Kathmandu Valley

Kathmandu was great but not being a city person, I was quickly ready to escape on a trek. I found two trekking buddies, Michelle and Sara, who wanted to do the Helambu Circuit. We planned a route but then decided on a shorter town to town trek so that Michelle could do another half day of work. The next day, Sara, a Danish guy, a Norwegian guy and I all headed to Boudhanath, a town with a fantastic Buddhist stupa as the centerpiece. We did brunch on a nearby rooftop and then walked an hour to a a compound of temples along a small river. We sat on top of a hill next to a park and watched the town below with the funeral pyre, school, and people busy with morning food preparation and prayer. There were also monkeys EVERYWHERE who were very entertaining but sometimes a bit intimidating as the ran/swung/jumped right by us.
We all met up for dinner and Michelle stopped by on the way to a movie to let us know that she wasn't going to come with us (now we didnt have time to do Helambu) so Sara and I left the next morning for a fantastic adventure on the rim of the Kathmandu valley. A crowded local bus left us off at the halfway point where we were to catch the next bus to Narkagot. As we tried to find the connecting bus, we found that everyone was telling us very different directions. We began to only follow a road if we were told twice that it led to our destination (sometimes that didn't even work). A few KM later, we had found the bus and were jamming ourselves into its packed interior. After just one breakdown and many purses bumping our heads, we arrived at Narkagot.
The sun was setting as we walked up the hill to find a guesthouse. We were quoted some outrageous prices, up to $50 a night, and couldn't even afford the creepy haunted house, complete with old stairs, creaking doors and small dark hallways. On the road, we ran into three travelers and they said that they liked their guesthouse and even had a big bed on one of the rooms that we could share - it was perfect! The travelers were Canadians who had been volunteering for a few months just outside of Kathmandu and were taking a weekend excursion. It was great to get their perspective on life in the valley and they were even heading in the same direction the next day. We woke up at five to walk over an hour up a hill to watch the sunrise. It was beautiful and we overheard that one of the small peaks in the distance was Everest. we trekked to Dhulikel through towns and terraces. All the women were wearing red and we passed many carrying giant loads of leaves/bark/bricks in a basket suspended from a rope across their forehead.
In Dhulikel we climbed another large hill to a view that had potential but most of the larger mountains were hidden by the haze. Sara and I made the smartest decision of the day and stayed at a guesthouse on the hill (and not in the town below). We spent the afternoon playing cards and reading at the amazing panorama lodge.
The sunrise the next morning was beautiful but missing the amazing mountains that we knew were in the distance (good thing we didn't walk an hour up 600+ stairs at 5AM). The hike was similar to the day before and just as beautiful. The midway point was lovely Nomoboudha, a small, roadless town where Buddha had offered himself to the lioness (surprisingly uncrowded for such a famous spot). We ended in a bustling little town that did not receive a lot of western traffic judging by their lack of English letters and anything that looked like a restaurant. We returned to Kathmandu, ate an amazing feast and sadly parted ways - it is rare to find somebody on the exact same page about travel so it was hard to see her go.
Next, off to Bangkok!