Band-e Amir

Band-e Amir is excellent! This is just what we all needed, we've spent far too much time in Peshawar, and then a couple of days in Kabul after that. This is the perfect getaway!

The day before we left Bamiyan, a middle aged Aussie guy (peter) moved into one of the rooms across from us. He's been EVERYWHERE and he travels on his Harley! Pretty sweet. Anyway, he was also interested in going to Band-e Amir and since 4 other English speaking travellers were headed there he decided to go with us and then come back to check out Bamiyan later, rather than sooner. He left his Harley at the guest house and we all spent the next morning negotiating a price to Band-e Amir. In the end we setteled on 1,800 Afghani's between the 5 of us (The price included sleeping over one night and then driving back the next day), not bad and much cheaper then we were quoted in the first couple of hours, but still a nice fat amount of money for the driver. And yes, we all spent several hours,(separately) negotiating...

We ended up taking a Jeepish-SUV type thing, so for the first (and last) time in Afghanistan, were were actually very comfortable, plus the road there was good!! The drive only lasted about 3 hours and the landscape on the way looked a lot like Tibet, beautiful! The lakes of Band-e Amir appeared to be in a valley, more like a canyon and when we got to the edge of the cliff overlooking all of the lakes we were all stunned! The deep blue lakes were amazing, perfectly blue and the edges were turquoise. From our view point we could see at least 5-7 lakes spread out between a few miles. Some of them were attached to each other by no more than a foot or two of water, which would eventually make it's way into the next lake, which would in turn be caught by a natural damn like wall of minerals and other earth like elements. Only small amounts of water are able to escape the security of the walls and would sometimes turn into small waterfalls themselves on the outside of the natural damn. That same waterfall freezes in the winter, would love to see that! To add to it all, the scenery had once again changed. The color of the cliff's, mountains and natural stone monuments looked orange-ish and a lot like parts of Utah in the U.S. What we saw from the cliff top looked like an elaborate setting for a fantasy movie.

After snapping a few pic's we jumped back into the jeep, all excited like kids on their way to the beach. After the long winding road we finally arrived. We quickly grabbed our backpacks and scrambled towards the main lake, not worried at all about ditching our driver. As we arrived lake side, there were actually about ten shacks set up selling snacks, drinks and other eatable items as well as the usual cheap tourist items. Next to the shacks, against a cliff wall and further from the water, were three Chai-khana's (spl?). Chai-Khana's are common in Afghanistan and they double as restaurants and places to sleep. Chaikhana's are usually in one big, rough, empty room (no chairs, no tables) and everyone sits and eats on the floor. The kitchen is usually in a separate room and they just make a hole in the wall to make it more convenient to hand out the food. Carpets are rolled out and the food is served on them. When everyone is done eating, the carpets are rolled back up and cleaned outside. The price of dinner also includes floor space to sleep on (no beds though) and is usually around 50 Afghans. We all popped into one and having our priorities straight, in true Asian manner, before even checking out the lakes, we had a pot of green tea.
After negotiating the price for the night, we all set out to check out the lakes. The first thing we did was jump right in and after that, I quickly spotted an 8 meter (about 25 foot) cliff and had to try it out. Not knowing the customs, I jumped off with all of my cloths on. When I resurfaced from beneath the water a crowd had already formed and were clapping and yelling! It was great and I was urged to jump again. The people (sometimes very old) were like little children around the water, curious and playful. It was nice to see that side of those people that have a reputation (and rightfully so) of being hard as nails! To our surprise though almost none of them could swim, which actually makes a lot of sense since Afghanistan is land locked and lakes, even rivers are few and far between. The four of us knew right away that one night wasn't gonna cut it. After hearing that transportation is spotty at best, Peter wasn't willing to take the risk of getting stuck there for a week, with his bike in Bamiyan. So, after exploring much of the main lake, the shrine to Ali (another reason Afghans go there) and the surrounding area's, we found our driver, we told him that we'd be staying until we found a ride further westward. To his credit, he tried his best to explain that we may be stuck there for a long time, we had already assessed that risk and it was one well worth taking. Of course when we got back to the Chai-Khana, the dude that we talked to had changed what we had agreed upon and thinking he had us cornered with no other options, raised the price for the night and also crushed us by telling us there was no more fish, which we really wanted for dinner!

Without missing a beat, we grabbed our backpacks and checked out the other two C-K's. None of them would even listen to us, I guess the first place had a lot of pull in that area. Just when we were preparing to sleep outside, we ended up meeting the coolest old dude, who had a modest (OK, a beat-up place) little place directly under Ali's shrine. It had a dirt floor and was cold, but we were all more than happy to not have to sleep outside for the night, on principle. Not only did he (the coolest old dude) give us a better deal than we had first agreed on at the other place, but he also told us that he had fish for dinner!! Ohh Yeah! Since I got sick hitchhiking in Pakistan, my stomach had been terrible and I just couldn't take all the cotton seed oil that they cook with in that area of the world. At that point my stomach was becoming a real problem and I would have to force myself to eat and then quickly run the toilet!

So, for the next six days life was good! Peter did end up leaving the next day (first morning) and we never saw him again, but the four of us had a blast exploring all of the lakes and walking miles and miles to reach the lakes further away. We even took blankets and sleeping bags, made a fire lake side at the furthest lake, and hung out for the full moon, which made the area completely magical. No mushrooms were needed for that transformation of perception to take place! There is a feeling in the air that's indescribable in Afghanistan, but much more so in the nights, especially when we were all by ourselves with not a person or light (besides our fire, the full moon and the stars) around for miles! That's something I won't ever forget.



We tried to catch a ride further west every day, but no vehicles were heading that way, at least none with any room in them. So,after checking out all of the lakes, we wandered into a near-by village, checked out a school and let the kids laugh at our weird looking selves, then headed further into the village. Some farmers spotted us and brought us some freshly picked pea's, still in the pods! They were delicious! Any change of diet at that point was (I thought) more than welcomed! I was low on energy by that point, since my stomach was still bad. It sounded like there was a fish in my stomach (and it had been keeping my friends awake at night for days) and I could feel it moving (my stomach) and hear it making loud noises! So, I decided to stop under the shade of a tree and my friends continued on in the same direction. After a quick rest I headed back to our C-K, but I took a different route back, just to see more of the village. I saw a man working hard to make an extension on his mud house on the way and he asked me in broken English where I was from. I told him America and he almost had a heart attack! He begged me to come into his home and have some tea with him, I happily excepted the invitation.

He started yelling into his house and in seconds his five children and wife were there! They all had something in there hands. Blankets, cushions, brooms... They went to work cleaning the area and making it fit for a guest (which they treat as royalty in Afghanistan, make no mistake, these people are amazingly friendly and generous) and in minutes I was sitting down, more comfortably than I had been since Hunza, drinking tea with his beautiful family! Anyway, tea turned into lunch and he proudly told me that he had some special food that he was glad to be able to share with me. His wife brought out delicious freshly made wheat chapatti's (flat round bread) and right behind it, he was proud to announce, Goat brain!!! You're really gonna love this! Goat brain is a delicacy there, meat in general is a treat, so I did what any grateful, respectful guest would do, lapped it up with gusto! The meaty chunks actually weren't bad, but after a minute or two they were gone. With only a soupy, slimy, liquid remaining my meal got a LOT tougher, but I sucked it up (literally) and finished what was intentionally left for me, the guest, to eat! The guy was great though and he told me how happy (no, it's not a typing error) he, and the whole village was that "the Bush got rid of the Taliban!" I was shocked to here that. It's hard to find someone who speaks English well enough to have a conversation and if they do politics are usually excluded. He went on to tell me that the Taliban had called the whole village out to witness the execution of six people! Since the village is so tiny, it was no surprise that they were all his friends.

After a couple of hours, I finally left and thanked him with my whole heart for sharing, not only what little food he must have had, but possibly the best food in the whole village. The next day we finally found a ride to the next hiccup of a town, ended the last of our easy, comfortable days in Afghanistan and began the hardest leg of travel that I've been through anywhere in the world...

Bamiyan

We decided to leave Kabul sooner rather than later, everything is overpriced there and we were all looking forward to checking out Bamiyan and the rest of Afghanistan. Jacques, Steffan, Shu-San (a Chinese Canadian dude that we met in Kabul) and I, all took a 4 a.m. bus from Kabul to Bamiyan (10 hours - 250 Afghani's. One $ = 50 Afghans). The ride was uneventful, but the scenery was great. Desert plains roll into hills and then turn into mountains. The occasional shepherd will be seen blocking the whole road with his entire flock of Fat-Tailed sheep as well. Fat-Tailed Sheep are the best, right up there with Water Buffalo. They have the biggest asses anywhere! They can hang with the best of them (in fact they are the best of them), their booty shakes with every step and it didn't take us long to start yelling out cat calls and whistling as we passed. The driver finally understood what we were doing (took him a while) and didn't hide his amusement, but the shepherds never quite got it. During one trafic jam (sheep crossing) we jumped out and started taking close up shots of their boo-tay! The shepherd got kind of pissed off and to avoid having him chop off one of our limbs we dove back in the van with our tails between our legs! A few hours later, as we got close to Bamiyan our driver yelled out Zohak! and pointed to a old fort built on the top of a steep hill face. A lot of the walls were still intact and some structures still remained. We all wanted to make sure we came back and checked it out before we left Bamiyan.

