Last night we all shared a fantastic meal at The Third Eye, an Indian Restaurant in Thamel, and then a nice long night in warm beds at the hotel. It is nearly 8 am here on Friday morning. Electricity at the hotel just went down. Before it did, I was able to find out that the stock market was down to 7500, that there is flooding in Australia, that it is snowing in Europe, that Obama is naming his cabinet, and that the Big Three automakers in the US want a big loan, or they will lay off 3 million people.
Meanwhile, life goes on in Nepal, where many people live on $1 per day, the air is horribly polluted, drinking water can only be found in a sealed bottle, and a new government is trying to establish itself after a long rule by the monarchy.
We will take a taxi to Mike's, a tradition for a good old American breakfast apparently, and then go shopping, another good old American tradition. Meanwhile, I can hear Twin Otters taking off from the Kathmandu airport bound for the mountains and loaded with trekkers, their gear, and lots of supplies for the Nepalese who live up high and operate the teahouses, send their kids to schools that teach in english, and work hard every day to maintain their small homes and small plots of real estate in some of the most beautiful country in the world.
More than once we asked ourselves, fellow trekkers from around the world, and the local people what it means to be happy. It seems that the Sherpa people are very happy, and yet they work extremely hard and have little leisure time by our standards. It is certainly no secret that our consuming ways don't make us happier, and make some even less happy because they think they need even more. One thing for certain is that the western world could learn much about sustainability from the Sherpas in the Khumbu.
And yet, as more westerners visit Nepal and bring money and desires to glimpse the highest peaks in the world, and take home t-shirts and patches attesting to their conquests, some of the local people start to dream of having a better life, with a big house and fast car and access to better health care and a college education.
There is a lesson in here somewhere for all of us. Finding it is just a little difficult. In any case, I certainly hope that everyone who is trying to be 'more happy' gets a chance to visit this wonderful place and these incredible people.
Here is a view back toward the mountains from the balcony restaurant of our hotel. I will try to send a few more blog entries in the coming days as we return to our part of this large and changing world.
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