Shopping!

Hello!  Let's go shopping!  Those who know me, know that I like to shop!  I learned it from my mom, (yes, Mom, you taught me well!) and even though I can "shop till I drop," my mom can still usually out shop me!  Anyway, here in Nepal, I was happy to note when we got here, there are many shopping options available for everyone, no matter what your preferences are!

You may recognize this store's name!

It's in the tourist part of Kathmandu called Thamel, 

if you're ever in town and want to check it out!

Our favorite store in Thamel is this one:

W love it because it's big and you can wander around without the owners following you around.
They not only sell books, but also nice gifts.  

The prices are fixed too, which is nice.  I haven't been able to get used to bargaining.

I know it's fun for some people, but I haven't become one of them yet.
(That's just my personal choice.) 

A very sad thing happened to the other Pilgrim's House store.

Yes, there used to be two of them.  The other was the original one.

Oh so sadly, it burned to the ground a little over a year ago, and several other stores around it too.

Everyone who knew this store is still sad, including us.

Here is the nice restaurant that they had.

Now it's just a memory.  Yes, still so sad.

Of course, as in every city of the world, as you drive around,
you pass shop after shop after shop.

Some, like this one, which is so cute, I'd like to stop and look at,

but when you're in heavy traffic,

and there are very few parking lots,

it's hard to find a place to park!

Of course, since we're in the Himalayas, as we drive around,
we also get glimpses like this!  Majestic!

Once when we were driving around, we went past this little group of shops.

Just past this, we stopped at a light.

I looked around, and was so enchanted to see this beautiful child--

I gave her the Namaste sign, and she gave it back!

Isn't she super precious?!

As we started to drive off, she waved to me!

Oh my word!  How adorable!  Bless her heart!  

Of course when my mom was here (yes, she's been able to come twice!), we went shopping!

I was able to snap her taking a picture of a shopping area in the tourist town of Pokhara.

(By the way, if you missed the two posts about the trip I took there with her,
you can read the first one here and the second one here--if you are interested.
I must say that I'm proud of some of the pictures!)

Here she is shopping in one of the several Bhat Bhatini stores in Kathmandu.
Now Bhat Bhatini is my favorite store here--again, fixed prices and
no one follows you around as you shop.  It's like Super Walmart because
you can buy everything there!  If they don't have it, you probably don't need it!



If you'll notice, Mom is smiling!  See what's in her hands?
Yes, she's so happy to have found M&Ms!  Yeah!
I must say that you can usually find M&Ms here, and also Lay's Potato Chips,
which you can see are there in our cart.  Yes, the cart gets pretty full, since we
can only go once a week, and we never know when we may have to miss a week,
so we have to plan ahead--just in case.

Bhat Bhatini is going to have it's own post one of these upcoming days.
I've been working on it for some time.  Soon, soon!

Now, soon after we got here, back in 2010, I did write about one shopping experience I had at
Bhat Bhatini!  If you missed it, you can read about it here.
If I say so myself, it's funny!

Another one of the stores that we love in Kathmandu is Ekta Bookstore.
It's filled from top to bottom with books, several floors worth,
and this is most wonderful!

Obviously, we never leave without buying something!

Here's the beautiful children's section.  Yes, I bought something there the other day!

Another bookstore we love is in this building near the area called New Road.

Yes, this small building not only has an amazing bookstore, but as you can see it also
has a motorbike workshop, a restaurant,

and a key shop.

It's one stop shopping!

Plus, the parking lot is next to the large field where the army does maneuvers
and offers a great view!

Well, that's all for now!  I hope everyone reading this is having a lovely day!
Take care and God bless!

Big Foot

Adventures in Shoe Shopping!

Now I've always thought that my size 8 feet were fairly "normal" and sort of middle of the road.  Whenever there were sales at the mall, there were never (hardly ever anyway) size 8 shoes left, so I always knew there were plenty of others with my size.

Then I moved to Nepal and found out that my feet are not middle of the road anymore!  Apparently size 8 is not so common.  When scanning the shoe aisles, I find plenty of shoes I'd like to try on.

Then when I ask if there is this or that shoe in size 39 (what size 8 is here) I get a look of doubt and am told, "Well, I'm not sure if we have any THAT big, but I'll look."  !!!  😊😀

Most of the time they're right!  Occasionally though, they DO find something THAT big and I have been able to buy a couple of pairs of nice shoes.

Today, we were shopping with Jenny, our student missionary. 

She checked out a few pairs of shoes too.  She didn't get these: 

 ...or these:

 Ramon suggested these:

...but she didn't take his suggestion.  She went with a cute pair of tan sandals. 

Here we are waiting for the girls to find us some shoes THAT big.  (She wears size 8/39 too.)

Well, I needed some walking shoes and finally found some sturdy looking ones that could withstand the rocks and ruts in the pathways and looked like they might, just might, fit me.  The girl helping us sent a young man to the back to find, "the biggest ones you can find," as I heard her tell him. 😊   He came back holding this box:

(Yes, this is the box!!!)

He very politely, seriously, and quietly (so as not to embarrass me) said,
"Are you the lady with the big feet?"

😀😄😆

"Yes, that's me," I said.

😊

Well, folks, here are my new Harry Potter walking shoes--

the only walking shoes I could find in Kathmandu for my big feet!  

By the way, they're SUPER comfortable!

(2017 update--they lasted about five years!)