Tatopani

Got these as a gift. He loves them!

The next morning, I woke up to him wearing the hat. He wears it all the time.

Buwa's excited for everyone to be back in Nepal. He kept showing me this picture. Youngest to oldest ~20 years ago.

Kanchan and I went to Sommaya's village - about 30 minutes up the road by bus. We stayed there for 3 nights. One day, we woke up early and hitchhiked to Tatopani - about an hour away from Sommaya's house. There were about 11 of us crammed into the left side of the cab of this truck:

11 people in a tiny space.

 At Tatopani, we took hot showers which was really nice. Across the river, Kanchan casually said "um, over there, that is China." Huh!? I was trying to figure out if there was a bridge or something so I could say I made it to China, but there wasn't. Close enough. I think this part of China is the part that used to be Tibet.

Sommaya, Kanchan, me, and China behind us.

After Tatopani, we walked up the road to Lhasa -  a border town. Kanchan and everyone else crossed the border to Liping to do some shopping - apparently it's cheap. I couldn't go because I didn't have a Nepali citizen's card. My Passport copy didn't work because Americans have to make reservations or something to cross. So I stayed with Sommaya at her husband's apartment (he does border security stuff). Sommaya was tired- she's pregnant. We both took naps until the others got back.

See the bridge way back there? That's going from Nepal to China. This is the view from Sommaya's husband's apartment.

Sommaya has a 6 year old girl named Prathana. Buwa calls her a monkey, and with good reason. She has a ton of energy and can't focus. Her husband is really nice. I actually like all my sisters' husbands. Right now I'm living with Smita and her husband, Rajan. Rajan is pretty funny. Kemy, Kanchan's future husband is more quiet, but he's really nice. Rajan and Kemy drive me around on their motorcycles which is really nice of them. and really FUN. Motorcycles are awesome. Slightly terrifying at first, but they're great. And I know how dangerous they are - usually when we go fast, I'm thinking, "WHEEeeeeee!!!" or "Mom would kill meeeeeeeee!!!"

Sommaya and her tailoring/sewing shop