Why does your trekking guide in Nepal put so much baking soda in your food?

[ergophobe]

To make you sick so they can bilk you out of money with an elaborate helicopter rescue scheme.

It's also why your travel/rescue insurance might not work in Nepal anymore

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/25/world/asia/nepal-everest-insurers-fraud.html

[rcjordan]

^{Perhaps related}

Didn't I read that the government was going to reduce the number of tourists allowed to climb annually?

[littleman]

My family has been helping to support a school in Nepal for about ten years.  Outside of the tourist zone the country is so poor that it takes very little to make an impact with US dollars -- not that we've done enough to get them everything the need. 

[Mackin USA]

That is great LM
What they NEED is to learn English so they can become Sherpas.
My son and granddaughter spent two weeks teaching in a monistary school above 12,000 feet in Nepal and then went on to the EBC.

[rcjordan]

>didn't I read

China: No Permit, No Trip to Everest Base Camp
http://www.newser.com/story/271372/china-no-permit-no-trip-to-everest-base-camp.html


TL;DR: Nasty Hobbitses

[littleman]

MM, your son looks a lot like you!

Everything I read lately is that China is cracking down all over the place and becoming increasingly unfriendly to tourists.

[littleman]

So were in the planning stage for another trip.  I may be going this time.  The school has a few computers, but no internet access.  I was thinking that a harddrive with a searchable local copy of Wikipedia might be very useful for them.  Now I have to figure out how to do that.