Happy Holidays! and indulge me one more time to say how thankful I am for the great experiences I had this year and the fun I have had writing about them in this blog. Ok, indulging over. This is the time of year when we come together and share our sincerest pneumonia and head colds with our close family and friends. I was on my way for travel plans to visit my parents in Washington earlier this week, but as I couldn’t manage more than lumbering to the bathroom for some nausea, I was grounded and wiped out until now. It was refreshing news to get an email from Pema this morning from Kathmandu. We’ve been a little concerned since we hadn’t gotten a reply since we left from out trekking trip to Nepal at the end of October, but he says he’s been busy high up in the Khumbu working on his lodge.

Trekking along the Dudh Kosi valley in the Khumbu region of Nepal takes you past a number of small villages that barely make a mark on the map but are home to the kind and caring locals. They make time between caring for the family and their fields to make some comforts for the stream of hiker passing by their front doors. Each of the villages on the main hiking route have little snack shops and certainly there will be one or two tea houses, basically the family’s dining room opened up for business. The path beyond Lukla is very special for hikers because either it is their first encounter with the lush foliage and the magnificent river valley, or on their way down from a long trek they become sentimental for their time in the mountains and they look forward to the flight out to the comforts of the big city.

Stepping off of the plane at Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan airport from an international flight you will pass through the visa checkpoint. This is your last opportunity to unload some of your US dollars before entering the realm of the Nepalese Rupee (NPR) in paper and coin. The exchange rate has hovered around 75 NPR to 1 US dollar for the past five years. In early 1995 it was just under 50, and in January and November of 1998 there were sudden jumps (or drops from the Nepalese perspective) in the rate of exchange, with a shift of 11 NPR within a year. This is probably not the most telling statistic when it comes to describing the state of Nepal’s economy and their international trade, although it is of interest to tourist who make up a significant part of Nepal’s revenues. The most significant trading partner with Nepal is India, and considering the relative magnitude of their neighboring economy it seems that India could easily crush Nepal with any misstep. Nepal does have a heavy trade deficit, and that is primarily (~55%) with India. Nepal does not have that much to offer as export, but relies on many industrial and foodstuff imports.

Let’s just say I was making up for missing Nine Inch Nails as they performed in Salt Lake City the day I was en route to Nepal. Last night I joined 20,000 other Utahns sedately bobbing my head to four greying men (U2) playing familiar tunes from the radio. They’re officially ancient now, like the Rolling Stones, and they can charge whatever they want and say whatever they want on stage and people will (myself included, Mr. Kneejerk) buy into it. Bono, the frontman and lead ego for the band, has made a habit out of antics and political preaching during his shows, and since there doesn’t seem to be quite as much discontent in Ireland any more he’s turned his powerful influence (zombie mind control) to a much wider and more beneficial cause, ONE. During the concert he spent an interlude educating on povery and hunger and urged the audience to sign up on their cell phones with the ONE.org petition. Bono has been in the news quite a lot, leading a charge for our wealthier nations to forgive the debts of the world’s poor and struggling third world countries. The idea is that their debt has overwhelmed them and they end up spending more on the interest than they do on health care and education. These countries are primarily in Africa where poverty and AIDS are thinning the population like genocide, and ONE believes that by pulling together a bit we can turn back the torrent of misfortune.