The day of Holi is a national holiday in Nepal. A religious spring festival celebrated by Hindus, Holi is also known as the festival of colors. It is believed the combination of different colors played at this festival take all sorrow away and make life itself more colorful. People walk down their neighborhoods to celebrate Holi by exchanging colors and spraying colored water on one another. A popular activity is the throwing of water balloons.

On hearing Holi would be observed today, we decided we wanted to witness rather than participate in the fun. The rooftop garden of our hotel offered an excellent vantage point, so we spent the day high above the crowds sunning, reading, and watching. Below, roving bands of young men and boys patrolled the narrow streets, dousing passersby and vehicles alike with water balloons and fistfuls of brightly colored powders. No one was safe, but young women seemed a favorite target. We saw women on rooftops below ours retaliate by dumping buckets of water on Holi revelers below. In the evening, when things returned to normal, we ventured out to shop and eat. A restful day, but we both realized how antsy we were to begin our trek…