We finally arrived in Bamiyan tired, after 10 hours of bumps and dirt, but very excited. Bamiyan is a very small, clean, and well kept town. It also home to the Hazara people (they were the main targets of genocide by the Taliban) and former home of the largest Buddha statue in the world until the Taliban destroyed them (the statue's)! We stayed at Mama Najaf (250 Afghani's each), a restaurant for the bus drivers and some locals, with three empty rooms upstairs built onto the roof. We all packed into one and they gave us cushions and blankets to sleep on. There was a killer toilet on the roof too(next to our rooms), they pretty much built four walls and cut a hole in the roof. Down below was a new unmarked land mine zone, made by us (toxic, but not deadly)! We had great views from the roof top though. We could see the whole mountain side, a huge, flat, wall of a rock face with little black dots (caves) all over it and two big niche's carved into it, were the Buddha's used to be.

Although the Taliban destroyed the statue's, the Buddha niche's are still there as well as an elaborate network of caves, in which some people still call there homes. Unfortunately, the whole area (as well as much of the country) was carpeted with land mines, and only recently have some area's been de-mined. It's easy to tell if your in the mine zone though, red painted rocks mean live land mine area's and white rocks mean the area has been de-mined. We all went our own ways while at the niche's. I climbed up into some caves and checked them out and met a few family's who still live in some of the larger ones. We all met up at the niche that used to hold the smaller of the two Buddhas and took our time walking back into town through a peaceful, old village.

After two or three laid back days, Jacques and I decided to hitch a ride back to Zohak. We had read a little about Zohak in our room. We copied some pages of an old Lonely Planet Central Asia guide book while in Pakistan and next to the Bamiyan section there was a small write up about Zohak. Which really made us want to check it out, I've since found this about Zohak...

Written by Nancy Hatch Dupree- "An Historical Guide to Afghanistan"

"This mass of impressive ruins was once the principal fortress protecting the entrance to the City of Bamiyan during the reigns of the Shansabani Kings in the 12-13th centuries A.D. The natural defenses afforded by the cliff had been recognized from much earlier times, as might well be expected. Archaeologists have found evidence that man had built defensive works here as early as the end of the B.C. era, and, when the Hephthalite Huns fought for possession and power within these mountains in the 6th century A.D., there was a considerable complex here. The present remains, however, are those of the fortress which withstood the advance of a Mongol army led by Genghis Khan's favorite grandson in 1221. The resistance was stout and determined and during the melee on the plain at its foot, the young commander fell mortally wounded. In revenge Genghis Khan vowed to destroy the valley, which he did, most thoroughly.
Today's visitors enter the fortress via the very pathway used by the original defenders and one can easily envision the passage of mounted cavalry, with all the attendant sounds, smells and confusion. On the way are attractively decorated towers for guards on duty. These towers had no doorways but were entered by ladders which were pulled up later to make the tower totally secure. There the soldiers stood on wooden platforms laid on heavy supporting beams, and shot their arrows through loopholes.
...city-fortress of glowing magenta, atop such cliffs, must of necessity have inspired romantics with tales of legendary kings and heroes. So it is not surprising to learn from the inhabitants of Bamiyan that this was actually, in fact, the royal abode of Zohak. A wilder occupant for this fairyland city could hardly be found.

Zohak first appears in the Shahnama as a noble prince of Arabia, a devoted son well-beloved by his people. He became, however, possessed of the Devil who induced him to usurp his father's throne whereupon the Devil appeared disguised as a loyal subject who asked to kiss the new king on the shoulders in token of his complete submission. No sooner had he done so, and vanished, than two black serpents thrust their heads out from where the kisses had been placed. Attempts to cut them off only resulted in their immediate return and their increased demand for human brains, the only food they would accept.

At the same time that Zohak was being seduced by the Devil, civil war broke out in Iran and Zohak marched in as the champion of one faction and was enthroned as the emperor of Iran. For a thousand years his rule brought terror and chaos to the land, but then the hero Fraidun was born. After many escapades, Fraidun finally succeeded in taking Zohak prisoner whereupon he took the dragon-king to a far off mountain peak and left him there to die. The Shahnama ends the tale here but, typically, Afghan legend goes on to elaborate by saying that, deprived of their daily meal of brains, the serpents turned on Zohak, bit into his scalp and fed upon his brains until he died."

Anyway, it was great exploring the ruins, but getting back to Bamiyan was much harder than getting out. We waited at a police check point and when the cops finished asking the drivers and passengers questions we would ask if we could catch a lift back with them. Every vehicle was full (it probably didn't help that I looked like Bin Laden at the time either), but after a couple of hours we finally met some friendly guys who were nice enough to let us pack into the back of their SUV. After our visit to Zohak and the occasional chat with some Kiwi Army personnel, we were ready to head off to Band-e Amir, the killer, deep blue lakes further west. Although my stomach was steadily becoming worse and worse (dyheria) I did my best to ignore it and move on. After all this would probably be my one and only time in Afghanistan and I wasn't about to sleep the whole experience away! As I'd find out a week or two later though, this wasn't just some travellers dyheria and I couldn't just ignore it.

Kabul

Wow, I've made it through Afghanistan and some of the toughest travelling anywhere! On our ride into the country there was almost a shoot-out, but not with Taliban. The Police and the Afghan army almost got into it with each other, in the end though cool heads prevailed, even after a police man pointed his rifle at the head of an Afghan army member!!

Video Library Player: The Highway From Kabul to Jalalabad
(this was the route I came in on in 2005, much different now!)

We left Peshawar (Pakistan) early in the morning, took a local bus (tourists aren't supposed to but...) and crossed the Khyber Pass. Throughout history this area and has proved to be hell for anyone stupid enough to try to invade. The Khyber Pass is the entrance to an unforgiving land with old forts dotting the horizon, with dust and sand in everything (including your mouth). Oh... and the border of the U.S. led (supported by NATO and other coalition forces) war on terror. So, it should come as no surprise when i say it felt like an adventure just driving through, even on a bus. There was a feeling in the air there that I can't really describe (more so in Kabul), maybe it's the history and wildness of the country, or maybe just the reputation and fear that the names Kabul, or The Khyber Pass conjure up??? Probably a little of both mixed with the excitement of uncertainty about the future. Some people have started to climb out of their shell's and have dared to hope for safety, stability and peace, others just get on with the life they've learned to live with and hope it doesn't get any worse. I can't explain it, but it was a feeling unlike any other country I've been to.

Anyway, somewhere after Jalalabad (on our way to Kabul) traffic came to a complete halt. I think there was road work being done (Allah knows they need it). So, we all got out of the bus and drank some tea under the shelter of a huge tent. Five or ten minutes later there was a bunch of yelling and a big crowd forming. A kid on our bus spoke some English and told us that "the police were stealing money from the truck drivers and now they're (the truck drivers) all angry!" A minute later a nice, new military pickup went flying by in the direction of the crowd, two soldiers jumped out and grabbed a police officer and drove him back to (about 15 feet from us) us. The soldiers were yelling at him and tried to put him in the back of their truck, but he fought. The soldiers ended up slapping him and he jumped back and pointed his machine gun at a soldiers face. Somehow they said the right thing and they ended up throwing the police man in the back! The crowd cheered as they drove away and I was shocked to think that justice had been done in the middle of an Afghan desert. The soldiers came across as well trained and restrained, very professional, they actually defused the situation! That was a surprise. anyway, day one was already crazy and i didn't want it to get any crazier.

Luckily there was no more drama in store for us that day. Besides the roads, if you can call them that, the ride to Kabul was straight forward. Afghanistan has, by far, the worst roads I've been on. From Kandahar in the south, up to Kabul in the middle and further on to Mazar-e Sharif in the north, the roads are pretty new and smooth. Beyond that the roads are either terrible or non-existent! So, by the time we got into Kabul, just after sunset, our backs were sore and we were pretty dirty. Entering Kabul for the first time, in the night time, was was amazing!! The city actually had a buzz to it, people were running around all over the place and traffic was crazy. Anyway, arriving in the dark probably wasn't the best time, since we didn't know where the hell we were, we (Jacques and Steffan) didn't even have a guide book! We managed to copy some pages out of an old 1990's Lonely Planet guide book, but half of the buildings had been destroyed and we weren't even sure where the bus had dropped us. luckily the guy that spoke English on our bus walked us through a bazaar and showed us the area that has hotels (thank you Allah). To say it would have been hard to find in the dark with out him, would have been the king of all understatements.

