It has been nearly a month since my last post and just a handful of things have changed. My time in Philly was awesome. So glad I got to see Sensay and Renee get married and catch up with friends from home before I left. Glad to see so many people doing so well and establishing themselves. The week went fast but it was full of glutinous Philly food and naps. 10/10 would do again. Once I landed in Denver it was go time, I had 1 full week before I left for Kathmandu and there was a lot to get done. It seemed every few minutes I would remember something new I had to do, Siri and I became fast friends. The week was a living breathing gantt chart of responsibilities and tasks needing to be completed in order. I started the days early as I normally would have with the gym so I wouldn't sleep away the time. I joked about injuring myself before I left and missing Everest entirely. That joke became a scary reality as my IT band swelled after running one morning and I limped home. I couldn't believe it, a major snag that can only be healed with time, which I was running out of. I rested the best I could and spent the days packing, organizing, and arranging boxes in my apartment. The space fills up fast once you start to live in a castle of boxes. I also took meticulous notes on the contents of each box and what I would need to repurchase once I returned. I cleaned as I packed to try and minimize the need to return after I moved everything out. I stopped cooking and ate my favorite meals with my remaining time. I had such a militant mindset against eating out for the previous year as I saved and it was such a treat to enjoy those meals as I approached the finish line. The last weekend was filled with final good times and goodbyes with great friends. Sunday at 9am it was game time. Gieoni picked me up and I grabbed my 10' uhaul box truck. The box truck was roughly the same size as the storage locker and I felt it was a good test to see if everything would fit, sans the motorcycle. That box truck was fully packed and we had to use Rube and Gieoni's cars to get the rest of my stuff over. Moving the couch out of the apartment nearly killed us and I was freaking out a bit. Starting to think about what was first to go incase it doesn't fit. It was surprising because I don't have much stuff and I got rid of a lot. Once we got to cubesmart the most important game of Tetris took place. We utilized every little space with items and packed it to make sure there wasn't going to be a collapse during the hibernation. I laid a tarp down and we set a goal to pack everything within the tarp in order to leave room for the bikes. Piece after piece things went in and walls of my belongings were formed. After about an hour everything fit perfectly with plenty of space for the bikes. I prepped the motorcycle engine for storage and wheeled it in. That's it, everything I own is in a metal box somewhere in the outskirts of Denver. I've been visualizing this for so long. Thinking about how I'd feel, how it would look. It was beautiful and went exactly as I had planned with little to no deviation from how I had prepared. It honestly felt too easy. From the number of boxes I purchased to the sizing of the truck/container, everything was perfect - Maktub. I knew exactly what had to happen and in what order, all I had to do was believe and execute. Within my packing plan I left out four changes of clothes and a suit in preparation for when I return and gave them to Mikey to hold. Thank you so much brother for your help moving and giving my most important possessions a home when I am away. We have been through so much since we met in Atlanta, so happy to have you as my friend and someone I can trust and count on. Couldn't have done it without you. I have gotten questions about the name of the site and the logo. QR646 is the flight number for Qatar Airlines flight from Doha to Kathmandu. When I was planning this trip and selected the route, I wrote QR646 on just about everything I own in the months leading up as a reminder to the goal. No one knew what it meant and I didn't share it's meaning with many. It was a reminder for me to stay focused and keep working. The strange "Q" portion of the logo is the molecular structure for Dopamine. The chemical in our brains that works with motivation and reward-motivated behavior. It felt fitting to name my site after my 'carrot' and I wanted to incorporate dopamine in some way. I asked Rube if he had any ideas and without hesitation he said he would figure it out and create something for me. Even with his busy schedule with school he had something over to me quickly which I loved. Thank you rube for for always being there for me and always helping me. Proud to call you my friend and always inspired with how you handle life. Once I shut and locked the storage unit, that was it. I was officially living in a backpack and homeless. I met with my landlord to close my lease. She was amazing from the moment I brought her this idea and did anything she could do to help. Super flexible and loved what I was doing and told me to reach out if I come back and need an apartment. That is one amazing theme I have noticed in this process, people truly wanting to help me achieve my goal. It's humbling, I really didn't expect it. I thought people would see it as a liability but it was the opposite. I think this says more about me than others. I had established my personal legend and the universe was conspiring to help me achieve my goal. I moved in with the Stout