The bodies had been annointed and set up at the edge of the river. All of them were completely exposed. They also had gold balls in their mouths, and were decorated with ribbons and a lot of red dye. They actually looked like they were painted with blood, but it really was just dye.

Every day, about 40 to 50 people were cremated at this river. So there was a rather distinctive smell in the air. In fact, when I closed my eyes, I could have sworn I was back in the jungle. You don’t forget that smell.

The people that attended those cremations were typically family members of the departed. Since these were Hindu cremations, they were accompanied by a series of chants as the family gathered around.

I found it very interesting that they allowed me to be right there with the family. No one seemed to mind that I had the camera and took pictures. For some photos, I was just three feet away from the departed.

Among the bodies was a young woman who looked like she was probably just in her 30s. Her family was around her and you could clearly see her face, which is why I could tell how old she was.

The families there tend to be very close, but they don’t have much. If people do have a business at all, it mostly amounts to just having a few things that they sell out of very small shops.

The whole educational process there is based on the same scam that we have in the US. It teaches people that the government is there for everything and will help you, so there’s very little entrepreneurial spirit and activity.

I actually talked with a couple of people about opening a distribution store. And I found that in Thailand it’s even more complicated for foreigners to set up businesses than it is for the people who live there. They have very high tax rates and tariffs.

I need to spend some time figuring out how to get around that. In Thailand at least, certain kinds of businesses can get exemptions from a lot of the tariffs and taxes, particularly businesses that are considered very necessary.

And the same thing applies to Nepal. From what I’ve seen during my travels, the whole concept of free enterprise and laissez faire is really being beaten up there.

So one of the things that I thought that I could do is help people with their own businesses, rather than just sit there and get on a soapbox. You’re not gonna change people’s lives by talking to them in a condescending manner.

But you can make a difference if you can actually open up a business and help people acquire wealth, and more directly, get them to think about what they want to do with their lives.

Tribhuvan International rests at about 4,500 ft above sea level. Flying into Nepal’s capital gives you the impression (at least looking at it from above) that it is a sleepy city. Once you land, however, this notion is quickly corrected.

Kathmandu has about 2 million people squeezed into a small area. Even coming from Thailand (itself considered a third world country), you can see right away that Nepal is wracked with poverty.

The dust creates some of the worst air pollution I’ve ever experienced. The smog all but blocks out the Himalayas from site. Traffic is congested throughout the day, making it difficult to get anywhere in the city.

But we didn’t stay in the city…

Instead, we went to a place in the middle of nowhere, far outside of Kathmandhu. They’ve got this beautiful monastery out there, at Chapageon.

That’s where I had tentatively planned to complete a feasibility study on installing solar panels (more details on that in another post). It’s all part of the work I do for my business and my private foundation.

You see… I love traveling in Asia, especially in Thailand and Tibet. If used properly, I could pursue this philanthropic cause through my private foundation to help people in that area.

Assuming that my foundation was properly set up and its Mission Statement appropriate, this could allow me to travel in Asia on official charity business. Proper due diligence, among other things, would determine who to help and how to help them.

The cool thing is that I get to live my passion and do it all in a tax efficient manner. Yet my work for my charity is probably the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done.

So as we were traveling to the monastery at Chapageon, I finally reached my two primary contacts there, Nikki Glegg and Joel Ho. And once I arrived, I found them to be wonderful hosts and two of the most admirable people I’ve met in a long time. Nikki ran the medical center and Joel (an engineer by training) was the jack-of-all problems on site.

I also got to meet the almost 60 boys who are monks in training. They’re all between the ages of about 5 years old and maybe 10 or 11 years old. All of them were very, very polite.

All of the boys are orphans and the monastery represents their whole life. While training to become monks, they are not required to take the cloth and in fact are trained in many areas of the trades. Some will eventually choose to leave the monastery and build their lives outside the monastery, while others will remain with the monastery for their entire lives.

I spent maybe 50 bucks getting what’s called “Moomoos.” It’s kind of like dumplings. And that’s their idea of a party in the monastery. They all drank Cokes, and then they all did this wonderful dance for me and my group after what we had done.

It was striking to see how a relatively small sum could make such a difference to the boys — and to the monastery. I’ll write more about that next time…