We found three hotels pretty close by, but as our friend explained, none of them would let us stay since tourists weren't allowed. Finally one hotel said we could stay, but changed the price as we were about to check in, then said they were full. We all got mad and wanted to hold them to the first price we were given, but the guy was rude and wouldn't listen. We had all been travelling for a while at that point (well over a year) and had contracted the travelers disease, in other words we were cheap and used to proving a point for the principle of it. So, we all just sat on the front steps of the hotel and I spread out a sheet and laid down. The receptionist ended up calling the police and we explained that (now) this hotel is full (since that's what the receptionist changed his story to) and none of the other hotels will let us stay without some kind of permit. The cop walked us over to the nearest hotel and made a deal with that receptionist allowing us to stay, as long as we left by 8 in the morning. So, that was the end of a long first day, we never even stopped to think that what we did might have been dangerous, we just wanted a place to wash the dirt off of us and sleep. The next day we found a few places to stay, but stayed at the Park Hotel (since it was the cheapest we could find) for $10 each, the most the three of us had paid for a hotel in a long, long time!



Kabul was already a great experience though. Just walking around and checking out different markets and watching their different way of life was fun and new. I thought that I had witnessed optimism amongst some of the people as well. It seemed that they were eager to get on with their lives after so much war and misery for so long. Over 1,000,000 people were killed during the Russian invasion! And after the Russians left, things actually got worse with the Taliban! Afghan's are amazing people though and keep moving forward. The rest of us should check our heads the next time we start complaining about our standard of living!



After just a couple of days in Kabul, we thought we'd spent enough time in city's (Peshawar before Kabul), so we planned on heading west to Bamian. We heard is was beautiful and peaceful there and wanted to check out the Buddha niche's (where the largest Buddha statue in the world was until the Taliban destroyed them).


I really wanted to hang out with some Hazaras as well, so unwinding in Bamian sounded great! The road there wasn't bad either, now it was time to see how Afghanistan really was...

"Here in Araya, one of the lonely places of the earth with all the winds of Asia droning over it, where the mountains seemed like the bones of the world breaking through. I had the sensation of emerging from a country that would continue to exist more of less unchanged whatever disasters overtook the rest of mankind."
- A short walk in the Hindu Kush

Afghan facts

These are just a few facts about Afghanistan that might make the reading more understandable and you might just learn a few things.




Ethnic groups - Pashtun 42%, Tajik 27%, Hazara 9%, Uzbek 9%, Aimak 4%, Turkmen 3%, Baloch 2%, other 4%

Borders - China 76 km, Iran 936 km, Pakistan 2,430 km, Tajikistan 1,206 km, Turkmenistan 744 km, Uzbekistan 137 km

Population - 32,738,376

GDP per capita - $270.44 per capita

Capital with population - Kabul - (est. 3,000,000 to 4,000,000)



Background - Ahmad Shah DURRANI unified the Pashtun tribes and founded Afghanistan in 1747. The country served as a buffer between the British and Russian empires until it won independence from notional British control in 1919. A brief experiment in democracy ended in a 1973 coup and a 1978 Communist counter-coup. The Soviet Union invaded in 1979 to support the tottering Afghan Communist regime, touching off a long and destructive war. The USSR withdrew in 1989 under relentless pressure by internationally supported anti-Communist mujahedin rebels. A series of subsequent civil wars saw Kabul finally fall in 1996 to the Taliban, a hardline Pakistani-sponsored movement that emerged in 1994 to end the country's civil war and anarchy. Following the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City, a US, Allied, and anti-Taliban Northern Alliance military action toppled the Taliban for sheltering Osama BIN LADIN. The UN-sponsored Bonn Conference in 2001 established a process for political reconstruction that included the adoption of a new constitution, a presidential election in 2004, and National Assembly elections in 2005. In December 2004, Hamid KARZAI became the first democratically elected president of Afghanistan and the National Assembly was inaugurated the following December. Despite gains toward building a stable central government, a resurgent Taliban and continuing provincial instability - particularly in the south and the east - remain serious challenges for the Afghan Government.

Statistics taken from Nationmaster.com

Next stop, Afghanistan!

I'm back in Peshawar again. It's freak'n HOT right now! Jacques, Stefon and I all have our Afghani visa's, so we're off in the morning. I'm sick as a dog right now from drinking bad water while hitchhiking with Jacques, but I'll live. Just a few things to catch up on before I fill you in on Afghanistan (next time)...

After the K-2 trek Andy, Rodger and I all headed back up to Gilgit to find Jacques (who couldn't do the trek with us since he lost a filling in his tooth the day before the trek). We tried to fatten up, but the food just isn't good enough for that. After a shoot-out and a curfew in Gilgit (a Shia and Sunni thing), we learned that Jacques was already up in Hunza, so Andy and I decided to head north on the KKH (Karakoram Highway) and meet up with him. Rodger had to catch a flight in India, so we said "peace" to him and we departed in opposite directions.

Hunza was excellent! It was so laid back and it seemed very clean (maybe because we just came from Gilgit) with yummie fresh air! It's also a world heritage site with a killer little fort (Fort Hunza) at the top of the hill in town. Most of the locals are Ismaili Muslims followers of Prince Karim Aga Khan and the ladies don't have to cover their heads, another bonus! We met Jacques the first day and Andy and I went right to work fattening up and drinking REAL coffee and eating good bread!!! Yes, I love Hunza, REAL coffee!!!

Beautiful mountain scenery right out our door, fruit trees (with tons of fruit on them) everywhere and nice mellow day hikes to other smaller villages made Hunza a great place to unwind after a few days of snow blindness and two weeks of high altitude trekking. Nothing was as beautiful as the first few painless views after being snow blind by the way! I'll never forget that...

We heard through the travelers grapevine that Rakaposhi base camp in Minapin is not to be missed. Minapin was suppose to have one of the nicest guest houses in Pakistan too, plus my Teva's really wanted at least one more trek, so we decided to check it out. Andy was heading into china (which is northeast of Hunza), but figuered he'd tag along and get one more trek in as well, even if it was in the opposite direction. So, we hitched from Karimabad to Minapinm, it took two tractors, one flying coach and lots of standing roadside in the shade, but we made it. We stayed at Diran Guest House and it was killer. Fields and fields of Apricot, cherry, and Apple trees right at your bedroom door. The guest house was worth the trip alone.

So, we did that trekk the next day, it was pretty easy and well worth the trip, beautiful scenery! We stayed over night in a tent up there playing cards with a couple of girls and their guide. Ali was the tent man up there and cook, but he lost one of his cows a couple of days before we got there. When we woke up in the morning, we heard him yelling! When we cleared the sleep out of our eyes we saw him dancing around his cow all excited! Yup, Ali found his cow!

After the trek Jacques and I wished Andy well and just like that, four became three and three became two. Jacques and I ended up hitching all the way from Minapin back to Peshawar. With the heat and the dust it wasn't very enjoyable, but the nights were amazing and the people that picked us up were kind and caring! One movie crew picked us up. They had a caravan of four or five trucks with Pakistani up and coming stars. They were just shooting some commercials and not only gave us a ride (we laid down on top of lighting equipment) for free, but insisted on paying for all of our food and Chai as well. They also offered us a job as extra's in movies down in Lahore, it was tempting, but...um, Okay it wasn't very tempting at all!

So, that's where I'm at now. We took countless trucks, tractors, horse wagons, donkey wagons and even a car (amazing) to get over here, great experience. I tried to get a visa for Iran (here in Peshawar), but they just stole my money and denied my visa, because I'm American. Looks like the Afghan/Iran boarder will be it for Jacques, Stefon and I...

Wish me luck in Afghanistan, it's election time!

Snow blind at K-2

OK, so now for a bit of an update. Pakistan rules!!! Almost no tourists and the few that are here are pretty hard core and interesting. I've spent most of my time in the north and it's amazing. Untouched and CHEAP!! Depending on where I'm at I can live on 150 RS. (60rs = 1 dollar) per day! Swat Valley, Fairy meadows, Kalash Valley and Hunza are all amazing, green, fairytale type places with some of the friendliest people I've met anywhere in the world!!!

The Kalash people (Kalash valley) are great. No one knows much about them, but most think that they are decedents of Alexander the Greats army. They're about to disappear and are stuck in a small area (not even one full valley), but remain super friendly. I only stayed in one guest house in the week that I explored the valley. The rest of the time I stayed with family's, and they're whitey's, so it's very strange to see them in this part of the world, but great time.

