No worries

How Dengue saved my life

2009-04-17T09:33:00.000-07:00

Sitting on a bus bound for Kandahar did not put me in the best of moods. I wasn't looking forward to sleeping on an overcrowded floor in Kandahar and I wasn't done with Herat yet. Had I been healthy and strong there I would have seen and done more , but I wasn't. Time was running out on my visa and I had no real guide book to help me locate the immigration office. Jacques and I had found an old Lonely Planet Central Asia guide book at a guest house in Pakistan and copied some pages, but everything in it was old, out dated and inaccurate, so I had no idea whether or not I could extend my visa in Herat. I accepted the situation though and put my "shield up." That's what I call it when I kind of flip a switch in my head and become numb and separated from everything going on around me, even on an overcrowded bus or in a tightly packed train or bus station. My way of dealing with an uncomfortable situation.

After a few hours I saw the first American soldiers yet. A small convoy of Humvees patrolling the middle of a hill, with one parked at the top and another parked at the bottom. Up until now, I had only seen Italians and met a few Kiwi soldiers. I guess it makes sense since I spent all of my time in the middle of the country and it was relatively safe there. I took this to mean that we were getting into the war zone. I found the roads to be half way decent too, not good, but they were roads at least. Luckily as you do on a long bus ride, I became hypnotized by the passing scenery. I was tempted to listen to some music, but I would have stuck out too much. I didn't know who was on the bus with me, but I did know I was leaving the "safe zone" within Afghanistan. No more Taliban hating Hazaras around as a built in safety net. I was heading into an area that shows strong support for the Taliban and as great as all the Afghans had treated me, now I needed to be careful about looking like a tourist.

We got into Kandahar around sunset. From the window seat on the bus, I had been soaking up as much of Kandahar as I could and for a minute I wished I could stay and check it out. I wasn't able to notice any land marks though. With dusty streets and beat up buildings it just seemed to be a sloppy city and not one that sticks out in any particular way, in this region of the world anyway. When we got off the bus, they started handing everyone their luggage, since we would be sleeping there. But, I didn't want my backpack at all. It's an alien thing there and it had a few patches of flags sewn onto it... Lebanon, Nepal and Dengue. Pretty much telling everyone that I'm not from there! I carried it inside as quickly as possible and threw it under a window, since it would be a hot night.

No one seemed to notice anything though, in the general madness, everyone was taking care of themselves. Between pushing to find their luggage, securing a place to put it where they would also sleep that night and swarming to wash up with hoses, in the hot parking lot, I seemed to blend right in. I laid down with my head resting on my backpack exhausted from sickness, until the sun went down, then I discreetly went out and washed up too. When I came back in dinner was being served. What an operation! At least 100 people (more than one bus had stopped for the night) were packed into that small Chai Khana and everyone was being served at the same time. I sat down just in time to get my food which I tried hard to eat, but I had no appetite at all. I was still very sick and had forced myself to swallow a few mouthfuls.

After we finished our small pots of green tea and rolled up the eating mats I was ready for bed. It seemed that I was the only one tired though and I struggled to clear enough floor space to lay my turban (which was my bed) out. By the time I finally had laid it out and sat down on it, weak and ready for sleep, two bearded men sat directly across from me. I wasn't very comfortable anyway, there were a lot of people around me talking and very close by, but the two men sitting across from me were unsettling. It was obvious that they were staring at me and all of their attention was focused on me. While that's not uncommon, these two people didn't look friendly or happy at all. I noticed big daggers, seemingly deliberately visible, under each of their shalwar kameez. It wasn't instant, but it didn't take me long to suspect that they may both be Taliban.

I had met a few Taliban in Pakistan, but luckily they were getting off of a bus and I was getting onto it. They were angrily questioning me, but they knew I really had to get on the bus that was leaving and didn't bother me much. Beside that short encounter, I knew a few things about the Taliban. First, the word Talib means student and Taliban means students. When they took control of Afghanistan (with the exception of the northern part of the country, thanks to the Northern Alliance) one of their first laws was that men had to grow a beard. They wanted every man to have at least a fist full of beard hair, measured from their chin out. Secondly, they were easily identifiable by their long black turbans (together with their beards), sometimes kind of shiny. I hear they are changing their turbans now to avoid easy detection, but the two sitting in the room with me fit that exact description and I was in Kandahar. That realization got my adrenalin going and my heart thumping, suddenly I wasn't very tired!

Their puzzled, slightly unfriendly expressions quickly turned to blatant dislike! I made eye contact and nodded my head upwards questioningly and they quickly fired a few questions at me. Over the past 19 months of continuous travel I had been in many positions that in a round about way, had prepared me for this, but never with angry Taliban. It's a fairly common routine and basically consists of non-English speaking people asking loads of questions, which over time I had come to understand simply from the amount of times I'd been asked the same questions. They were usually curious, friendly and harmless people, that was the huge difference here. Still I was good at playing dumb when I wanted to. So, as they rattled off question after question, I stayed outwardly calm and kept saying I don't understand. They seemed to be loosing patience and one got up, presumably, to look for someone who knew some English. Strangely, by the time the Talib came back with someone else, I was no longer nervous. The man they had found walked up to me and I stood to greet him with a hand over my heart and an "Asalam a lakem".

Interpreter number 1 stood still in front of me for a minute, then searching for words, asked "how", "hello" and "where" and that was all he could spit out. I wasn't about to connect any dots for them! As long as I felt safe and they didn't find a better interpreter than that, I would be completely clueless. With a serious, friendly expression I told them I don't understand. Frustrated, the same Talib walked the man away only to return a couple of minutes later with someone else. I repeated the same greeting with interpreter number two, but this time he spoke much better English and it would have been understandable to anyone who spoke English. He started off by asking what religion I was. In the west it's easy to say none, or that you're an atheist, but with the exception of Judaism, that's the worst answer you could give. I knew that already and didn't hesitate to tell them I'm Christian. Evening prayers came and went and I didn't participate, so they knew I wasn't Muslim.

With that admission, I confirmed what the the Taliban had suspected all along. I was a Christian, a foreigner, I was dressed in their clothes, had dark skin and a beard twice as long as theirs, but was not a Muslim. I was a believer in the book, but not in Allah, or the Prophet Muhammad and now they wanted to know where I was from and what I was doing here. They looked at each other with a mixture of excitement and disgust. It was obvious once they realized I couldn't understand their language, and they probably spoke more than one, that I wasn't from Afghanistan, but now they would find out what country I was from and why I was there. If they found out I was American, or even from a NATO country, it would be bad, I wasn't about to let that happen. The same way traveling for a year and a half straight had prepared me for their opening questions, it had also prepared me for my next line of questioning. After getting grilled in Nepal almost a year before this (on my Lang Tang trek) about the country I claimed to be from, I felt prepared and ready for the onslaught of questions that were sure to come.

As I tried to control my breathing and look outwardly calm, I was trembling. In a way I think the fact that I was so sick, helped me. I was too tired and sick to be as afraid as I should have, or would have been, when fully healthy. I smiled and complimented my interrogator on his English, no matter what was to happen, he was not my enemy. He thanked me and continued translating their questions - " What country are you from?" "Why are you in Kandahar?" "Where did your bus come from?". I already knew what I was going to say, that was an easy decision, but knowing how they would react was nerve wracking. I had no time to second guess myself, without hesitation I said "I'm from Dengue. I took this bus from Herat and it is continuing to Kabul tomorrow. I am only in Kandahar for one night." They seemed not to hear anything after Dengue. "What is Dengue they said through their interpreter?" It's my country, my home, I said. "What is Dengue? Where is it?" In between Swaziland and Lesotho, in South Africa, I answered and slowly reached around to uncover my backpack for proof. "There" I pointed. In between the other two patches was a flag of Dengue, the patch I designed and had made and sewn onto my backpack in Kathmandu, about a year before.

"Africa!" They all said and curiously they all seemed a little relieved. Although it answered their initial question, this confused them as well, they had never heard of Dengue, but could see right in front of them that the country existed, I had a flag. A small discussion began and the interpreter seemed to have no answers for them. Cleverly they asked me for my passport and I took a page from my encounter in Nepal. "It's in the Pakistani embassy in Kabul. I'm getting a visa for Pakistan." They all seemed to nod their heads in approval, then warmly and with both hands gripped their interpreters outstretched arm, the way they shake hands and sent him back to his family on the other side of the Chai Khana. The interpreter then wished me a safe journey and disappeared into the warm, heaving mass of people that overflowed from the undersized building.

