A friend just brought a steaming thermos of salt and butter tea into the office, and the greasy brew warms me a bit as it goes down. But the tea is quickly cold in the frigid office. It’s noon and I haven’t removed my down jacket today, and nor do I expect to.

It’s not that Kathmandu is all that cold, it’s a balmy 43 degrees outside right now and this is about as cold as it ever gets here. But, the complete lack of indoor heat seems to drop the temperature another ten degrees at least.

I just got back into Kathmandu from Colorado, where the mercury was well below zero for a week. I figured that this somehow made me rugged and hardy, that the sub-sub-tropical climate here can’t phase me. I mean, come on, I had icicles in my beard last week.

But my fingers are chattering out another story altogether.

God, it’s good to be back!