A Note from the Future, May 8, 2011: When I started this blog 10 months ago, I was giddy with excitement to board a plane that would begin my 10-month journey to Kathmandu, Nepal. (The original post from that fateful day is preserved below.) But now, I’m approaching the end of my stay in Nepal, and I’m happy to say I have a lot to show for it! My boyfriend, a photojournalist, and I, a journalist, uncovered many stories and discovered such enigmatic places and people in Nepal that I never even imagined possible on the first day of my journey. Our biggest accomplishment is our coverage of the culture and people of the Himalayan Kingdom of Lo, what is now called Upper Mustang in northern Nepal. We gathered so many good stories and images on this endangered culture that we’ve decided to make a book. But we need your help to make it a reality! We’ve posted all the information on our page at the fundraising site, kickstarter.com. As a token of our appreciation we offer gifts to donors, ranging from a thank you card to a signed, first-print edition of the book to a slide presentation at your house. Check out the project.
The working cover of our book, "Mustang: Lives and Landscapes of the Lost Tibetan Kingdom."
If you believe in cultural preservation and environmental conservation, or you just enjoy beautiful images of a stunning place coupled with great storytelling, please support us! Thanks for stopping by, and may you also have many happy, safe travels!
Original post from September 1, 2010:
Today is Wednesday, September 1, and I’m in Dallas, Texas. At 3:30 p.m., I’ll board the first of three planes that will take me to my final destination, Kathmandu, Nepal, where I’ll live for 10 months. As I sit here mentally preparing myself for my trip, I can’t stop thinking that in roughly 48 hours, I’ll arrive in a place so different from the “down home” urban sprawl of Dallas that I might as well be on a different planet.
Dallas skyline (Image courtesy of realtor.com)
Kathmandu street (Image courtesy of Pavel Novak, Creative Commons)
So why Nepal? My boyfriend, a photojournalist, won a Fulbright grant to do a photo project on Tibetan refugees in Nepal. I’m accompanying him as a freelance writer to try my luck at finding, pitching, and writing articles on international issues, travel, and culture. I currently have no contract, no agreement, no assignment with any publication, at home or abroad. I’m literally jumping with no parachute. To provide some income while I dig up stories, I’m working as a freelance book editor, which provides me a small but sufficient payment. All in all, this is the most rugged endeavor of my life and I’m determined to make it work.
You can follow our trials and triumphs on this blog. I’ll be posting photos, stories, anecdotes, discoveries, local lore, and lots and lots of discussion on food. (I’m a foodie first, then a writer.) I hope to eat yaks, see a yeti, find stories, and maybe in some small way, do some good in the world. It’ll be an action-packed 10 months.
To see what befalls these two young Americans in Nepal, stay tuned.
Namaste.
Of Yaks and Yetis 
Binod
April 4, 2011
Welcome to Nepal. You will find Nepal really an intersting and exotic place to live in. Have a great ten months. Hope this ten months stay will attract you to return in this place again and again.
Best Regards.
happypoppeye
May 19, 2011
Well …looky that. Hope you had fun. Awesome country and people isn’t it? …minus the hot showers of course.