[wavefunction]

"Backpacking" in the US is conceptually and vernaculary different from trekking, not to argue something you probably know already and aren't claiming. The guesthouses in these countries were also government sponsored or owned-outright in my experience. There's an economic benefit to providing employment for the caretakers and of course for foreign tourism and even local travelers.

Maybe highway rest-stops are the closest analog for the US but even many of those have been shuttered by governments driven to parsimony.

[fooker]

Not just guesthouses though, it’s pretty easy to find a place to sleep in small villages.

The word for it is ‘home-stay’, there are a few houses in every village that are set up to accommodate guests for a very reasonable amount of money.

And these villages are pretty much everywhere.

I have been lost in the Himalayas, and it was not that much work to walk down the river to a village.

[wavefunction]

Isn't that due to a different relationship to travel? Many on foot, villagers passing through from one area to another perhaps for the market, it makes sense that there will be more opportunities for "walk-in" accommodations. In the US the expectation would be someone flying or driving long distances, or perhaps taking a bus, but not to sell produce at the regional market on foot. And foreign travelers to the US are often people of some financial means or are operating in specialized systems geared towards immigrants, like some of the "mexican" coach services in some states.

I did find, like it seems you did, that I loved traveling through Nepal and the accommodations you've described. Remarkable and tough people living hard lives with resilient cheer.