I've had some of the most hard core experiences of my trip in the short time I've been here as well. Suffi dancing in Lahore was as rich an experience as I've had anywhere. The dancers dance themselves into a trance with their eyes rolling into their heads and the abnormally huge (giants) drummers do the same. Once they're in trance, they start dancing very strange and do pretty difficult things (physically). Meanwhile, everyone there (at the different Sufi shrine/cool grave yards) crowds in close and smokes more hash than I've seen any group of people anywhere in the world, non stop! That usually lasts till 3 or 4 in the morning and the stoned stupid crowd gets energized as the night goes on, instead of the other way around. Great experience, unforgettable...

Speaking of experiences, I stumbled upon a festival that one guy told me and two of my friends "should not be missed." There is just to much to tell so I'll get down to the basics. It started out a lot like a summer Christian tent meeting (been to a bunch of those growing up) with different teachers and preachers getting the crowd all emotional. It was WAY to hot so my friends and I sat under a tree to kill a few hours till the main part of the festival started. It turned into Sufi night all over again (no dancing or drumming), more hash smoking than I'd seen since the Sufi night! Damn, Marley would be proud!!!

Anyway, at 6:00 pm, the "real' festival started. A white horse led the way (Ali's horse) with four people carrying a palanquin, with some type of shrine on it, close behind. About 15 to 20 shirtless men followed the Palanquin (spl?) and when they finally stopped, some religious men started taking chains, with knives attached to the end, off of the palanquin and handing them to all the shirtless dudes. After they all received their weapons (a handle with a few chains attached and knives at the end of each) they stood in a circle facing eath other and the self punishment began! Damn, did they go to town on themselves! They didn't just swing the chains onto their backs, they slammed them, like they were at war with their own bodies! In a matter of seconds they were all covered in blood and after a couple of minutes, some of the leaders (not participating) had to run over and drag them out of the circle, because they were seriously injuring themselves. HARD CORE, MADNESS!!!! My friends and I almost past out, we had to sit down in the shade somewhere, but we could still here the sound of steel smashing and shredding flesh...

OK, this is to long already, I've got to shorten it. After that I went to the smugglers bazaar in Peshawar (border of Afghanistan). There, on arrival, the friendly owners of one of the many shops, sat me down and offered me chai, a spliff of Afghani hash and an excellent offer to kidnap me! He said I could stay at his home and he would demand $200,000 that we could split 50/50. I told him that I'm worth at least a few million and then I went to work checking out all the cool stuff in his shop. Passports, counter-fit money, (Euro's, Dollars, Pounds) any kind of gun and explosives, and Kilo's of hash and heroin are some of the fun things I was able to play with there.

That was cool, but buy then I needed to get away from the cities and I ended up tracking down my ninja friend Jacques in Kalash valley, by word of mouth only. That's how few travelers are in this country. We ended up hitching rides through the mountains on the coolest, most colorful (yeah, sickeningly tacky) trucks in the universe. We found some great remote spots, the best of my trip yet and ended up in a little village that turned out to be run by the Taliban! We met a few and I was decked out in Shalwar Kamiz (the spelling is WAY off), Pakistani clothing, my out of control beard and some style'n terrorist sunglasses! They all loved me and they agreed that Dengue most be a great country. Who would have though I'd make friends like that.

Oh yeah, I mentioned the travelers earlier, but forgot to mention the crusader that is floating around northern Pakistan (if he's not dead yet). Of course, he's American. He's from Colorado, got out of jail a couple of years ago, then God talked to him and told him he must come to Northern Pakistan to find Bin Laden and kill him!! :-) This is my entertainment out here, better than any movie. He's traveling with a sword at his side and on his last mission he climbed a mountain (looking for Laden), took off his backpack, turned around and the sword at his side knocked his backpack down the mountain and into a crevasse! His passport and money belt were in it!! WooooHoooo!! I love it!! Fruity... (Five years later and "Fruity" is in the news, his name is Gary Faulkner, check this out) http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/news/10317158

OK, now for the latest. Me, Jacques and two Swiss dudes all met up in Gilgit and started talkin about K-2 base camp. The prices were just to high though, the English tourists all payed 1,800 pounds each (well over $3,000), one guy payed $4,000, but the best price we, or anyone else, could find was $1,200 each, but it was out of our budgets. We heard that if we went to Skardu we could possibly arrange the whole thing ourselves. We all had the time and heard it was the most beautiful and one of the most extreme treks (if not the most) in the world, so we took a nice trip down the Karakorum highway.

We passed the spot were the Hindukush, Himalaya's and Karakorum mountain ranges all begin or end (within a mile or two) depending on how good they (the mountains) all get along together, they may not all want to start or end in the same spot, they have feelings to...

Anyway, we killed three days here grilling all the tour company's and making them break down the whole trek (15 days) step by step and getting the prices for each item and comparing them against each other. If was tough, but it payed off on the third day, when we received the best possible (we think) offer of $600 each, all inclusive. It was more than we wanted to spend, but we really wanted to go and it's a once in a lifetime opportunity, but besides that, my Teva's (sandals) really wanted to walk to there 4th (broad peak) and 5th (K-2) base camps of 8,000 + meter peaks. It wasn't my idea, it was there's (the damn Teva's) they're controlling me, that's why I end up in more shoe stores than I plan on, I think they're looking for a girlfriend or wife or something...

The trek began in Askole and ended in Hushe (two more), with Zahid (not a full powered God like Ram, but the humble weather God of the Karakorum Range) as our guide, and his two helpers Nazir and Nabi, who were the spliff smokers and cooks. Sounds like our kind of group. All the other groups were in brand new expensive clothing and in the best shape of their lives. They also ate in a mess tent (we couldn't afford one) and sat on chairs and leaned on a table (what are those?). They had canned coke and ate pizza for lunch, and they averaged 15 porters per person! We on the other hand had a total of 8 porters (between the 3 of us) from the beginning, ate mostly rice, dalh (lentils) and chapati (local, round flat wanna-be bread). We ate on the floor of the cook, stoner and guides tent, have the same, ripped clothes that we'd been travelling with for over 19 months and I had just gotten over the same belly virus that got me at the beginning of the Everest trek. We were all in the worst shape of our lives, skinny and unhealthy, but we dove in there with the best of them, not sure of what we were getting ourselves into.

The first 2 days were (dare I say) easy, besides my tevas breaking, but Zahid (you don't name your kid Zahid unless he's some type of God) fixed them with two nails from our food crate. the third day was a mandatory rest day. We were all healthy and energetic and on the 6th day ended up at Concordia (4,600 meters) in great shape and already acclimatized.

This is taken straight from a flyer from one of the trekking agencies. - This is known as one of the most spectacular treks in the world. It cuts through the greatest concentration of some of the highest peaks in the world. 8 of the worlds 30 highest peaks are found here. Concordia, the apex of this trek, is one of the biggest Piedmont (don't know what that is) glaciers of the world. There Godwin Austin, Abruzzi, and Baltero glaciers collide. From here, within a radius of 7 miles, there are 6 peaks over 7,900 meters (25,912 feet), including the mighty K-2! From Concordia, the 360 degree view offers a panorama of peaks found nowhere else on earth! Within a radius of 15 Kilometers, stand 41 peaks over 6,500 meters (one meter is 3.2 feet), including 4 peaks over 8,000 meters.

From Concordia, we all cruised up to Broad Peak (on the way to K-2) and K-2 base camps, checked out the memorial
to those who died climbing there, soaked up some of the most amazing scenery any of us had ever seen, and talked to some climbers getting ready to start, where we were finishing. All while K-2 was quietly chillin (literally) right beside us. We went back to camp and were supposed to have another mandatory day of rest the next day. Instead, Zahid (Weather God of the Karakorum) told us that in order to cross the Gondogoro La (La = Pass), 5,900 meters and the most difficult and dangerous part of the trek, we would have to leave the next morning at 4 am. All of those expensive trekking groups would end up turning back due to bad weather, without crossing the Gondogoro La the most extreme and Beautiful part of the trek, a big reason we (and almost everyone else) paid $600 for the trek in the first place.


That night I made a huge mistake that would torture me and inflict on me the worst pain I've ever dealt with, for three straight days and nights, starting the next day, I mocked K-2, supreme ruler of the realm of the Karakorum range and she would use but a fraction of her strength to humble me into submission! I didn't say much about her, but I insulted her, I said "this trek has been easy so far", if only I could take back my words!

