A few weeks ago I travelled to Nepal to join a hiking trip to the Annapurna Base Camp. It was quite arduous. However, it gave me a view of the countryside.
I also spent days in Kathmandu taking in sights that I can use in the novel. The city is awesome. It is full of colorful real people, and I will enjoy building up my characters with some of my observations.
Our hotel, Thamel EcoResort was like a "best exotic marigold hotel," full of trekkers, missionaries, teachers, world travelers stopping between Tibet and Bhutan, and so on. I could go back there for more stories!
See my longer story report with many pictures at
http://momox.org/nepalruta.pdf