So what about Nepal and its People?

Nepal is a funny combination of a poor and modern country. If you look around there is a lot of the West here: clothes, food (they love Italian cuisine), music, the look, especially of the young people! It's funny to see that the young people are all over the world the same: picking up the style from MTV: having funky hairstyle, mobile ploughed in their ears and the cool attitude of "I so don't care".
In many ways they are so advanced here. For example, the WiFi is in any cafe around tourist ghettos in Pokhara and KTM. And at the same time they can't handle their constant and unpredictable power cuts. There is still poverty, lack of basic facilities.
The country has such a potential given the water supply and the mountains, that they could be the biggest producer of power for China and India. But they are not.
They receive incredible amount of help from the Occident - both financial and hands-on. You wouldn't believe how many NGOs exists here, fed with the money from the West and, more importantly, staffed with skilled, enthusiastic and dedicated people from the West who fell in love with Nepal and its people.
And I can't help myself thinking: if that amount of support has been given to a state in India of a comparable size and population to Nepal, the Indians would take it on and make it flourish. Why the Nepalese can't get the wind in their sails...? Maybe too much help?
The corruption is incredibly nasty! Police, admins, politics. They have such frequent strikes in KTM that it is normal to check news before travelling to see if it is even possible. Maoist did a lot of damage, of course. Now they got into the parliament - that keeps them calmer. There is so many little parties that they are not able to creat a strong coalition to lead the country. And still no constitution... Election in November. But the people don't have much trust nor hope.

The people are kind gentle beautiful. I like their very own soft way of being. The smile is brighting up the face with this dark deep almond shaped eyes.
They are so sweet when they put the hands in a prayer on their chests as they greet you with "namaste". Imagine the little ones that hardly have the coordination to put their hands together and they scream namaste with all their might, giving you a huge banana smile. Often it is followed by "chocolate?Balloon?Pen?". Oh well, they try their luck, spoiled by some bloody tourists...
Nepalese are very respectful. When they hand you whatever, they do it with both hands: the left hand supports the right forearm that hands you the money. It feels sooo respectful.
With all their kindness and respect, I feel them reserved. It takes a moment to break the ice. Unlike with the Hindi who would return your smile with the illumination all over his/her face. But I admit: I'm not objective at all in this comparison. My heart is too much in India... :-)
Especially concerning the cuisine. Nepalese kitchen is not very sophisticated...I needed a lot of ketchup...
Nepal is undeniably very unique and beautiful country. And I wish the Nepalese that they pick up their acts wisely and quickly before the biggest richness of their land, the nature and the culture, will be destroyed.