Day 114. Kyle & Leanne joint blog.

We arise and don’t have to be ANYWHERE until 1 pm.  We are all giddy!  Some of us head to the amazing breakfast buffet, then to the pool. We are feeling restored already.  Strong WiFi, shimmering outdoor pool, shining sun, super comfy bed, really nice and friendly hotel staff and a killer restaurant open for dinner, lunch and breakfast. Kyle jokes we might not leave the hotel the entire time in Nepal as we book the spa for today.  AND it’s reasonably priced for everything (can you say $2 beers and $6 for chicken cordon blue?).  We look at each other and think we’ve died and gone to hotel heaven.  Like Hotel California, we can check in anytime we like but we can (will?) never leave! 

Kyle and I have decided a dip in the pool would be in order. There, we see an 11 year old swimming who asks us to swim with him.  He’s dying for a friend so we teach him a few tricks on his swim stroke wondering why he’s left here unattended with relatively limited swimming ability.  The bartender tells us he just loves to swim. 

About an hour later, Kyle and I have taken Raj’s skills from beginner to maybe advanced beginner teaching him backstroke, floating  and better freestyle moves.  All of the sudden his parents show up.   We say hello and share our speedy results with their eager son! Most parents would smile and thank us for watching their kid.  By now our whole clan has befriended the lonely boy.   Instead, we receive one heck of a “stink-eye” from his dad something fierce.  Not a word uttered, just the continual stink-eye glare.  We will call him “stink-eye” dad as we he hasn’t earned the “thank you for teaching my kid to swim” dad name so far. Stink-eye dad yanks Raj our from the pool and sends him back to the room.  We just didn’t get it except we figured he obviously didn’t have as comfy a mattress we did and hadn’t made his spa appointment yet.  

After massages and the kids lunching at the pool, we meet our guide Deepak who takes us to three UNESCO sites! Wow, three sites in a half-day - score! Fun-fact Justin points out that Nepal has the densest concentration of UNESCO sites of any country in the world.

The first one is a hoot as it’s sometimes known as Monkey Temple. In actuality it is called Swoyambhunath Stupa and it’s culturally significant because you have a major Buddhist temple next to a major Hindu structure in the same high point of the city (300-plus steps).   The monkeys used to live in the neighboring forest but as the city developed their forest couldn’t sustain their need for food so they migrated to this stop were the locals bring food offerings to the Gods. Smart monkeys, eh?

Justin is super excited for the Monkey Temple because (1) his nickname in preschool was Monkey Justin because of his awesome climbing ability (2) his Chinese birth year is the year of the Monkey and (3) the Monkey is his favorite animal.

Our tour guide buys the crackers that are to be fed to the monkeys and is astute at knowing exactly how to feed the monkeys without risky one’s own safety.  John has read on Trip Advisor that the monkeys are prone to grabbing your iPhones if you venture too close.  There are over 100 monkeys at the temple so we can just envision a back monkey room with a pile of a 1,000 iPhones and a team of monkeys diligently working away selling the phones on eBay. 

With the kids properly instructed to hold onto their phones for dear life and everyone equipped with crackers in hand, we venture out for the monkey feeding.  What a spectacle it is.  Once the monkeys realize a package of crackers is being dispensed, they go nuts.  They monkeys vie squealing and fighting amongst each other for the cracker.  Soon a dog gets in the mix and tries to get a cracker which doesn’t go over well with said monkey as barking and monkey screeching ensue.  One hard-edged monkey has mastered the art of laying a huge roundhouse punch to his fellow monkey’s head, temporality stunning him while he steals the cracker out of victim’s paw.   

It’s a hit for all as we avoid any significant monkey inflicted injuries. A memory that won’t be forgotten especially by Justin whose born in the Chinese year of the monkey.  We head to the top to catch the rest of religious sites plus a bird’s eye view of colorful Kathmandu.  

Our next stop is Patan Durbur Square which also was designated in 1979 as World Heritage site. It contains several Hindu temples and within one we catch an amazing dance for The festival - Dashain. 

Dashain is an annual harvest festival that is one of the most important Hindu festivals in Nepal. With over 80 percent of Nepalese as Hindu, suffice to say it feels like the whole population is celebrating as they dress in colorful outfits adorning their red Tikkas, which are special blessings from elders. 

Today’s dance celebration was particularly significant as a local cultural group restored the tradition just last year after a 30-year hiatus before their Civil War.  As hundreds gathered around us to see the dance of the nine masked Hindu dancers, you could see the older generation teaching the young children how to appreciate this important cultural opportunity of the dance representing good over evil.  Worth a Wikipedia search on Dashain! 

Our last UNESCO site was Pashupatinath Temple, a sacred Hindu pilgrimage temple that non-Hindus aren’t allowed to visit. However, we are allowed on the other side of Nepal’s holiest river to witness how local Hindus celebrate the end-of-life at a public cremation site with wooden funeral pyres. Another one in the didn’t know that existed in the world and never thought I’d see that in my lifetime. It was a bit to take in and I’ll leave it at that.  

For dinner, the kids just wanted to order room service tonight as it had a great menu and the WiFi is so darn strong.  As a result, Kyle and Leanne enjoy a rare date night in the hotel restaurant.  Restored, happy, relaxed and giddy on the abundance of oxygen, Kyle and Leanne agreed that Hotel Swanky was just what we all needed after our rocky road last week.