Kathmandu driving

We left the Kathmandu airport pretty much around 5 pm, prime rush hour traffic out of Kathmandu city proper.  We thought once we got out of that madhouse we would be safe. WRONG.  The driving and traffic and streets are crazier here than anywhere I have ever experienced.  There are litterally hundreds of cars, mopeds, motorcycle and heavy construction vehicles sharing one to 1.5 to 2 lane roads. The basic strategy is pasing cars whenever possible in the other lane of traffic as fast as possible all the while flashing your headlights and horns to let the oncoming traffic know you're there, and then swerving back into your lane at the latest possible second.  Or driving on super windy, curvey, 1.5 lane roads doing 40 mph around blind corners and giving a little honk in warning.  After about 20 minute of this I just made it my job to stare out the side window, so if we died in a head on traffic collision at least my last sights would be scenic and not the grill of the monster dump truck bearing down on us.

We had a four hour ride north close to the Nepal/Tibet border to stay at the Last Resort, a nice place right on the Bhote Kosi river.  For one last Himalayan rafting adventure.

By the time we got out of the city and to a roadside dinner stop it was close to 8 pm. And none of us had really eaten or drank anything most of the day.  To say we were near delirious would be an understatement.  The place our driver stopped was definitely a "locals" hangout.  And we had all avoided any of food/water related stomach issues to this point, but this dinner stop looked like the end of that luck.  So we ate lots of really spicy stuff and declined any water, instead opting for Beer, Beer and more Beer.

A water park along the road. "The Biggest Shiva statue in the world" on the hill overlooking it.