We arrived in Pokhara safely and are preparing for a grueling 12 hour truck ride across remote mountain territory tomorrow. The streets of Pokhara. At the monastery, we handed over a pile of gear donated by Sherpa Gear for the monks - fleeces, rain jackets, and hats, very nice stuff. My free-from-sponsorship rain jacket went missing on my last Nepal trip, so now I've successfully gone two in a row from donations... nice. Scott hands out the Sherpa Gear gear. Lama Tashi tries on a Sherpa Gear hat. Lama kunga demonstrates how you'll blow away in the wind if you don't have the proper gear to Elizabeth! We took a quick tour around the facility, and for the first time since the temple's completion I was granted camera access to the new monastery - an absolutely gorgeous work of art, every inch of every wall a different demon, god/dess, or buddha. Ceremonial bells. Scott, Jeff, and Lama Kunga before the golden Buddha statue. On the way down the steps Jeff had a problem with his iPhone and asked if anyone knew what to do. Scott and I both scratched our heads as Lama Kunga deftly snatched the phone from Jeff, solved the problem, and went about his way. I swear, the man is a force of nature. Tech-savvy Lama Kunga fixes an iPhone. Time to get some sleep - long ride tomorrow. Internet may or may not be a possibility out there, so I'll catch up with more on the 27th or 28th, if not sooner! Daniel

Visited the Pema Ts'al Monastery this afternoon, lots of familiar faces and happy reunions. As we began planning our logistics into Mustang, I couldn't help but notice Lobsang's new tattoo: a stark, bold, "Save Tibet" right across his forearm. When I asked him about it, he said it was two months old. Why did he do it, I asked. "Someone told me: to be born Tibetan is to be born an activist. I have thought very much about this, and decided that in this way I will spread my message." During the tour I pulled him aside for some photos, so I can help in that endeavor. - Daniel

@ Yak&Yeti Hotel - here I am with Scott, Jeff, and Apa Sherpa - also known as the "Super Sherpa" and world record holder of 21 Everest summits. Most unassuming looking badass climber I've ever met. More on this amazing fellow: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apa_Sherpa

So here I am in Kathmandu - honestly, it's starting to feel like a second home. Last night we went out for local food, Raksi and some beautiful Nepali dancing. Nepal is pumping me with good energy - a few days ago I was a sniffling wreck coming off of a feature in Rhode Island, three weeks of long hours and bad diet left me with a cold, a bacterial infection, and the most concerned look a nurse has ever given me on my pre-Nepal physical. But already I'm shaking the illness and bursting with energy to get out into the field and make something beautiful. Here's the skinny: Scott Hamilton's leveraged support from Dooley Intermed and other donors for a followup project in lower Mustang - a crackshot operation with only about 6 field days, but a much larger team of docs and surgeons on the ground. We're hoping to see a lot of people in a short period of time, and our friends at Pema Ts'al have been hard at work organizing the communities to make that possible. With luck there'll be some riding out to a few of the more remote places, but mostly we're playing it closer to the chest on this one, with a lot less travel. This is a nice opportunity for me to try out some new gear - 100mm Macro lens for those supercloseups on the surgery and eye work, slider for some nice moving shots with the 5DMK3 and hopefully some timelapse with the motor. Since we're only moving three times instead of every day, and my output for this one is going to be a short rather than a feature, I think I'll have a lot of room to play around and get great material. After we wrap on the 26th, I'm catching a plane to Bali to see my little sister for a few days. If her accounts are anything near accurate, I'm in for an epic battle with the infinite proliferations of demonic alien forces that flood the Vedic cosmic. Can't wait. I'll try to update periodically from the field, bandwidth willing. Thanks for reading! Daniel

We recently had an awesome first premiere of Haydom Hospital: Facing Life Without Care in Michal's studio in the Mission, as pictured above. The studio was packed full with about 100 people, audience feedback was overwhelming and about a dozen people told me they were in tears during some of the more intense scenes... so I think we've done our job well, despite the very difficult content. Our public release will be happening any day... we've decided to release the entire film online with a donate option where people can give directly to help doctor Theresa's excellent educational foundation for Haydom - if you can read German, you can see her blog here. More release details to follow soon. UPDATE: The film is officially released online! You can watch it here. Or get involved here.