddhist Monkey Temple. This is an approx 10km return hike, which passes through several back streets of Kathmandu. It's become a real favourite over the years. Again, we saw some extensive earthquake damage up on the temple. For those of us who know how beautiful these parts of Kathmandu are, it's sad to see the devastation. The repairs will happen, but it will take time. As usual, the cheeky monkeys that are abundant throughout the site kept us amused. We managed to lose Vidia for a little while, but after scrambling together a team "search and rescue" mission, we found her near-by. Oh, lots of new puppies along the way had several team members stopping to admire.
We had an enjoyable dinner last night at The New Orleans outdoor restaurant, just outside of the Guest House. Very pleasant, although it started raining just as we were finishing our meals. Yesterday was overcast, warm and quite humid, and it felt like rain was imminent. Not sure what's happening up at Lukla...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The sad (and rather emotional) news of the day was the decision by Paulene not to join us on the trek on Monday. With some ongoing health issues frustrating her prep over the last few weeks, she just felt that she wasn't up to the challenge of climbing to altitude. Her announcement to the group after breakfast was a tough one. At this stage, she hasn't decided if she will wait for us in Kathmandu, or return home early. She still enjoyed yesterday's walk and is looking forward to doing more with us today.
Today's plan is to visit the Hindu cremation site (one of the oldest areas of Kathmandu), then spend the afternoon getting our kit bags ready for tomorrow mornings early flight to Lukla.
