Nepal

In Nepal we saw beautiful terrains with terraced land and local villagers. It took us several hours to drive up to our lodge- we drove through the dark on dirt roads and through forests. I vividly remember sitting next to a warm fire in the headquarters of our lodge. The next few days we would embark on treks that lasted up to ten hours. In hindsight they were well worth the time, but during the experience my sisters and I felt overburdened for our ages. Seeing Mount Everest from afar is burned into my memory. Here's what my mom had to say:

the Annapurna mountain range w/ Mount Everest

"From India we had lots of adventures. We went to Nepal, which was one of our most fun family vacations. We flew to Nepal a week before the Maoist insurgency broke out. We were clueless. We had no idea how politically tense the countryside was. From the capital we went to a rural town with incredible views of the Anapurna mountain range. We stayed at a Tiger Tops lodge with stone houses with one unit on top and one unit on bottom. We had a stone house to ourself with a balcony looking out on a mountain range. We ran into a dotcom millionaire family from Washington State. They had burnt out on working in the computer industry. The couple was trying to save their marriage by traveling around the world with their 2 year old son. The son had revolutionary technology back then- a DVD player. You guys were fascinated by that. We went to Khatmandu and stayed at this wonderful lodge (a famous hotel). We went all around Khatmandu sites. It's filled with hippies and backpackers and very cheap bazaars. We went to a big and famous temple and outside we saw some Hindu gurus who were naked. They were smeared with ash. One of them had a brick tied to his penis as an act of penitence, proving his stamina. You guys took it all in. You were used to unconventional sites so it didn't phase you. We also went to Sri Lanka and Thailand and it was just a terrific time to be traveling around with you guys when you were young and willing to have fun and not tied to your cell phones!"