We started off early and quickly the next morning and stopped for chai at Ali camp, where (everyone always stops for the night) the other two groups stopped for the night, but Zahid, Weather God of the Karakorum, new that time was short and we had to push on or face the wrath of the weather. The day before, my terrorist sunglasses broke in my pocket and stabbed me in the leg. Zahid had already glued one lens together, but this one was, perhaps, beyond his power, so I was forced to climb Gondogoro with out the protection of sunglasses (Getting snow blind). All part of K-2's master plan! It was killer though, the hardest, most extreme trekking (actually mountaineering) I have ever done. Nothing around, but snow and huge chunks of ice! Ropes were in place and we started to climb the mountain single file, heads down and one foot in front of the other. It was cloudy all day, so when we finally reached the top, we weren't able to witness all of "the greatest scenery on earth", but what we saw was amazing still. Nazir celebrated by sparking up a big old spliff on the top, 5,960 meters above sea level!

The way down was a nightmare! Most people cross in the early morning hours (that's why they stay a Ali camp), so that the snow is still frozen and you don't sink in. We had no choice, bad weather was on the way, so we had to face it at 12 noon time. The anchors holding the ropes down were all pulled up (the snow was to soft), the hill was STEEP, 1,400 meters from the top of the pass to where the rope finally ended! We fell into the snow up to our waists the whole way down! It completely drained us all and it would have taken more hours than we had of sunlight to make it down the ropes and we still were a few hours from the next camp from there! We changed tactics and started sliding down the mountain on our butts, one hand on the rope (our life line) and full speed down the mountain, until you sunk in up to your waist. Sometimes one foot would get stuck (up to the knee) and the rest of your body would keep going, I almost broke my leg like that (it's still messed up), so did the mighty Zahid!

After two grueling hours we made it down, soaked and freezing. We couldn't feel our feet and we were wet from the waist down and were still a couple of hours from the next camp. The trail sucked from then on as well, constantly falling into the snow up to our waists, dead tired, soaked, frozen and injured, but I didn't realize just how injured I was at that point. For K-2 had already taken her revenge on me, I just didn't know yet.

We all received a hero's welcome when we reached camp, hugs from everyone. Everyone there (mountain rescue team and porters) knew we had come at the worst time of day and that we had probably passed Ali camp and done about three stages in one day, the first trekking group to pull that one off (expeditions do it though). At dinner time my eyes started to water uncontrollably. I went outside because I thought it was the kerosene, but an hour later it was only getting worse. It turns out that the effects of snow blindness were only now kicking in! That was the beginning of the worst, most painful three days and two nights I've ever experienced. It really felt like broken glass in my eyes, non-stop! Opening my eyes was hell, closing them was equally painful and it never stopped for one second! Sleep was not possible like that and the headache and runny nose made the thin air almost unbreathable, all this was due to K-2. She may be the second highest peak on earth, but she is the #1 most insecure mountain and not at all comfortable with herself. Everest would have let a little comment like that slide, but then that's Everest. K-2 the wicked, beautiful, majestic, malicious...

Pakistan

My sister flew to Europe a few days ago, we had an amazing time together and I'm glad I had the opportunity to travel with her, even if it was in one of the craziest, hardest, noisiest, dirtiest countries in the world! I'll never forget it... I'm fully energized again and ready for the toughest leg of the trip. Thanks sister!

My friend Jacques, who I met in Pushkar, oh and also happens to be a ninja, is in Pakistan now. We plan on traveling Pakistan, Iran and Turkey together, but we've both had visa problems with Iran. We were told that Americans and Australians (Jacques is Australian) are not issued tourist visa's to Iran, but 7 day transit visa's are possible, just not in India for some stupid reason. So, if I'm unable to get my Iranian visa in Pakistan, I might just fly home from here??? Don't know one way or the other, there are always other interesting routs, but I've got to draw the line some where. Although, heading into China from Pakistan and then taking the trans Mongolian railway to Moscow sounds pretty damn tempting, but a lot of work. Either way, my Asia trip is coming to an end kinda soon (within 2 - 5 months, that really narrows it down), so I'll let you know what's up.

Anyway, after Sara flew out of Hellhi, I mean Delhi, I got the hell out of there too. It's crazy enough in the winter time, but now it's over 40 degrees (over 120 degrees for all those Americans) and hard to do anything except sit and drink cold esprites (that was for Sara). From Hellhi, Delhi, I caught a sleeper train to Amritsar and stayed in the free dorm at the Golden Temple, (Mecca for Sikhs) and ate free food in the canteen. I had been in India for to long (7 months) at that point, but it was the best possible way to leave. The Temple complex, as well as the people and their religion, was/were beautiful. I left India on a huge positive note and was more than ready to see what Pakistan had in store for me.

So, I took a half an hour bus to the boarder, an hour at customs and immigration, then another 45 minute bus to Lahore (Pakistan), where I'm at now. It's pretty damn hot here too, but I like it (the city) alot! I got to explore the city last night, wandering till 2 AM. I found, of all things, a skate park! It's the funniest thing I've seen since I looked in the mirror and saw my big beard! I rented a smashed up, shitty, cheap board for 50 Rupees and hour ($=60 rupees) and got out there with my teva's on and although I totally sucked (compared to what I should be able to do) I had a HUGE crowd of people around, cheering every time I did anything! On purpose, I started doing the stupidest tricks I could think of, the stuff I did when I first learned, just to see if they would cheer for that. They did and I actually sat down in the middle of the park laughing me arse off! I retired early, do to bloody toes. Poor things (my toes), they're destroyed and will never be the same after this trip, it's amazing that I still have them...

Besides acting like Tony Hawk for 15 minutes, I met a palmist, who just may have been the weirdest dude I've ever met, besides the cannibal. he didn't read my palms or anything, we just talked an drank tea. I won't repeat what was said, but he's pretty hard core, a bit loony, but hard core none the less. Anyway, I'm gonna have a great time here, I can already tell. I've met some very friendly people (even after I tell them I'm American), who want to buy me stuff?? It's strange, but they insist, so I except a Coke or tea and listen as they lecture me on how and why America will be destroyed. Everyone's pretty pissed off about the whole Koran (spl?) in the toilet thing (and rightfully so) in Guantanamo Bay (again spl?). Everyone has been praying for another 9-11, so keep your fingers crossed...

I'm outta here, just wanted to let everyone know where I'm at and I'm loving it.

Pakistan facts

Largest city with population:
Karachi - 11,969,284

Capital with population:
Islamabad - 955,629

GDP per capita - $810.24 per capita

Population - 172,800,048

Borders - Afghanistan 2,430 km, China 523 km, India 2,912 km, Iran 909 km





Background:
The Indus Valley civilization, one of the oldest in the world and dating back at least 5,000 years, spread over much of what is presently Pakistan. During the second millennium B.C., remnants of this culture fused with the migrating Indo-Aryan peoples. The area underwent successive invasions in subsequent centuries from the Persians, Greeks, Scythians, Arabs (who brought Islam), Afghans, and Turks. The Mughal Empire flourished in the 16th and 17th centuries; the British came to dominate the region in the 18th century. The separation in 1947 of British India into the Muslim state of Pakistan (with West and East sections) and largely Hindu India was never satisfactorily resolved, and India and Pakistan fought two wars - in 1947-48 and 1965 - over the disputed Kashmir territory. A third war between these countries in 1971 - in which India capitalized on Islamabad's marginalization of Bengalis in Pakistani politics - resulted in East Pakistan becoming the separate nation of Bangladesh. In response to Indian nuclear weapons testing, Pakistan conducted its own tests in 1998. The dispute over the state of Kashmir is ongoing, but discussions and confidence-building measures have led to decreased tensions since 2002. Mounting public dissatisfaction with President MUSHARRAF, coupled with the assassination of the prominent and popular political leader, Benazir BHUTTO, in late 2007, and MUSHARRAF?s resignation in August 2008, led to the September presidential election of Asif ZARDARI, BHUTTO?s widower. Pakistani government and military leaders are struggling to control Islamist militants, many of whom are located in the tribal areas adjacent to the border with Afghanistan. The Pakistani government is also faced with a deteriorating economy as foreign exchange reserves decline, the currency depreciates, and the current account deficit widens.

All statistics from Nationmaster.com

I've found god!

Hey everyone! I've just got back from my trek (Annapurna sanctuary). I'm in Kathmandu again, trying to fatten up before I head over to Pakistan, Iran and then Turkey.

The trek was absolutly amazing! Sara (my sister), James, Tom (both from England) and I had the best time ever! We turned a 10-12 day trek into a 7 day trek, simply because we are ALL ninja's!

The views were stuning and we all felt closer to god the higher we climbed. As it turns out God lives at MBC (Machhapuchhre Base Camp) about an hour and a half from ABC (Annapurna Base Camp)! His name is Ram and he owns a guest house there, the cosy lodge.

