of chocolate croissants and massages

Sabbath we didn't go to church with our friend Pragun because Joe wasn't feeling well. Instead, the three of us went out for "breakfast" in morning. I say "breakfast" because we ended up going to an Italian restaurant and eating lots of pomodoro pasta, garlic bread, and grilled vegetables. I love how you can have an absolutely fantastic meal in Kathmandu for less than $5. Joe headed back to the hotel to rest while Elle and I hit up the local bakery that makes the BEST chocolate croissants and town and headed to Durbar Square. The square was only about a 20min walk from our hotel and is kinda similar to the Durbar Square in Bhaktapur. We climbed about halfway up the stairs then jumped the railing to sit on one of the many tiers. We pulled out maps to sit on (the tiers were filthy), chocolate croissants, and our Bibles. We spent about an hour there just sitting peacefully in the sun.. It was so great.


We spent some time wandering around the rest of Durbar Square and then headed back to the hotel. The rest of the day followed the same rhythm.. Peaceful and slow. Elliot was still tired from her trip to Spain so she took a nap while Joe rested in his room. I wasn't very tired but I found things to occupy my time and still had a great day. Later that night we hit up some Indian food (mmm curry and paneer masala) and even stopped in a reggae bar for a bit.


This morning we woke up to a transportation strike. I'm not sure what was going on but apparently some political party was mad at another party so all the buses and most of the taxis were out of commission. Thus we all slept in, voiding our plans to go to Nagarkot to see Everest. We hit up a cafe for a late brunch and I got to eat some yummy buttermilk pancakes. Then we took to the market to get some last minute souvenirs. Unfortunately, most people couldn't make it to work (or just didn't want to go to work) and most of the shops were closed. Nonetheless I found the SWEETEST pair of pants for only 250rp that will from now on be known as my Aladdin pants. I'm really stoked to wear them :) We went into a shop and the woman took us upstairs to see different colors and sizes and we met a MESS in her stairwell! No joke. There was a pile about 5feet high of just fabric scraps. And in the storage room we were walking on about a foot of the same kind of scraps. Just incredible!


The best part of the day came when we were passing by the spa by our hotel and saw it was advertising a special: hour long full body massage and facial and 45min foot massage for only 1800rp (about $25). Any woman familiar with North American spas would know this is a killer deal. I decided to give myself an early birthday present (yay only three weeks to 21!!!) and get massages with Elle. We had so much fun. I won't be able to convey the full humour that was those three hours but if you ask me about it when I get back I'll do my best to tell you through the laughing. All in all, it was so relaxing and I feel like I can really return to Bangladesh with a renewed energy to finish off my time strong!

Tomorrow we are catching an early bus to Nagarkot to spend the day trekking about. Thus I should get to bed...
ami tomake bhalobashi