Bangkok - Wat Pho & Wat Arun

We took a ferry across the river to visit Wat Arun. The entire temple is covered in a mosaic of porcelain tiles left behind by Chinese merchant ships. You can climb about halfway up this temple on a very steep ladder/staircase for a great view of the spire and the river.

Tomamos el ferry par visitar Wat Arun. Puedes llegar hasta la mitad de este templo. Las escalares son muy inclinadas pero tiene una gran vista del rio.

Wat Pho is the oldest and largest temple in Bangkok, dating from the 16th century. It also has the largest reclining Buddha in the country - he's huge! 46m long and 15m high, covered in gold leaf with mother-of-pearl footprints.

Wat Pho es el mas antiguo y mas grande de los templos en Bangkok, pertenecinte al siglo 16. Tambien tiene el Buddha en forma inclinada mas grande del pais. Mide 46 metros del largo por 15 metros de alto, cubierto en oro.

Bangkok - The Grand Palace

On our first day of sight seeing in Bangkok we visited the spectacular Grand Palace and two temples (Wat) of Thai Buddhism. These are pictures of the Grand Palace and the temples within the Palace grounds.

En nuestro primer dia en Bangkok visitamos el espectacular Grand Palace y dos templos del Tahi Buddhism. Estas fotos son de Grand Palace y de los templos dentro del complejo.

Godavari

Bye Bye Nepal! Omar took this picture from the plane--one of the mountains we saw was Everest....but we couldn't tell you which one. Next stop Bangkok, stay posted!

Adios Nepal! Una de estas montanias es el Everest...pero no sabemos cual. Proxima parada Bangkok.

Our last stop in Nepal was Godavari, where Amy lived when she was in Nepal. We stayed in the guest house of the Godavari Jesuits which is inside the beautiful St. Xavier's School compound. We visited with friends, took a few walks around the villages and enjoyed the clean and quiet Godavari air.

Nuestra ultima visita en Nepal fue Godavari, donde Amy vivio cuando estuvo en Nepal. Nos hospedamos en el cuarto de visitas de los Jesuitas de Godavari que esta dentro de la escuela de San Xavier. Nuestros amigos Jesuitas nos trataron muy, muy bien. Durante nuestra estancia en Godavari visitamos varios amigos de Amy.

Amy in front of the guest house where we stayed in Godavari./Amy en frente de la casa de huespedes donde nos hospedamos.

Views from our walk to the huge gold Buddha statue above the Godavari road.

Omar on the Godavari road with the gold Buddha statue behind him (the highest object in the center of picture).

Hacia el Buddha.

Omar and Buddha up close at Shanti Ban.
En el Buddha.

View of the rice paddies and mustard fields around Godavari village./Vista de los campos de arroz y flores de la mostaza.

Village home on our walk./Una de las casas durante nuestra caminata.

View of the villages around Godavari from a Hindu Temple, Vishanku Narayan.
Vista de las villas alrededor de Godavari desde el templo Hindu.

Omar climbing through the cave at Vishanku Narayan temple.

Omar trantando de pasar atravez de la caverna del templo Vishanku Narayan.

View of Godavari from a hilltop we climbed another day. The marble quarry (no longer in operation) is on the top left of the photo. Below the quarry you can just see the green roofs of St. Xavier's School.

Vista de Godavari desde la punta de la montania. Abajo con en los techos de color verde se encuentra la eschuela San Xavier.

Our climbing party: Fr. Juel, Amy, Sr. Expedit and Fr. Paul.

View of Ganesh Himal from a hill we climbed above Godavari.

Heading back down.

Dinner with the beautiful Laxman Gurung family. From left to right, Laxman Sir, his daughter Lachanna (8 years), Amy, Omar with Diperson (4 years), Gurung Sir and Laxman's wife Dhana.

Patan

We stayed one night in Patan, the city just across the river from Kathmandu. Patan also has a Durbar (Palace) square filled with temples.

Nosotros nos pasamos la noche en Patan, la cuidad que queda cruzando el rio de Kathmandu.

Omar enjoying breakfast at the rooftop restaurant./Omar disfrutando de su desayuno.

View of Patan Durbar square from the roof of our hotel./Vista desde nuestro hotel de Patan Durbar Square.

Tihaar

More pictures of Tihaar-the beautiful festival of lights.

Mas fotos de Tihaar - el festival de las luces.

Each day of Tihaar worshippers bless a different animal. This is a picture of a cow with a blessing of red tika powder and a flower mala.

Cada dia de Tihaar la gente bendice a diferentes animales. Esta es una foto de una vaca bendecida con tika y flores.

Tika powder --used for a blessing on the forehead--for sale. On bai (little brother) tika day, older sisters bless their brothers with an intricate, multi-colored tika.

Tika es usada para la bendicion de las personas y animales. Generalmente es puesta en la frente.

People invite the gods/goddesses inside their home, guiding them with the tika design, candles and an offering of flowers and fruits. The trail leads the gods into their home.

La gente invita al los dioses a venir dentro de sus casas. Por medio de un disenio con tika, luces, flores y frutas. Un camino guia a los dioses dentro de sus hogares.

Amy buying Tihaar sweets at a shop in Patan./Amy comprando dulces de Tihaar en Patan.

A Tihaar shop selling flowers and other decorations for your house, candles and special sweets./Los puestos de venta en los dias de Tihaar.

Tihaar

Tihaar, the Festival of Lights, begins today. It's a five day festival and includes various activities --honouring different animals, preparing your home with decorations of flowers and lights for a visit by the goddess of wealth, Lakshmi, carol singing and Bai Tika (brother blessings). Hopefully we'll have some good pictures to share of the various celebrations. The city is in a festive mood--lights are decorating shops, businesses and homes in the city, the Tihar shops are open and we heard firecrackers and saw fireworks last night. Here is a picture of the shopping crowd on the Friday afternoon before the holiday.

Bhaktapur

Bhaktapur is the third (after Kathmandu and Patan) major town of the Kathmandu Valley (it once was it's own kingdom). The town is very well restored/preserved and traffic free! Except for motorbikes.... It's really nice to walk around, narrow brick streets full of shrines, beautiful old homes with ornate wooden windows and balconies, courtyards, communal taps and several squares with huge Hindu temples. The town is also known for it's clay potters and woodcarvers.

Bhaktapur es la ciudad mas grande del valle de Kathmandu. Esta ciudad esta muy bien conservada. Se dedica al trabajo de madera y barro. Las calles estan libres de traffico, una de las favoritas de Omar.

Esta escultura (Hindu dios Durga) fue hecha 1701, y rey corto los brazos del escultor para que nunca se hiciera una replica.

Nagarkot

We spent one night in Nagarkot, a village on one of the hills just outside Kathmandu. We watched the sunrise from our room and then had a lovely breakfast on the veranda before heading to Bhaktapur for more sightseeing.

Pasamos una noche en Nagarkot, una villa en las montanias a las afueras de Kathmandu. La vista del amanacer estuvo muy bonita. Despues salimos hacia Bhaktapur. Al parecer el monte Everest se veia, pero no supimos cual era.