street boys and set up my new base camp for 3 days. The last few days were filled with tying up loose ends and errands. Just about everything gear wise was purchased but there was still small stuff and a lot of it. Never overwhelming I just needed to grind through it and keep moving, my window was closing. I was feeling good though, still didn't feel real but felt right. Thank you Stout street boys, for letting me store my bike all those months and for the hospitality. You guys are awesome and I hope you enjoy the paper products. And thank you Jaime for being an amazing manager this year and letting me borrow your laptop for the last month. That was so kind and a life saver. And that was it. Took my first and last sunset shot of Denver and went to the airport. Thank you Amelia for driving me and not letting me take the train alone on my way out. I had a grand vision of my last American meal being a Chick-fil-A sandwich with a large waffle fries. It was the final step of my plan, it closed at 10pm per google and when I arrived it had closed early. Out of my entire plan, this was the only significant deviation. It was devastating but all in all I had to look at the big picture. That being said if anyone knows someone at Chick-fil-A, I would like a word with them. The flight left 11:50pm Wednesday November 1st and arrived in Kathmandu on 3:45pm Friday November 3rd. I looked up the exact opposite side of the world from Denver and it is somewhere in the Indian Ocean but for all intensive purposes roughly the same longitudinal line as Kathmandu. I was going half way around the world- the furthest place I could without a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. Kathmandu is also 12hr45m ahead with their timezone. The first leg was a red eye to JFK then a 12 hour 10am flight to Doha. My idea was if I could stay up until the Doha flight and then fall asleep, I could maybe beat the jet lag. Once I got the Doha it was ~6 more hours of travel to Kathmandu. Staying up in JFK was tough even with all their uncomfortable furniture but succeeded. On the next leg with the power of NyQuil, I was in a coma for 10 of the 12 hours of the Doha flight. When I arrived in Doha it was another world. I only had a short time there and was my first glimpse of a real desert, it was beautiful. The extravagance was unlike anything I've seen before. There was a raffle for a Bentley and a Porsche Turbo in the main concourse, $180 for each ticket. Which thinking back is a pretty great ROI but didn't read over the odds. As I looked for some food I found a store that just sold gold. Gold in all shapes and sizes, jewelry, chains, and bars of it. Glass cases full of gold, never seen anything like it before. I figured my arrival at Kathmandu airport wouldn't be like this but it was quite the juxtaposition. I board my final flight and find my window seat. The guy in the middle was already onboard and graciously offered to move over into my seat instead of climbing over him. It was a bold move but there was no chance I was allowing that. This was also the first experience I had where I realize I am 25%-45% larger than anyone else who's local. We arrive at the Kathmandu airport and I am in it. Flying in we see the buildings and fields. Most of the buildings don't have windows and it looks like a slum but as far as I can see the entire city looks like this. I work through the process of immigration using some homebrew touchscreen machine that's giving everyone problems. I believe the US gives funds to these sorts of countries to implement computer based immigration security to help with our own security. Issue is they didn't spend any funds on training or integrating it into their process. I get through the process and am exhausted even with that long sleep. I grab my check bag and proceed to find my pickup. After some time I find my driver and get to our car. He gives me a flower necklace for good luck from the recent festival, it's heavy and smelled so good. I don't think I've ever enjoyed a flower before but this orange thing was awesome. The hotel is about 8km away from the airport, figured we would be there within 20 mins. 2 hours later we arrive at the hotel. It was the most insane traffic, driving, congestion I've ever seen. Cars, pedestrians, trucks, motorcycles driving in both directions across the entire road. I couldn't figure out which side of the road they drove on until I realize the driver seat was on the right hand side and figured it had to be the left. There are no lanes, just a dirt, gravel, partially paved road. If there is an open space, grab it. No turn signals just go and push through and anticipate others will see what you're doing and correct course. As insane as it is, the vehicles operate fluidly like water in a stream. Every space filled and no collisions but honking to notify others of their intentions. As soon as I arrived I had to hit the ground running, I left Sunday morning to start Everest base camp and it was Friday night. I took inventory of my gear and made a list of what I needed. Most important was some Cipro, cold gear, and CR123a batteries for my water sterilization pen. I misread the instructions when I left and realized the current set of batteries wouldn't last longer than the week. The medicine was too easy to get and cost ~$.12 a pill, I purchased 20. Way cheaper and easier to get than in the US. I was staying in an area called Thamel which is the trekking and backpacking central in Nepal. The government also does not enforce