I went on a hike today in Shivapuri ("Mountain of the god Shiva") National Park, just outside Kathmandu. With a Gurkha guide, I ascended 1.7km in 4 hours to the summit of Shivapuri Peak. About 2 hours into the hike, we stopped for tea at a Buddhist monastery, home to 100 nuns and 2 lucky monks. We saw a range of fauna in the national park, including pheasant, wild chickens, newts, snakes, lots of bugs, 2 leeches (which I found stuck to my hand) and a cave dwelling hermit. The park also has snow leopards, wild boar and black bears, but I didn't see any and thankfully they didn't see me either.