It will be a few more days before I can post detailed news and pictures of our month in Nepal. Meanwhile, I will give you a quick update on our progress and plans.

We spent a few days in the heat of the plains of Northern India, mostly in Delhi collecting visas for our trip this fall. We were able to spend a weekend in Jaipur, the capital of Rajistan and justifiably one of the tourist highlights of India.

On Tuesday, June 1, we flew to Leh, the regional capital of Ladakh, a Tibetan Buddhist area in northern India. Although it is admistratively in the troubled Jammu and Kashmir area, Ladakh is insulated by high mountains and very peaceful. We will be spending the rest of our spring trip in Ladakh and surrounding areas.

We have now arranged to begin trekking on June 12 and to be pretty much continually on the trail until we fly back to San Francisco on July 12. Our path will take us across several mountain ranges including the Indian Himalaya, and we will end up at a hill town called Manali. From there we can fly or take ground transportation back to Delhi, where we will catch our flight back to the States.

Between now and the 12th, we will be visiting various outlying areas in jeep trips and taxis, including one monastery that is having a festival. This will allow us to finish acclimatizing to the high altitude: even Leh is at 3500 meters (12,000 feet), about the same as Lhasa.

Thank you for your patience waiting for the Nepal pages. They will be worth the wait!