I put my hand over my heart and smiled at the two Taliban. As the Adrenaline left my body, I laid back and was thankful that I was suddenly exhausted. I hoped for sleep, but was kept awake by the need to keep an eye on those two men who slept at my feet. That night I would get no sleep until they disappeared in early hours of the morning. Instead I would think about how lucky I was to get out of that situation. How blessed I was to still be on that floor, in that Chai Khana, sick and dehydrated and on my own, but safe... how happy I was that Dengue saved my life...

Herat at last!

2009-04-10T14:06:00.000-07:00

Waking up in Herat felt a lot like heaven, laid back and calm. After the torturous drive we had just endured and the lack of choice when it came to food, since leaving Kabul, we could now stretch, walk and eat at will. Lined with trees, almost every city block offered a different restaurant and there were street stalls everywhere for quick, tasty treats. I was way too excited to notice how sick I had become. Since drinking bad water way back in Pakistan, I was steadily becoming sicker and sicker. I became more aware of it while being stuck in a vehicle for three straight days, but after a while, it just seems normal in a way and you forget that it can be potentially dangerous.

The only down side to that first day was not having Stefan around. When we arrived the day before, it was the last day to enter Iran, according to Stefan's visa. Jacques didn't seem to have the same restrictions or rules on his visa, so Stefan left alone. We missed having him around, but we were quickly distracted and ended up being invited into more than one restaurant to sip free tea, or Super Cola. The people were eager to meet foreigners and try out their English phrases. I, being a coffee junkie, popped into the first shop/bakery I saw and asked doubtfully about coffee. Ali, the well educated and friendly shop keeper, told me as if apologizing, that there is no coffee in Herat. He then turned around to one of the shelves behind him and pulled down a bottle of Thai instant coffee. He told Jacques and I that if we wanted to have a seat, he would make us a cup of instant coffee, for free! I'm a coffee snob, but i have to admit, I was excited. A few minutes later we were sitting in his bakery drinking coffee and eating sweets! It seemed as if things couldn't get better!

After more exploration and a visit to the beautiful Mosque, I met up with Shu, who was travelling with his Chinese passport. He was on his way to the Iranian embassy to ask about a visa, so I thought I would give it one more try. At the gate to the embassy was a guard post, a cement box with an Iranian officials head sticking out. There was a line of people on the side walk all the way down to the end of the block. We decided to just ask the guy with his head poking out if they issued visa's there. He asked for our passports and when he saw mine in my hand, I was instantly denied. It was worth one more try and I would rather that happen then them take my money and make me wait. Shu got his visa in 10 minutes! The American passport must be the worst passport to travel with...

The next morning I struggled to get off of the floor of my ChaiKhana, but I forced myself, I had to say goodbye to Jacques and Shu. They were heading into what felt like the promised land, Iran and I was gonna miss them. I met Jacques in India, 10 months before, and bumped into him two more times before we agreed to meet up (a few months from then) and travel together in Pakistan. He was a true friend and I didn't want to say goodbye, but I knew from traveling enough that it was going to happen sometime and I had gotten used to saying my goodbyes. I also really wished I could enter Iran with them, I've heard only good things about traveling in Iran and I can't help but wonder how long I'll have to wait until I CAN enter. As soon as they left our little, empty room (just floor space with a lockable door), as if instant loneliness robbed me of my strength, I collapsed. I had spent the whole night waking up and at first running to the toilet, but after two or three trips, I struggled to even get up. Lightheaded and dizzy I almost passed out on the rest of the walks to the bathroom. Now I lay face down, on the floor in a pool of sweat.

In between my psychedelic dreams I soon realized I was dehydrated and had a high fever! I felt the need to run to the toilet, but I couldn't pick myself up off of the floor. I awoke on the toilet only to discover that I was peeing blood. I figured out quickly though, that it wasn't blood, but severe lack of water that turned my urine a dark orange color! Eventually I got a little strength back by drinking a packet of re hydration powder mixed with the rest of my water. So there I was, on the Afghan Iran border, sick and now completely alone. I've traveled alone a lot and I'm completely comfortable with myself, but it's a different thing being alone, that sick, in a country at war.

It took nine days to get to Herat from just Band-e Amir and I had only 5 days left on my visa. I had been trying to travel by land (no flying) from Malaysia to France, but there was definitely no way through Iran (legally) and my idea of going through Turkmenistan, across the Caspian Sea and into Azerbaijan was unrealistic at this point, logistically and physically. So, I had very few options, as far as where to go after Afghanistan and what to do from Herat. The only real road to Kabul is in the shape of a V, from Herat in the west, to Kandahar in the south, then up to Kabul in the east. The one thing I knew about Afghanistan before I entered was to stay away from Kandahar! All the battles were being fought in the south and in the south east and I wanted no part of that kind of drama!

After looking around and asking people (as best I could) I found a 48 hour, direct bus to Kabul. No stopping along the way and waiting for the next vehicle and no getting dumped out in Kandahar and having to find another bus to Kabul. It sounded okay, minimal risk. As long as I didn't open my mouth, no one should know I'm a foreigner. From my beard to my clothes and my sandals, I could pass for an Afghan. Only two things bothered me. First, my long hair. A lot of Taliban have long hair depending on there region, but nowhere near as long as mine. Secondly and worst of all, I would have to stop in Kandahar, eat dinner and then sleep there until the morning, when we would all get back on the bus to Kabul. The people are so extreme there and the Taliban have such influence there still, that Pakistan claims Osama Bin Laden and Mullah Mohammed Omar (aka Commander of the Faithful) are hiding there. Weather they're there, or anyone even believes Pakistan's claims, is irrelevant, it's a bad enough place for Pakistan to make those claims and it's not a place you want to spend the night.

But, in my state of delirium, I bought the tickets. For 600 Afghans ($12) I would be in Kabul in 48 hours, just enough time to look around for a flight to Istanbul, Turkey. That way I would only skip one country (Iran) by air. I was nervous, but too sick to really care about the risk. So, I bought some water, zipped my lips and got on a bus bound for Kabul, via Kandahar. I would get to Kabul safely I thought, Insh'Allah!

I've been baptized in dirt!

2009-04-04T03:58:00.000-07:00

"When Allah had made the rest of the world, He saw that there was a lot of rubbish left over, bits and pieces and things that did not fit anywhere else. He collected them all together and threw them down on to the earth. That was AFGHANISTAN!"
- A Wise old Afghan Mujahed

After leaving Band-e amir the comfort level dropped dramatically! No more decent roads, or comfortable rides. From then on we crammed into already tightly packed vehicles (of all kinds) and had to share space with chickens, luggage and the rest of the people who had been waiting as long for their ride, as we had for ours. Saying that travel was slow in that part of the country doesn't paint a clear enough picture. The roads are coated with about a foot of powdery dust. Huge pot holes and stones in the road are the norm. Of course there's no air conditioning, so everyone opens the windows, allowing a tidal wave of dirt and dust to constantly drench us! We all had our turbans undone and wrapped around our faces, covering our nose and mouth, but that just made it difficult to breath. Before too long, it looked as if we all had dirty (hehe) blond hair. Dirt and dust covered everything, our faces, mouths, the inside of our noses, our arms, backpacks and the whole interior of the jeeps, or whatever we were driving in at the time!

All of that paled in comparison to the pain and discomfort we felt from sitting on bad, or no seats, having our knee's dig into the seat in front of us (sharp metal bars many times) and going air born with every bump, hole or stone in the road! Sometimes we couldn't move our legs for six to eight hours at a time and we could never stretch them. We had all been traveling in Asia for a while at that point (well over a year) and had been on countless chicken buses, with little to no leg room, but with the heat, the dirt and the long stretches of driving with nothing to look forward to (no cold drinks at the next stop and no showers at night) and the pain of being stuck in some advanced Yoga position, with metal digging into your knees and people puking out the windows, nothing had prepared us for this test of endurance (since, that's kind of what it turned into).

So, there's the background info, now I can fill you all in on where we went after Band-e Amir, and now you know all about our happy times driving there.

