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from the moment i crossed the border between india and nepal i have worn a constant smile on my face.  i traveled for a few days in western nepal from mahendra nagar to pokhara by route of various small jungle villages and long shaky bus rides.  its almost from the first crossing to western nepal that you begin to see the first signs of the himalaya mountains looming in the far distance.  they are incredible and although i'm only halfway into nepal i can already see that they are only going to continue growing as i move west.  they really hit you in the face when you see them because often they are surrounded by the monsoon`s clouds although today there were very few clouds in the sky and i got my best view of the himalaya yet.  they look almost like a fantastic castle that is so majestic that its hard to believe it is from this world. 

pokhara has served its purpose of becoming a camp for me to center my travels over the next few weeks.  i believe i will visit this city maybe two more times before i leave the country and coming next week i will take my first trek south to lumbini, the home of one of my favorite people in history.