Kickin' it in Kathmandu

I dropped twenty bucks on a trekking guide named Indra and went hiking to the top of Nagarjun (snake head) mountain today, about 600 meters above Kathmandu valley. There’s a Buddhist temple up there and while we were taking in the view from the top, a Nepali military patrol rolled up. There was an officer with them, Major Shah, who offered to take us for a jeep ride to another good viewpoint. I asked him about religion on the ride and he told me (off the record) that the communists here pretend to be secular but they celebrate Hindu holidays.

Afterwards, Indra bought me lunch (buffalo steamed momos) and took me out to Durbar Square for some sightseeing. I bought a well worn traditional Gurkha dagger called a Kukri from a sweet little Nepali girl named Sharnita (or something like that) in the bazaar and clicked some more pictures. On the way back to Kathmandu Guesthouse where he works and I stay, we stopped at a music shop in Thamel and I picked up a Nepali CD on Indra’s recommendation. Maybe I'll post a track if it's good.