We'll climb that hill No matter how steep/ When we get up to it!

The views are breathtaking. The altitude won't let me have enough air to have my breath taken away. I met a Sherpa Inn owner yesterday who wore an Obama for Prez campaign button. Her sister lives in Santa Barbara, used to work for some CNN-famous talking head lawyer, Jesse something.

There are many off-the-beaten path villages I have envied and dreamt of one day retiring to, a Gauguin-like "love-them-locals" in search of my own Picairn Island.

Here, in the Himilayas, just across the border from China, in the shadow of Everest, is not a place I envy. I can find an Internet cafe obviously. What I really really want is a hot shower.