Not may people know that volleyball is a popular sport amongst Nepalese Sherpas.  Given the lack of flat land in the Himalayas its not surprising that they chose a sport that requires a small court in which you can pack as many people as you like, to ensure that the minimum effort is required. After all, at 3000m above sea-level, breathing gets kind of hard.

But that's not all the Nepalese are good at.  They are also very talented at making chocolate cakes on camp stoves and carrying foreigners' back-packs that are twice their own weight.  Sometimes they have even been known to carry the foreigners themselves, when one suffers from an extreme case of altitude sickness.  

The Nepalese also have a great sense of humour.  When bombarded with cries of "bassnoss, rest!" and "do we get to go downhill soon?", they would always reply with a mischievious smile: "little bit up, little bit down".  But they never minded staying behind to encourage me up the mountains as I struggled to find my fitness.  They also didn't mind when we translated their Nepalese names into Aussie and came up with "Dave" and "Hitman".

Sherpas are also very quick at learning how to do the hokey-pokey and will even attempt to sing along with big smiles and lots of enthusiasm.  Their own style of dancing involves a fair bit of hopping and extended arms like wings of an aeroplane, but its startlingly infectious.

One of my favourite types of Nepalese, is the monks.  While painting the monastery at Tengboche, we were watched by shy monks, who giggled when we spoke to them.  They looked as though they would sit there all day, just to learn something from us.  In time they left to practice theirs prayers - that delightful mumbling which, heralded with a horn, woke us at 6am every morning, as the Sherpas poured warm tea into our metal cups.