Children of Nepal

We have been a bit lazy with the blog, but not with the traveling! After many Chinese adventures, we spent the last 3 weeks trekking in the Himalaya (yes, pictures will come, don't worry).

Right now we are stuck in charming and busy Kathmandu, struggling to get the Indian visa before our Nepali one runs out. By no means we are not enjoying our prolonged stay in Nepal though! Yesterday we had a fantastic encounter which boosted our moods like nothing else recently and pushes us to write a post about it straight away.

We met Lama Sangya while visiting the big Boudha Stupa (world heritage site). He told us about his orphanage and invited us for a visit, could we refuse?

Five minutes later we reached the two story building home to Nifon Children's Home. Sangya, who is the director of the orphanage, showed us the place and entertained us with interesting and profound discussions about his dream and about Tibetan Buddhism.

Sangya was born to a poor family and could not get a proper education as a child. After discovering his passion for Buddhism and having become a lama, he devoted his life to help children who are not fortunate enough to receive an education.

Nepal is a poor country, where some 80% of the population lives with less than 2USD a day. The education which all of us in Europe take for granted is still not available for many children here. Orphans (one child in twelve under the age of seventeen) are especially vulnerable and the devotion of people like Lama Sangya and the people supporting him brings hope for them.

We spent some amazing time with the children, just talking and playing with them. Sharing the joy of these children has been an awakening experience and we wish these images could transmit you even a tiny bit of the energy we felt.

If you wish to make a donation for the project, you can find the necessary information on the website www.nifon.org.np.

Homeworks take place every afternoon, even though power cuts are a daily problem in Kathmandu.

Some older kids volunteer their time to help with homework and other basic needs of the orphans.

Sacred Mountain Huashan

According to the Taoist tradition, there are 5 sacred mountains in China, which we suspect were chosen for their extreme beauty. Pilgrims and curious people come in flocks to climb them.
G had already climbed TaiShan (key mountain to the other religions as well) on a weekend trip from Beijing. Every important person in Chinese history seems to have taken the 6000+ steps up, from Confucious to the first emperor. It is said that by climbing this one all your bad actions will be restored, an important reward after the equally serious workout.

In a unusually clear day of October we have climbed a second holy mountain, HuaShan. This mountain consists of 4 holy peaks, named after the cardinal points. Most people take a cable car from the bottom to the first peak, but we got up early and did all the way up using our legs. G managed to visit all the four peaks but Anna had to stop at a certain point: The height was breathtaking, see pictures below.

Rest was needed from time to time during the climb. It was not difficult to stay on the right track, the red stripes and padlocks (not to mention the people) showed it clearly.

Stairs were in big numbers. All these steps did not go unnoticed by our legs, which kept reminding us of the beautiful hike for a couple of days with pain appearing whenever going up or down (mainly down) some stairs.  

 

Here we had just made it up to the north peak.

Steep wall beside the track

The climb from the north peak to the east peak was only possible on a ridge with a 90 degree wall on each side reaching very deep down in the valley. These supporting words came along...

Time for Anna to go back, climbing the ridge was just too much.

Xi'an

What we did most of the time in Xi'an was strolling around in the Muslim quartier. The food here was amazing: Not only one could see different dishes on display, but walking on these narrow lanes also gives a full demonstration of the cooking! Now we know how to make rice noodle as well as wheat noodles.

Crayfish are also popular, like in Sweden in the summer! But I did not dare to try them this time.

All kinds of BBQ-sticks

In these quarters women were wearing a particular kind of headgear. The pots were very big and a lot of steam came out, giving it a bit of surreal feeling.

At the end we decided to try the local noodles. They are served cold, in spices we did not quite recognize from before. This was probably the first time we were not too happy with the Chinese food, while in general food has been one of the best discoveries along this journey, something which deserves a post on its own.

 

We also tried the local dumplings filled with vegetables; they were steamed in a bamboo basket. Very yummy in my tummy. 

We decided to hit the street for some dessert and we found this stall. It was hard to guess what it was, so we just tried it. The saleswoman opened the round little wooden pot, took out a cluster of jelly rice, and dipped in the different toppings: Sesamsseads, fruit jelly etc. The taste? Judge from the face!.

We also visited the great mosque, one of the oldest in China. It was built in traditional Chinese styles of courtyards. Here is the main prayer hall.

 

And this is the minaret. Quite different from what we are used to, isn't it?

Pingyao

We just woke up in a beautiful Chinese courtyard in Pingyao, China's best preserved ancient walled town. It is amazingly cute and charming, full of red lanterns hanging in the alleyways, and temples for different worships.

Yesterday morning we ran in to this salesman:

We just had to try his product, which tasted like a mixture of popcorn and peanuts, but the shape was the best part :).

After two months of traveling it was certainly time for a haircut, well. Lacking in language, we resorted to choose a hairdresser with a cool haircut himself and just pointed at his head :)

We walked the city wall, which turned out to be the only place not filled with the crowds of Chinese tourists. The fact is that this is the week of the national holiday, making every touristy destination (and the way to get there) full of people. In fact, the whole concept of "crowded" gets to a different level here in China as to what we were used to in Europe... We are looking forward to next week!

Nice pet :)

Dinner time is approaching: Checking the various "baozi" (steamed stuffed bun, sort of steamed dumplings) stalls out on the street.

Very tired after a whole day walking

The bell tower of Pingyao by night.

Datong

We have now left Beijing and our first stop was Datong. Today we visited the amazing Yungang caves, featuring the oldest Buddhist carvings in China, with statues measuring up to 17 meters. Here are some photos for you to enjoy! :)
 

S. Petersburg continued

Among the many museum, we could not miss the Winter Palace, hosting the great collection of the Hermitage. Lots of Italian masterpieces in there: a corridor full of sculptures of Canova, a couple of Leonardo's, Raphael, Michelangelo, Titian, Caravaggio...

Most churches in the city are also museums. People (mainly women wearing veils on their heads) visit the icons one by one, lighting candles and kissing the glass protecting the painting representing their favourite saints. The pictures are usually decorated with layers of silver and other precious materials. Some icons seem to be a lot more popular than others....

Do like the locals, right? So, when we saw a man having a glass of vodka during his lunch break, we had to give it a try too :)

One of the main attractions of S.Petersburg is to stay awake (and feel cold) until 1 am to see the bridges being opened and the ships going through. It's funny also to see the tourist boats going from bridge to bridge, observing the show from the water. Because the metro stops at midnight, you better be on the right side of town, unless you want to stay up until 5 am!

As a birthday present, Gabriele got a ticket to see Swan Lake, really appreciated!

The nearby palace of Peterhof is another of the main touristy attractions, especially for the great system of fountains, supposedly working without pumps...

See you soon in Moscow!