Dailekh, Nepal

Hasta Bahadur Shahi, 18, bathes his dog, Johny, in Karnali River in Dailekh, Nepal. He enjoys spending time with 1-year-old Johny in the river on Saturdays during school holidays.

Jana Marg, Kathmandu, Nepal

Jagar Nath Shah sells pani puri, a ball-shaped snack, to schoolchildren in Jana Marg, Kathmandu, Nepal. Shah, who has sold pani puri in Kathmandu for 15 years, had to temporarily close his business and relocate to his village to farm during the coronavirus pandemic.

Lohsal, Kathmandu, Nepal

Nilu Bhandari grinds turmeric in Lohsal, Kathmandu, Nepal. Bhandari says she has sold more turmeric, which is widely used in Nepalese households for cooking and health benefits, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Namobuddha, Kavrepalanchok, Nepal

Mahendra Lama adorns a Buddhist stupa with flower symbols using a natural dye made from marigolds in Namobuddha, Kavrepalanchok, Nepal.

Sukedhara, Kathmandu, Nepal

Bipul Limbu washes clothes in Sukedhara, Kathmandu, Nepal. Because of a water shortage, Limbu and his family come here at least five times a day to collect water, do laundry and take baths.

Bhaktapur, Nepal

Krishna Shyam Prajapati makes clay lamps for the Tihar festival in Bhaktapur, Nepal. During the five-day Hindu festival, people decorate their homes, shops and offices, and light the lamps to welcome Laxmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity.

Bhaktapur, Nepal

Sarita Lama shades a thanka, a Tibetan painting, before adding 24-karat gold in Bhaktapur, Nepal. Five artists will work on this painting for about seven months using natural pigments, made from plants and stones, which last for centuries.

Chapal Kharkana, Kathmandu, Nepal

Sandeep Bhandari visits houses to conduct COVID-19 tests in Chapal Kharkana, Kathmandu, Nepal. He says during the second coronavirus wave he conducted at least 50 tests a day, four to five times more than usual.

Kathmandu, Nepal

Musicians worship by playing devotional music at Swayambhunath stupa in Kathmandu, Nepal. During the Gunla, a holy month celebrated by Newar Buddhists, musical groups visit holy places and play songs.

Kathmandu, Nepal

Kumar Rasaili embosses the figure of a goddess in a singing bowl at his shop in Swayambhu, Kathmandu, Nepal. Rasaili says tourists are his typical customers and the coronavirus pandemic has hampered his business.

Kathmandu, Nepal

Bal Krishna Shrestha eats corn as he waits for customers on Ring Road in Kathmandu. Shrestha says he usually drives around the city to look for customers, but because of an increase in gas prices, he cannot afford to waste fuel.

Kathmandu, Nepal

People, aged 64, line up outside a school to receive their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine in Budhanilkantha, Kathmandu, Nepal. The government has distributed vaccines in phases to people since January 2021.

Kathmandu, Nepal

Police check citizens for identification to enforce nonessential-movement restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic in Chabahil, Kathmandu, Nepal.

Kathmandu, Nepal

A cremation attendant in Kathmandu, Nepal, tends to the body of a 61-year-old woman who died of COVID-19 earlier in the day.

Kathmandu, Nepal

Sandeep Lama, Ram Magar and Raj Chhetri, from left, lay underground cables in Budhanilkantha, Kathmandu, Nepal. During the coronavirus lockdowns, workers for the Nepal Electricity Authority take advantage of the quiet streets to improve infrastructure.

Lalitpur, Nepal

Pigeons scatter across Patan Durbar Square in Lalitpur, Nepal. The streets were empty except for patrolling police during a second lockdown in April as a result of a surge in COVID-19 cases.

Kathmandu, Nepal

Students practice taekwondo during a class in Kapan, a neighborhood in Kathmandu, Nepal. Shyam Thapa Magar, who teaches classes every morning and evening, also trains members of the national team.

Kathmandu, Nepal

Sunita Adhikari holds her 7-month-old daughter, Swastika Adhikari, while Shanta Rai, a health care worker, administers medicine at Shankha Park in Kathmandu, Nepal. The government provides free vitamin A tablets and other medicine to children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years to improve health and decrease child mortality.

Boudha, Nepal

Yeshe Thinley, a 16-year-old monk, prepares an altar for worship at Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery in Boudha, Nepal. The altar holds a kudung, the body of a religious teacher believed to be sacred after they pass away. Kyabje Chokling Rinpoche died in December 2020, and his kudung will be kept in the monastery for one year so his pupils and disciples can pay their last respects.

Sancha Maya Limbu cleans the walls of the Bhimsen temple amid reconstruction work at Patan Durbar Square in Lalitpur, Nepal. The temple was destroyed in the April 2015 earthquake. Reconstruction began in 2019 but was temporarily halted in 2020 due to COVID-19.

Kathmandu, Nepal

In Gairidhara, a neighborhood in Kathmandu, Nepal, Binay Kumar Bista and Barsana Bista, 1, write on the Saraswati temple’s walls with white chalk during Saraswati Puja, a festival that marks the arrival of spring. Barsana is celebrating the festival for the first time, and Bista prays to Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge, for the infant to gain wisdom.

Kathmandu, Nepal

Sani Pariyar, 17, chops chicken at a shop in Jorpati, a neighborhood in Kathmandu, Nepal. Customers flock to the shop because they only sell local chicken, which they display out front. He says people consume the chicken mostly during festivals and on Saturdays.

Kathmandu, Nepal

Chandra Kesari Bajracharya makes cotton wicks for butter lamps near the Jana Bahal temple in Kathmandu, Nepal. Tourists and locals who visit the city’s temples purchase the butter lamps for prayer.

Dhading, Bagmati province, Nepal

Man Bahadur Magar, 40, sits beside the Pritivi Highway and waits for customers to buy fish caught in the Trisuli River in Dhading, a district in Nepal’s Bagmati province. As vehicles pass, he waves to the passengers, hoping to catch their attention. He occasionally waters the fish to keep them fresh.