On the third day of the trek we got stuck in a cloud (they come in fast) and couldn't see the path (we were walking on a glacier). By the time we got to MBC we were all cold, tired and hungry, so we stayed at Ram's place (it was the first G.H. we saw). As soon as we sat down we all felt at home, which is rare out there. After we ordered a couple of meals each we directed our attention to Ram, who was sitting at the far side of the loooong table. I made a coment on how good his food was and how cosy his G.H. really was, but he seemed way to composed. I knew he was hiding something and I was right.

He told us some stories about how fast he used to get to Pokhara from his guest house. It takes three days for mere mortals, but 8 hours for him. That made perfect sense too and was my first clue. Then, that night, the craziest, coolest, most intense lightning storm I've ever watched came into the narrow valley directly below us. We all watched in awe as clouds (lit up by the moon and the lightning) flew between the narrow mountain passage below and came right at us. Amazingly enough, we could still watch the light show (through the clouds) and it (the lightning) seemed to start from one tip of a mountain and end across the valley at another peak, not far from us either. Second clue, yeah, he made that happen (this too)!

It was then that I had my first good idea of 2005. I pulled out my sisters mag-light and went to war with Tom and James with my new cloud powered light saber! That was excellent! All the while Ram was witnessing my awsome skills and I think he approved..

Anyway, the next morning Ram ended up going down to the next village for some sort of religious festival and came back that night. He mentioned the sacrificing of a goat, so I didn't think it was a Buddhist ceremony (not supposed to harm any living thing), even though most of the mountain people are Buddhist (the high majority of Nepal is Hindu though). I asked him if it was a Buddhist or Hindu festival, since I was highly suspicious of him at that point. He told me it was a little of both and so was he. Gotch yuh! That was a huge mistake on his part, but it made perfect sense to me. At that point, we were all convinced that he was indeed a god and I immediately thought that he may very well be one of the 900,000 Hindu gods. The fact that he chose to live in the Himalaya's also made perfect sense to all of us as well. On top of all that, only one woman is allowed to live above the temple in the village below and you guessed it, she was Rams lovely wife Bindu.

I can go on and on about the unbelievable things that Ram has done and the three of us had witnessed, but frankly I don't think I would have the energy to type it all and still you all would have to find God for yourselves. At least you all know where to go if you ever want to meet god. He lives in Nepal, in the Himalaya's, his name is Ram and he owns a Guest House by the name of Cosy Lodge. Go there, find him and be at peace...

Back in Kathmandu!

I'm back in my favorite city again and just being here has put a smile on my face (I needed that...).

The last week has been pretty crazy! As you all know I took a bus from Kolkata to Dhaka (Bangladesh) to get a new Indian visa and the bus was actually nice and cool inside! Wow! Anyway, everything was going welly (had to put that one in) untill I got to the border. Trying to leave India was everything I imagined it would be.

First some scumbag offical told me I have to pay a 300rs. (Rupees) road tax fee to leave the country. I told him that I hadn't heard of that in the whole six months I spent in India and I always travel by buses. He told me that it was a Bangladesh road tax, then all of his friends surrounded me. I asked him who's in charge? He said he was, so I wispered in his ear "since you're in charge, you should change your scam." He didn't quite understand, so I wispered some more. "Why would I pay India a road tax from Bangladesh?" I saw defeat in his eyes, but he tried one last time by saying "you need a road tax receipt from us to get into the country." I said thanks for the tip and I'd be right back if he was telling the truth, then all his friends started laughing. OK, first hurdle cleared.

Second hurdle - Across the street from there was another Indian building where they check your bags before leaving. I put my backpack on the x-ray thing (that no one was watching) and was all set to leave when an offical asked what country I was from. I said America and he told me to put my backpack on his table. I always put my dirty clothes on the top of my backpack (in a bag of course), just in case someone gets into it and steals the first thing they touch. So, when they pulled that out I told them it was dirty laundry. They asked what it was (because they're in control!), so I said again, dirty laundry! He opened it and couldn't help but smell them, then gave me a dirty look. I don't need to tell anyone that I don't wash my clothes every day any more, so I kind of enjoyed that one!

Anyway, everything on me was legal, so before I was cleared to leave, they asked how much American money I had. I told them $80. How many Euro's or Pounds? 50 Euro's and no Pounds. How many Rupee's? 1,000! I had about 8,000, but didn't feel like telling them that. Anyway the guy started grilling me! It is illegal to take Indian currancy out of the country do you hear me? Yah, I hear you. He repeated again, but in my face! I'm not deaf! Luckily his friend could see me bitting my tongue and he actually defused the situation! I can't believe it!
He told me to go back out side and exchange all my rupees for Taka (Bangladesh money) and then come back.

So, of course I went outside to the furthest money changer and sat down next to it and ordered a chai. When I was done with that I stopped by the bathroom and switched my Euro's and $ for my Rupees (incase they wanted to see the $80 and 50 Euro's I told them I had, I didn't want them to look for a money belt), from money belt to wallet. I had a bunch (2,000 rs. worth) of Taka already, so I wasn't worried about that. When I got back, they checked my wallet and told me that Americans think they can do what they want all over the world! YOU have to listen to us when you're in our country! "Of course, that's why I changed the rupees like you asked." That was all and I got through fine. I had my money belt way up on my thigh, in case they checked, but they didn't.

On the bus I met a nice guy who is studing law. He lives in Dhaka and was very friendly. He asked where I would be staying and I told him Old Dhaka. He said no, it's to dirty there, what hotel will you stay at. I told him I'd look around when I got there (like I always do) and he got all nervous. NO, NO, you may get kidnapped! I started laughing, but didn't want to hurt his feelings. He didn't say another word for a couple of minutes untill he invited me to his home. I thought about it for a couple of hours and then when he asked again I accepted. Good move!

Besides the fact that his 12 flat mates were Ricky Martin look-a-likes (the only draw back), They were very friendly and had a killer house! Their "servant" cooked me some killer food (I ate for free!) and they had a mat on the floor for me (much better than the crusty bed I had in the dorm in Kolkata)! They treated me like family and begged me to stay for as long as I wanted, but I had to get my visa and get back into India soon, so they were a bit disappointed.

The next day I went to the Indian Embassy to get a new visa. As soon as the official saw my passport, his face dropped. He looked at my visa and told me it would take couple of weeks. I told him I only had a 7 day Bangladesh visa and my sister would be flying into Delhi in a few days. He told me that that's a family problem, my problem and not his or India's. Oh well, I tried one more time as nice as I could, but it wasn't happening. I thought I might have one, maybe two more chances of still getting to Delhi by the time Sara (my sister) arrived, so I took the next bus back to India, that night.

When I got back to Kolkata, I tried to get an emergency extension on my visa, but tourists can't extend their visa's in India any more. There goes that idea, so I tried my last idea. I asked what the penalty was for over staying your visa (in Nepal it's only a dollar a day). They told me it was a big fine and probably jail time! That settled it, I wasn't going to make it to Delhi in time to meet my sister. I still had to get out of India before my visa expired! The Bangladesh visa would take to long (because of the weekend and costs way to much) and trying to get to Nepal and then reach KTM by road was a mission and pretty risky, since the Maoists have been strikeing more often. I decided to fly for the first time in about a year (since Lhasa), just to make sure I got out of India and into KTM, not just some border town (shit hole) in Nepal.

Flying turned out to be a good move, since the Maoists DO have an 11 day travel ban in effect untill the 13th of April! I would have been stuck on the border till the 13th, not fun! Anyway, the political situation has deteriorated here since the King declared a nation wide state of emergancey and placed almost all of the Parliament (or equivalent to Paliament) under house arrest in Feb. Tourists are still safe here, but battles, shoot outs and bombings are more common than before. It's sad that this is happening to a country like this...

Alright, time to see what kind of trouble I can get into here, shouldn't be hard!

Interview with a cannibal

I've got to put this in my blog, it's to weird not to. This first part took place at the end of march when I was in Darjeeling with Sarah, we met an American guy who had been living (teaching English) in India for a while. He was a pretty cool cat and was very informed on many local issues. We went out for a few beers and thanks to the beer, he ended up telling us the freakiest story ever. I can't remember a lot of the details, but I remember enough to identify the psycho he told us about.

Our friend (of course...I can't remember his name) started telling us about one of his trips to Varanasi. One day he was approached by a Sadhu (holy man), that's pretty normal there, but this one was holding the top of a human skull (like a bowl) to collect money (Baksheesh). He started talking to the Sadhu for a while, since the Sadhu spoke perfect English. Eventually the psycho admitted that he was a cannibal, so was his teacher! He said that he eats the flesh of the people that are burned on the ghats (on the Ganga river). He also said that he lived in San Francisco, but he's originally from Hawaii.

