July 19: Today I Arrived in Kathmandu

Before my driftwood fire I sit,
And see with every waif I burn,
Old dreams and fancies coloring it,
And folly’s unlaid ghosts return.

John Greenleaf Whittier

There is a great mountain in central Nepal called Annapurna, Goddess of the Harvests. This book recalls a walking tour in this lofty and exhilarating region.

A time capsule from a world that has now largely passed, July 19: Today I Arrived in Kathmandu recounts the author’s journey, interleaved with memories stirred by events along the trail, setting off trains of reminiscence and prompting the old dreams, the fancies, and the unlaid ghosts to take over.

Peter MacFarquhar evolved into a keen India traveler by a fairly circuitous route. He was originally from New England, but soon moved to South Africa when his parents went there to work. He started school in The Hague in the Netherlands a short time later, and then spent the rest of his childhood and teenage years in Benghazi and Marsa Brega in Libya. Following the usual order of things, he returned to the United States to attend university, eventually earning an M.A. in TEFL from the University of Hawaii. From there he transferred to the Middle East and worked at a number of universities in the Gulf region for several decades. During this period he took up long distance walking, and began traveling extensively in India, Sri Lanka and Nepal, by train and on foot. He has recently retired from international education, and now lives in central Florida. He hopes to resume his wandering life in the near future.