As we were on our way back from Nepal at the end of October we finally got in touch with our friends and family and there were a few who were seriously concerned about our welfare. Nepal certainly is not a well-known corner of the world, but a feature article published in the November 2005 issue of National Geographic was alarming to those following our trek from the blog here. The article “Nepal: Inside the Revolution” gives a little background on the conflict between the insurgent “Maoist” forces and the King’s Royal Nepalese Army (RNA). The violent clashes have been predominantly in the western regions far from the capital city of Kathmandu and vicinity of Mt. Everest. The author Ed Douglas does portray the conditions as being grim and savage where guerrilla squads terrorize many innocent villages and where the RNA troops lay down force indiscriminately. The political situation is dicey, and I doubt the author wanted to hold onto that hot potato very long. I’ve heard a very creative theories about what machination are at work in the administration, but the author just gave the official version.

Today Shovan was telling me about his school “excursion” to the Chitwan National Park south of Kathmandu. I tried to envision the scene as his bus tumbled into the Terai jungle on the patchy provincial road. He says the Chitwan is famous as an Asian safari, and the word “safari” sent my mind off to a tangent on the Serengeti Plains in Easten Africa. “You mean like tigers and elephants?” I was way off. Shovan sternly set me straight that tigers are only in Asia, so Africa only has lions. I guess I haven’t watched “The Lion King” and “The Jungle Book” enough times to figure that out. I was also way off imagining the landscape. The Serengeti is a little sparse and arid, with a few desiccated shrubs here and there. A safari in Nepal is completely different, with dense jungles, running rivers, and perils shrouded on all sides.

Snow has finally hit us here in Utah. Fluffy and white. Actually, we were in a little bit of a threat over the whole weekend, so my time in Las Vegas was cut short a little bit. We decided to pack up prematurely and head out on the highway back north. At the very least I did get to go to In-N-Out Burger for a double-double “animal style”. That’s one of those undocumented menu items and I can’t describe it any better than greasy indulgence. The real treat was shopping at Fry’s Electronics in Las Vegas. Interestingly it looks exactly like the Seattle Fry’s on the inside, and I was having weird flashbacks. The only difference is that instead of seeing evergreens and the Boeing factory across the street I saw sandblasted billboards for Vegas lounge acts. I couldn’t help but think it was a long way from the “computer shops” back in Kathmandu on New Road. If you could make your way through the traffic and find the shops in the back alleyways you’d feel fortunate just for whatever outdated components they had in stock. At Fry’s there is everything imaginable and very cheap; you almost take it for granted. If they don’t have it (but they will) there are 10 other slightly less huge retailers in town.

The day after Thanksgiving has taken on a signficance in America that rivals the other 3 days that make up the holiday season. The newspapers are bulging with colorful and bold advertisement inserts proclaiming the year’s hottest sales and the most thrilling material indulgences. In past years this day may have been the official green light for the gift shopping marathon leading up to Christmas, but now it seems more like an irresistable siren’s song to call consumers in to crash on the aisles of things they don’t need to buy. The four to six weeks around Christmas time makes up most of the annual mercantile revunue for many companies, so they want to make it counts – with a great draw to shoppers. If you watch closely for the right deals and if you keep a little discipline on your shopping you will come out ahead with a lot of great stuff at great discounts. Of course you might even manage to find a few thoughtful gifts for others during your shopping, but don’t let it stop you from making a good haul for yourself. Just remember you have to beat out all of the other early birds to snag the limited inventory of advertised plump worms.