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From multiple news sources. Please correct me if I'm wrong, your message happened to come out as I hear about "possible" issues in Nepal.

Denis

I arrived in Kathmandu on Oct 17 2002, flew to Lukla on october 19th, spent two weeks treking near everest and flew back to kathmandu on november 2 where i stayed until november 7th. I loved every minute of it. kathmandu is one of the most wonderful places on earth. Yes there is a maoist insurgency underway. Yes there are soldiers in the city. And no I saw no maoists. All the folk I talked to are, in fact, somewhat optimistic. The King has asserted power over an army of crooked politicians and seems enlightened regarding the country's future. Remember while nepal has maoists, washington dc recently had snipers. I looked long and hard...high and low and saw not a single maoist. i'd gladly go back tomorrow I met Gaurab Raj Upadhaya <gaurab@lahai.com>. Talked at length...fascinating guy. And damnit, in my opinion, a trip to this meeting would be worth while just to meet Tsering Gyaltsen Sherpa. 32 years old and from Namche Bazar , the Sherpa capital which is nestled at 11,000 feet 15 or 20 miles as the crow flies from the summit of Everest. In 99 and 2000 there was an internet cafe in Namche. It depended for connection to the outside world on a microwave link on towers between Lukla and Jiri. In January 2001 the Maoists blew up the repeater towers leaving namche and the everest region without internet and telecom of any kind. For all of 2001 and most of 2002 Tsering went back and forth between namche and kathmandu, picking the brains of the ISPs and trying to reestablish internet and bring local phone services to the the towns of the Solu Khumbu. Finally with VSat and radio telephones and a PBX and copper wire, he brought up a small asset based telecom/internet system in the solu khumbu on october 19, 2002. he doesn't have a web site up yet. But by the Sanog meeting he should have an excellent site up. I spent several hours with him every day from november 3 through november 7th. His plans are fascinating and testimony to both his creativeness and that of the Nepali ISPs who are helping him. i intend to assist him in a number of ways as well. If he does all he is setting out to do, he will put a floor of economic and political stability underneath the everest region. That region will be connected to the rest of the world as never before and there will be a web based repository of the region's history and culture and detailed information on all treking and climbing activities. I am much inspired by what i have seen and heard. you have here the smarts of the nepali internet combining with a creative inspired person to do stuff that could ultimately become a model for internet development in nepal and many other parts of the world. this SANOG meeting should be a MUST attend for a for a LOT of people. I apologize to the SANOG organizers for this unsolicited commercial. Gaurab has met Tsering. As far as i know Tsering will not be on the official program. But I do think it likely that he will attend the meeting. And people, if you like mountains, Nepal is Nirvanna. GO! -- ======================================================== The COOK Report on Internet, 431 Greenway Ave, Ewing, NJ 08618 USA (609) 882-2572 (phone & fax) cook@cookreport.com Subscription info & prices at http://cookreport.com/subscriptions.shtml Summary of content for 10 years at http://cookreport.com/past_issues.shtml Info on Economics of Peering, Transit & IXs November - December 118 pages available at http://cookreport.com/11.08-09.shtml ========================================================