We finally talked a driver into taking the four of us to the next village, Yakawlang. The mini-van was already full, but we knew if we didn't catch this ride now, we'd have to wait a week until the next Friday, when all the Afghan tourists come to the lake, to get our next chance. So, we all did our Yoga in order to fit inside of the vehicle and were baptized for the first time (Oh no.... but not the last!) in our lives... with dirt! Still though, we were excited to move on to a new and different village and we were still in Afghanistan, so we knew that anything could happen at any moment. Upon our arrival at Yakawlang, I (since I was getting sicker) sat with the backpacks, while all of my friends split up to see what, if anything was in this village, but primarily to find a ChaiKhana. Those same routines would be repeated over the next few days as we kept arriving in new villages, with someone different standing watch over our foreign looking backpacks.

Meanwhile, while my friends were gone, word had quickly spread throughout the village that some weird looking whitey's had arrived. Within minutes, it seemed every male in the village, young and old had come out to see the "whiteys". They formed a huge circle around me and since they don't understand the "comfortable space" between two strangers, that we all take for granted in this part of the world, they got "all up in my Grill!" They were innocently curious though, but it didn't take them long to come to the conclusion (since I had a Taliban worthy beard at that point) that I looked like a homeless-hippie-terrorist! Anyway, my friends had to push people out of the way like they were in a mosh pit, in order to tell me that the head man (police/political head) wanted to talk to all of us before we stayed or moved on.

So, we met the boss man and he tried his hardest to look more important and powerful than we all suspected he really was, but he was nice and respectful to us. Sharing a pot of tea with us he just wanted to know who we were and what we were doing there. When I told him I was American he just couldn't understand why I didn't hire a car in Kabul, since I was rich! In his defense, from Yakawlang westward to Herat, buses are non-existent and flying coaches (mini-vans) are few and very far between. There aren't many backpackers on a budget here and no one just shows up in some village and waits for the next flying coach to come along. Almost every tourist rents a private car, or sticks to the main roads between Kabul and Mazar-E Sharif, or the okay road from Kabul to Bamiyan and a bit further maybe to Band-e Amir. So waiting hours, sometimes days for a ride turned out to be part of the Afghan backpacking experience. Both of these processes too (meeting the head dude and waiting for a ride) would end up repeating themselves again and again, every time we arrived at a new village. And so it was that in every mud hut, village or town from Band-e Amir westward to Herat, (well, actually Yakawlang, Panjab, La'lva Sar Jangal, Gardani Garmab Pass and Chaghcharan) an Australian, Chinese/Canadian, German and American traveling together, all beat up, sick, skinny, dirty and smelly, met the power drunk man in charge of each his own territory and impressed upon them the superior cleanliness of the developed world.

By the time we got to Lal (La'lva Sar Jangal), Sue the Chinese/Canadian, was ready to give up. Not only did he get food poisoning (or something just like it), but he was also being eaten alive from bed bugs and flea's, so adding the baptism of dirt, the bland food (the same everywhere... never want cotton seed oil again!!) and the terrible roads, didn't help much! The rest of us were sore, and running very low on Afghans. To boost our moral level we finally found a well that wasn't surrounded with woman (not that WE cared) and we each washed up there. Not a shower, but damn it was nice. The woman were beautiful in this part of the country too. The only time we would get a glimpse was while they were washing dishes or clothes at the wells. They didn't wear Burkha's in that part of the country and usually didn't even cover their faces. Their eye's were beautiful and their hair style only added to their beauty . They braided their hair, wrapped it around their head and clipped it across their forehead and their clothing had, what I can only describe as a Tibetan style to it.

Gardani Garmab Pass (they just say Garmab) was our next stop, it was only three hours (125 Kilometers) away and 100 Afghans each. It wasn't very far, but it was so hard to find any ride westward that we got all excited and we always clung to the hope that we would catch a direct ride to Herat at the next village. A bigger than normal crowd formed instantly in Garmab and they were right up in our faces again, they were so close to us that we couldn't even bend over to fix our sandals. Within minutes a young cop broke through the crowd saying that he just received a phone call from La'l (the head dude that we checked in with there). The kid cop (no older than 15) told us "you are very dangerous, you must leave now!", I think he meant that the town was dangerous? Anyway, without hesitating, we all told him "Yes! We're very dangerous, kick us out now! Get us a ride to Herat!!!" We told him to ask a nearby truck driver (who was leaving anyway) to take us and we would sit on the roof, but the driver wanted too much money and riding on the roof in Afghanistan wouldn't be fun! We were kidding around for a while after that about us being such bad asses that we got kicked out of a town in Afghanistan!!

The next day would be our lucky day, we found a driver willing to take us the rest of the way to Herat! Praise be to Allah! We were all relieved about the ride, no more waiting for hours or days, plus after we paid I had only 50 Afghans to my name (one dollar) and just 9 days left on my visa, great timing! Our moods quickly changed when it came time to find a seat and saw that there were already 12 people, plus their luggage inside the tiny vehicle! This was gonna be Bad! We had a broken seat, no cushion under us and metal bars (from the seats in front of us) digging into our knees, and we weren't even moving yet! We ended up driving 7 hours the first day, 15 the second and 5 the third! I will speak no more of my dark feelings in that vehicle! The one bright spot from that whole drive came when we passed a jeep that had a flat tire and no jack. Our driver, knowing that it could be a long time before another car comes along, did exactly what he should have, he stopped to help change the tire. We all ran out of the Van and stretched and kissed the dirt, we were so thankful to change positions! One by one we looked around and noticed a field with a few farmers close by. Then, almost all at once we noticed that it wasn't just some regular field, it was an Poppy field! We all ran towards it, looking for red rocks (land mines), but didn't see any. We had a close look at the Poppy plants and the farmer had a huge smile on his face (way too happy to be working in the sun all day...). We took pictures with the Poppies and the farmers, closely examined the plants and we could see where the farmers cut the poppy to let a soft tar like fluid run out. That (I think) is pure Opium and after they process it, it becomes the devil...Heroin! I wish we had more time there, but as soon as we arrived at the field, our driver was yelling to us to come back. We made him wait a couple of minutes, acting like we didn't hear him, but making sure he didn't try to drive away with out us, not that we couldn't run faster than he was driving though.

In a nut shell, that was how we got from Band-E Amir to Herat. The landscape got greener and greener the closer we came to Herat and the people that only a couple of hundred kilometers east looked Tajik or Uzbek (almost Mongolian looking), now looked more and more like what I expected Afghani's to look like. That was the end of three of the hardest days traveling I think I've ever had (starting back in Garmab), being as sick as I was (running behind a building after every stop, looking for a suitable place to make a toilet) and not being able to eat didn't help much either, the lack of water and dyheria resulted in me becoming dehydrated as well! Lots of fun! Still though, when we finally rolled up onto smooth pavement for the first time in over two weeks, we would have welcomed any city, no matter how dirty, with open arms. But, it didn't take us long to realize that Herat was anything but dirty. It was almost clean and it managed to maintain it's charm and an identity in a country that was almost totally destroyed by constant (30 years) war, that was a sweet surprise.

Then I slept...

Band-e Amir

2008-10-11T03:58:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-10T03:49:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-08T03:48:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-07T08:13:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-10-06T03:42:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-05T03:40:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-04T03:39:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-03T10:16:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-10-03T03:38:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-10-02T03:29:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-01T03:27:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-30T14:01:00.000-07:00

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)

2008-09-29T13:59:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-28T13:53:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-27T13:51:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-26T13:49:00.000-07:00

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...

Got worms...

2008-09-25T13:44:00.000-07:00

...I do!

Nice, huh? I had a bad stomach in Delhi (Delhi belly) and had a test done by a doctor there, he told me I have worms! SWEET! I love worms! Anyway, I just have to take a pill twice a day for two days and I'll be de-wormed. I figured I'd share this appetizing news with you all, because I now you're all interested in that type of thing.

Anyway, I'm in Rishikesh right now. It's a center for Hindu pilgrims, but now westerners come here to "seek enlightenment", not why I'm here by the way. I'm on my way to the north (Manali), to chill out in the mountains and maybe do some more trekking in a different part of the Himalaya's.

India's cool so far though and not nearly as hard (to travel in) as I expected. The accommodation is more expensive then Nepal, but the food is ridiculously cheap and good! 50 cents for pretty much all you can eat rice, curry's, chapati's (flat round bread), dahl (lentils) and curd (yogurt)! I've been eating for more that one all of this time (the worms), so I guess I've been doing some damage to the kitchens! OK, I'm outta here, I'm gonna eat with an unfair advantage while I still have worms! I'm gonna miss those things!

