it turned out to be convenient to drop by the nepal embassy in DC to get my visa before the trek.  it’s in a neat old building near many other embassies just off connecticut ave. the visa room looked like an old style living room or home library from the early 1900s and a quiet man sat at a small table. he took my $40. and said the visa would be ready on friday afternoon which just happened to be the day/time I was going to be driving near dc again. seemed like good karma. on friday, the visa was complete, and my passport was in a little cubbyhole arranged by surname/alphabet. that’s all there was to it. i wandered around inside the embassy for a little while but it was very small and there wasn’t much to see. extremely relaxed atmosphere in there. so now i have my visa. i could have waded through the mass of humanity in the kathmandu airport and bought it there (in probably less overall time) but this was more interesting. here’s a picture of the building.