copyright or licensing laws. The shops are packed full of knockoff North Face, Arcteryx, Mammut, and Mountain Hardware gear. You could show up without a single thing for the trip and get everything in one shop. Which is kinda what I did. I knew that this trek would be the coldest of the journey and I wouldn't need any of the gear after. I also knew it was cost prohibitive to ship anything back to the states. So I brought a few items that I wouldn't miss or was planning on replacing with the plan to get everything else there. I picked up a puffy, pants, shirt, base layers, water bottles and a day pack for ~$150. I knew it wasn't real and wasn't the same quality but it would last the two weeks. I actually really liked the puffy but it wasn't worth shipping back. Medicine - check, gear- check, now I just need these batteries. I have never seen this battery before and figured it was a lost cause. I walked around town with the battery in hand just showing people, hoping that someone had seen it before. No dice and most people just laughed, I'd laugh at me too. These guys are chopping up chickens on a rock and I'm asking for a specialized battery for an ultraviolet water sanitation lamp. I was just about to call it and buy some iodine but saw a camera store. The most electronics I've seen in one place so far so I decide to give it a shot. Turns out this is a popular battery for some obscure camera in this part of the world. I don't know what camera but I bought all his batteries. 3/3 great success. That night I met with the tour operator who i booked through (Pradeep), my guide (Bibek), and my new trekking partners (Rik and Orel). We speak briefly about what to expect and plan the route. The route is 13 days 12 nights, flying into Lukla day 1, arriving at EBC on day 8, and flying out of Lukla on day 13. Average distance per day is 16kms (10miles). Starting elevation in Lukla is 2860m (9383ft) to EBC at 5380m (17,600ft). The trek is designed in a way to allow your body to climatize along the way to avoid any potentially fatal complications from altitude sickness. There isn't much you can do to combat altitude sickness besides get down to lower altitude. There is the medicine Diamox which can help but the side effects can be just as bad as the sickness. I experienced this first hand on Kilimanjaro as I took it just to be "safe" on summit day and it nearly cost me the summit. I decided I would not be taking the pills this time and felt confident in my abilities after training and reaching 5895m (19340ft) before on Kilimanjaro. EBC is certainly a longer trek but I didn't think it would be harder, Kilimanjaro was higher, how could it be? We get up Sunday and take off for the Airport, its early morning so not much traffic around this time. The four of us and the driver pack into what was most similarly to a 1990 ford festivia, somehow we fit with all our gear. We get to the airport and the monkeys are running on the roof as they wake up. To say security was going through the motions would be an overstatement but this airport is for trekkers going to the Himalayas, there is no concern. The only concern is weight. Each person can only bring 16kgs (35lbs) of gear. This serves two purposes. One, the planes are so small they can only bring so much cargo. Two, the porters bag cannot weigh more than 21kg (46lbs). Once you get to Lukla there is no place to store anything, once you bring it, it needs to stay with you till you get back to Kathmandu. Weight looks good for our crew and the three of us share one porter. Since I didn't bring or purchase a framed pack I packed light and brought a day bag to carry anything over my allowance. When I first did research about the trek I saw guides/porters are not required and considered doing it by myself. I am so glad I didn't do that. The majority of people hiking have gone through a service and have a guide/porter like us. There are the few cases of those who did it by themselves. I thought about the difference between having a guide/porter and not having one a lot during the hike. While there are certain bragging rights by not using these services I'm not sure it would be worth it or would have been morally correct to do so. Hear me out, my guide Bibek is 31 and has been to EBC so many times he stopped counting. He started as a porter when he was a teenager with other guys from his village. He learned English and how to appeal to the tourists and is now a sought after guide for repeat climbers. It takes him two days to return home, one day by bus, one day walking. This is the best job he can get and he's so happy to have it. He sends money back home the best he can and works like a yak. If this guy had the opportunities I had in America, I'd be the one carrying his bag up the mountain. Being a guide is the goal of every porter. The porters get paid by the kg for everything they bring up the mountain. 