Kathmandu - May 4

Today we took the day tour Jon had organized yesterday. We visited two old cities, Bhaktapur and Patan. It was a real eye-opener.

We have had a few drives around Kathmandu going back and forth to the airport but this was our first time getting a good look at the area. I had thought that when we left Kathmandu we would go into the countryside on our way to the other cities. This was not the case. The whole of the Kathmandu valley seems to be an urban area. The population of Nepal is 28 million, a little less than Canada, but the area of Nepal is tiny compared to the area of Canada. Three Nepals would fit into Saskatchewan! It makes sense then, that this is a crowded, congested place.

Bhaktapur and Patan were very interesting. These areas are UNESCO world heritage sites so they are working to repair the damage from the earthquakes. We got a very superficial glimpse into the history of the area. It's a bit hard to follow all the details. It's complicated by all the Hindi, Buddhist, and Nepalese names of things which I find hard to remember.

As the day wore on, Jon's health started to deteriorate so we had an early night.Read more