Pokhara and Sarangkot, Nepal

The most colossal collision on the planet! The unbelievably massive Indian subcontinent is crashing into the staggeringly huge Asian continent. The result of this enormous collision is the jagged mountain range known as the Himalayas. This is the youngest and highest mountain range on Earth. The word 'himalaya' means 'place of the snow.' The mountains are so high that snow falls on their upper slopes all year long. Even when the valleys 30 miles to the south experience 100 degree days.
The mountains are also very jagged because they are so young. There hasn't been time for weather to wear down the sharp edges. Although weathering is always going on, the mountains are still being thrust skywards by the colliding continents. It's winter here, and in the deep mountain stillness at night, you can feel the subsonic rumble of the collision as you lay under a warm blanket in a village inn.

Amidst the awful violence of this clash of land masses, a group of Japanese monks have built this stately Peace Pagoda on a hill overlooking Pokhara.