Arrival Kathmandu [Shannon]

15 May the plane ride was a rocky dream from howling Istanbul to plush Bahrain and fantastical Abu Dhabi where the terminal is a spaceship-shaped lotus sparkling with blue and green tile and thronged with Muslims in robes and beards pushing shopping carts full of gold jewelry and cigars on their way to the beach.

The flight over Afghanistan and India was in the dark, in a tight, curry-smoked cavern that opened up at pink dawn to the Himalayan peaks below. Not that far below. Our toes scraped ice before we descended to the green valley and anthill of Kathmandu.