Needless to say or friend was a bit tweaked out! He went back to his town (in India) to work again, but returned about a year later. This time he met a journalist who was writing something about the cannibal dude. My friend said that it sounded just like the cannibal he had met a year before! The journalist gave him a link to check out on the internet and when he checked it out for himself, not only did he see the same cannibal that he had met, but he was on a most wanted list! Not just for murder either, but serial murder! Crazyness! The journalist said that he went to the phsyco's lair and found a pile of human skulls inside!

Anyway, at the time (we were in Darjeeling) our friend told us that the cannibal was in Darjeeling begging for money! He had shaved his head (used to have dreadlocks down to his waist) and has a brace on his leg and also needs a cain to walk with. He was pretty freaked out of course and so was everyone at the table! After that, every time Sarah and I would give money to the beggers there, we would check to see if they had a leg brace and a cain before we gave, but we never saw him.

I forgot all about him untill I came back to Kolkata (from Bangladesh) and stayed in the same dorm as before. I saw an old guy laying down with a bunch of strange tattoo's all over him. I broke the ice and asked the usual traveler questions, where are you going/coming from etc. We talked for a while and I knew he was a weirdo, but had no idea. He ended up telling me he was from Hawaii! As soon as he told me that, the hair stood up on my arms and I must have gone pale! I could see the top half of a human skull on the floor next to his bed, but didn't know what is was untill he told me he was from Hawaii. Then the cain and his leg brace was a dead give away!

Two of my friends were in the dorm at that time, so I figuered I spill the beans. I told him staight up that I had heard a lot of stories about him while he was in Hawaii and Varanasi. He asked who told me and I just said some travelers. He didn't seem to care one way or the other, the only thing he said was "you never know who you're talking to!" I really wanted his picture, but he was up and gone before most of us woke up. He didn't go far though, he stayed on the same street and checked into the Salvation Army's Dorm. I happened to hear some whitey's talking about him (not the cannibal part though) while we were drinking chai on the street. I told them the whole story and after having seen him, they believed me.

That was the first and last I've seen of Hanibal Lecter (spl?)! Crazy huh! True
storie too!

Check this out! After I put this story on my blog, I made a comment about it on bootsnall. One guy gave me a link and asked if it was the same guy, It is, so now you can all see the Cannibal man (I didn't even need a photo!).

http://www.alligator.org/edit/news/issues/stories/030603cannibal.html

Bhutan

It doesn't really count, but it looks cool to have "Bhutan!" in my blog...

Actually, I wanted to go in for the day, but they stopped the free day pass thingie from Jaigon (India) to Phuntsoling (Bhutan).
I had to use 25% of my Ninja skillz to talk them into letting Sarah and I in for just two hours. Even though I didn't get a nice beautiful stamp in my passport, I was still happy.

We wandered around, took a few pictures (that had an address in Bhutan visible, yeah, to show off), had a chai, a conversation with a local and got some currancy. We were only there for about an hour when I thought it would be a good idea to check a local market. We walked through a little gate with some guards minding there own business (we didn't really notice them) and checked the place out. After a few minutes, we continued in the same direction and we both started noticing the signs on the stores. They had Indian addresses! We came to the conclusion that we must have somehow left Bhutan, with out even knowing it!! Never seen a boarder like that in my life!

Anyway, we went back to the REAL boarder crossing and told the immigration dude that we wanted to go back through, since we did have half an hour left (he said we could stay for 2 hours). He had our passports in his hands and gave us a stressed out "NO"! Guess he wasn't to happy about us passing his guards unnoticed. Does that mean that we were kicked out of Bhutan? Patting myself on the back...

It's been a while (boring)

Where do I start? We've (Sarah and I) covered a lot of ground since then. I'll quickly run off a bunch of names (of places we've been since), but no details or I'd be here all day (OK, maybe a few).

We headed south from Hampi to Bangalore, did a pub crawl there with a few friends and ended up head banging at a metal bar (long funny story). Hey, it just ended up that way! Then Sarah convinced a rickshaw driver to let her take his rickshaw for a spin at 1AM, pissed!. We headed further south to Mysore (ass) after that. That's where we both had stool tests done, so romantic...

After that we headed to Ooty, a hill station, nice and cool, then to Kerela to do a back water (over night) cruise. I've got to mention that one a bit, only because it was one of the worst nights sleep I've had on this 15 month trip.

The daytime was great, nice and relaxing and beautiful. By the time he were ready to sleep though we realized that the tiny fan in our tiny room wasn't going to help much (it was VERY humid and pretty hot). Besides that, they would have to keep the boat running in order to power the fan (wasn't gonna happen). We decided (we thought we were the smartest people on earth, by the way) to put some mats on the upstairs deck, under the roof and hang Sarah's mosquito net. That way we'd catch a nice breeze all night and we wouldn't have to worry about mossies since we had a net. Brilliant!

Little did we know the mossies called their friends (some tiny little green bugs) and they came in force! When we decided to go to sleep, our sheets weren't there anymore. Instead there was just a layer of green! Honestly! There were 10's of thousands of those little Bastard-o's on our mats, the bugs were small enough to get through the net! Good thing Sarah was there, because she killed all of them by rolling a bottle back and forth over them. Murderer! Well, we didn't sleep at all that night, since we had to keep covered all night (which made it to hot to sleep) to avoid the bugs! See, you all think it's fun and games out here, but it's tough! ;-)

We decided we needed some R and R after that, so went back up to Palolem (spl?), Goa. That was nice and well... relaxing. We were on a mission after that though and took a looong train back into Rajasthan (again). We tore that state up, went to six different towns and then checked out the Taj (again). After a quick stop in Delhi, just long enough for a nice long bout of Delhi belly, we jumped over to Veranasi (again). That was great and we met up with an old friend (Jacques, who I'll be travelling through Pakistan, Iran and Turkey with later on) from the pushkar camel fair and another from our house in Goa. We even got to celebrate Shivatri there, a Bhang induced festival. Varanasi was already getting hot, so we sought refuge from the heat in the form of Darjeeling.

It was nice there, cool but cloudy. There supposed to have some of the best tea in the world there, but we couldn't find any. We arranged our permits for Sikkim from there and headed up there to do some trekking. It turned out the trekking route that we heard about was all on roads (no fun), so we scrapped that idea and took jeeps from town to town. We checked out Gangtok (the capital) and stayed there for three days do to the killer pizza and coffee. Sikkim was nice, although the clouds and the Indian government (won't let you go anywhere without an expensive permit) took away from it a bit. I'll have to go back some other time and do a real trek.

That's pretty much where I'm at now. Sarah took a train down to Mumbai two days ago and should be there today. She flies home on Monday. :-( I'm in Kolkata right now doing a boarder run to Bangladesh for a new visa, since my visa is about to run out on me. I've got a bad case of the backpacker blues though and I've been entertaining all ( 7 ) of my dorm mates, by singing them (I sound like Stevie Ray...).

I can't believe I've been in India for 6 months already! Koltata is actually much nicer than I expected and I''ve been walking a good 10 kilometers a day to check it out. The problem is that my already hammer shaped index toe (that's definitely not the right name for it) is now permanently touching my middle toe (must have broke it again recently?) and now I've got a nice fat blister in there. Nice and comfy!

Well, my sister Sara will be out here to join me in 11 days (I'm counting the days, can you tell I'm excited?). Hurry up Sara!

Lost and found

It's been a while, but it's been good! 2004 was the best year ever and my New Years resolution is to have a better year this year than last! I must say 2005 is gonna be tough to beat!

After a year on the road, I've lost some things and found some. I didn't come out here (my trip) looking for love or any answers to life, but it turns out that I've found a bit of both. The things I've lost were great, but I wouldn't trade one of the things I've found for all of the lost!

Here they are...


Things I've lost -

MY pickup truck, my job, my home, a few thousand dollars, a stable, safe, easy, predictable life, about seven inches of hair (thanks to a Tibetan lady I stayed with in Dharamsala), the fear of REALLY living, a few pounds (didn't know I had any weight to loose), health, a few more brain cells, a semi-normal life and um, well, can't think of anything else off the top of my head!

Things I've found -

Total freedom, complete happiness, adventure, confidence, self reliance, faith in humanity, the beauty of the world, liberation, and my soul mate (a soul you were ment to find, no matter what. Man or Woman.)!

The last one is the best and least expected! I met her (Sarah) in Pushkar for the camel fair, but we didn't realize we were soul mates till the "Pushkar family" had a re-union in Goa for New Years! We've been travelling India together for a while now and now I'm really wondering if life can get any better? I plan on finding out, that's gonna be fun! No matter what happens between us, it was ment to be.

Anyway, this New Year was lots of fun! We were partying in Goa (vagator) till way after the sun came up! Vagator sucked, but our "family" made it great! After that we headed to a nice and quiet beach, but still lots of fun, in Arambal (also Goa). We stayed there for about a week and decided that if we didn't start moving soon, we might never, so we headed inland to Hampi.

