Holey Friday, Boudha, and Hiking

This past weekend was really fun because I had a lot of free time, no big assignments to worry about, and I'm feeling really comfortable in Kathmandu.

On Friday, my friends and I were casually talking about piercings and tattoos. We asked one of our language teachers about a good place to get such things, and next thing I knew we were wandering around and found the place. I was with 6 other girls, and we all ended up getting piercings. Because so many of us got piercings, I got my nose piercing down from 500 to 400 Rs ($4). If I had done that back home, it would've been around $50! The needle was the most painful thing in the world, but right now, I can barely feel it or see it. My friend got an industrial and it looked like she was dying. It looks cool now though! I'm loving my nose piercing! All the Nepalese have it on their left side, so that's where I got it.

pre-poke

getting poked

post poke

a tiny li'l bugger

On Saturday, I went to Boudha with some friends. We took a couple buses to get there which was fun and cheap. Boudha is the largest Buddhist stupa in Nepal. It's a nice place to hang out because it's so peaceful. There's a huge Tibetan immigrant population there. The Tibet study abroad program is located about five minutes away from Boudha.

The following pictures of the Boudha stupa are from the view from the internet cafe I was in. They may all look the same, but look for tourists doing weird things.

Tourists doing yoga poses (?)

More yoga poses?

The best way to study!

Today (Sunday),  I went for a hike with the same people. Again we took buses, this time about an hour long. We were probably nearly outside the valley. We went on a hike and saw some waterfalls and waded around in the river. At one point we had to pay to go into a national park area. My friends paid 250 rupees and I talked my way into a Nepali rate of 10 rupees. score.

Super clear (but not necessarily clean) river.

Waterfall