Mother India

2008-09-24T13:40:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm not in Nepal anymore...
I planned on extending my visa for the last time in Pokhara, since I'd been in KTM for so long and there are many more tourists there than before. I was going to extend it on the last day possible, because why do today what you can put off till tomorrow? Pokhara is that mellow. Anyway, I broke down and did the responsible thing and went to the immigration office sooner than later.

I had tried to extend it (my visa) in KTM, but they told me I needed my India visa first (since I was going there next) and a bus or plane ticket out of the country. If I bought a ticket to show immigration in KTM, then I would have to go back there (6 -14 hours) to catch the bus to India, which is just extra (bus) time and money. Apparently it's much more difficult to extend your last visa (after 120 days), so I grabbed my Indian visa and took a bus to Pokhara.

When I got to the Pokhara immigration office, they (3 people) were just staring at my passport for a while, finally they told me I had been there (Nepal) for 120 days. I said "yup" and they told me I have to have a bus/plane ticket out of the country, so I showed them my ticket that I bought that morning. They all stared at that for awhile, then they told me that I had been in the country for 120 days, and I said "very good, is there a problem"? They finally let me know that your last visa can only be extended in KTM. So, I took a deep breath and asked if someone could help me solve this problem. They said "oh yes, we'll send someone by taxi to KTM and they'll do everything for you." I asked how much that would cost and they said 3,000 RS (about $50), plus the cost of extension ($30)! So, I told them "shit, I really love Nepal, but I guess I'm going to India in two days!" This is what did it for me, they told me (really calm and the guy took an extra step, so I could smell the Dal Baht on his breath) sir, you already have a ticket for Nov 17th, either you HAVE to go to KTM and the office will be closed when you get there (festival), or you send one of OUR employees. I've learned a lot about myself on this trip, one of the things I'm realizing is that when I'm cornered I become very illogical (super un-Spock like) and quite stubborn! I ended up telling them "no, I don't HAVE to do either and if I need to buy a new ticket to India then that's fine with me."

When I walked out of there, I was asking myself what the hell I just did that for? I love Nepal and Pokhara and it's perfect trekking weather, the best two months of the year. Oh well, guess I'm going to India in two days, I told my friend Pete (from England). I had to repair for India as best I could on two days notice, so I did what any hardened, experienced traveler would do, I ate all the things that I might not find in India! One of those things got me sick and I was hoping it wouldn't last till my bus ride the next day!

Woohoo!

I took the bus to the boarder puking out the window, a very enjoyable way to see the country side. The whole row of people behind me were re-examining there breakfast as well. When your head is hanging out the window of a nasty Nepali bus and you have chunks coming out of your nose and mouth, you see the country from a different point of view. Anyway, the last two hours were ok. I got to the boarder and had to find the hotel that had my ticket to Gorakpur, the next town in India. Oh, I didn't have to buy a new ticket, but I had couldn't cancel, I could only change the times and dates(would have saved money if I could have canceled and done it all as I went).

I found the hotel at the boarder and some scumbags told me that the bus was late and it would stop in front of the hotel. I had a bad feeling (which I pay attention to much more on this trip), but I did just empty my stomach and my legs weren't under me yet. I ended up waiting there and then they asked if I wanted to change money, luckily I changed some in Pokhara, so I knew the rate. I asked the rate and commission and agreed to change 10,000 Nepali RS, I had a nice round number in my pocket just for this reason. They tried to short me 1,000 Indian Rupees, so I got up grabbed my money, which they wouldn't let go of. I stopped and looked at the scumbags with the eyes of a man who had just puked all morning and has nothing left to loose and told them "don't make me do this". I was surprised at how pissed I was! I didn't need to say another word, they handed it to me and I put on my backpack and walked out. I found the bus about a minute later and the owner came to me and apologized. He asked if he could change money for me since I wouldn't be able to do it in the next town. 1.6 Nepali = 1 Indian, so I gave him 10,000 Nepali for 5,900 Indian including commission. Just as the bus was ready to leave, the scumbags came on and told me that I owe each of them 50 RS (Indian). I told them that I'm not giving them one RS and if I have to get off of this bus, they'll both need enough money for a hospital, so do the math. They told me to get off, I said OK, I put on my backpack and they ran out. That was that, and lucky too, because I would have been in trouble with my big backpack attached to me!

Anywho, I spent the rest of the night in the train station buying my ticket to Delhi for the next day at 5:00 pm, before I found a hotel (a real shit hole)! I slept maybe two hours that night due to some unwanted company... Rats and Cockroaches! The Cockroaches were all over my bed (they were the BIG one's that fly too), but at least the rats stayed off. They (rats) were busy trying to get into my backpack, so I had to grab my pillow and start swinging, so that I could try to hang my pack up somewhere with out getting bit! That was a loooong night and I slept with the light on! The next day the neighbors were looking at me really weird. They heard me cursing at the cockroaches before I would kill them and then laugh out loud at it and ask it's friends why they are running away! I'm a fruit-loop!

I just arrived in Delhi this morning and it really isn't as bad as I was expecting. It's madness, but there is enough to do here, so I guess I'll stay a couple of days. I just wanted to let everyone know where I'm at. I'll be heading to the north soon... I think.

Everest base camp

2008-09-23T13:39:00.000-07:00

Yeah! I made it there and back again alive, with just Teva's, so now I know it can be done, although my feet paid a price!

I took a bus from Jiri instead of flying to Lukla, because it's about $200 round trip to Lukla and back to KTM (Kathmandu), and I'm supposed to be trekking not flying to Sagumatha National Park! Even though it added a LOT of extra walking and it's all straight up and straight down everyday pretty much till you hit Sagurmatha N.P., it was well worth it! On the bus ride there (Jiri), I met "the almighty German" (Dirk) as I liked to call him. He was a conceited guy that was very rude to the locals, but somehow I got along with him. He trekked the whole Annapurna circuit in 7 days and it's a 21 day trek, so he's a good walker...
Anyway, we ate lunch when the bus stopped for 15 minutes and then the same dinner at our GH (guest house) in Jiri. When I woke up, "Dirk almighty" was wrecked! He had been up all night running back and forth to the bathroom and could hardly talk. He decided to stay the day to recover and I gave him some re-hydration mix and some medicine to hold him over in case he needed a doctor. I offered to get him some real medicine from the pharmacy, but he said no thanks and I took off.
I left by 7am and arrived at Deurali Pass by 2:00pm, I made good time, so I was just chillin in the Tea house for a few hours before I got hit by the same thing as Dirk Almighty. That was it for me!
My room was on the second floor and the toilet (out house) was outside in the back of the Tea house - no good could come of that! After running down stairs and sliding in the mud or hitting my head on the doorway of the toilet for a few hours straight, I decided I'd only wear my boxers, that would save me a few seconds and I would take that course of action for the good of the land! And so, Bear, in all his foolishness, entertained the local village of Deurali for the rest of the day, on through the night and all morning long! Running up and down the stairs outside into the rain sliding everywhere, hitting his head on the doorway and smacking into the tiny walls of the well used toilet! They were all nice to me and I'm sure they would have helped if they could, but they were definitely enjoying the whitey falling all over the place, running down the stairs (even though it was cold) in just boxer shorts! As my Uncle Joe used to say, "it's part of the game", but I thought it would be hard enough to trek to EBC with out being that sick.

I was going to stay that day, but the way they looked at me in the morning made me feel slightly uncomfortable, so I hobbled on along the trail and left my marks all along the way. After the first day I only had trouble if I ate or drank anything, so I avoided that, which isn't good while you're trekking, but hey! One close call I had was while I was climbing up an 800 meter section. I was tired and took a break near a waterfall, I filled up my water bottle (with a built in filter) and had no choice, but to drink! 5 minutes later I almost knocked down this nice old Lady that I had been trying to talk to! I didn't see any toilets around and there was no time to ask, so I dove 10 feet off of at terrace and landed in a corn field where I made a very large mess! Poor lady! I climbed out of there with my tail between my legs, strapped on my backpack and got the hell out of there! That old lady was watching me the whole time and what could I say? I was spreading toxic waste all over her beautiful corn field!

Luckily, after three days of this I saw Dirk Almighty. He had been diagnosed with Giardiasis, a type of dysentery and had enough medicine for me! Glad I was nice to him! Trekking is much more enjoyable when you have energy and you can actually drink water and eat food!

Everywhere between Jiri and Lukla is in Maoist control more or less. I was warned in KTM by a few people, that the village of Kinja was particularly loaded with them (Maoists). So, I decided to use 50% of my ninja skills to cross the commie gauntlet. I ran! I ran and I didn't stop till I was way out of town. I used Tommy Boys technique (you'd have to see the movie to understand) I ran screaming "BEES! THERE EVERYWHERE! SAVE YOURSELF! YOUR FIREARMS ARE USELESS AGAINST THEM! Not really, but I did run.

