Fall Break in Nepal: Grandparent Edition!

On October 11th, Jonah's parents flew from Cleveland to Newark to New Delhi, arriving at our apartment late on a Tuesday evening. After several months of planning, Papa and Nonni (Ron and Martha to their friends) were actually here - our first visitors! It was quite an experience to see them walk through the door, amazingly awake and upbeat after such a long flight. They spent their first day in India day touring campus and the Embassy compound, visiting a few sights around New Delhi, and reading with Asa's first grade class. It was a smooth transition for them but they didn't get too comfortable here with us. They were up and out early the next morning to start an ambitious eight day guided tour around the region. We worried. They rarely checked in. But they had a "phenomenal" time!

Ron and Martha returned to Delhi on the night fall break began. We had a day to get them unpacked, laundry done, and repacked and then took a Sunday morning flight to Nepal. Our itinerary included four nights in Pokhara (a place we did not visit last year) and three nights in Kathmandu (this part of the week was mostly a repeat).  In addition to our own extended family members, we were fortunate to be traveling with two other AES families - and both had a family member visiting - making us a party of sixteen.  I've written about the benefits of group travel in a prior post, and once again, this helped to make the trip a resounding success.

In Pokhara, we had a spectacular view from our hotel rooftop terrace which was right outside our rooms on the fifth floor. It was a great spot for sunrise, breakfast, and late afternoon sundowners.

The first highlight from the week was a sunrise hike followed by a seven mile trek. It was a long but rewarding day. 

 

Liam, Lizzie, and Martha won transportation prizes - Liam and Lizzie were carried on the shoulders of porters most of the way...

 

...and Martha completed the last mile or two on the back of a motorcycle. Impressive!

The next day, we took a much shorter hike - after a harrowing drive - up to the World Peace Pagoda.

We were calmer on the descent, despite the distracted driver:

Another highlight for nine of the adults was paragliding. We hired a second van so the six kids could get to the launch area and watch everyone take off.  Looking back, this could have been traumatic but they actually had no problem watching their parents/grandparent/aunt walk off the side of a mountain and fly up into the air. For the gliders, flying over villages, a mountain ridge, and a nearby lake for thirty minutes was truly exhilarating.

Jonah's view:

After four days near the mountains, we returned to Kathmandu. There, we visited many of the same sights as last year as it was the first time there for everyone else.  We also ate well and shopped - a lot.

And this is my favorite photo of the entire week (thanks to Ron for taking it):

And we are still not done with Nepal.  Although fall break will be shorter next year, we hope to return again for a more adventurous trekking adventure.

For many, many more photos (with captions, of course), please click HERE.