Images of Nepal [Shannon]

1. Slim women in bright silk saris riding side-saddle on the back of motorcycles.

2. Chartreus rice paddies terracing up mountains by the river. Women in red sarongs wading through with impossibly large baskets of greens on their heads.

3. Jon's sandwich with 2 inches of garlic.

4. Pokhara's stupa gold and white above a ring of clouds on the mountaintop on Buddha's birthday.

5. Tiny whiplike leeches springing across the ground to attack our boots on a mountain trail.

6. A wedding party coming up the mountain on the steep stony path from Birethani carrying giant red-flowered couches and chairs and musical instuments. The bride in a red-hooded sari covered with gold pieces. The groom in a tie, sunglasses and mod vest over white shirt and pants, looking terrified. Both of them very young teenagers.

7. Tiny children, babies of 2 or younger, making the prayer gesture to their foreheads and saying "namaste" as we pass, big smiles on their faces. Namaste means the god in me greets the god in you, and it's the first thing they learn.