In early June, I went to Nepal. I have been to Nepal four times, but I hadn't been back from 15 years. I went with my good friend and trekking buddy Anthony (who took most of the pictures here). We were happy to see that things hadn't changed much. In fact, it was almost exactly as we remembered it. We both wondered why we had stayed away so long. In fact, this visit reminded me why I've always considered Nepal to be my favorite country on earth.
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| The driver from our hotel meets us at the airport. I hope he drives better than he spells. |
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| Here I am in a square (chouk) in Kathmandu, on the outskirts of Thamel. It's this sort of colorful chaos that makes me love Kathmandu. |
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| Anthony and I found this fantastic fruit shop near our hotel. The guy here made a great juice from oranges and pomegranates. |
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| Here I am approaching Kathmandu's famous Durbar Square. |
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| Anthony got this nice shot of the temples of Durbar Square. |
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| We sat up on the steps of a temple and enjoyed the scene below. |
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| You can see several shops selling thangkas and mandalas in this part of Durbar Square. |
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| Flowers and saris - an unbeatable combination. |
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| More flowers and saris. |
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| Beautiful Newari architecture on the outskirts of Durbar Square. |
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| Anthony seems happy with the fine old architecture and cookware on display. |
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| Anthony waiting for the bus in Melamchi Bazaar. |
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| Welcome to the VIP bus to Thimbu. |
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| Here's a pic of me, Anthony and Ganesh. We were exhausted by crossing the Gosaikunda (or Laurabina Pass), which is 4600 meters or about 15,500 feet. Ganesh, for his part, seemed fine. |
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| When you get light like this, it's easy to see why the Hindus hold this place to be sacred. |
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| Although it was monsoon season, we got some breaks in the clouds. Here's me about to set off on an epic 2800-meter descent to Syabaru Besi. |
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| Here's the Gosaikunda Hotel Namaste where we stayed for two nights. |
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| I love the way this trail appears to disappear into space. In reality, it wasn't all that exposed. |
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| Here is some interesting trailside flora. |
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| I had to head back to Kathmandu and home, but Anthony continued his trek into the Langtang Valley. To say I was jealous would be a minor understatement. |
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| Here's Anthony in the Langtang Valley. |
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| Here's a nice shot over the Langtang Valley. |