There are only fourteen 8,000 meter peaks in the whole world and Nepal has 10 of them! 4 of those are in Sagurmatha (what Nepalis call Everest) National Park! Sagurmatha is also the highest National Park in the world thanks to Evererst! From the park enterance it's a few hours to Namche Bazaar, where they have everything from bakery's to bars and Internet cafe's (even though it's around 12,000 feet high).
I entered the park on my B-day, so I continued on to Namche to celebrate, which I did with nice cold beer and a surprisingly good pizza. Namche is also a good place to take an acclimatisation day (a day off) to give your body time to adjust to the altitude. You're supposed to "walk high and sleep low", so I walked around the U shaped ridge that is over and around Namche.
While I was walking, I saw some smoke and heard singing, so I wanted to know what was going on. I started climbing towards it and finally saw a bunch of Sherpa dudes partying up there and they waved me up so of course I went. They immediately showered me with snacks and Roksi (there local homemade wine/whiskey). I sat down because I had to much stuff in my hands. One guy told me it was a ceremony and a minute later another guy told me his cousin had "expired". Then I realized it was a cremation ceremony and I crashed it! Wooops! There outlook on death is totally different than ours, it's amazing! Death is simply a part of life that everyone has to go through and is just a means to an end for them and nothing to fear or worry about. To them, there cousin will be back again within 40 days, that's why they do the ceremony, to help him find his way back! It definitely beats the hell out of our funerals!

Anyway, while I was in Namche I heard some people talking about Gokyo lake and the Cho La pass. It sounded cool, so I decided to try it out. Gokyo lake runs pretty much parallel with EBC, but about 20 K the the west, it's linked to the east by Cho La Pass (5,420 meters or 17,777 feet high) which joins the trail to Everest. In Gokyo, I woke up early and climbed Gokyo Ri (peak) in time to watch the sun rise over the Himalaya (that turned into a habit of mine)! That was something special to see! I can't describe the beauty of the sun rising over the largest mountain chain on earth! I could see Everest from there and spin 360 degrees and watch the rising sun warm mountain faces in all directions. I'm gettin all emotional about it.... somebody hold me!!! Later that day I crossed a glacier (which looked like moon landscape) to the only Tea house at the edge of Cho La pass. The glacier was covered with dirt and rocks, so the only ice you could see was when streams under the glacier melt it away and make a big sink whole, which is an instant lake or pond.
I crossed the Pass in the morning with a nice, reeeally old American guy I met (49). Yeah, that was for you dad! He was a real climber and taught me alot about climbing. He had a guide and porter with him, I had neither, so it was cool of him to invite me along with them. It was a good thing too, because I would have had a hard time following the collapsed trail (sink holes) alone. The top of the pass was all ice and it was slightly extreme (me likey), that was the first time I was cursing myself for wearing Teva's! The Sherpa guide and porter were flipping out, because they'd never seen someone stupid enough to wear Teva's across the pass. Don't worry, I'm American, I do lots of stupid things!
Once I crossed the Pass I was all pumped up and wanted to keep walking, so I went on and said good bye to those nice people who helped me out. I walked north for a few hours and stopped about six hours south of base camp. In the tea houses I expected to bump into some ego's and find a few rowdy people (especially that tea house so near to Base Camp), but I didn't. People were really mellow the whole way and the tea houses felt more like a ski lodge than anything else. Everyone's constantly cold out there, even in the tea houses, so that kinda zaps you of energy. Most people just sit there all bundled up holding there hot beverage with both hands and watching the steam rise, with a look in their eyes like "isn't life swell", but not actually saying so. It reminded me of a super long Folgers (coffee) commercial and I could hear the guy with the constipated voice singing his stupid song "The best paaart of waking up...". Anyway, that thought kept me up (that and the altitude) at night in my dorm and I would start cracking up at 1 in the morning. My dorm mates found out that I'm really psycho and didn't say a word about my outbursts.
In the morning I climbed Kala Patthar, the most famous and "best" spot to see Everest. I watched the whole thing again, this time I was right next to Everest, any closer and you can't even see the mountain. That was over 18,000 feet, and I was cursing myself again about the Teva's. It was all amazing though and I felt really lucky to be there. I stayed up there for a few hours and when my feet couldn't take it anymore I ran back down and try to thaw out in the tea house, then I ran up to EBC!

EBC wasn't much to look at. You're to close to Everest to actually see it, but I was still excited about being there. EBC is also on a glacier and the streams of melted water (that you can see) look like water slides! I also saw a crashed Russian helicopter right at Base camp as well. Two years ago they were dropping people off there and they crashed, three people died. I didn't summit Everest, but still, just making it the the base camp of the highest mountain on earth feels good and the only way you can go further is if you pay between 30 and 60 thousand dollars!

So, I stopped off at a few more places, crossed the commie gauntlet (successfully) again and took the bus back here (KTM), where I'm trying to fatten up for my last trek to Annapurna! From Jiri to EBC and back is about 300 kilometers, so I'm taking a nice long break here in KTM. The whole trek, including bus tickets, park entrance fees (1,000RS) food, lodging, and renting a sleeping bag, for 20 days totaled only 162 dollaa ($)! They don't tell you that at the travel agencies!

I didn't have many goals when I set out on this trip (over a year ago now), but getting to Everest Base Camp was definitely number one. I've never really set goals for myself, but I can see now how it feels to accomplish a goal or to live a dream. It's an amazing feeling...
This whole trek was for me and me alone and in a strange way I'm a changed person for having done it.

Nepal's been great to me, it's my favorite country so far. Tibet was great, Nepal was better, can't wait to see what India's got!

Flip-flops, Dengue and riots

2008-09-22T13:37:00.000-07:00

Once again I'm writing this months after I actually trekked. I did these two combined treks in late August and early Sept, 2004. While I was trekking, twelve Nepali's were killed in Iraq (working for the U.S.). When I returned to Kathmandu the city was a war zone! Tanks on the street, black smoke covering the sky, Soldiers and police out in force and mobs and mobs of pissed off Nepali's! Unfortunately they were taking out there frustration on ALL Muslims.
After a few days of curfew's it all got back to normal, normal for Nepal anyway.

One more thing for anyone who may read this and is not on my mail list. Dengue is a country that I made up during this trip. It's been so much fun telling people that I'm from Dengue that I had some fake flag patches made up in Kathmandu and sewed onto my backpacks. Dengue will come into play later on in this story, so I thought it necessary to point out. Enjoy...

As for my first real trek, (Helembu /LangTang) it was absolutely amazing! The fun started as soon as I left my GH (guest house). The bus I needed to take was WAY to crowded and the driver wouldn't let me sit on the roof (don't know why). I had to hang outside of the bus with just one foot in the doorway, the other hanging, one hand on the hand rail, the other inside the window, with five other people doing the same thing, all while I had my backpack on! Oh yeah, everyone almost died when "the best bus driver in the world" came within inches of a telephone pole, we all let go at the last moment and got a little muddy, but hey...

I need to mention this so everyone can understand my sheer stupidity, before I left KTM (Kathmandu) I was talking to a guy who owns a trekking store. I don't remember how it came up, but he was a pain and I was wearing flip-flops at the time. He made a sarcastic remark, something like "you're gonna try to trek in those things, you must be a REAL trekker". All though I had no intention of trekking with flip-flops, I thought to myself DAMN (actually it was another four letter word), because I realized then what I had to do! That started a five minute argument (very entertaining by the way), in which he told me "you can't combine Helembu and Langtang treks with flip-flops, you'll have to climb to Gosain Kund (4,300 meters), it is not possible!" I guess the stupid American in me came out (not uncommon), so I told him I'd be back in about two weeks with pictures of me at Gosain Kund wearing flip-flops! It's the little things like this that keep me going!

Anyway, the bus dumped me at Sundarijal (the starting village of the Helembu trek), and just in case I had forgotten, the biblical down pour reminded me that while it's coming to an end, the monsoon season is still here! It was 3:00 pm, not the best time to start day one of my trek, but there were no GH's (Teahouses they're called on the trail) in Sundarijal, so reluctantly I began trekking at 3:30 pm and didn't arrive at a Tea house until 7:30 at night (sunset is 6:30). Oh yeah, my flip-flops broke at about 6:00 pm and no, I didn't bring my cross trainers (half shoe, half boot) with me. So day one was a success!