Hampi is an ancient (ruined) city, with temples and caves scattered everywhere! The landscape looks just like the Flintstones, but with banana plantations and rivers for contrast. Huge boulders stacked impossibly on top of each other, as far as the eye can see! Everyone wonders how the rocks ended up like that and the Hindu's have the answer. They say Hanuman (the monkey god), as a show of strength, went off and started dropping gigantic rocks from the sky (he can fly) till he felt better about himself and that's how Bedrock came to be. Bet you didn't know that! ;-) Every now and then you'll seen rice patty's or banana plantations with a big old temple shooting straight up, kinda like the jungle book teaming up with the Flintstones! Killer! Hampi was great! We killed about a week there as well and got the same quicksand feeling, so we knew we had to start moving again, or else!

We've been taking local buses everywhere to save $ and we're finally in a proper city, Bangalore. We're trying to meet the last remains of the " Pushkar family" here for an out of control pub crawl. Bangalore is an expensive city, but they actually have a bit of a pub culture here, unlike anywhere else in India. It's gonna be fun, hope I can remember it, if so I'll let you all know how it went.

Enjoy 2005! Make it a ridiculously good year! I honestly can't say when I'll be home, but I'll be enjoying myself...

Going to Goa

I'm in Varanasi right now, chillin with the Baba's and watching the body parts float down the Ganges. I met a couple of cool Ausi dudes and have been traveling with them for a while now. We're gonna split in a few days, they're heading to Chenai and I'm heading to the beach in Goa, my Pushkar friends have an apartment there and there is a spot on the roof with my name on it! That's gonna be nice!

I've been covering more ground than normal lately. I did a camel safari (yeah, yeah, I'm a tourist) in Jaisalmer and that was sweet! The town of Jaisalmer its self is killer! It's an old fort with walls still surrounding it and 2,000 people still inhabiting it. The travelers get to stay inside and it's a unique feeling sleeping in such a mid-evil place!
My guide on the camel safari was a little fruity though. On the second day he was bragging and bragging and asked me if I was jealous of him. I said hell no, not at all, and I guess he was offended. He ended up telling me that he can get anyone into bed with him (man or woman), all he needs to do is speak and there is "something about my voice that no one can resist!" I assured him that my three Aussi friends wouldn't let me jump into bed with him and tried for a few more minutes to sample his bullshit. Soon after that he told me (out of the blue) that if he and I were to fight each other (?), "I may think I would win, because I'm bigger, but in reality, all he would need to do is flick me with his finger and I would fall (unconscious) into the fire!" Of course I begged for a sample of that B.S. as well, but he said there is a risk of me dieing! Okay!!!! I think I've said enough! =)
Anyway, I hit up Jodhpur (the blue city) after that and the view of the old, blue city from the top of yet another fort was sweet! Every home and building (almost all) in the old section of the city is painted blue, pretty cool and different. The fort in Jodhpur was also the coolest that I've seen yet! From Jodhpur I headed back to Pushkar to leave my cold weather stuff at the killer GH (Nanu's) I was staying at for the camel fair. It was cool to be there again, but not the same without all my friends.

I stayed only one night and took a bus to Jaipur in the morning, most people go there to buy wholesale junk to sell back home. I wandered around though, ate some meat (pretty hard to come by here), sat down and drank chai and talked to some random people. One of which was a taxi driver who approached me by saying " hello, I look like John Travolta!" Woohoo! It's impossible to get bored in India. Jaipur wasn't for me, so I headed to a couple of National Parks trying to spot some tigers, but no such luck. After the National parks it was Taj time and it was b-e-a-utiful, but expensive! Agra was great, I had too much fun on the roof tops drinking beer (also pretty rare in some city's) and bang Lassie's with my Aussie friends.

We kicked back in Orcha after Agra, a killer little village (shanti-shanti) with an old palace and ruins scattered around. There happened to be a festival there (Orcha) at that time, I think Rama got married to Sita there and every year they re-enact the whole thing. People from all the villages around come to watch and participate (just walk in the narrow streets following the 3 gods leading the whole thing) in the festival and then they all just sleep on the ground outside Rama's temple while some old dude is yelling and preaching all night till 6 in the morning! Really cool and perfect timing fore us.
Then we jumped to Khajuraho, the erotic temples... and some were erotic! Cool place, but very touristy. Finally we took a shitty bus ride here, Varanasi. For some reason Varanasi reminds me of Kathmandu a bit??

Oh, and just so you all know, a "holy cow" just wandered into this internet cafe...what? I must admit that I've been in denial since I've been in India. I see sidewalks in most towns, and for some stupid reason I think they're meant to walk on? I'm finally coming to terms with the fact that sidewalks are for everything but walking on! Stupid me! Oh, and another thing, I've been really nervous (the last two days) lately, I think I've eaten 7 or 8 meals in a row without a hair or bug in it, somethings gotta give! Anyway, India is the most schizophrenic country that I've been to. You're ready to flip out on some touts one minute, but then you swear this is the coolest country on earth the next! Pigs, cows, dogs, monkeys, rats and chickens all over the streets, along with enough trash to feed them all and then some! This place is crazy, perfect for me and all that (plus a lot, lot more) is just normal life here...

Anyway, I finally got train tickets to Goa from here, that was a mission! I'm leaving here on the 24th, arrive in Mubai on the 25th, depart for Goa at 11 at night (on the 25th) and arrive in Goa on the 26th, in time for the full moon party and the New Year! So, I know I'll be enjoying myself for the next couple of weeks, I hope you all do the same! I can't believe I've been gone for almost one year already! Life's to short, if there is something you want to do, go out and do it! WE are usually the only one's stopping us from doing what we truly want! Well, I'm outta here, more bang Lassie's to drink! ;-)

The Pushkar camel fair

I'm at the Pushkar camel festival right now. Today is the last day, but there is another festival that begins today as well. Something about Brahman (the creator) coming to the lake in the center of town and calling all 900,000 Hindu gods, deity's and manifestations for a fat Hindu party?
Pushkar is great! It's touristy, but it doesn't matter. It's literally an oasis and is just like being in the movie Aladdin! The camel festival was amazing too. The biggest livestock market in the world! 10's of thousands of camels, horses and cattle. Wild nomads with the huge mustaches and turbins, decorated camels and horses all over the place and best of all, beautiful Gypsies! The A-rab blood in me was stoked! =) I was getting to know a BEAUTIFUL Gypsy girl here and part of me wanted to live out in the wild like all these Rajasthanies (I never considered it though), but she's a TRUE gypsie and she lives in a crazy world that only a Gypsy can deal with!
The people are great here though. I've been invited to so many camp sites (at the fair grounds) and the people truly are wild! I was invited to one family's camp and offered some chai (tea), so I said sure. The old mother got up, chased a goat and started milking it right there, then she threw it (the milk and tea) on the fire and I had the freshest cup of chai yet! Pretty funny!
I did a little volunteer work here at "The Joshua Project", mostly playing with the kids (beggars). I also did some volunteer work in Daramsala (with LHA) teaching Tibetan refugees English and just playing with the children as well. The kids are amazing! The stories of what they've already dealt with at such a young age and how they handle it all and continue on is just incredible!

Anyway, I've found a killer G.H. here and I'm sleeping in a tent on the roof for 20 RS per night (45 = 1 dolla). I've met a bunch of really cool people and some good friends. We've been keeping busy the last few days with "The Pushkar Super Special Mascot Photo Competition"!

There are "Super Special" people here, they live on the streets or dress or behave like total fruit loops! Every time I meet someone new (travelers) one of the "Super Special People" finds their way into the conversation, so we (me and my friends talking around our campfire) came up with a "mission" that we must accomplish! Whoever gets pictures of all six chosen super special Pushkar mascots first, with out paying baksheesh (a donation that everyone in India asks for,spl?), wins! We don't know what the prize is yet, but we think it's a cigarette or something really expensive like that. Just so you know who the "SSPM's" are (I know you're all very interested) I'll give you there titles -

The six legged cow - Has two extra legs growing off of it's back!

Umbrella head - Sits on a skateboard looking thingie and has huge sun glasses, and a huge clock around his neck and a beautiful umbrella tied to his head!

T-shirt man - My favorite, always walks around with the bottom of his shirt in his hands, revealing his stomach! When he smokes a beedee (tobacco rolls) he holds both sides (right bottom and left bottom, front of shirt) with one hand and smokes with the other. The best!
Thong man - About two and a half feet tall, naked except for a thong made from cloth and holding a HUGE umbrella! Dead sexy!
Happy man - Haven't seen him yet, but supposedly he walks around with a big smile and is clapping all the time!

Star wars man - It's a long story!
Anyway, I've got a competition to win and some overdosing on chai...