“What my eyes see, your eyes see. Let the camera do the talking, and let me do the walking.”
Typically, foreign travelers visiting Nepal arrive in the nation’s capital, Kathmandu, which is precisely where Joseph Duoto’s story begins.
“When I first got there in September, I noticed in Kathmandu, that there wasn’t much going on,” Joseph said. “When I returned in November, whoa was I impressed. There was the tourist season, lots and lots of people.”
Of course, Joseph had absolutely no intent of being a typical tourist. In fact, he wanted out of Kathmandu. That way, he could retreat to the mountains, where he’s always felt at home.
“I stayed at the Kathmandu Guest House, like I did on all my previous trips, but that was just for the first few days,” he said.
Because of the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake, there was some concern that the tourism industry took a big hit. In fact, the earthquake killed nearly 9000 people, and caused around $10 billion of damage.
“At one point, I was like the only person up there,” he said. “I had the whole lodge to myself.”
Despite its immense beauty, the landlocked Nepal is one of the poorest nations in the world. The damage caused by the Gorkha Earthquake was approximately 50 percent of the nation’s nominal GDP. As you can imagine, the earthquake really shattered the nation, at least momentarily.
By far, tourism is Nepal’s largest industry. This is largely due to the fact that Nepal is home to the tallest mountain the world, Mount Everest.
While Joseph had no desire to climb Everest itself, he did plan to make it to base camp again, and take in its vast beauty.
While enjoying the scenery was the important part of the journey, Joseph did embark on this trip with a side quest.
“My son sent me with these iVUE glasses,” he said. “When I first put the glasses on, I kind of told myself: what my eyes see, your eyes see. Let the camera do the talking, and let me do the walking”