Here are the women:
(from left to right, top row to bottom:
Michela, from Italy, who is an endocrinologist traveling with Alessandro; Lola from Spain, travelling solo, the woman from South Korea who was very quiet and whose name I forgot, but I am sure someone will either e-mail me or post on the comments her name; Daughter #1; Yolanda who is traveling from Spain with her sister Rosa-next to last in the row-Kristen, a statuesque woman originally from NYC, who proves that even when you move to sunny california you still talk fast, but who was always smiling and great fun to be around, and who was in the Navy for 5 years, then worked for an NGO called the Himalaya Foundation, but is going to be going back to school for a business degree, and who is a also now an amatuer photographer; Charlie from Cornwall in the UK traveling with her boyfriend Rob, who have been away from home for the past 21 months, originally intending to work in Australia, but after a year, Rob disliked the company and Charlie had trouble with the visa working out, so they decided to sell everything and tour New Zealand and Asia, but they will probably be home in the next few months; Loes from Holland who is working at a Buddhist monastary
in Nepal as a teacher, and who also had a great sense of humor (as did pretty much everyone actually), and was always great fun to be around; Rosa travelling with Yolanda; and Kristina from Germany traveling with her boyfriend Jan, who I did not get to know very well, but they seemed to be very nice as well)
And the men:
(Rob, travelling with Charlie, who was from England and wanted to declare war on Finland when the restaurant gave half his beer away to on of the Finns travelling with us and who had a great sense of humor; Tommi from Finland who has been travelling for around a year and was joined part way through by his long term friend Miika (unless I've mixed up the names and the stories), who along with Miika told me (as they polished off their second giant bottle of beer at lunch one day) that for some reason the Swedes think the Finns are all alcoholics, which is probably true, especially when the Swedes beat the Finns at ice hockey by 5-3 even though at the start of the third quarter the score was 3-0 Finland; Miika (unless it's Tommi);me; Tom from Germany who is riding his recumbent bike around the world more or less, having already ridden from Alaska to southern California, and now is riding from Germany into Africa, up through India and Nepal, but he joined us because the roads are impassable until Lhasa, but next is Beijing then Japan,so obviously since he puts on 80-100 km (about 40-60 miles) a day he can eat anything and stay stick thin, so we all fed him any leftovers we had at most meals, and was a soft spoken but very nice guy, and in great shape obviously since he also had no symptoms ever of mountain sickness so I think he is the only one (except maybe from Tony?); Alessandra from Italy travelling with Michela; Simone also from Italy who has very good English and would easily pick up any American girls he wanted just by speaking with his accent, and even if he called them big dumb cows with stinky feet in Italian they would be won over, who is also a published author as well as an artist and photographer, who is working with the family vending machine business in Milan, and has a great and generous spirit, and who shared political and cultural ideas with me and Kristen (not to mention Daughter #1 and Tony during the long car rides, and whom I shall have to go to Italy to visit with the wife since she won't go places with endemic malaria but I am pretty sure Italy is OK but it will have to be after my dog dies since he (the dog) has been pretty nuts from what the wife says while I've been away, and he (the dog again) is already nutty to start with so it must have been really bad (and if he - Simone- has any trouble with any of the words I use he - Simone- should send me a quick e-mail so I can clarify; Tony from Singapore, who had a dream about someone sending him a postcard from Lhasa, so he decided to come on this trip, even though he did't originally plan to go to Tibet, but he has been travelling without any specific agenda for a while but he does not have e-mail so I suppose I won't be able to keep in touch with him, and who saved many parts of the trip because he spoke Mandarin so he could communicate best with the guide we had at first and also hailed all the cabs we needed on that last night and told them where we were going even though it meant he stood in the rain the longest, but he always was smiling and laughing, and who rode the most time in the "dog seat" of the land rover even though it was the worst seat of the vehicle to be in; and finally Jan who I only had a couple of chances to talk with so I did not get to know him or Kristina very well)
We fly back from Lhasa to Kathmandu with about 9 others from our group. The daughter makes arrangements to meet up with a couple of people after I leave for the states.
The next day we went to Bahktapur, which is a very old city near Kathmandu. You have to pay to go in, but the daughter got a pass to allow her to return for the duration of her visa. She like the area a lot, and is thinking of staying there for part of the time before her semester starts. Overall it is a lot less “tourist-y” than Kathmandu, which means less crowds and fewer shopkeepers pushing themselves on you.
The day is also the daughter’s 20th birthday. Our travel guide has arranged to take us and his family out to a local restaurant with a prefixed Nepali meal and Nepali culture show. Lehka’s daughter, it turns out, is going to turn 12 on Saturday, and invites Daughter #1 to her party! She also asks for guitar lessons, which I think will be forthcoming. Overall, it looks like a pretty good birthday considering she is on the opposite side of the globe from most of her family, with no cake or presents to open. Of course, I think my imminent return to home is present enough for her!
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