A final post on my trip...

The next day, Suresh, D.S. and Heerendra met me at the Hotel at 8 am. We went to what locals call the “Monkey Temple” which is a place where people go to worship. I don’t quite get these eastern religions and Idol worship. One word: worthless. Spinning drums to gain the energy and touching idols and bowing before them results in only helping people to be continually lost. It was ironic that Queen’s song “Another One Bites the Dust” was playing in the background. It summed up my thoughts as well. But, from my experience, it was not the time or place to tell them that I thought what they were doing was wrong. I will continue to build relationships with my friends and hopefully someday, I will be able to share with them Christ’s love.

From there, we went to Suresh’s home and ate breakfast. Their breakfast is about 4 courses and is pretty much what we would consider lunch. Except, lunch for them is at about 2 pm. After breakfast, we went to the ancient city of Patan and saw the old palaces and temples. They have a national museum that I went thorough which was very interesting. After seeing Patan, we went to Heerendra’s house for lunch and ate another 7 courses. Unbeknownst to me, Suresh, D.S. and Heerendra purchased all sorts of gifts for Jacob, MacKenzie, Leah and Sydney throughout the morning and presented them to me after lunch. Their hospitality is unmatched. After meeting Heerendra’s family, we went to the Ancient city of Baktapur. Durbar square is part of this ancient city and we walked through some of the local markets. As we were walking, Suresh ran into one of his old friends and he invited us to his house for tea. So, of course, we accepted. Throughout the day, we also went through some back alleys and I was able to see some silver smiths practicing their trade. VERY interesting. That night, we stopped by D.S. Jewelry store and I purchased a ring for Sydney and Myself. Sydney’s ring is 22 carat gold with red rubies in the shape of a flower and mine was a 24 carat gold ring with an “N” on it. The “N” stood for Nepal. I am using past tense with my ring because some “uncircumcised Philistine” rummaged through my suitcase and stole it on my way home. Thankfully, he missed Sydney’s ring.

Anyway, it is good to be home. Finally semi caught up with my work. Just in time for Thanksgiving. One thing is for sure... a trip halfway around the world makes you keenly aware of how thankful you are for your family and those you love. I am definately thankful for my wife and kids.

Happy Turkey Day all!