There are no rules. I have made the joke in many countries that traffic rules are more like guidelines. Here I don’t even think they exist. One lane roads are shared with two-way traffic of cars, vans, buses, carts, pedestrians, motorcycles, cows, dogs and more! Crossing the street, is like a real-life game of Frogger. You find a window and go for it! This is how I feel every time we walk down or cross a street.

And there is a language of the road. So far we have understood it to be:

• *BEEP* = I am coming!
• *BEEP* = Get out of the way!
• *BEEP* = I was here first!
• *BEEP* = I am going around you whether you like it or not.
• *BEEP* = I haven’t BEEPED in a while so it is time to BEEP again.
• Etc…

(Here is a small glimpse of what some of our cab rides look like.)

What makes it more interesting is that much of the infrastructure is still a mess from the earthquakes in 2015. Yesterday we walked about 4.5 miles to the Kopan Monastary – which unfortunately was closed to visitors this month. But the walk was both beautiful and eye opening. We walked down “streets” that looked like this. This can also make navigating on foot difficult – but it is the unfortunate reality for Nepal.

From there, we took a cab back down to visit the The Great Buddha Stupa which was gorgeous! This version though is restored version after it was destroyed last year.

 

From there we wandered around to try to find some nearby monasteries and holy sites. There were tons listed on our map, but it was a bit out of date, and those we could find were fairly well hidden. (Basically we did a TON of walking yesterday.) Then after a lunch in a dumpling shop so small the owners took pictures of of us in there (I think they were excited to prove American’s actually came in there), we walked to the Pashupatinath Temple. This is one of the holiest Hindu Temples in Nepal. Only Hindus are permitted to enter the main temple, but we visitors could walk around the outer, smaller temples and view some of the rituals – like cremation. There were two cremations in progress, and one being prepped while we were there. It was strange to see but also fascinating.

In the evening we found the local Chabad and cattended services and Shabbat dinner which was fun! There were 24 people there including us and the rabbis. Most were Israeli, but there were a handful of Americans, an Australian and a Russian. One couple had been traveling for a year, and one man said he has been traveling for the past 40 years! That puts our plan shame.

The day before we visited other temples and palaces around Kathmandu and grabbed a late lunch on a rooftop patio. After that the jet lag took me down for the count and I was asleep before 6pm. Here are a few shots from our first day. More will be on Facebook soon!