Nepal was truly wonderful! I found the people very approachable and friendly, the mountain scenery was world-class, and the country itself was a much more manageable size for travel than India. I spent two months in Nepal, split about equally between sightseeing and trekking. After spending 27 days on the trekking trail I can safely say that I've fulfilled my nature cravings for the time being.

Nepal is quite small and the tourists seem to congregate in just a few areas. While in Nepal, I've run into the Israeli couple that I traveled in Tamil Nadu with, an Israeli guy I met in Mysore, an Israeli woman I had met in Rishikesh, another Israeli guy from the ashram in Rishikesh and an Australian guy who volunteered on the Auroville farm at the same time I did. It seems that everyone who was on a long trip in India is now in Nepal. (And in case you haven't noticed, there are a LOT of Israelis traveling in India and Nepal...)

One of the things I did like much better about India than Nepal was the food. Nepali people eat dal bhaat tarakari (lentils, rice and vegetable curry) twice a day, every day. It's the cheapest, easiest, most plentiful dish to eat here, but it's never exciting and it's always the same. Indian thalis at least have some variety and spice to them.

Final coda: I was happy in Nepal until the last day, which turned into many last days. My Royal Nepal Airlines flight to Hong Kong was cancelled, along with all of their other flights the whole week because their two planes both had mechanical problems and were grounded. So I, along with hundreds of other irate customers, got to spend many hours at the Royal Nepal offices and at the airport trying to find any other way of getting out of Nepal. I didn't have an approaching deadline for being in China, but I did have a deadline for leaving Nepal as my visa was due to expire in three days. My extended stay in Nepal wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't meant dealing with the seriously incompetent Royal Nepal Airlines staff. No queues, no order, striking staff, completely unresponsive staff and no corporate responsibility. If you ever travel to Nepal, I would recommend never, ever having anything to do with Royal Nepal Airlines.