Nepal is one of the most unique and diverse countries on earth. From land areas below sea level to 8 of the highest 13 mountains on earth, Nepal is truly a mirror of cultural diversity. As mountain people adapt to the altitudes, their religions, beliefs and lifestyles are vastly different to those in the valleys who face different challenges. But the most astonishing thing about Nepal is its quiet dominance of more sacred and spiritual sites than any other country on earth. From Buddhas birth place, Shivas birth place, home of hundreds of budist monasteries, one of the most sacred hindu sites on earth and an array of sacred mountains respected by nearly all faiths, Nepal is a powerful spiritual source for the world. As you trek her mountains, your life changes. Thousand year old mani walls of carved rock, chant “Om mani Padme Hum” a call for love and peace – prayer flags adorn every home, mountain, bridge or stupa along the way, each one embossed with those same words, and chanting them each time the wind flaps the flags. Tradition has it, that every prayer you pray, in some of these more sacred sights, is magnified by the thousand and in some special places, like Bodda, in Katmandu, millions. It’s not for the faint hearted. But for those who live life as an experience, and who choose to get past the intellectual blockades of western thinking, here in Nepal, the ego falls away with every step, and to your life there will be added a certain richness, an awareness, that will never fade.