The next morning at about 5:30 am, I awoke to what was at the time, THE most beautiful sunrise I had ever seen! As far as I could see, it looked like an ocean of clouds below me, with snow capped mountains, like islands high above to the north and smaller peaks warming themselves at random spots to the south and in between! The morning got better when I found replacement straps (for my flip-flops) for 10 rupees each (75 Rupees to the dollar) at a small shack...er, store! Well, the mornings kept getting more and more beautiful the closer I got to Langtang (about 45 kilometers north in a straight line), but soon after (morning) the clouds would come and try to steal all the attention! I personally liked the clouds a whole lot more when they complemented the mountains, but I guess they're a bit insecure?
Gosain Kund in English means Holy Lake. It's the site of a great spiritual gathering, very sacred and important to Hindu's and Buddhist's alike. It falls at the end of August and pilgrims make their way from all over Nepal, I happened to be there at that time. Apparently, 4 pilgrims thought of me as just another pilgrim (why else would some white fruit-loop be way out there...in flip flops?!), and asked if I would make the pilgrimage with them. That was great, the way trekking should be!

Every hour, just when all the juices are flowing and I'm ready to really walk, they would stop for Roxy (spl?), home made whiskey! 2-3 drinks later we would start walking again, they take it really seriously, the drinking that is! We made it up Laurembina Pass (4,500 meters, 1 meter = roughly 3.2 feet), and besides the holes that had begun in my flip-flops, I also realized we were stopping for some more Roxy!
At this time of year, villagers build temporary shelters for the pilgrims all over the place. They pretty much consist of wood with plastic on top and hay on the ground, and a simple fire place in the front to warm up the Roxy, oh yeah, and cook food. That's where I slept, well, tried to sleep! I froze every night, I had no sleeping bag and the blanket they gave me was way to short, so either my head or my feet were numb in minutes! In the morning I awoke to the husband and wife (in charge) making chapati's (like a thick burrito shell looking thingie made with flour) and preparing for the rest of the day. It was cool watch them scramble to beat the crowds of pilgrims and they were so busy that a friend of their's came to help. She was the best! She was def, had only two teeth left (front teeth, sticking way out of her mouth) and had rice stuffed up her nose!?!

The whole experience was excellent though, one of the highlights of my trip so far! I've left out a whole bunch and this is already too long, but it was an eventful adventure to say the least, and at that point it wasn't even close to done!

Gosain Kund marked (roughly) the middle of the the two treks and links them together (most people take a bus to one or the other). Through out the trek I had some real Dengue (a country I made up a few months earlier) tests, but I passed them all. A lot of the walking I did was through known Maoist villages and along with the rest of the world (unfortunately), they really don't like Americans. Unlike everyone else though, they have machine guns and are in the middle of a civil war in which America is supplying arms to the Royal Nepalese Army/RNA, their enemy! Most Americans say they're Canadian, I don't (don't ask me why), I usually say I'm American, but occasionally I say I'm from Dengue just to mess with people (guess I have to much time on my hands). I told a bunch of people in the Maoist region I was from Dengue and most of them asked two or three times until they understood DEN-GUE! My first test came when a villager brought me into his home and pulled out a map! I showed him where it was "supposed" to be, inside of South Africa, between Swaziland and Lesotho (spl?). Of course it wasn't there, but he looked at me apologetically and said it was an old map.

The next, tougher test came as I entered Lang Tang National Park. The soldiers/RNA have a small base there, and I had to register and pay a fee of 1,000rs. When they saw me write Dengue as my home country one soldier gave me serious attitude and said "what Dengue?". I looked at him as if offended and said "what Nepal?" I don't know why, but he wasn't very happy about that, so he motioned for me to stay were I was and then called his Superior. He came and gave me the same attitude and I asked him if they teach geography in Nepal? I don't know why, but he didn't like that either?! They called a third man (he might have been in charge) and I must admit, my heart started beating pretty fast! He also came with a map and I showed him where it was "supposed to be". He wasn't buying it, so I had to explain to him (he spoke English) that in 1869 we broke away from South Africa (how old is South Africa anyway?). We've been an independent Nation ever since, but not until September 20 (my birthday) of this year with the UN officially recognize it as such! About time! I told him to check the the UN web site, knowing there was definitely no Internet up there. And so, I passed my first few REAL Dengue tests!

Anyway, the trail in the National Park was terrible, and most people had to go backwards for a full day and take another rout! No way I was doing that, so I continued on until I saw the problem myself. There was no more trail! Two nights before, a huge landslide came and the path I was supposed to take had been washed away, a good 50 meters strait down! Well, the rock climbing I learned in Thailand helped out a lot. I managed to scale my way far enough to grab a tree and then walk, but mostly crawl on a very steep slope on till the real path continued (about fifteen minutes later). The rest of the trek was uneventful, but beautiful none the less! After the trek ended (in Sephrubesi) and I tried to get back to KTM it got ruff again!

7 German girls and I woke up early our first morning at Sephrubesi to catch the KTM bound bus at 7:00am. Due to landslides on the road, it was a half hour walk to the bus. When we got there we noticed the bus had a flat tire. It took a full hour to fix, the back tires are doubled so they just swapped them. Not long after that the bus stopped because the road was half gone. The landslides had wrecked that part of the road as well! We all got out and started repairing the road, stone bye stone and then patted it down with dirt! Only in Nepal! It worked though and looking forward to good food and a hot shower we were all excited, until an hour later, when the next tire blew! That meant the next tire couldn't be replaced. That was never an issue though, because when we got to the next village (Dunche) we heard about the madness in KTM!

We heard that no vehicles were allowed to enter KTM valley, so we spent the night there and hoped for the best. They said the same thing the next day, so we decided to walk to the next village (about 4 hours away), much to the protest of our hotel owner. We were hoping that there, 8 whitey's could hire a jeep or something. It was a good idea, for two of the four hours there were no roads anyway because of landslides, and one actually started as we were walking, rocks just missed me and two other girls! We caught a bus later that afternoon, even though everyone we talked to said they wouldn't leave that day. The bus took us to Thripili, were we slept the night and then to KTM the next morning at 5 am.

When we arrived KTM was chaos, with black smoke rising everywhere and looting and burning going on! It was because of the 12 Nepali workers that were captured and executed in Iraq! Muslim owned businesses and Mosques were targeted as well as some government and media offices! After a couple of days of this, the riots and curfew are finally over, but the transportation strike that the Maoists put in place is still in affect! The Maoists have also shut down at least one college, because the police arrested some Pro-Maoist students. It was a stange time for Nepali's. They were quite embarrassed by their actions and they definitely went over board, but they have been going through a lot and I think, part of it anyway, may have just been an excuse to let the world know how frustrated they really are.

Madness

2008-09-21T13:36:00.000-07:00

3 September, 2004

I just got back from my first real trek! I'm alive and well...tired! Kathmandu is much different then when I left. I only have an hour left (curfew), and I just arrived from my trek, so I gotta go. Write more when I can!

Peace!

This updated wardens' message is being issued to alert American
citizens
that the US Embassy confirms that the Government of Nepal has called a
curfew effective 2:00 pm today. All American citizens should remain
indoors (home, hotel or place of employment) from 2:00 pm onward until
it is
confirmed that the curfew has been lifted.

The text of the message issued earlier today follows again below:

This wardens' message is being issued to alert American citizens of
ongoing
civil unrest in and around Kathmandu and possibly other urban centers
in
Nepal in reaction to the tragic killing of 12 Nepalese nationals by
Ansar
al-Sunnah terrorists in Iraq on August 31. The Embassy strongly urges
all
Americans to maintain a low profile, to avoid all road travel in and
around
Kathmandu Valley, and to remain in their homes, hotels, or places of
work
until the situation stabilizes. The Nepalese authorities may institute
a
Valley-wide curfew as early as this afternoon.

As of 10:30am on September 1, 2004, the Embassy had received reports of
street mobs burning vehicles and looting Nepalese manpower companies.
Protestors have also set fire to the Jame Mosque near the old clock
tower in
downtown Kathmandu. While focused in areas around Ratna Park,
scattered
groups of protestors are demonstrating, burning tires and disrupting
traffic
throughout the city. Many parts of the Ring Road are closed down. The
possibility of violence, particularly against Muslims, is high.