30kg-70kg (66lb-150lb) of stuff layered on their backs in a basket and using a head strap, no shoulder straps. Just some rope holding the stuff together and a rice sack to use as a head strap to support the weight on their bodies. Some of these guys were young, it's hard to guess Nepali peoples age but I'd say the youngest being around 12/13. It doesn't make you feel good when you see a young boy carrying a load of cases of coke or mars bars, goods that you'll buy at the next village. I spoke to Bibek a lot about the state of education and the government and how people got into this line of work. From what I understand, through a combination of government political corruption and education only lasting until the 7th grade, this is their only option. It's hard work but it's good money and they can support their families while working with their friends from their villages. I was afraid to ask how old our porter Santos was but I'm confident he was in his 20s. While I am happy we didn't have a child carrying my gear for a couple bucks a day I'm not sure if it would be morally right for me to refuse his service. If I refuse his service he can't work and help feed his family. If I compensated him with a full trek pay while I refused his service for an older porter, that might get me off the proverbial hook but certainly doesn't address the core issue. I did however have my fair share of Mars bars and juice and unfortunately I know they were carried on the backs of these kids. We started off with our flight to Lukla. 19 passenger plane landed at what google will autocorrect as the worlds most dangerous airport. The runway is sloped for two reasons. When landing, the runway is so short the uphill provides more friction on the tires for the incoming aircraft before the end of the runway, which is the mountain face. On take off, the down slope allows the aircraft to gain more speed before the runway ends with a 2000ft cliff. It's intense and worth a YouTube search. We were a bit delayed getting into Lukla but only had ~3 hours of hiking in front of us. The Himalayas are absolutely unreal. Here we have 8 of the 10 tallest mountains in the world in the same range. Snow starts about 6000m (20,000ft) any peak that doesn't have snow and therefor shorter than 6000m (20,000ft) doesn't get a name, they are referred to as the black hills. We are surrounded by black hills and mountains covered in snow with names I've never heard of but all sound similar. I was very happy to have made it, I've never seen mountains like these, how could I? This was the only place in the world to do so. The vertical rise is just immense. We spend the day hiking and taking in the sights as we arrive at our first tea house where we stay for the night. All along the trail are villages and not villages built for the tourists. These people have been living here for centuries. Yes, they cater to the tourists during the high seasons but this is their home. The stone carved prayers and Buddhist stupa are all for and by the people. Not for tourists and their photos. The tea houses are more like lodges than houses. Usually a large main area where guests relax and eat heated by a large stove powered by wood or when aboive tree line, dried yak dung patties. The rooms are pressboard compartments with 2-3 beds per room and if you're lucky an ensuite bathroom. Due to the altitude and hydration efforts you are up multiple times a night, easily the most common complaint among trekkers. It gets cold up there once the sun is gone and inside is no exception. I rented a -20f sleeping bag and slept most nights with a blanket and wearing my base layers. It was very common to use the bathroom at night and find the water in the bowl frozen. Sleep is hard on the trail I couldn't sleep for more than 4 hours consecutively until day 6. There are also dogs. So many stray mountain dogs that fight and bark all night to stay warm. All too often I would wake up to use the bathroom and stay up the rest of the night listening to Fido bark till the sun came up. Bibek once said to me "this is mountain dog, this dog can live anywhere on the mountain, this dog has no home, this dog just like you". I guess I am stray mountain dogesque The next few days are filled with long of distance and elevation gains. Hiking between 6-8 hours everyday with around 1 hour for rest and lunch. If it was cold it was usually shorter so we could keep warm. Vegetarian is the food choice on the trail and for good reason. All meat needs to come from Kathmandu and carried to each village, multiple day transport without refrigeration. Meat cannot be sourced within the villages as they are Buddhist. Vegetables are grown locally by the villagers and provide the substance for the trekkers. I have never had a vegetarian meal besides a cheese pizza up until this point. There is a saying Bibek was fond of "Dhal Bat power is 24 hour" and he was right, it became our staple meal. I ate more rice, eggs, noodles, vegetables, soups, and other things I still can't identify on this trek than ever before in my life. And honestly, it was good. I got bored of it and legitimately dreamed of fried chicken and pizza but it did provide good substance. It also kept my gut healthy and problem free. One area I completely overlooked in this trip was the season and regions all the trekkers would be coming from. It was fall when I left, flu and cold season, same for Europe and everyone brought their diseases with them. I got so sick on day three with a cold/flu that I would have called out of work if the circumstances were different. Being in the close confines of the tea houses did not help and eventually every person, guide and tourist, were sick at some point for some duration. This hurt sleep, eating, and overall energy. I stressed because I knew how the body reacts at the higher altitude, you're not as hungry, you don't sleep, and you don't heal. I focused on those early days on eating as much as possible to preparation and the sickness made that a real issue. There are no roads in these areas. The only transportation options are your feet, a porters back, a yak, or a helicopter. These