K K K K K K Kathmandu (Nepal, Mt. Everest and the top of the world)

Well, that’s a first. Flying into a city at 30,000 ft and off in the distance a mountain top is about as high as you are, peaking it’s way far above the clouds. Really something to behold.
Wow, what an enjoyable weather change. Kathamandu, Nepal just kicks arse. It’s beautiful and the weather is like mid-fall in KY, ever so slightly cool, just right to wear jeans and a tee-shirt, maybe a sweater or light jacket at night, our favorite time of year. The people so far are overly friendly, speak pretty decent English and are very laid back. The only annoyance may be the constant touts wanting you to take their trekking expedition over their neighbors. The women wear beautiful, colorful clothing, and are themselves beautiful. Lots of smiling faces and greetings of “Namaste”. Namaste is a common greeting and could be interpreted as a sign of respect and saying hello, but has a deeper meaning as well, reflecting “The divinity in me, bows to the divinity in you.” It’s followed by a modest bow with hands folded, fingers pointing to the heavens.
We rode one heck of a bumpy taxi ride to the our hotel, brightly named “The Peace Zone Hotel”, about 15 walking minutes outside of Themel, Kathamandu. Themel is the “backpacker, trekker, partier, shopper district” of Ktm. We wanted to be close but just far away to get some sleep at night as well. I’d recommend our hotel to anyone, just as friendly as they could be.
Grace- Kathamandu is where Marian’s bar was in the first Indiana Jones Movie.
Mt. Everest was unfortunately difficult to see this time of year, it’s a bit too cloudy and you’d just get lucky to see the peak from the ground, unless you trekked up to base camp (some 18,000 ft and 14 days journey, and quite expensive, which we could not do). So we opted for the Bouddha Airline flight around the Himalayan Peak, where you could get above the clouds, see the Summit and vast stretches of the mountain range. It was AMAZING! Absolutely AMAZING to see. Check out the pics.
We also went on 2 different “treks”, complete with personal guide and porter (someone to carry our pack). One was a 4 day journey and the other 6 days, taking us to different areas of the lower Himalayan range, where some of the best views, easier walks and fine weather could be had. We stayed in tea-house along the way (small guest-cottages), and pigged out on the local fare to fuel the 5 hours+ of daily trekking. We Loved it! Walking around the mountain ranges of the Himalayas, forests, lakes, streams, with the most spectacular back-drop possible, man, we feel so fortunate. These views are going to be tough to top.

Kathmandu, Nepal

Sanya and Gillian, China (little rest and beauty)

Gonna keep this one short, We flew to the city of Sanya, which was touted as kind of China’s version of Hawaii. It was definitely a restful place and beautiful, but pretty sure it’s no Hawaii. Our “resort” kept us lingering around the pool and beach for 4 days, sleeping, reading, and overall chillin. Not much happened here, just a restful place to get away from the crowds in China, it’s easy to see why they vacation here. The only interesting thing to point out was that the giant pool was never visited during the day hours, hardly at all. But around nightfall the entire hotel seemed to come out and that was the time to go swimming. It appears Chinese dislike the sun and enjoy the pool almost exclusively at night. The hotel had it lit colorfully and lifeguards on duty for the crowds. Different and unique.
After vegging in Sanya, we hopped another short flight to Gillian (pronounced Gway-Lin). Where we enjoyed the natural limestone mountains scenery for a few days, sampled the local rice noodles (far too many times), and unfortunately witnessed a full on mafia beat-down walking home one day. Gillian is a lot like Halong Bay in Vietnam, except the limestone mountains shoot up from the land instead of water, very beautiful, great place to snap pictures and take a tough hike or casual lift to the top of one for epic green views. We went to a few large parks and met a new friend whilst sucking down rice noodles. We were invited to dinner and shared too much food and broken English conversation filled with humor and many smiles to fill the void. ______ was a sales rep for a company and just out of University. We shared our joy of good Kung Fu and fighting movies and beer 
One of the unfortunate parts of travel has been the odd incidences. While walking back to our hotel from a very busy park, we noticed a little mini-van rocking side to side in the parking lot. We stopped as there were 2 ladies and 2 men outside just watching the same thing. We were about 15-20 feet away. It didn’t take long to figure out, but a middle-aged man in the front seat was being punched from both sides of the car while he was sitting in the car. We suspected a robbery or possibly him coming upon someone trying to steal his car. However, after 30 seconds of punching, kicking, etc., they pulled him out onto the crowd, gave several swift kicks, shouts, and then ran off, empty handed. All the local bystanders (who were actual passengers in the vehicle, did not interfere, shout for help, call police, or anything). The 2 ladies and other 2 men picked him up, put him in the mini-van, then drove off. The 2 dishing out the beating took nothing, so we’re guessing it was a “message” being delivered of some sort. Glad I did not go over to help out. That was the tough part, watching this and not being able to understand the shouting or language to even know what is going on. Pretty scary stuff, broad day light and highly odd the other passengers did not intervene. Nothing like an eventful last day in China 