Olright so you know what's hilarious?

Dachshunds!

Hot dogs!

You know what's hilariouser?

Dachshunds crossed with other breeds!

I never knew it before but you gotta see it to believe it. Apparently there's a dachshund in this town that's got a lot of kids waddling around with heads too big for their bodies. We've seen about five so far.

Okay, getting down to brass tacks, we're in Dhulikel, a town an hour's bus ride from Kathmandu. The hotel we're staying at is really wonderful, with an amazing view of the Himalayas. Our mom got us up at sunrise today to see the light hit the mountains- if you listen close it actually makes a sound.

Yesterday, me, Zaman and Ryan ate an enormous breakfast (who doesn't have a weak spot for buffets?) walked about half a kilometer out of town to climb a hill with a hackysack and some biscuits and mango juice. We weren't really sure how to get to the top, so we just sort of scrambled, only it was a big hill so we sort of scrambled in slow motion, through farms and forest to the top where, although there's no-one living, there's still (of course) trash on the ground, some of which we took back. Like Zaman said, you can really see how Tolkien got his inspiration for Lord of the Rings- you can only say the landscape is epic.

Ryan took out his MP3 player, which I should mention he's hooked up to some speakers and kept in his backpack and which, although it only half-works, has been a great source of comfort and sanity throughout this trip, and put on the Beatles. Zaman says now if anyone asks him if he's ever hacked on top of a mountain in Nepal while listening to the Beatles (the quintessential hippie experience), he can say yes he has, so you should probably ask him when he gets back home or else he'll be disappointed. Then Dream Weaver came on and they started fighting about it, so there goes the British Columbian dream.

Anyways, I have to say I didn't really know how much I missed Sean Connery until I saw Dr. No again. Cable is a blessing.

-Bashu