are the only options for everything, every building material, item not grown there and emergency services. The hike is beautiful, every step the view seemed to get better and better and we hadn't even seen Everest yet. We crossed suspension bridges high above the clear blue glacier water of the river. Prayer flags and scarfs are tied to every bridge and building. Hanging high in the trees and fluttering in the constant breeze. Prayer flags are hung in memory of people they have lost and good fortune. Seems everything here has some sort of symbolism of good fortune. On day 4 we got our first glimpse of Everest. A rounded peak in the distance, taller than every other but due to the distance, not by much. They say the Everest peak is always smoking. You can see the wind on the peak blowing the snow off and creating "smoke". From our view we can see mountains from China, Tibet, and Nepal, all snow covered for thousands of vertical feet. I sat there for a long time just looking at it drinking some tea. It was still so far but it's the closest me or anyone I knew had ever been to it. The next day was a tough hike, long day and significant elevation gain. We were tired when we arrived and things were turning bad for Orel. On top of any sort of sickness and altitude complications he deeply scratched his eye which was started to get infected. We had a "rest day" the following day. Which was supposed to consist of a day hike up a mountain close by to reach elevation quickly and help with climatizing. We had been discussing the idea to pack another segment into our trek. Squeezing what is a 16 day route into our 13 day schedule. The idea being we would make the time up on the decent. Bibek was apprehensive of this idea from the start but humored us with the plan. That day he put us through the ringer to test if we were strong enough. We sprinted up that mountain and reached 5100m (16000ft), far higher than what was planned and he was satisfied with our performance. Coming down I knew something was off as my knees clicked. Hiking down is always considered hard on your knees and this time I really hurt something. I limp down the rest of the way at a slow pace and determined after resting its my IT band again. This time I was really out of time. No more rest days and EBC is scheduled 2 days out. Once we reach the tea house we find Orel hasn't gotten any better and a helicopter was coming to evacuate him off the mountain. It got real this day for all of us on the trip. I had heard of helicopter rescues but didn't think they really happened. They are so common up there it's almost a constant traffic through out the day. I'm freaking out a bit. Watching him being loaded into the helicopter with my leg swollen and thinking that could be me if it doesn't hold up. All this planning and preparation could not be enough and one twist on a rock could put me out and my dream cancelled. I thought a lot about failure during this time. Tried my hardest to be present and positive but also acknowledging the reality of my situation. What circumstances would I be alright with if I do get evacuated? In what situation would I be able to forgive myself? I came so far, I'm so close and it seems cruel to have to leave now. Would I be able to live with the "safe" choice and choose to remove myself from the mountain? I thought how I could have done more stretching and focused strength training to help with a problem I knew I had but choose to neglect. I came to the conclusion, if something happened that I honestly could not prepare for which resulted in me being evacuated, I would not few that as a failure. Short of that, everything else is a failure. And this knee issue constitutes a failure should I quit and have to leave.
The rest of the day we watch the movie Everest with some people at the tea house and I cover my legs in an icy hot type cream to help the healing process. The next day was a lot of flat and a huge uphill portion. The loose boulders were agony on my legs and I shuffled along. We reached a cemetery for climbers and Sherpas who had died along the trail. There were a lot of tombs and prayer flags covered the area. Names we recognized from the movie and other stories were present. Anything can happen out here and it does. We reach the last tea house before our EBC attempt. It just keeps getting colder and your body just keeps draining. You can't repair at these altitudes and you can't get enough calories. Rik's appetite starts to get weak and he's not sure if it's altitude or he finally caught a sickness of some sort. He's been leading the pack the entire time and feeling good about all the hikes. He's been training for months and the goal is tomorrow. He goes to bed early trying to sleep off whatever it is so we can push on. We wake up in the morning at our normal time and he sees he's been bleeding from his nose all night. Confirmed, altitude sickness. The pressure on his body is too great at elevation and it's starting to break. There is nothing else he can do but get down as soon as possible before his lungs fill with fluid. We call for the second helicopter rescue and see him off. There is no preparation for that and it's heartbreaking to watch. An Aussie guy said something to him that stood out to me. "Well mate, it sucks but you go down now so you have an opportunity to try again. If you press on, you might not have that opportunity." We are down to Bibek, Santos, and myself; I can tell they are nervous. It's common to have a helicopter evacuation in