No Shave Nepal

It's been 3 weeks since we left Seattle for Nepal. The four of us haven't shaved and are looking pretty scruffy. Last weekend, Kevin and I went on our trek. I was going to write an extended post but we have been much too busy, and every free moment is put towards catching up on sleep. Basically, we trekked all day (7am to 7pm) on Sunday, while Saturday and Monday were spent traveling. I didn't realize how much time we would spend on the bus, the ride from Syabru Bensi back to Kathmandu was about 9 hours. I also didn't realize that we were only a mere 15 kilometers from Tibet to the North. During our trek, I talked to our guide (Nima Sherpa, semi affiliated with the UW) about political issues such as Freeing Tibet and political corruption in Nepal. Very interesting to hear his perspective.

On Sunday, we trekked from Dunche to the Bamboo Lodge (near Lama Hotel), then back down to Syabru Bensi.

This week has been pretty insane as well. Alan and I are working on putting together a yearbook for Koseli before we leave, so I spent Tuesday taking over 600 portrait shots of the kids. I didn't know a thing about portraits or lighting, but I am fairly satisfied with the results we ended up with. Editing and cropping the photos will be tedious yet rewarding. My plan is to compile the pages digitally to host on the Koseli website, and then print/bind physical copies in the states to ship back to them.

Niraj Lama, a second grader who I have been working with on English reading and pronunciation.

 
Wednesday, we got hooked up with some motorcycles and got to tour in and around the Kathmandu valley. The smoke and pollution in Kathmandu is so bad that we had to wear sun glasses to protect our eyes.

Kevin got some dust on his face. Either that or he has been experimenting with eye shadow in his free time.

Kevin and Lars with the doctor at Helping Hands who gave us our impromptu bike tour. I'm sure you'll hear more about him if Kevin finally completes his post.

See you in eight days, America:
-Mike