It's quite cool spending Christmas in a non-Western country. To be sure, they did celebrate the festival here. There was a banner across the main street of Thamel (the tourist-focused area of Kathmandu), jingles in the restaurants, and they closed Thamel to most motorised traffic for a festival - but that was really all for us visitors. The local teenagers loved walking around Thamel without constantly having to dodge motorbikes, but otherwise it was life as usual.
We had a nice relaxing day, calling home in the morning and then heading off to Swayambunath, a hilltop Buddhist/Hindu (Nepalis often combine the two) temple.
It's an impressive site, with sweeping views of the city, but it is most famous for the hordes of ...
Monkeys!
Lauren's not the only one who loves mango juice.
There were children shrieking, adults looking scabby, everyone was pigging out on unhealthy food and there were screaming rows between families that finished with one lot running off.
So yeah, not at all like a normal Christmas.
First we take Kathmandu, then the world.
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