In the Kathmandu morning valley, on days clear of clouds, you can clearly see from forested foothills above the haze of pollution and smoke sitting on the city like a blanket—a layer of orangey brown that obscures most of the city but doesn’t cut off the views of the highest peaks of the Himalayas beyond. And then, as the day progresses, the sun pours in, the valley warms, the traffic increases, and gradually the hazy blanket rises, climbing up the view of the mountains beyond, the hills your standing on obviously engulfed, all the time the smoky hazy line rising higher until, come noon or early after, the peaks of the mountains can no longer be seen. But clearly into view rises below: Kathmandu.