Nepal

A photograph of a dental clinic in Namche Bazaar, Nepal, that appeared in yesterday's Maryland section was incorrectly credited. The photographer was Larry Canner.A seasoned traveler with a taste for the exotic, Brian Hollander went to Nepal 13 years ago with one goal in mind: to see the world's highest mountain. Hike its trails. Gaze at its majesty.Roll the tape forward: In March, he's dedicating one of the world's highest dental clinics, a two-story stone building that sits 11,500 feet high in a Himalayan village on the trekking path to Mount Everest.

It can happen overnight: Your travel destination turns into a newsmaking trouble spot. Do you cancel or go? Joan Weber, co-owner of the touring company Journeys International, just went through this process. She was scheduled to lead a small group to Nepal on June 17, just weeks after the assassinations of nine members of the royal family in Katmandu. The assassinations were followed by street violence and bombings. There was concern that the instability might continue or escalate. Two factors helped Weber make the decision to go: First, this particular trip was a specialty tour, designed for American women to meet Nepalese women.

Russian investing in utilities discussed WASHINGTON -- Russian, American, European and Japanese officials are negotiating over whether Russia should be allowed greater latitude to invest in utilities, pipelines, natural gas facilities and other infrastructure in the United States and Europe. In a draft declaration for endorsement at a Group of 8 summit meeting next month in St. Petersburg, Russia, broadened access for Russia is paired with something the West wants: endorsement of market principles and greater access for foreign investment in the energy industry of Russia, one of the biggest oil and natural gas producers in the world.

"The plane banked toward Katmandu, cutting low across the jagged ridge lines and into the valley bottom. Descending through the final clouds, the city suddenly revealed itself. To the east, temples stood above the city. Flooded rice paddies stretched to the west. Directly below us the red brick buildings were piled against one another."-- Chris Warner, Aug. 26It's one more example of the incredible shrinking universe, and technology is the reason. Next week, some Maryland schoolchildren will climb a mountain -- at least in cyberspace -- halfway around the world.

From Lake Champlain in Vermont to the Gokyo Valley of Nepal, from Antarctica to the jungles of Cambodia, and from the sidewalks of Nice to the wilderness of Zimbabwe, The Sun's readers have logged some serious travel miles this year -- and they have the photos to prove it. Every Sunday, the Travel Section's Personal Journeys page features trips taken by our readers and includes a Best Shot. As 2000 draws to a close, what better way to thank our many contributors than by offering a Best of the Best Shots from the past year?

KATHMANDU, NEPAL -- Understandably, the recent coup in Pakistan, and consequent unrest in that country, continue to worry observers around the world. But few outside South Asia realize that the political upheaval in Pakistan has created an innocent victim.The annual Summit of South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC), scheduled for this weekend in Kathmandu, was postponed after India's declaration that the time wasn't suitable to holding a "productive" summit.The Indian withdrawal, the first-ever by a SAARC member-state on grounds of developments in a neighboring country, sets a dangerous precedent.

KATMANDU, Nepal -- The little girl became Nepal's official living goddess the day before she turned 4, a grandly ceremonial event that made her parents enormously proud, for a divine spirit was about to enter their daughter and she would be worshiped by the nation, carried around on a gilded chariot and bowed down to, even by the king.But now, seven years later, her parents, Amrit and Namita Shakya, are sorry they allowed their girl to be plucked from obscurity and turned into the pampered goddess, the royal kumari.

At 1:30 a.m. on a chilly autumn night, the telephone rings in a brick house in North Baltimore and awakens Keith P. West Jr. Of a long list of possible callers from a dozen time zones, it turns out to be a cargo supervisor at Los Angeles International Airport. A gray plastic shipping container the size of a dishwasher has toppled off a conveyor belt. White fog is seeping from the seams, and West's name is on the address label. Should I call the fire department? the panicky cargo man asks.

KATHMANDU, Nepal -- New Year's Eve was a party time for millions of Indians. The Flight IC 814 standoff had come to a happy end with the Indian government announcing the release of three Kashmiri separatists in exchange for the 160 passengers -- most of them Indians -- on board. The perils of an eight-day ordeal were over. The new year could not have started on a better note. But the euphoria soon gave way to outrage. You didn't need an analyst to point out that the government had ended up paying a heavy price for the deal.

Chris Warner, a project director with Outward Bound in Baltimore, is preparing to climb Ama Dablam, a 22,494-foot peak in the Mount Everest region of Nepal. The ascent by Warner, 26, and Glen Dunmire of Estes Park, Colo., will be the first of its kind on the mountain's west face. Periodic reports from Warner will appear in The Sun.AMA DABLAM, Nepal -- The 1990 American Direct Expeditiohas established its base camp on a five-acre grass plain at 15,110-feet elevation, directly beneath the west face of Ama Dablam.