We visited the sacred river in Kathmandu where over fifty eight bodies are cremated on average every day. You could see the cremation slabs extending as far as you could see down the river. The fancy one decorated with orange marigolds was being prepared for a rich man. It was on the other side of the river. The little boy in the river was searching for jewelry and gold that might have been scraped off with the ashes and remains of the dead bodies.

One group of pictures shows how a torch is put in the mouth and lit by the oldest son. A group of women were first saying their last good-byes in one of the pictures. We were up very close to this spectacle. Many fires were burning and the air was filled with smoke. There was a definite smell from the burning bodies that I will not forget.

Holy men at the cremation place. If you blow the sleeping Saudu up big you will see some of the flies that were crawling on him. There were a lot more flies on him but the camera didn't pick them up. You can see by the pictures that these men are quite dirty and lazy. Their whole purpose in life is to pray, meditate and smoke dope. Some of them cover themselves with ashes, and some cover themselves with cow dung. What a life.

These are close up pictures of Mount Everest. The tallest peak in the back is the great mountain peak.
I got a shot of Kathmandu from the air and also a picture of the pretty Nepalese stewardess who took care of us on the trip. Our co-pilot was also a very pretty lady. She was the one who invited us up to the cock-pit and explained what we were supposed to be looking at.

This is me getting on the plane in Kathmandu, Nepal to go see Mount Everest. The pictures below that are of the view out of the window of the plane. At first it just looked like clouds but then you could see that there were mountains there above the clouds. Really beautiful. The pilot let us come up into the cockpit one at a time to view Mount Everest up close. We were still about five miles away but it was an experience of a lifetime to be that close to the worlds highest mountain.

We went to a couples conference in Nepal last week. It was the most amazing trip. The hotel we stayed at is the the one you see at the very top of the mountain. We had the most spectacular view of the Himalayas from this sight. We got to watch the sun set and rise from the balcony right out from our room and at about two o'clock in the morning we went out to watch the meteor showers. There weren't too many shooting stars but the night time sky was just so beautiful from this vantage point.

Fred refused to pack his winter coat. He was making fun of me for taking mine but I said, "We are going to the Himalaya mountains so I know it's going to be cold. You'll be sorry." Then he said, "You're the one whose going to be crying when you have to pack that big coat around everywhere." Anyway, it started getting down right cold after the sun went down. He was really worried about going out to watch the star show but I dug around in my suitcase and produced a couple of my little sweaters which he was glad to layer over his T shirt. Then he put his white dress shirt over the top of those. Next I made a turban for his head out of my pajama bottoms. He was pretty comfortable after that but looked pretty funny. It's a good thing turbans are common in these parts although not so much in Nepal. Poor Fred.

My little friend San San Nu lived with this woman and her servant girl for two years while she was trying to get her papers to immigrate to America. San San asked me to check on the girl once in a while so went over the other day. San San worried about this girl because she was a slave of sorts. There are many like her in the city who are brought in to work for wealthy people in the city. Agents go out into the villages and find boys and girls. The rich people pay the agents for the servant but the servant never sees any of the money. The masters then provide food, clothing, and other bare necessities. The slaves are kept locked up in the homes and rarely let out of sight. When they want to go back home, they are given just enough money to go back. At that point, their families don't want them back and there is usually no where to go. It's a real disaster if the girl becomes pregnant by the master or master's family member. She becomes a real outcast.

This girl doesn't speak any English so I'm at a loss to know how she is doing. It's a very sad situation.

One time I heard my brother in law Dan, whose has traveled around the world many times, say that he could tell where a person was from by the shoes he was wearing. The men here in India wear very strange shoes. It's hard to tell from just pictures although we have one with Fred's foot by it so that you can tell how long they are. They all wear these kind of shoes with the square toes and they always at least two inches too long for their feet proportionally. Although people seem to have fairly big feet even though they are for the most part short. Someday I will get a picture of the beautiful footwear the women have.

I'm always fascinated by the construction workers and their methods. The women work just as hard as the men. Their bright and beautiful clothing helps to brighten up the city for sure.