For further information about security conditions in Nepal and guidance
on
recommended security measures to follow, American citizens are strongly
encouraged to refer to the Consular Information Sheet for Nepal, found
on
the Department of State's home page at http://travel.state.gov and the
American Embassy in Nepal's home page at http://www.south-asia.com/USA.
Specific information may also be obtained by calling the Embassy at
(977-1)
411-1179 and asking for the American Citizen Services unit of the
Consular
Section.

Trekking time!

2008-09-20T13:34:00.000-07:00

OK, I'm off to do some trekking tomorrow!

It'll be a combo of the Langtang and Helumbru (spl?) treks. I have a map and it looks like they can be combined, I've heard from some guides that there are Tea houses ( to eat and sleep at ) the whole way ( a few hours apart ), so it should be cool and it should only be about 10 to 15 days. There will be a Full Moon / Shaman Festival at Gosain Kund ( holy lake ) while I'm there, so that should be different!

This is a trial run for Everest. I'll get in better shape (although I've been sick for almost a month) and find out what else I need to bring, if anything. Everyone tells me not to tell anyone on the trail that I'm American, because there are a bunch of Maoists on ALL the trails in Nepal, and they'll make me pay double the fee, or price, (Maoists demand "donations") or whatever it's called. So, I'm officially from Dengue for the next few weeks! I'm gonna have a patch of the Dengue flag made up today ( I haven't decided what it should look like yet) and sew it onto my trekking backpack, right next to the Lebanese flag!

I already came up with the Capitol of Dengue, "Bristol" (my old home town) and we declared Independence from South Africa (how old is South Africa?) in 1869 (my street address in Miami), and in case you were wondering, it's located inside of South Africa, between Swaziland and Lesotho (spl?), but those are real countries unlike Dengue! I'm thinking of making the Prime Minister Cherise Litz, (my sister) different last name, but I won't ever forget it. This is fun! I've already tried most of this stuff out and it's actually worked.

Needless to say I won't have internet accsess for the next two weeks, so don't worry about me, if I fall and smash my skull on a blunt rock I'm dead anyway! Does that comfort you? When I get back, it's off to Everest, my main mission for this trip! I can't summit it, because to trek past base camp you have to pay $30,000!!!! So, EBC (Everest Base Camp) is my goal. OK, I'll fill you all in when I return.

More than just KTM!

2008-09-19T13:31:00.000-07:00

OK, I'm done volunteering - wooohoo! It was cool, but I'm glad it's over. It was a rewarding experience for me, but I'm definitely not ready to work yet (especially 6 days a week and 8 hours a day.... for free)! Still, I'm glad I did it. The students did some of the funniest things (I noticed while grading their tests).

The students were great though, they gave me and the other teacher a gift at the certificate ceremony, which was much more than they should have. At that ceremony, I met the head of the Nepali tourism board (they think it's Nepals third major religion...yeah, tourism!) who Kata'd me (not sure of the spelling, but a kata is a scarf like thingie that is a great honour to recieve). I also met the head of TIA (Nepal's International Airport) and recieved, as well as, handed out certifates of completion to all of the students, while two T.V. camera's were there (in my face) and a few photographers. Not the kind of experience I expected when I started this trip, but an experience none the less!

Anyway, I'm still in Nepal and back in KTM (Kathmandu) as of last night. I took a trip to Janakpur (southern Nepal, bordering India), it's the most holy Hindu city in Nepal. On my way there (I took a local "chicken bus") some guys (on the bus) invited my to stay in their village. In KTM a tourist really can't trust anyone (unfortunately), so I was reluctant, but I still wanted to go. After long strenuous internal debates (that's a dangerous thing coming from me ), 10 seconds, I ended up going. It was the right decision, and some of the harder traveling I've done.

There are no cars there and we had to hitch a ride on a potato tractor for 7 kilometers just to get there. Individually they are kind people (villagers), but in a crowd like they always were, (gathering around the whitey) they can be intimidating. My friends making the rounds, or showing of "THEIR whitey" didn't help much either. I think about half the village had never seen a whitey in person! Anyway, I stayed a few days, bathed in a lake with the whole damn village, slept on the floor of there porch (it was too hot inside), ate on the floor with my hands, drank well water (not smart, but I had no choice) and had a Tika put on my head by a Sadhu (spl?),

or Hindi holy man.The nights were great, no lights and when I looked out over the village ( I was on the first floor) it looked like I went back in time, with all the mud and stick houses under the moonlight! It was a great experience, but it was HOT, and I started missing fans, showers and at least SOME privacy. Even though it's their custom to treat a guest like a God (literally), and they did their best, it was exhausting meeting everyone and giving "a full introduction", smoking a cigarette or drinking tea, or taking pictures of the whole village,

person by person and trying to explain way I (an American) can't pay for everyone to come live with me in America. As kind as they were, I never had one second to myself, they even tried to tell me "it's time to use the toilet" (though that's just someone's back yard), so I said thanks and peace! I caught a wooden wagon, pulled by cattle to the main road, then caught another chiken bus to Chitwan National Park, were I could be a tourist again!
The bus didn't drop me off in the right spot (of course) and after two check points (everyone has to get off the bus with their bags, because the soldiers are looking for Maoist's) and a drunk soldier boarding the bus saying "bla bla bla....Militia?" to everyone, I arrived at 9:30pm somewhere! I checked out a hotel, but they wanted $20 a night. I said no and tried to figuer out where the hell I was (looking in my guide book). Luckily, the manager came out and told me "curfue is at ten o'clock, in 15 minutes, don't let the soldiers catch you out here then"! He asked what my budget was and I said one dolla!!! He was cool though, he took me to a local guest house (that I NEVER would have found), on the back of his motorcycle and I paid 100RS. or a $1.25. It was shity, but I beat the curfue and found out where the hell I was. The next day I took a bus (20 minutes), then a rickshaw to Sauraha, the village touching Chitwan N.P. (National Park).
When you're on a roll you're on a roll, I stayed in two other local homes there, before I happily became a tourist again. My first day as a tourist (again), two Rhino's got in a fight, and the looser, with a huge gash in his side, ran through the town (Sauraha), right down the street into the river! I ended up taking an elephant ride through the jungle and rivers and saw a mother and baby Rhino! That was sweet! No Tigers though, but I already knew that it's a slim (to none) chance to see one in the wild. I also took a canoe ride and a jungle walk in the N.P. The town / village of Sauraha was so laid back, that I stayed a few more days and just rented a bike and explored the jungle (buffer zone to the N.P.) on my own. It was a cool!

I met some friendly locals who invited me to "Opening Day" at a church (they were all excited). While that's not my idea of a fun vacation, I figured I'd check it out, since I've been to enough Buddhist and Hindu temples, I might as well check out a local church. Well, it wasn't much to look at! The building was about the size of my living room and was made of mud and sticks! Everyone sat on the floor, but they were soooo happy to be there! When they started singing, I couldn't understand a word, but the girls voices were like angels! All the villagers came running to see what the music was all about and soon there were people crowded around the building and looking through the holes in the walls just to see what was up! It was the first real church I've been too, and I've been too a bunch!

I came back to KTM the next day, yesterday, and Jenah (or Jena-hhhhh, as I call her) and Peter (or Pedderass, as I call him) were gone. Pedderass is going to India and then Spain and back to Sweden. Jenahhh is in Pokhara (Nepal), then she's also heading to India. It's been cool travelling with them (I haven't had that kind of fun since high school), and I wish them the best (I only said that, cause they're on my mail list now!)! So, after about seven months of traveling with Pedderass and about two months traveling with Jenahhh, and about a month with the Dutch girls, I'm gonna be alone for the first time in almost 8 months!

I'm getting ready to start trekking. I'm gonna start off easy and then work my way to Everest (I'll do about three different treks). I'll be in Nepal for a few more months, and then I'll head to India, around Nov - Dec. My camera just broke yesterday, so no pic's till I figuer out the problem (it's in the shop now). OK, my fingers are sore from typing! I'll write again later... no, you can't escape!

Kathmandu!

2008-09-18T13:30:00.000-07:00

I've found my favorite city in the world so far, Kathmandu! Sure I might have already made up my mind, (I've been looking forward to Nepal for years) but it really is a special place. Maybe after 6 1/2 months of backpacking I just needed a break from my vacation, and Kathmandu is just that.

Tibet was great and the people were the best, but the Chinese government is succeeding in destroying that great culture (no offense Ka). The drive here was absolutely amazing though!

