Roaming With the Roddens: Another spring break adventure for Joe, trekking in Nepal and seeing Kathmandu

Once we left Oman and Lindsay had to get back to work, Joe hopped on a plane with our friend Tim and flew to Nepal. Tim teaches at Joe's school and his wife Stacey is the librarian at Lindsay's school, so they were in the same boat regarding the different spring breaks. Tim rides to and from school with Joe daily and they were talking a couple of months before spring break and decided to spend four days at the end of their break exploring Kathmandu and hiking in the Himalayan foothills around the Kathmandu Valley. This worked out perfectly, as Joe was able to do something and visit a place from his bucket list and enjoy an adventure that Lindsay might not have enjoyed as much with him!

So, Joe was only home from Oman for a few short hours before he and Tim took an overnight flight from Kuwait to Dubai and then on to Kathmandu. Some friends from the Harps went in December and had a great experience with the tour company so the boys followed their recommendation and set everything up through Nepal Hiking Adventure company. The first day they were met at the airport by a guide who showed them around Kathmandu. Joe saw most of the top tourist sites, including the historic Durbar Square and other World Heritage Sites that are hundreds and even thousands of years old! They visited the crematorium where the locals burn the bodies of their loved ones on the banks of their sacred river. The site was gruesome and depressing, but they have their customs and it was interesting to see how they deal with death as hindus. Throughout the day they encountered many cows, goats, and monkeys wandering around the city and saw a lot of interesting things. When they finished up the guided tour, Joe and Tim went walking around and exploring on their own and found a lot of cool shops and stores before finding the Irish Pub and having a delicious dinner and a couple of pints of Guinness.

Days two and three were spent trekking nearly 30 miles over the two days, high up above the Kathmandu valley. The boys were accompanied by their amazing guide Ram and another teacher from Dubai who was on her spring break. They climbed thousands of stone steps, many that were very old, scrambled up some steep mountainsides, and walked through many lovely villages while interacting with locals and enjoying the unparalleled vistas that the trail provided. They saw the sunrise twice over the Himalayas and the trip was magical in every way. On day four, they made their way down the mountain and back in to Kathmandu to the airport for the trip home and both Joe and Tim are convinced that they want to return!

***Writing this blog post is very bittersweet. It was an amazing adventure and the people of Nepal are so wonderful, which makes yesterday's news of the horrific earthquake very hard to bear. With heavy hearts we spent the past day waiting for news of the status of the two friends Joe made in Nepal and we are happy to say that both are alive and safe. It is amazing to think that many of the sites that Joe and Tim took in have been damaged or destroyed and Kathmandu and its very rich historical and cultural landmarks will never be the same. Please join us in praying for the people of Nepal and we ask that you consider helping them in any way you can!***

Here are some pictures from this extraordinary place filled with wonderful people, what a grand adventure it was!