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Note from Jonah: This is the continuation of a photo series from the Great Himalayan Mountain Range. The photos document a journey by car, foot, boat, plane and elephant from Tibet to Nepal.

In Kathmandu, the smell of incense fills the air as one street becomes a place of worship, a place of business and to some — home. As if a painter threw a wet brush at a blank canvas, the hues visible on any street in Nepal seem to cover the entire color spectrum. The variety of color is only matched by the diverse backgrounds of the people who inhabit the area.

Although the Nepalese were never colonized, the population has come to include a large variety of people — without a single ethnic group really dominating the population.

Nepal’s 28 million people are made up of 15.5% Chhettri, 12.5% Brahman-Hill, 7% Magar, 6.6% Tharu., 5.5% Tamang, 5.4% Newar, 4.2% Muslim, 3.9% Kami, 3.9% Yadav (32% are classified as other by the CIA World Fact Book). After a quick run down of that list, it occurred to me that I had never even heard of most of them.

This makes exploring a place one step more interesting — you are exploring both the place and the people.

While the population is Nepalese by nationality, the cultures within are greatly varied — a canvas of culture.

All of these groups have their own traditions and culture — including the way they dress. This makes walking around a place like Kathmandu a fantastic place to people watch. Although the predominant style reminds me most of Indian attire, there are many in the streets who look like they are all from different countries. A man in a Greek like toga, a man wearing traditional face paint, a woman in traditional Tibetan clothing, or a man who looks like he just got off a camel in the Middle East — there is a large variety of styles which reflect much more than preference of jeans.

These clothing styles denote history, culture and family identity.

I always found this interesting when I was working in North Africa. My colleagues could always tell where someone was from based upon the style or color of their Dashiki or Jellabiya.

Hanging out amongst this cultural grab-bag of tradition made me question how I dress and brought up some questions. When I look at these people and compare my clothing — I feel like my style of dress is just bland and boring. However, its hard to look at the situation from their eyes. Do my pants and t-shirt look exotic to them?

My residual self image, or my mental projection of myself is just that though — jeans and a t-shirt ( “… do not try to bend the spoon”). Picturing myself in a toga type outfit just doesn’t fit. However, for these people — the clothes they choose to wear is in fact, their residual self image. It is normal to them. Ergo, it would only make sense for them to look at my clothes as — unusual.

Certainly the fault in this argument (there are probably many) is, people dress like me all around the world. However, you won’t see people who dress like them in all other parts of the world. Perhaps, their clothes are more alien to us, than ours are to them.

The mix did seem more dramatic than what I have seen in my travels in other parts of the world. People in North Africa seemed to have a couple distinct styles that were all along the same lines, as did people in Tibet , China or Malaysia.

Regardless of how people dressed, most seemed very friendly and approachable, beyond the normal annoyances of people trying to weasel money out of you in any way possible. Especially those that were not trying to take your money, people seemed very genuine about talking to you and where you were from.

While I traveled across the country and back, it won’t be the miles I remember — it will be the people.

Road Trip on the Himalayan Shelf: If you’re just joining now, here’s what you’ve missed:

1. Road trip on the Himalayan Shelf
2. Lhasa: City of Sunlight, City in the Sky
3. In Tibet, People’s Liberation Army (mostly) out of site, but not out of mind
4. Attn: Crayola — a new color for you — Tibetan Blue
5. Tibetan Cloudscapes
6. Tibetan Prayer Flags Littering Roof of the World
7. Should you pay for photos? The ethics of travel photography
8. 29 Minutes and 15 Seconds on Mount Everest
9. Desertification stretching from Inner Mongolia to Tibet
10. ‘The journey not the arrival matters’
11. Namaste and welcome to Nepal
12. Kathmandu: The greatest place on earth to get lost
13. Kathmandu: Full of mystery, culture, history — and trash
14. ‘A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles’
15. Who has the strongest necks in the world?
16. Hey hey, they’re some monkeys
17. After the Himalayan: The Terai
18. Watch where you step: Chitwan National Park
19. At the end of the road: Pokhara
20. Final Destination 8 (in 3D): The luckiest travelers in the world
21. Tibet to Nepal: ‘The Journey Not the Arrival Matters’