Namaste, Young Americans

The day began with a gentle symphony of weird animal and bird sounds, and I liked it. Maria was wearing earplugs, and she missed it all. She claims not to care. Of course, she would care if she knew what she was missing…so let’s all hope she doesn’t read this. (She probably won’t--she’s much too busy thinking up new and creative ways to work Burning Man into every conversation. What fun for me!)

OK, so, I’m exhausted and thus am at risk of not being as hilarious and inciteful as usual, so I’m going to keep this short. (Sorry mom.) We have to wake up in a few hours to fly to Lukla and officially begin our journey to the Mountain.

So…here are some things I can tell you about Kathmandu:

Driving (I use the term loosely) is more dangerous than climbing Everest, but at least you don’t have to worry about getting a ticket, no matter what you do.

The soap here is very strong; I theorize that it’s preemptive. There is talk of limited showering in our futures. And, despite what Maria said in her previous blog, that is NOT my style. I, for one, like it clean.

There are a lot of dogs, and they love lying motionlessly everywhere.

Monkeys like ice cream cones.

Who are all these hipsters? (There goes our niche.)

There are electricity schedules so credit cards are only accepted sometimes. Sometimes I wish it was like that in New York.

"Young Americans" is on the radio here in the library of the Courtyard Hotel. The people that run the hotel are great, you shoud stay here if you come to KTM.

OK, that’s all for now. So much to say, but must sleep. Hello to everyone, we’re thinking of you!