Hiking through this section of Nepal is like discovering a gem amidst a mined quarry. Nepal has been in a recession since 9/11 never really attracting the numbers it did before the country began swinging into a communist constituency. Democracy was taking hold when I first visited in 2002, then the prince killed the royal family...total unrest ensued. When we arrived in 2003 to climb Everest and shoot Everest:The Other Side, our crew walked down from a pogada in Bhaktapur only to find ourselves smack dab in the middle of an anti American protest. But we didn't stop coming here, the Himalayas are in Nepal.

Inching day by day with the pace of our porters, we grind through humid miles of dense jungle weaving from road to trail. The mud is deep and the ruts, at times...strong enough to suck off a shoe. They are no match for mahindra tractors and deisel Land Rover's packed with 10 people inside and at least four on every roof. At one point, some of our porters passed us, sitting in the back of a Defender 110, laughing with joy, off their feet for breif respite.

Travelling on foot is the only way for us. It gives us something all too important, something so rare and valuable as the gem I referred to earlier..it gives us time. Time is what it takes to soak in the country of Nepal. As Nepal has dealt with the declining number of tourists, education, computer training and opportunites have taken the place of once sprawling tea houses. This particular region, once a popular European circuit now has very few guesthouses left. The ones that remain are only in larger towns where maybe 400 residents call home. We don't even sleep in them, we camp in their backyards with our porters.

Our camp last night was in a small field behind an Guesthouse in Chichula. We camped while goats stirred about and a woman screamed at the inn owners in front of the inn for most of the afternoon until sunset. The dispute was over land, a Komatsu bulldozer was steadily moving dirt behind both properties and no one seemed to agree on where it should go. Growing up in a family of architects, I'm no stranger to the effect of property rights...but here in Nepal? No one really even owns the dirt, but she was livid, even with the whole village watching she was unafraid to draw her fist and throw a stone. The Nepali culture may be heavily buddhist, but the Gorkha army is known to fight to the end with fists and knives. I believe that now.