I returned from a trip to Nepal last month and when I went back to work I had people asking me, “What was your favorite part?” There are some vacations where this is so easy to answer. With Nepal, it was a sort of visual all-you-can-eat buffet of Mother Nature’s greatest work and it’s been hard for me to point to just one thing and say, “That! That was the best!” There are certainly parts I enjoyed more than others, but when I try to articulate them, they sound so lame. So my answer is: Everything I got to see in Nepal. That was my favorite.Over the course of twelve days in Nepal, we visited six different cities. Somehow, we managed to have a good mix of urban and nature, with a little bit of small-town scattered throughout. We saw the highest mountain in the world, the first national park in Nepal, the birthplace of Buddha with structures dating back to 623 BC and lots and lots of animals, which I always love. We were able to wander through small towns, survive the busy streets of Kathmandu and challenge my asthma diagnosis with more altitude changes than I ever expected. (Those portions of the trip were heavily sponsored by Prednisone.)

Baby Monkey Near the Pashupatinath Temple
We spotted this baby monkey near the Pashupatinath Temple. There’s a whole series of photos and his facial expressions are great.
Pink Powder Puff Tree Flower at the Green Park Chitwan.
There was a Pink Powder Puff Tree growing on the grounds of our hotel in Chitwan. The flowers are gorgeous.
In Chitwan at some animal preserve, I got to pet a baby rhinoceros!
In Chitwan at an animal preserve, I got to pet a baby rhinoceros! When you would pet him, he’d let out this deep sigh and his ears would flick back and forth, which is why they’re blurry in the photo.
River in Nepal.
Just your standard roadside beauty in Nepal!
View From the World Peace Pagoda in Pokhara.
This was the view out the front door at the World Peace Pagoda in Pokhara.
Hang Gliders in Pokhara.
These crazy people jump off the Himalayas to go hang gliding!
Phewa Lake in Pokhara.
Once it stopped raining and we finally got to see it, Phewa Lake in Pokhara was stunning.
Rooster at Swayambhunath, also known as the Monkey Temple.
I like farm animals as much as exotic and this rooster was ridiculous, strutting around Swayambhunath, also known as the Monkey Temple.
This post originally appeared on Kate’s Point of View. © Kate. All rights reserved.