July 30, Kathmandu. Kirby, Carol Watson, Gretchen Distler, and all of or other many, many friends who keep us company along this journey, thank you for knowing and caring about this project. We can not say enough how moving it is to have your blog responses and your conern and excitement behind us.

Tonight the incredibly accomplished and elegant young man in charge of Gurkha Encounters, our trekking agency, took us to dinner as a congratulatory flourish to our twelve successful days hiking the precipices and vast distanaces of Upper Mustang. Raj took us to an old favorite haunt of every Everest climber, a restaurant called Rum Doodle, whee giant yeti footprints all over the walls and celings carry the messages of all the climbers who have summited Everest or other peaks like the Thorung-la or other daunting and remote hauls like the trek to the Holy Grail of far-away neverlands, the walled city-kingdom of Lo. I have been sent home to The Kathmandu Guest House with pens and a footprint to design ours, where our Gift for The Village team will all be signed in properly for our efforts and our project. So our web site will hang near the signature of Ed Hillary and other seekers and explorers who have all brought their own gifts here but left the richer, as we will.

We thank Gurkha Encounters for being the Cadillac of all trekking agencies in Nepal. And we were especially honored to be joined at dinner by Narayan, our main guide to Lo, without whom we would never have made it to the top of two dozen peaks at the ends of eight- or nine- or ten-hour days climbing on the strength of a thali plate of dal bhat and a few cups of masala chai. Narayan reminds me of a Nepali Gardner Rordam, Blacksburg's mayor's elder son--and speaking of Mayor Rordam, sir, did you ever score one cool gift from Kathmandu today. After your incredible service to our town, Ron, around the events of April 16th--which have not left my mind for a single day--the Gift for The Village team is proud to remember your service to all of us in Blacksburg, as well as your excitement about our project.

Today we also heard from Nepal's Acting Director of the American Center, The Honorable Ms. Sharon Dean-Hudson, on behalf of the United States Ambassador to Nepal, the Honorable Mr. Moriarty. She very generously wanted to wish us a great time here, despite the monsoon weather, which is not so bad after all, and to thank us for being such "wonderful promoters of U.S.-Nepal relations." We are honored.

Today we spent much time walking the streets of Kathmandu, around and sometimes in mud puddles in the bumpy crazy streets. Sarah, your girl Sherrie hunts constantly with so much love (and so much success!) for the very best treasures for you! And Larry and Shelly, your Jenna and Jason found such a fun and perfect Nepali present for you today! Suzi Gablik, my luggage is becoming a shrine to your tastes. If I have gone overboard, do not tell me so, and keep that judgment completely out of your expression, or I will see it and be heartbroken. As I told you in an e-mail, where gifts are concerned, I prefer complete acquiescence to my complete excesses. If the village of Jomsom can accept a thang-ka, you can put up with the small pile Jenna and I have acquired for you. Anyway, as we all experienced today, gifts are one of the only ways we can begin to express to people the beauty and intricacy of this culture. Carl, did you think I forgot you today? Never. It was actually Jenna who found a perfect Carl thing. Gifts are a reflex here. What a pleasure to be able to extend in words and sometimes also in objects--and how exciting to think of extending yet more, once I am home with my cats, in the form of the many new paintings I have imagined. The truth is, I have twenty paintings ready in my mind, which is even more than usual. Let us hope the two boxes of fresh Ceylon tea I bought for myself tonight will pack punches every night of this fall and winter as I get back to my two jobs and the lawn to mow and litter boxes to tend and meals to cook and bills to battle. I want to PAINT as my main gift. Or as one of them.

May we all be torn in precisely this way, worried most about how to give our gifts and which they will be. May we all be always-busy with the beauty we see.

Walking down from Jomsom, we traveled for a few hours with a French photographer and her half-Tibetan three-year-old girl, Clara-Dolma. Anne told us about traveling in the most remote parts of Mongolia, where people "really have free minds," she smiled. Tell me how you saw the free minds? I aksed her. "Well, for example, no Mongolian nomad ever asks your name or your age. Instead, you will be asked first--because it is most important--right after hello, 'How many friends do you have? Who are your friends?'" Not WHO ARE YOU?, as we are accustomed to wondering in the West, but WHO ARE YOUR TRIBE?

May we all know, forgive, love, always laugh with, and take care of the dear ones in our tribe. And may our tribes all be strong and loyal and rich with gifts. Love, Jane