Here again

My roaming boy returned from the Himalayans the other day and passed by today. More or less dressed in his common outfit of the past months on the bike, he sat with me - his cyclechain bracelet happens to show prominently here, it expresses his connection to cycling - anyway, he told me some of his experiences in Tibet and Nepal and showd me pictures of the roads he's cycled on. He enjoyed the kindness of the locals and often heard that parents and grandparents have their beloved children & grandchildren overseas and have not seen them since the departure. In Nepal a braindrain takes place as all with an education leave their homecountry to realise a more prosperous life elsewhere in the world.
Seeing pictures from Nepal it surprised me to see that at the high altitudes there actually is little snow over Autumn and early Winter, just the tops of the Himalayans are covered in snow; that is the last 2000 meters up basically. But at 5000 and 6000 meters hight the slopes are naked stones from where the views are breathtaking none the less.
He'd been in Kathmandu at intervals where the airpolution is so heavy he'd used a mask to filter worst of the dirt and is happy being here again where he can go about without that cover. The sheer fact of such airpolution and lesser snowfall on the top of the earth' roof proofs once again that environmental care must be speeded up.