and flying off cliffs.
But first – we took a short ride on the river to see a temple out on an island.
- ferry to a hotel
- the boats we took
I skipped photos of the temple, the jams of people and the hundreds of pigeons.
From there we were off to the Museum.
- The Museum Entrance
- open area with multiple exhibits
- Replica just in case you want to take a pix at the summit
- Yeti in a corner
Of note – I have to wonder about the mythology that seems to be unique to the northern tier of mountains (please correct me if there is also a unique creature in the New Zealand Glacier area). It isn’t just the Yeti – there is also Sasquatch, Big-Foot and Grendel who are all one version or another of the abominable snowman stories.
There was a section in the museum dedicated to the peaks over 8000 meters
a few non-climbing traditional tools
- harness band loom
- spinning wheel with metal point spindle
Areas devoted to local and primarily Asian climbers (7+ of the 8 key peaks)
What I noticed missing was any mention of the Himalayan Rescue Association which seemed a bit strange considering how much work they do on the mountains each and every year.
Soaring with Birds of Prey
Our lunch today was at a small entry and hostel run by an English couple. They specialize in paragliding and rescue of raptors. Especially important to them is rescue of vultures. Vultures as it turns out (see Kevin) are fairly funny and interesting birds. They do a huge amount of environmental clean up. With a stomach pH of close to 1, they can eat just about anything organic. As it turns out, what they don’t deal well with is NSAIDS. That is right, all the anti-inflammatories that are forced down the throats of various domestic animals. Since this is primarily a Hindu country, cows aren’t normally killed, but they do die from age and accident. Well dosed with medication – a nice supper of cow leads to vulture death since [my understanding] is that it leads to complete and total liver failure in just a few short hours.
End result? Egyptian vultures, along with most of the other scavenger species are significantly endangered.
- in jail…..
- visiting the guests
There was another home hosted whatever this evening. Considering how much food there has been to this point I certainly didn’t starve by skipping supper.