manakamana.

dear you,
i have just returned from an amazing journey!
on friday, suvash, sudha, and susmita (suvash's sister) and i went to manakamana temple.
this temple is 4 hours away in the mountains.
on top of a mountain.
but i'm getting ahead of myself.
btw, you guessed it.
picture delay.
anyways, we headed out at 9 on friday and walked to the main road to catch a public bus.
it was a really really bumpy ride to the road where all the minibuses to chitwan wait.
it was so bumpy in one spot that sudha and i both hit our chins on the benches on front of us!
and my seat fell apart...
it was just 2 boards with fabric over it anyways.
my chin kinda hurts now tho.
anyways, we had to find a minibus (like a 15 passenger van only smaller with more people crammed inside) to take us to chitwan.
and we did.
cuz we're awesome.
and then the drive.
the drive...
GOOD: the scenery was gorgeous!
we went up and out of the the kathmandu valley and then descended through the mountains to follow a river.
there were terraces everywhere, kinda making the hills look like lego hills with their square edges.
it was breathtaking.
BAD: imagine the windiest road you've ever been on.
then add the bumpiest road.
then add 20 people in a small van.
then you'll be able to imagine the level of carsickness i was battling.
fortunately it didn't get too bad, but my eyes were glued to the window.
we stopped briefly for a sketchy meal, then kept going until we reached the cable car station.
yes, i said cable car :)
manakamana temple is on the top of the mountain.
a couple mountains away from the road.
and let me tell you...best view so far.
we went almost straight up a mountain, then leveled out, then went straight up another mountain to the flat manakamana place thingy.
God is so awesome for thinking of scenery like this!
seriously.
manakamana temple is in the region of gorkha, even tho the cable car came from chitwan.
apparently the top of a mountain equals your own region.
upon arriving, you're bombarded with lots of shops selling things you can take to the temple.
but we ignored them and found a nice hotel room.
and by nice i mean clean, not new or unbroken.
but it was only 900 rupees!
split between 4 people.
hello hotel room for basically 3 dollars :D
i have to tell you a genius moment i had regarding our broken bathroom.
i'm rather proud of myself.
so the toilet was just the bowl.
no flushing system or even a seat.
just the bowl.
also the sink pipe was a 2 ft plastic tube that emptied onto the floor.
fortunately the shower empties onto the floor too, which means they put a drain in.
so in my genius moment, after getting water all over my feet while washing my hands, i fixed both problems.
how you may ask?
i'll tell you :D
i hung the end of the sink pipe over the edge of the toilet bowl.
voila!
no sink leakage AND a flushing toilet!
simply turn the sink on and away goes whatever you did in the toilet.
i'm so smart.
so smart i forgot to take a picture of it.
but nevertheless!
haha anyways,
we got there in the early afternoon, so we walked around, saw the temple, at some food at a little cafe place, etc.
when we were looking at the temple, some crazy lady started doing some crazy stuff.
by crazy i mean insane, not just weird.
it was kinda scary, but everyone just started taking picture of her, so i don't think they were too worried.
we ate supper at our hotel and then walked back around in the dark for fun.
the whole area is probably only a couple acres, so it's not too hard to see everything.
at night, the temple had a bunch of candles all around it and it was really beautiful.
but we were getting up really early, so we went to bed around 8.
bright and early at 3, suvash, sudha, and susmita took showers and went to the temple, buying the 'temple things' on the way.
idk what they are and what they mean so i'm calling them 'temple things'
the story for this temple is that if you pray here, the goddess manakamana will grant any wish you make in the temple.
good deal.
i sat outside the temple for awhile because i'm not allowed to go in, but then i decided to go back to our room because i was cold and bored.
the bunch came back at around 6 and resumed sleeping until 8:30 or so.
then back down the mountain we went.
going DOWN a cable car is way scarier cuz you can see how vertical you were going on the way up.
all of a sudden, a huge drop opens up under you and all you can think is, '...oh wow'
it's quite literally breathtaking :)
and so we did the whole minibus journey backwards.
except for an additional stop, where i happily found a squat pot because i was about to explode.
too much water on a bumpy road does not make for a happy traveler.
believe me.
anyways, we got home safely, where goma of course made us eat.
but her food is 100x better than the hotel food we ate.
SO GOOD.
it probably tasted really good cuz i ate with my hands too.
it's way more fun that way.
so yea.
really long post for 2 really good days!
don't worry...pictures will come.
have i failed you yet?
i didn't think so :)
love,
me