Wow, lots of cool things have happened the past days. Zach and I went to various Hindu and Buddhist sites, visited Osho's ashram in the forest of Nepal, and met a lot of cool people. Yesterday evening we walked the city to see the nightlife. While walking around we ran into some Israelis. We noticed them by their haircuts and sandals. It is so cool how you can be anywhere in the world and meet other Jews traveling. They were super cool and we shared our travel itineraries. It blows me away how in the US we are programmed to go to school and work for the rest of our lives. In Israel, and in European countries too it is actually accepted you take some months off to travel and explore. It is really impressive to me to see so many travelers doing adventurous things. We need more people in the US to get on the wave. Yotam, Oria, Galya, and Noam gave me so many useful travel tips and insights. It was fun exchanging where each other were on their trips and where everyone was headed. We went to a cool live music bar and danced. Now today, Zach and I woke up, went to a coffee shop and bought our gear for the trek. It is going to be really cold so we needed to buy a lot of gear. The Israelis from last night told us there is one shop in Kathmandu which all the Israelis go to and he gives the best deals. I took their word and went to Goreto Gear Traders. The Nepali owner working there spoke Hebrew and was happy to see me. He gave me everything I needed. A thermal layer, fleece, jacket, pants, socks, beanie, neck warmer, water bottle, head lamp, and more. I was anticipating to spend over 400 dollars on all the gear we needed. This guy charged me less than 70 USD! I was in shock. In the afternoon we went to other Hindu and Buddhist holy sites which were pretty cool. I saw a body being cremated which is a Hindu tradition. The dead bodies get cleansed in the river Ganges and then cremated near the river to send the soul on its journey. A local baba gave Zach and myself a lecture on Hinduism. Some people claim Hinduism is a monotheistic religion, since they recognize the oneness of all things. However they have over 33 million gods and goddesses which are for people to connect to in different ways. Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are the main three and are all intertwined. The Trimurti represents the cyclical nature of existence: Brahma brings life into existence, Vishnu sustains and nurtures life, and Shiva ends life to make way for new creation. The baba guided Zach and I through a visualization and manifestation meditation to open our third eye. It made me realize how important it is to continuously visualize and manifest my goals in the short and long term. In the afternoon we went to shabbat at the Chabad of Kathmandu. It is low season here but there was still over 50 people. During high season there are hundreds of young and cool travelers. Again it was super cool meeting all different types of people doing adventurous and challenging things.
