When I was in grade school, I found sitting on the shelf of an old red bookcase in the basement of our house a book with an alluring cover featuring a vintage airplane and high, snow-capped mountains. The book: Lost Horizon by James Hilton. The short novel chronicled the mysterious Himalayan enclave of Shangri-La, where peace and harmony reigned and people lived to be centuries old. Ever since discovering that book, I have been intrigued by the vast Himalaya, with its spellbinding jagged peaks that form the top of the world. In April 2024, I visited Nepal, the birthplace of Buddha and the realm of soaring mountains. The journey did not disappoint. Kathmandu My first stop in Nepal was its capital Kathmandu, a vast kinetic, chaotic city of narrow lanes and incessant traffic jams. The traffic
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