Temples, Monkeys, and The Holy Man

Today was a tour of two Buddhist temples and a Hindu temple. The Monkey Temple, aptly named for the multitudes of monkeys, was first on the agenda. Basically, this is a beautiful temple that is overrun by monkeys. Don't let the cute little faces fool you, they are not nice. Next, we went to the Hindu temple Pashupatinath, where they burn large funeral pyres to cremate the recently deceased. It is also a beautiful place and has fewer monkeys. They had two funerals going at the time of our visit, so we tried to stay upwind from the burning pyres. At this temple, the Holy Man is happy to be in some photo opportunities, as you can see! Last on the tour was another Buddhist temple, Boudhanath. This is a World Heritage site and one of the holiest of all Buddhist temples. All of three of these temples were beautiful and had rich history and amazingly detailed architecture. All of the holy people, whether they were Buddhist monks or Hindu Holy men, were very kind and patient with all of us tourists. We all took a lot of photos and will be sorting through tons of them in the coming days. Our day ended with some free time to finish packing for the trek, rounding up any last minute items needed, and reviewing the itinerary. Bob Veno and I, along with a small portion of our group, made another trip to Fire and Ice pizza for our last dinner before the trek. We are all very excited to get started with the adventure up the mountain. Our flight into Lukla in the morning is bright and early! Tomorrow, Everest bound!