Some days you find God while searching for a stone.

Nepali proverb 

Nepal is overwhelming when you first step into its vibrant world. The sounds of a million lives, clamoring and singing and shouting and bargaining, horns blasting and old engines chugging. The colors of a hundred gods, on bold prayer flags flapping and vibrant saris and brass idols. The scents of dhal and dirt and spice and car exhaust all hitting you at once. And that ever beating pulse of the people and animals and vehicles that all spin around each other every moment of every day. In Nepal, the ancient sits beside the modern; the destitute neighbor the extravagant. 

I explored Nepal from the back of a motorcycle. We drove from the madness of Kathmandu to Chitwan, along high-mountain roads and careening hairpin bends. From the southern jungles of Chitwan we went north, up into the icy Himalayas to paraglide in Pokhara at the top of the world.