Kathmandu

I caught the "tourist" bus to Kathmandu today at 7:30. Funny but it ended up being cheaper than the "local" bus I caught when I left. Depends on who you hire to help you! The road is much of the same route that I took from Kathmandu to Besisahar so I got to enjoy the beautiful winding, bumpy road for 8 hours today. :-) The last few hours are on steep hills - just don't look down and you'll be fine! Just kidding. It's not that bad but it can be if you get pummelled off by an oncoming truck or hit something or lose a tire... Actually it's not that bad.

We did however have an engine problem that took the driver and cohorts an hour or so to fix. No worries though cuz I brought an awesome book.

Sold (by Patricia McCormick) is a book about a Nepal girl who is sold by her stepdad and taken to India for sexual exploitation. About 12,000 girls a year are intentionally or unintentionally sold and end up in the sex trade. Some - maybe most - I don't know - are unable to pay their way out of the "debt" of the person who owns them. Some of the families think the girl is going to work as a maid to help earn money for the family. Some know and just need the money. Anyways, I finished the book - please read it - it's very educational.

A small side affect of reading on the bumpy roads is that I got really carsick and ended up hanging my head out the window for a good five minutes of puking. Now THAT was entertaining and the bus looked GREAT. I was on the right side of the bus and Nepal is left hand drive. With the narrow road I had to keep my eye out for anything passing too close! Kind of want to keep my noggin.

Well, it's about 5:35 pm (Saturday) here in Kathmandu and I'm off to find good food...

Did I mention? I'm off the mountain! I'm off the mountain! I'm off the mountain! :-)

Love and hugs!
Joyann