Happy New Year's Eve from Nepal!

Without any obligations, I slept in a bit this morning. I ate my Kumari Inn breakfast at 9:00 AM. From my breakfast seat, I could see that the air pollution is especially bad today.

Then I worked a bit on my computer in my room. From my side window, I look out at this huge bunch or growing bananas. From my front window I look out at a balcony with the Inn's laundry drying.

The I think it is ironic (humorous) that the proprietor of this Inn wears a Chicago Bulls cap, while I wear one with the Nepal flag!

At 11:00 I took a 4 hour walk. The sunshine felt great. I saw this bamboo scaffold. The curvature here is not an artifact of my camera lens. The scaffold really bows far to the left.

This taxi has a nice message on its flank," I Love Nepal"

It takes me about 1/2 hour to walk the mile to the Bhat Bhateni store. There I bought 3 more pairs of long johns and some more "soluble coffee" for the Dhulikhel endo department. Manisha will be on leave all of this week (visiting family), so I'll be resigned to brew my own coffee.

Near home, I stopped at the Cups Cafe for a beer and a pizza. From my sunny seat at the cafe, I can see my laundry-strewn balcony at the Kumari Inn. You can see how rapidly the Inn's new top floor is building.

This photo demonstrates a dominant construction technique here. They fabricate vertical columns with rebar and concrete and then "skin" the building with bricks and a plaster coat.

The Gorkha beer label says, "Strong Beer" -- and it is. The big bottle also contributed to my late afternoon buzz and fatigue.

 I can't believe I have already been here for more than 6 weeks. And I can't believe that tomorrow is already 2023. Reminiscing about past New Years makes me feel as old as I am -- and leads me to wondering where I might be next Auld Lang Syne?

  Goodbye to 2022 and Happy New Year to my friends everywhere!