a large group, maybe even two. But to lose 66% of the crew and have the last 33% limping, they were nervous it would be a 100% helicopter rescue crew. We modified the route at this point. Cut out those extra days and focused on the prize, Everest base camp. Since it was only me we were able to shift plans around easily. I was able to have more rest for my knees to help with the swelling. Then planned to go for basecamp in the morning. We dine, relax, and sleep with the aroma of burning yak dung patties to keep us warm. We take off just after 5am and the temperature is -18. I'm wearing just about everything I've brought and it is so hard to breathe. The loop normally takes 4 hours and our goal is to get there for sunrise. It's a surreal place, we hiked for over a week and we still aren't at the top of anything. Surrounded by the enormous peaks of China, Tibet, and Nepal I saw days earlier. We see the glacier and ice wall from our ridge and it seems so close. It's not close and there is a lot of loose rock in our path. It's getting brighter out and I can see the top of Everest up close along the much higher ridge in front of me. The funny thing about Everest basecamp is you can't see Everest from the basecamp. It disappears again and I know we're closer now. We climb down the ridge and it's a straight shot to EBC. We arrive at 6:46am on Monday and we are the only ones there. It was amazing. So happy that we had made it and we had accomplished the goal. It's an alien world up there and felt surreal to finally make it. A moment I never thought would be possible has now been completed. Again a time that I wish I could have bottled the feeling. The remaining days were a straight shot down. The views were amazing and I enjoyed every step. Each valley, river and peak surrounding me was amazing. We hustled down and my knee seemed to get a little better each day. The spots that we struggled through on the way up were treats on the way down. This trek was one of the most draining and hard experiences of my life. There are so many factors that can influence the experience and so many factors in and out of your control. So glad I did it and made it through. Upon returning to Kathmandu I had another laundry list of chores. I left all my cold gear with Bibek and Santos to use for future treks. I needed to prepare for my next move and chores. One of which was getting vaccines. What an interesting experience that was. When I was planning this trip I met with my doctor in America concerning the vaccines. Yellow fever was the only one required, which I already had, but many were suggested if you were going to be in region for longer than 30 days, which I would be. We priced them out and it was estimated at $1700 plus office visits. I was shocked by the cost and he started googling about receiving them abroad and suggested if I could wait, to do it on the road. I reached out to a few clinics through my travel insurance network and found it would cost me around $230 in Nepal. So I decided to get them all yesterday. I emailed a few times with a clinic and felt pretty good about the plan. I walked to the clinic and when I arrived it was off a dirt alley and I felt like I was in a 3rd world clinic, because I was. It really hadn't occurred to me how much different it would be compared to home. I explain to the people my situation, I'm not sure what roles any of them played. No idea who was the doctor or nurse. Plain clothes and a CDC guide is all I saw. I told them which ones I wanted and her jaw dropped when I told her I wanted 5 of them at once, right then. We discussed a bit about my plans and why I was in this situation. Turns out vaccine dosages are different in the US compared with Nepal. Meaning what is normally a one shot immunization in the US is a 2-3 shot immunization here. This presented an interesting situation. I leave Nepal in a week and some vaccines need to follow a very specific schedule. The most important being rabies. Rabies vaccine I found to be expensive and difficult to get in the US. Apparently they feel it should be required here for travelers. I got my first one yesterday with the next in 7 days exactly. I was told "If you can avoid fighting with monkey and dog, you might be okay". Noted. We also tracked down a Cholera vaccine from another clinic which is a drink taken twice the second dose after 14 days. They told me it's hard to get in India and gave me the dose in a vial and an ice pack to keep it cold. Things are a little different out here. Also I'm not sure what the US stance is receiving all those vaccines at once because I felt horrible after. After that adventure I headed to a famous temple in Kathmandu commonly referred to as the monkey temple. Due to the fact that it is home to 200k monkeys that live there at night and disperse during the day. I went around sunset in hopes I could see them coming home. What a wild place. I didn't know much about the place or about its religious significance. As I walked around I realized how lost I was and was approached by one of the unofficial official guides. Normally I wouldn't interact but we agreed on a price as I was curious and wanted to learn. It was the right decision to understand the symbolism and history that has been surrounding me all this time. I learned a lot and for $6 it was worth it. Today I headed to Pokhara a town by a lake about 9 hours from Kathmandu. I don't really know what to expect but I hear there is some paragliding and fishing here. I plan on exploring both. -Joe
