Hiking a Mountain!

Since we were in the Himalayas, it seemed only natural to go trekking! But first, we needed a good breakfast, so....  since I was up early, I headed out to the German Bakery first.  I loved walking down the little alley-way from our hotel to the main street.

Women hard at work

I saw this man EVERYWHERE!  Good thing I'm not paranoid....

But my favorite people were these little boys who played cricket here every day!

The plan was to meet there for a yummy German feast.  Two problems:  one, it wasn't really a German bakery (although the food was pretty good), and two, Laura and Diana couldn't find the place - which is ironic because I am the one who has the terrible sense of direction and even checked the map before leaving the hotel!!!!  Anyway, after a long wait and search up and down the main street, we met up - at the German Bakery!!!!  

Now it was time for our climb.  We headed down to the lake and took a boat across to the opposite shore where we would head up ~

On a little island along the way, there was a very crowded Hindu temple!

On the opposite shore, we started our climb - piece of cake!
 

Half-way up, we already had a great view...

...and a perfect spot for a rest: a tomb!

But we were still doing okay - just a little sweaty ;)

Would have been okay not having seen these guys though!  Ick.

 Almost there ~

And doing just fine!!!  (Keep breathing!)

Ta-da!!!!  Finally, we made it to the top!  The beautiful Peace Pagoda!!

Piece of cake!!

 And there is Diana - looking for internet!!!!

I slipped off my shoes and walked around the stupe.  It was decorated on all four sides with gorgeous Buddahs.

The birth of the Buddah - 

 The meditation of the Buddah -

 The death of the Buddah -

The enlightenment of the Buddah -
 

 

Eventually it was time to head down the other side of the mountain in search of Davis Falls and a Tibeten Refugee Village!  What I really wanted to see, though, was a yak!  

And at one point I thought I had spotted one -

 But no.

 Turns out they were just "buffalo"

The hike down was easier, in that we had a dirt road to follow.  Diana was just glad we weren't in a car as we rounded this hairpin turn!!!!
 

It was about this point that we realized we had probably missed a turn because we were more than halfway down the mountain, but.... no falls.  Hmmmm.  At least the weather was fantastic!

  

And then - we found the falls!!!!

He he he - okay, not really, but we were desperate!!!

 As we neared the bottom, we came across these kids playing on a 'swing'.  They looked harmless, but they were aggressive!  No, really!  One of them wielded a switch and threatened to hit us with it (actually did take a swat at Diana and me!!!), and another one demanded the "candy" in my backpack (which was really almonds)!!!!  Sorry there are no action shots - we barely got away!!  This photo was taken on zoom well after our escape!

Finally we reached the bottom!!!  We had fretted the last thousand meters about how we were going to get back to the hotel, but we needn't have worried 
because right there at the end of the dirt road was a taxi!!

 The driver dropped us off at the office for Yoga Treks, and on the walk from there back to our hotel I again thought I might have spotted a yak.  



But, no.

And so, we headed back home, cleaned up, and went to our favorite eatery for:  

Happy Hour!

And the best Mo-mos EVER!

 

Oops ~ it seems we ate them all before I could get my camera out!  Trust me, though ~ they were fantastic!