This road ran between Lhasa and Kathmandu.
Twenty miles farther
Another dirt road diverged to Khailash.
The van stopped there and drove off to the Holy Mountain
A thousand kilometers away to the west.
I stood at the t-bone intersection
Headed south to Nepal.
I couldn’t have been happier in such desolation
Whereas I freak out in airports.
Safe and sound from the elements.
Here I was safe.
Another Tibetan driver heading to the border picked me up.
The dirt road crested a 5000-meter ridge
The horizon filled by the Himalayas
We stopped at a tea shop
I ate a bowl of noodles.
That night
Giardia.
I damn near died.
I spent the next week in a Kathmandu hotel
Puking out my guts.
When I was strong enough to leave my room,
I walked outside headed to the Yeti Hotel.
Something was wrong with the eerie green light
I thought my eyes were fucked up, but the sun had been eclipsed by moon.
I was alive.
No freak out.
The never-changing life afore the rain shadow of the monsoon.
Lazurus II