It was Tauru's birthay ...and ...well ...and because Kathi was coming over ...he wanted to try a new look. The garb, the hair, and ...well ...the mustache ...and in the second photo ...the lips. Rock star? Model? Perhaps for National Geographics' "rare species collection." We are at the airport waiting for Kathi.
Video of Kathi's arrival ...and "Tauru At Large." Geraldo, a new guy is in town!
And here's Kathi. Not even 2 hrs into Kathmandu ...and she's already gone "hippie" with her skirt. She arrives at Tauru's birthday bash.
Tauru chose a Korean restaurant to celebrate his b-day bash. A couple of folks joined. And there was barbeque, Tauru's favorite. Here's Ganesh (named after Lord Ganesh, the Hindu god with an elephant's head) grilling for us.
Again, this IS Tauru's birthday ...so, of course, it's pork!! Woohoo! Mmmmmm, pooooork.
No, Kathi, we can't grill him. He's not pork!
After dinner, we went back to the hotel's rooftop for Tauru's birthday cake. The one candle was symbolic of his age, or his IQ, or his maturity, or whatever. ...Or, perhaps, his "one-ness" with the world.
The cake. Wait, is that ..."Taw-loo?"
This is how a man's birthday ought to be... Emily from England, Kathi from Arizona, Christi, Claudia from Austria, and Alexandra from Canada.
Video of birthday dinner and cake.
We flew to the Solukhumbu region of Nepal on May 5th and began a two-week trek to go gaze on Everest and see base camp. Tauru and Christi did this trek in 2005 (See link for OCT 2005), but it's such a beautiful trek, it's worth doing twice. Then we spent the rest of Kathi's vacation month doing all kinds of stuff.
Steel yellow, fashion week - he's ready for his close up...
At the airport, heading to Paris - no, Milan - no, what? Lukla? What kind of fashion is over there?
Tauru's modeling career gets delayed... yet again.
"Where's my photographer? Where's my wardrobe? What is with this thread-bare Tim Lee shirt that I am STILL wearing?!!"
Fashionable photo of cool kids being cool. Drink Yak Brand milk tea and you, too, can be this cool.
(Alex (Canada), Tauru (US), Kathi (US), Christi (US), Jae (Canada), Nir (Israel))
Wild animals fight for their prey...
Celebrity week in Yak Fashion: Twisted Sister was caught on camera! (Lower left corner).
Um, I think we have a wardrobe malfunction.
Arm Wrestling Smack-down on the trail to Everest. Here, the Undefeated Champion of Israel, Nir, takes on the Canons of Kathi from America. Nir retains his Smack-down title.
Cover photo for Yak Fashion Weekly.
(Tauru and Christi's Prom 2008 Photo.)
Tauru found dinner. "Do you know how many yak momos I can get out of this beast?"
Here's a video of us at one of the teahouses along the trek. Tauru at Large checking on everyone's well-being.
Yak Fashion feature this month, Tauru ponders the rhododendron tree.
"Ode to the pretty pink flowers. You are pretty. You are pink. You are flowers. Ode."
Kathi is still torn up about losing to Israel. "#$*@ing Israelis" she thinks...
Yak Fashion center spread - yak wool, real, fake, or from New Zealand? (Kantega and Thamserku are in the back -- they are both over 20,000 ft!)
Kathi grows a set. To Nir: "How do ya like me now, bee-atch? Bring it on!"
Stay tuned for another Smack-down.
Yak Fashion looks to Sweden this month. Oh Pipi, we'll never forget you.
Fashion for all ages, even grandma.
You ain't cool unless your underwears is stickin' out below yo' pantses.
Video: Hike to last settlement before Everest Base Camp. Hike to Gorak Shep.
Wow. Nuptse lurking out at sunset. Top at over 23,000 ft.
Good morning, Mt Everest. Nice to see you above the clouds. And Nuptse, towering on the right, what a sight you are.
Tauru carries a HUGE pot of hot chocolate up this 18,300ft "hill" - so here we are, taking a break at about 6:30am or so. Pumori is the beautiful mountain behind us.
(Brandon (Oklahoma), Marcus, (Aussie-land), Taw-loo (Nam-boy), Nir, Jae, Christi, and Alex).
Taw-loo posing in front of the 6900+ meter high peak he climbed in 2005.
On top of Kala Pataar (18,300'), with Pumori behind us, gazing upon Everest, the massive beauty that she is.
Yak Fashion endorses extremely tall models. Tall is cool.
Meanwhile, Taw-loo is gazing upon Ama Dablam. He writes a poem:
"Oh how I miss climbing,
The snow, the mountains, the peaks.
But here I'm stuck sighing,
Crying for weeks."
Kathi, Tauru, and Christi pose in front of a Sears backdrop. Note the finger in the upper left corner. Ooops to the camera-person.
Video: 360 view from Kala Patar. Everest, Lhotse, Nuptse, Ama Dablam, Kantega, Thamserku, Cholatse, and so on.
Tauru couldn't take any longer, so he ran over to the base of Everest and sprinted to the top in record-setting speed. Here is his summit photo for evidence.
Meanwhile, Christi went to the base camp for Mt Everest and stands staring at the mountain, waiting for Tauru to come back down.
"He better be back before dark. I don't want to sleep on this rocky glacier that is CONSTANTLY moving and changing shape every day!"
Time to get the heck out of the Solukhumbu Valley and fly back to Kathmandu, where we can EAT! See ya!
On Buddha's birthday we celebrated by going over to Bodinath, the famous Buddhist temple in Kathmandu.
Light a yak-butter candle for prayers - it's kind of like the Catholics.
We went for a canoe ride in Chitwan National Park (6 hrs by bus south of Kathmandu, but only 60 or so miles), a jungle where supposedly tigers and leopards and all kinds of wild beasts live.
I don't know about wild, but it's not every day you see elephants fording a stream.
Christi is making plans to drive one of those to and from work when she gets back to the States.
"Captain Hook, look out! It's a croc!"
Video: Here we are on the boat watching elephants cross the river, and seeing Mr. Croc, and walking through the jungle.
After seeing nothing but bugs, a few peacock feathers, and rhino poop on our jungle walk, we decided to get on an elephant and see the sites from up high.
This guy backed into that parking spot with no mirrors!
And we're off!! Not sure I'd want to be the little bloke on the bike... these guys are HUGE!!
Video: Here we are boarding for the elephant ride.
A baby rhino taking a bath!
"Are we at Disney World? That's gotta be fake!"
Video: The rhinos.
The natives of this area are called Tharu people, pronounced "Tauru". They are immune to malaria (which has now been eradicated). Here they are performing the Harvest Dance, where they beat sticks together.
I guess all Tharu/Tauru people like pink...
Ahh, the peacock dance. "Very nice!"
Note: the tail feathers are each held in place by authentic duct tape, and ....oooops, this one didn't fan out fully.
Back in Pokhara, our model gives us the Steel Yellow once more as we paddle around Phewa Lake. The small hole you can see in the back of his Tim-Lee-shirt is only one of many. New fashion - breathable clothing.
Then back to Kathmandu: The stairway to heaven, or the Monkey Temple anyway. Another famous site in Kathmandu Valley.
The view of Kathmandu Valley from the top of the Monkey Temple. Nice.
Here, another model for Yak Fashion gives us his version of Steel Yellow. Here is our temple's namesake.
Durbar Square in Patan, a very old neighborhood in Kathmandu Valley dating back to the 16th century.
Pretty neat architecture. Some stuff over here dates back to the sixth century, AD.
Kathi posing - her last day in town. On May 30th, she flew back to Phoenix. Back to work. "Ha ha!!"