When a Dutch guy named Jan busted his ankle after a week's hike into the roadless moraine of the Langtang Valley, he called a helicopter to evacute him. The morning it arrived, all the villagers swarmed out from their stone houses. One family rushed up and placed their ill little girl aboard, hoping she could be flown to Kathmandu for medical treatment. The pilot, a Nepali, threw her off because her family couldn't pay. The Dutchman's able-bodied porter flew back to Kathmandu instead. The next day, though, the girl did fly to Kathmandu--alongside the body of Sharon, an Australian woman who died during her hike. Back to the main page   Back to the World Tour page   © 1999 P. Jason Cochran