My first view of the Himilayas

The day before I left for Pokhara, I rented a mountain bike and rode to some remote villages outside of Kathmandu. I left with another volunteer at 8:30AM and didn't get back until 6:30 at night! We biked from Kathmandu to some tiny villages in the Kathmandu valley, and up to a town called Nagarkot that offered a good view of the Himilayas. The morning ride was basically straight up, and the last 12km were so steep that it took us an hour and a half! One village was so small it had only 7 houses. When we biked through it, all of the little kids saw us, ran to us, and started swarming us and touching our bikes. Unfortunately, my friend's rear deraiuller snapped at that point, so we had to walk our bikes the last 3 km to Nagarkot. Walking ended up being just as fast as riding uphill.

When we got to Nagarkot, we got some incredible views of the Himilayas (see the pictures that I will hopefully post tonight). We put my friend and his bike on a public bus, and I met him in Baktapur. The road to Baktapur was all downhill, with hairpin turns and more beautiful views. I was able to pass some cars on the way down and was much faster than the public bus. From Baktapur, I rode back to Kathmandu (ended up getting terribly lost, but eventually made it back) while he took another public bus.

The views from this day were the best from the trip so far. Check out the pictures.