Nepal Part 5: Himalayan Sunrises

While in Nepal we spent the first half of our days in the quiet town of Nagarkot, which sits at nearly 8000 feet in elevation.  While the town is less than 20 miles away from Kathmandu, thanks to heavy city traffic and poor roads, the journey takes at least 90 minutes via car.  Once in the hills the smog from Kathmandu clears away and you're left with breathtaking views of the mountains as you drive up the hillsides to reach Nagarkot.  

It is here that we called home for the first half of our workshop in Nepal, at a venue called The Fort Resort.  Each morning we'd hike up to the main building with its dramatic north facing views and watch the sun rise over the Himalayan Mountain range.  Some mornings were quite foggy and blue, while others were full of sun and color.  During the middle of our stay in Nagarkot we had an intense rain come through and it tamped down the dust and smog in the valleys to the north of us, leaving behind an even more dramatic sunrise view as you watch the hills roll away from you and lead into the peaks of the Himalaya. 

The Himalayan Mountains stretch for hundreds of miles and border the northern stretch of Nepal.  From Nagarkot you can see Mount Everest in the far, far distance - emerging from the space between other peaks that are in front of it in your line of sight.  Mount Everest is sharply to the east of Nagarkot and we were able to see it with our eyes thanks to some guidance from our hosts one one of the mornings after the blowing snow from peaks closer to us died down a bit.  It was quite literally the size of a pinhead to all of us, but still, we saw it!