Foto Friday: Coming back to Kathmandu, November 2007 4 November 2011 9:40 am
Posted by Tracy in : environment,Kathmandu,nepal,photos,pictures,random,travel , add a commentI wanted to do this as a Wordless Wednesday, but I just couldn’t bring myself to throw down a bunch of Nepal pictures out of nowhere when my last real travelogue-y post about that trip was more than three years ago, which in turn was more than a year after the trip, which was (holy cats, more than four years ago). Anyway, the short summary of that trip, which does not do it justice but might provide much-needed context, is that October and early November 2007 I joined my parents, my brother Piett, my aunt Beth, my cousin Mike, and his (step?) sister Jessie on a two-and-a-half-week trek in the foothills of the Himalayas. We spent a few days in Kathmandu before and after the trek, where we saw some amazing sights. Finally, my parents, Piett, and I made a quick stop in Bangkok on the way back to our respective homes. (To read more, there’s all my posts tagged “Nepal” in reverse chronological order, or you could flash all the way back to my very first “so, I’m going on an epic adventure” confession post and work around from there.)
ANYWAY. In my last Nepal travelogue post I left off at the end of our trek, with our flight out of Lukla airport back to Kathmandu, which I’d like to point out was a tough act to follow (seriously, search YouTube for “Lukla airport” in case you’ve somehow managed to forget). But this is NaBloPoMo, people, and this year’s theme is blogging for the sake of blogging, and so I’m going to be absolutely shameless about using this as an excuse to dig way deep in my archives of blog fodder. So. Back to Kathmandu. For just a little more context, here is a link to what I blogged about that return four years ago (complete with yet another reference to the Lukla airport YouTube videos because seriously, they are amazing) but for the rest, on with the pictures.
I don’t really trust the dates on my photo files after many timezone shifts and uploadings, so I’m not sure how long we’d been flying in the little puddle-jumper when I noticed something interesting about the landscape below:
Restaurant review (and flashback): Hotel Utse, Kathmandu 13 October 2009 10:33 am
Posted by Tracy in : Kathmandu,nepal,pictures,restaurants,reviews,school,travel,writing , 1 comment so farHey party people, remember how I was in Nepal two years ago? Yeah, me too. Today I’m rocking a bit of a head cold, so I’m posting another reworking from last year’s food writing class, this piece was written for the travel writing assignment. Professor Sax was particularly entertained by the lede, and I’m still pretty proud of it myself. I’ve updated this version to correct some typos, and incorporate a few of her suggestions, as well as links and pictures.
* * * * *
If you eat only one meal in Kathmandu, make reservations for dinner at Krishnarpan, the restaurant at Dwarika’s Hotel, rightly recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its celebration of Nepalese art, architecture, and culture, including food. But if you have more opportunities to eat in the capital of Nepal — and I hope you do — try the restaurant at the Hotel Utse, on the outskirts of the Thamel tourist district.
Hustling-bustling Thamel. (more…)
Adventures in drinking: Tracy versus Tongba 13 November 2008 12:49 pm
Posted by Tracy in : books,friends,Kathmandu,Morning Glory,nepal,pictures,travel , add a commentWhen my friend Matthew heard that I was going to Nepal, he told me, “You’ve got to try millet beer.” During our trek, we were strongly advised to drink only what our kitchen crew had boiled for us, or bottled beverages — nothing locally brewed, no matter how fresh. But once we got back to Kathmandu…
Final score: Tracy 1, Tongba many. Here’s what I wrote in my journal entry on 2 November 2007, in Kathmandu, illustrated with photos by me and my brother Piett. (more…)
Wow. 5 November 2008 3:18 pm
Posted by Tracy in : geekery,nepal,news,nyc,pictures,politics,travel , 3 commentsMy short attention span, let me show you it. What bibliography due at 5? What interview questions I should have had written yesterday? What about the happy shouting heard throughout the island of Manhattan last night? We could hear Times Square from the Columbus Circle subway station at 1:30 in the morning, and as our D train pulled into 125th Street station, it was greeted with applause and cheers, echoes of the celebrations up and down the street above. Today I’m still waiting for the good news to sink in. I’m amazed every time I manage to string a complete sentence together, and I’m pretty sure it’s hilariously ironic that I’m too incoherent to write well about electing a guy who doesn’t mangle the English language. Also just imagine I was able to better express the mushy joy of hearing Barack call Michelle his best friend — I am so thrilled by the prospect of a First Couple who are actual partners and like each other, too — something great to learn by example and all that. Right up there with “President does not necessarily mean ‘old rich white dude.’ ” Yay!
* * * * *
And now for a little silliness, which conveniently happens to be about food:
My Post-Election Free Food Roundup
Monkey Monday: another night at the library. 20 October 2008 10:07 pm
Posted by Tracy in : consumerism,eating,geekery,nepal,nyc,pictures,restaurants,school,seasonality , add a commentI’m about to go back to our Internet-less home and make myself a nice pot of tea in the hopes that it will inspire me to write at least another page of the paper due Wednesday, but first I wanted to note:
- Yay for fall! We’ve been having these beautiful crisp, clear days, and they actually confused me for a little while, because I’d been in Oregon too long and had almost forgotten that weather can be both clear and cold. As I commented to the fabulous Chiara this morning, “[T]his winter, at least, will not be 100% dark and grey! Freezing cold, maybe, but somehow I feel it less when I get more sun. Take that, seasonal affective tendencies! Woo!”
- Yay for finding Nepalese food in New York! Last week (more…)
