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Check out the whole story, and listen to Hooman rave about ZONK: Half Human on Hooman.

Uh! The new album rocks. I'm getting down at work.

So! I'm back from the land of lentils and yeti and fake North Face� gear, and since I just answered my mom's request for info, I'll tell you what I told her:

It was great! We'll have an online slideshow available soon, maybe even this week - we want to add more than just pictures to give a real impression of what it was like, so it's not ready yet.

It was a bit sketchy going at this time... all sorts of warnings... "Nepal on the Brink of Humanitarian Crisis" was my favorite. I would say that it felt like none of that was going on, except for the wonderful lack of tourists and the military/police checkpoints, which were tame.

Everyone had heard that Everest was the safer region - it's in the NE and the Maoists have influence in much of the NW, but our guide convinced us to go on the Annapurna Circuit ... "The Best Trek in the World" - according to some traveller magazine I read... and we're glad he did. Not only did he grow up there, but due to the Maoists' transportation strike grinding travel to a near halt (it took us a day and a half to make a "6 hour" bus ride) there were maybe 8-10 other trekkers leaving that day... much less than the 100 or so you might get normally at this time of year.

Ahh, the Himalayas all to ourselves.

Our guide, Binod, helped us learn the language, how to play the bamboo flute, and taught us a lot about the culture and region, while most of the other trekkers, notably a couple from Sweden, a couple from Germany, and a couple from Russia (I became their unofficial translator - as all the others spoke varying degrees of English), went without guides. Our porter, Chandra Tamang, had an eternal infectious smile, and he would make us eat his dust within 10 minutes of our early morning starts, despite his foam sandals and the 50 kilo basket secured on his back by a strap around his forehead.

The best part for me was the almost daily change in ecosystem and culture - it seemed like a new country every other day or so... a different tribe of locals, graduating from hot river valley to green hills to alpine forests to rocky mountain to snow-covered pass to desolate, windy, rocky riverbed, to dense, rainy forests to the deepest gorge in the world - very green and spotted with lovely villages, to jungles, to rhododendron forests reminding us of the planet in the Degoba system where Luke first meets Yoda, to lakeside resort town, back to hot river valley, and finally back one of the most heavily polluted cities in the world, Kathmandu. That town is crazy.

But, this is just a teaser.. you must wait for the slideshow for more. There will be at least one Northern California and one Southern California showing (at Justin's house).

Finally, let me answer the rest of mom's very pertinent questions.

Did you fly into Lukla Airport in the Everest region? I hear it�s safest and that foreigners are somewhat protected and given room to roam in the classic trekking areas without worry.
Nope - we decided on the Annapurna Circuit, not close to Everest, but still containing several of the 10 highest mountains in the world (8 of the 10 are Himalayan). That is supposedly true that the area is safer, but we felt safe in Annapurna, as well.

Were you ever confronted by the Maoists asking for money as you trekked?
Interestingly enough, after fully preparing ourselves for the encounter, we never got extorted. Everyone else on the trek had to pay -- they give you a receipt so later Maoists don't double charge you. They consider it much like the conservation fee the government charges for entering the different regions of nepal... not extortion. History is written by the victors, so it is yet to be determined which it is.

Were there any strikes going on?
The transportation strike. It was kind of cool.

It�s sickening that such an outstandingly beautiful country has had to endure so much inner turmoil; I understand that after 10 years of warring and more than 11,000 people killed, the country is now on the brink of catastrophe. Is that the sense of it there?
Well, life goes on, even when your government is ineffective due to corruption and misuse of funds (Which seems to be the general sentiment of the people we met), and 100 miles from the nearest government office, a Maoist group working for the people might seem like a good idea. In our area, and Kathmandu, the country certainly did not seem on the brink of any sort of catastrophe, except perhaps politically - not something the average villager cares too much about. The Annapurna trek goes through about 50 villages, all accustomed to 25 years of trekkers/tourists, so even the people we talked at length with may have been a little averse to telling us the grimiest details. Many were somewhat starved for business and hoping that the warnings against travel to Nepal would be lifted.

How do people feel about the king taking over?
In the Annapurna region, the few people we talked to about the king suggested that many people - due to the lack of information available about the incident with the former King's son - believe that the new King could have been involved... conspiracy theory stuff, except for the fact that there's been so much secrecy around the whole deal that, really, anything could have happened. Otherwise, the one or two people who were willing to talk at any length about the King weren't exactly in love with him. Again, misuse of funds and corruption were words thrown around.

That's all you get for now. Finishing the new album madly, and looking at life with a fresh perspective. Nepal's good livin'.

Now, I'm no Bono, but I think we're pretty much fucked.

I'm going to get drunk tonight at the show and make up a song about how John Ashcroft anoints himself with crisco oil before taking office. And if you don't believe it's true, you can google that shit.

Then I'll make a 4 year prediction about the future state of the world.

... if nic will let me use the microphone.