Across the Himals and through the skies
It's a bit off the beaten track from grandmother's house. Flying along the crest of the Himalayas on a clear winter day, past Kanchenjunga, Everest, Ama Dablam and Cho Oyu for a Christmas/ New Year's holiday in Kathmandu, was pretty dramatic.
Strange to say, but it's really nice to get a break from Bhutan. There's no sign of Christmas there at all. No Christmas cards, no decorations, no Christmas carols in the malls (no malls!), no flurry of shopping and gift-giving. It's nice to have those festivities to brighten up the darkest season of the year. Near as I could tell, all the Bhutanese festivals happened during the warm and sunny days of autumn, and now it's just winter, at least until Losar/ New Year in February.
Kathmandu, by contrast, almost always has some festival or another going on, and embraces Christmas/ New Year's with almost as much verve at the more culturally congruent Diwali and Holi.
Strange to say, but it's really nice to get a break from Bhutan. There's no sign of Christmas there at all. No Christmas cards, no decorations, no Christmas carols in the malls (no malls!), no flurry of shopping and gift-giving. It's nice to have those festivities to brighten up the darkest season of the year. Near as I could tell, all the Bhutanese festivals happened during the warm and sunny days of autumn, and now it's just winter, at least until Losar/ New Year in February.
Kathmandu, by contrast, almost always has some festival or another going on, and embraces Christmas/ New Year's with almost as much verve at the more culturally congruent Diwali and Holi.
Comments
Are there any special Nepalese ways of celebrating Christmas? Hindi elves, perhaps...?
Eric
we'll keep the pizza warm for you til you come back to sea level.
happy new year and thanks for the vicarious thrill of your blog.