Claire and I finally had a leisurely morning to (try to) sleep in, read, and wander around before we caught the jeep back down the mountain to Dumre. This time we opted for the top of the jeep rather than inside or the back. The best of the 3 choices. 
When we caught the bus, we told a bunch of different bus guys that they needed to drop us off in Kurintar. They knew that... and they still dropped us off one town early in Chere. So, loaded with our packs, we got to hike 3km down a busy highway to get to the Riverside Springs hotel where we were going to meet up with the rest of the Singular Humanitarian and CHOICE Humanitarian groups. They had a fabulous pool.... that I never ended up using. Probably better choice for everyone because I would have blinded everyone with my whiteness.
So, instead of swimming, we spent the few hours taking the country's only cable car up over two ridges to Nepali Middle Earth, also known as Manakamana Temple. It is an important Hindu temple that they still perform animal sacrifices at. So, to accommodate the people, you can even pay for your goat to make a one-way trip up to the top.
Riding the cable car up
When we caught the bus, we told a bunch of different bus guys that they needed to drop us off in Kurintar. They knew that... and they still dropped us off one town early in Chere. So, loaded with our packs, we got to hike 3km down a busy highway to get to the Riverside Springs hotel where we were going to meet up with the rest of the Singular Humanitarian and CHOICE Humanitarian groups. They had a fabulous pool.... that I never ended up using. Probably better choice for everyone because I would have blinded everyone with my whiteness.
So, instead of swimming, we spent the few hours taking the country's only cable car up over two ridges to Nepali Middle Earth, also known as Manakamana Temple. It is an important Hindu temple that they still perform animal sacrifices at. So, to accommodate the people, you can even pay for your goat to make a one-way trip up to the top.
Riding the cable car up
When we got to the temple, there were a line of Holy Men along one wall. I'm not going to lie, I was a little leery of them after our Kathmandu experience. But they were content sitting there not bothering anyone.
Here's one of the holy men. I think he was my favorite with his spectacles.
Manakamana temple. One of the most important Hindu temples in the middle region of Nepal. People go there to pray for sons (I think they've got it all wrong)
The market at Manakamana temple. We were there during Diwali festival time so there were more merchants and festivities than usual.
One of the random shrines around the temple. I loved the tikka dust covering everything.
One of the cute little boys following us around the temple.
A lady selling one of my favorite fruits in Nepal. It is like a cross between an orange, mandarin orange, lemon, and lime.... delicious! Plus, I love that they still use the old weights and scale. And I even love that she's there selling fruit puffing away.
Waiting for the cable car to take us back down. We would have stayed up there longer since all we did was watch TV shows on Claire's computer till everyone else showed up but the cable car closed at dusk and I wasn't going to get stuck up there and have to hike 5 hours down the mountain in the dark.
One of the random shrines around the temple. I loved the tikka dust covering everything.
So, I mentioned that they sacrifice goats, right? Where did the head go? 
ummm... never mind. Found it.
One of the cute little boys following us around the temple.
A lady selling one of my favorite fruits in Nepal. It is like a cross between an orange, mandarin orange, lemon, and lime.... delicious! Plus, I love that they still use the old weights and scale. And I even love that she's there selling fruit puffing away.
Waiting for the cable car to take us back down. We would have stayed up there longer since all we did was watch TV shows on Claire's computer till everyone else showed up but the cable car closed at dusk and I wasn't going to get stuck up there and have to hike 5 hours down the mountain in the dark.
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