Back to Kathmandu

 Fertile fields around Lhasa.

 The Himalayas.

 Mt Everest.

 Kathmandu. 

Landing at Kathmandu for the third time.

 Grandfather and grandchild.

The five pagoda Nyatapola Temple.

 The view from our lunch spot.

 A Nepalese hat shop.

 Some of the damage from the earthquake.

 A great sampler plate of Nepalese food.

Great guys to travel with: Rob, BK, Nick, and Yannik.

Friday, May 18^th.

Our flight from Lhasa back to Kathmandu departed at 9:00. BK had told us to request a window seat on the right side, so Rob, Yannick, me and Joanne all wound up behind each other with Chinese people beside us. The skies were clear and we had great views of the ground as it changed from the city, farming areas, desolate foothills and finally the Himalayas. Again we were very lucky and had good views of Everest. We landed in Kathmandu and transported to the Traditional Comfort Hotel in Kathmandu. We were upgraded to this lovely hotel by GAdventures because the Yak hotel was booked up. Rob and I had talked when we first met about using this afternoon for a visit to another World Heritage Site, Bhaktapur. BK arranged for us to be driven there in the hotel van, where the driver would wait for us and drive us back again a couple of hours later. Really convenient. The drive took about 45 minutes through the crazy traffic of Kathmandu.

I had been to Bhaktapur in 2011 pre-earthquake and was interested in seeing how it was affected. As Rob and I wandered around exploring we saw lots of evidence of damage, but unlike Durbar square, we could see that they were working to repair the damage. I was happy to see that the spectacular five pagoda Nyatapola Temple was still standing. Rob and I had a light lunch at a café on the roof of a building that had a great view of the square. Then we walked around a bit more and I bought a souvenir Buddha eyes t-shirt, after which we found our driver and headed back to the hotel for our final dinner with the group.

We met up in the lobby ordered drinks and dinner. Then I spoke on behalf of the group, thanking BK for his outstanding guidance and his warm friendship, which enhanced our Tibetan trip so much. After we ate, Aileen, Dirk and Els left to catch flights, Shirley and Joanne went to bed, and the rest of us had a couple of drinks and talked to BK as we were all reluctant to say goodbye to him and each other. We finally packed it in about eleven and Rob and I headed back to our room, where we chatted a bit before falling asleep.