Scenes From Nepal

Kathmandu and the Valley of the Gods: first steps, first noise—Kathmandu doesn’t ease into things. The city breathes out incense, exhaust, and memory. In the alleys of Thamel, everything overlaps: sellers, songs, horns, glimpses of temples just behind laundry lines. The Swayambhunath Stupa watches from above—half-eyes, half-smile. Down below, ancient plazas and royal courtyards still echo with something unspoken. It’s not beauty that defines the valley—it’s a kind of gravity.

Pokhara and the Gates of the Himalayas: then everything softens. Pokhara arrives with calm—the lake, the paddle strokes, the distant snow peaks mirrored on water. But it’s also where the trail begins. The Poon Hill trek doesn’t require years of training, just a willingness to rise early and keep walking. The summit comes quietly, with the slow reveal of light over Dhaulagiri and Annapurna. People speak in whispers then, not because they have to—because it feels right.

Chitwan National Park: southward, the rhythm changes again. Heat thickens, the jungle closes in. Chitwan, with its tall grasses and patient rivers, shelters lives rarely seen elsewhere. Rhinos move without warning. Elephants appear, then vanish into the trees. Floating down the Rapti in a narrow canoe, the silence sharpens. Crocodiles barely blink. And if luck leans your way, a tiger might pass—quick, quiet, gone. Here, without much effort, everything pulls back to the essential.