We drove through two passes of more than 16,000 feet (with Mt. Everest on our left) and saw the high barren Himalayan landscape turn to green tropical climate within 45 minutes! Approaching Nepal, we saw a huge wall of Himalayan mountains in front of us, with a tidal wave of clouds trying (hopelessly) to crash over them. I can't describe the beauty and the feeling of being there in that moment, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

Even after all the great times I had in Tibet and China, I was so excited, I felt like a kid again as I saw the bridge that led to the Nepal boarder. I almost forgot that it is monsoon season here, so Nepal, without asking for anything in return, kindly greeted us (Peter and Dan an English dude) with a total and complete soaking! I was also reminded that Nepal is in the middle of a civil war, by missing three roadside bombings by just hours. I guess I'm loosing it, or maybe it's that A-rab blood in me, but I only got more excited by that news.

I've been kickin back in Kathmandu until recently, when I jumped at a volunteer opportunity to teach English at K.E.E.P. Nepal (Kathmandu Environmental Education Center), which I'm doing now. I even have a badge saying "Mr. Bear Falugo, Chief instructor", is that not the scariest thing you've ever heard? I've also spent some time at a local orphanage. The kids are great, and a little bit of time and attention goes such a long way, it's amazing how they're able to adapt to such trauma.

Sooo, It looks like I'll be here for a while, but I'll be busy at the same time. I've had half a year of non-stop fun, so since I love Nepal so much I figured I would stop and help out a little. At least I'll be stoked all over again, when the volunteering ends (sounds like another reason to party to me). I'm still going to wait until Oct. to have a go at Everest (I want the best weather conditions when I go), so it can just sit there sweating for a few more months. Thanks for all the emails and good wishes.

Peace,
Bear, Chief instructor.

Back in Lhasa

2008-09-17T04:38:00.000-07:00

I'm back in Lhasa again after 4 great days. Peter, Jenah, a few new friends and I wanted to see Lake Namso, supposedly the highest salt lake in the world. The tour included a few more stops, so we jumped at the opportunity to see more of Tibet than just Lhasa.

We started out at Lake Namsto, a 5 hour jeep ride from Lhasa. We passed a 5,200 meter pass on the way there with stunning views. On our way down from the pass (about 10 K from the Lake) we saw a Nomad that someone had taken a picture of (on a previous trip) and asked us to find him, to give him the picture of himself. we couldn't miss him with hair like Einstein, so we all (six of us) jumped out of the jeep to show him the picture. You can probably imagine how freaked out he was to see a bunch of whitey's jump out of a jeep right near him and run towards him like a second wave of Mao's army!

When he saw the picture though, he was in awe! He just stared at it smiling and couldn't say a word, but managed to motion to us to come into his family's tent. He had a great family, three boys, one girl and a cool wife! They gave us Yak Butter Tea and we gave them cigarettes (I always have some on me to give to locals... a great ice breaker and good for their health too!) and I gave the kids some penny's from back home. After that we finished the trip to the lake. The lake was beautiful! We stayed in tents for 20 Yuan and had a huge sheep let us know that it was his tent first and we'd just have to share it with him. He was great though and wouldn't leave us... me alone!

Two days later, we headed to Reting Monastery. It was beautiful, but a rip off (30 Yuan to enter and 30 to sleep in crusty beds!), with most of that money going to the Chinese government. Anyway, that night the monks got crazy! They were snorting some barley powder thing, and blowing it out their mouths as smoke!?! Everyone does that out here, almost as an alternative to smoking cigarettes. They offered us all some and I ended up being the only whitey to blow smoke out, so they all flipped out and gave me some dough (that they make by mixing butter tea with a different type of ground barley) and some Yak yogurt. You're supposed to dip the fresh dough in the yogurt, it's not too bad either! After some hard core arm wrestling competitions, in wich Peter (Peter and I against the monks) and I did pretty well, we we all turned out attention to the rediculously beautiful sky. We were about 13,000 feet high and could see the Milky Way, as well as some shooting stars, magical!

The next day we headed to Drigung Monastery, my favorite spot in Tibet so far! It's a Nunnery, with two rivers cutting through the village and a killer hot spring (the best hot spring I've seen in a while). The houses were set all along the steep hills, with at least one of the rivers sandwiched in between narrow cliffs. I followed the bigger of the two rivers upstream and it led to a gorge no wider than twenty feet, with walls hundreds of feet straight up, and as far forward as I could see! We all just kicked back in the hot springs for the rest of the day and night drinking 50 cent beers. When we woke up the hole village was white with snow! Great contrast to the day before, but made it tricky driving out of there!

On the last day we went to Tenjag. We didn't know, but it's a Sky Burial! If you want to know what it is, do a search on google for - Tenjag Sky Burial, or just - Sky Burial! I won't tell you the details, because it's gruesome and some of you might not like the description! I will tell you that it was probably the most hard core thing I've ever seen (I was ten feet away, and saw and smelled everything)! It was an experience though, and the people didn't seem to mind that we were there (but I'm sure they weren't happy about it). I wouldn't tell anyone to go there though, because it is pretty much some strangers funeral, and WE AREN'T INVITED! I can't believe that travelers are allowed, much less encouraged to go there!

Anyway, I'm about to leave Tibet (in two days), I'm going into Nepal instead of the "Stans", because I'll need to line up all my visa's for the "Stans" before I get to those Country's , which means more time than I have left on my China visa! Nepal is supposed to have killer, cheap, Western food, and I'm not gonna lie, I miss pizza, good coffee, sandwich's, steak... I could go on. After six months of street food and local restaurants, I'm ready to put a hurt'n on some good western food! I'll probably do some white water rafting there as well, check out a National Park and then dip into India till trekking season in Nepal (Oct-Nov), when I'll return to try to get to Everest base camp and do the Annapurna Circuit! Lets see how much my plans change...

The roof of the world

2008-09-16T04:22:00.000-07:00

I'm in Lhasa, the capitol of Tibet!

It's 3,700 meters high (almost 12,000 feet), and is in the middle of the Himalaya's (the highest mountain chain in the world - the roof of the world). The people here are amazing! There are pilgrims who have walked hundreds of miles just to come to what they believe is the most holy city in the world! They have a great smile and have genuinely good hearts!

I've been here for just over a week and even though I've been sick since I've been here, it's been a great experience. Here in Lhasa, I've mostly been hanging out and talking to these great people. I've been able to visit the Potala Palace, the old home of the Dali Lama, before he had to flee to Dharamsala, India (Cough, because of the Chinese government). I've also been inside the most sacred temple in Lhasa, the Jokhang temple.
Lhasa is a strange mix though. It seems that China, in it's extreme state of paranoia, is encouraging Chinese people to move here to "dilute" this beautiful culture. Some locals have told me that when the children grow up, after their education, that this culture will be "on it's last leg". A lot of children already care more about video games than there culture and religion. They (cough...the government) like to put a Chinese flag up near villages and in remote area's, as a constant thorn in Tibet's side, they offer cheap housing to the Chinese (outside of Tibet) and offer tax breaks to get as many Chinese up to Tibet as possible. Dilute the culture! Besides that, the way the Chinese came here to begin with and the way they've (Tibetans) been repressed, these people are still positive! Amazing people!

I just returned from a four day bike ride with my friend Peter and Jenah (an American I met in Chengdu). We rented the bikes for 10 Yuan a day, or $1.25, bought a crappy map and started riding east (someone told us they went east and it sounded really cool!). We left way to late in the day (5:30pm - we're on vacation!), ate dinner in a village 25 kilometers out of town and struck out trying to find a place to sleep there. We had no choice, but to ride on to the next village, 46 K away!

Needless to say, it was dark! We were cruising around in the Himalaya's in what would have been pitch black, except for one of the clearest sky's I've ever seen (no moon that night). We stopped for a rest at 11:00 pm and a man happened to be walking by (don't ask where he was coming from!). We asked him in travellers sign language, were we could sleep. He invited us to his house made from mud and Yak shit, and we happily excepted. Once again, he proved that these people are some of the most generous people alive. He had next to nothing, (his son about 2 years old didn't even have pants to wear!) but he offered all he had. It was a great night that I won't forget! He gave us all rice whiskey and refused to accept money for anything. We had to hide it, but hooked him up with more money than we've paid at any other Guest House in Tibet and then continued on.

It was 20 minutes to the next village (where we ate breakfast) and 25 K more to the next village, where we asked for a bed ( in travellers sign-language again) and to our surprise, were shown a killer G.H. (Guest House), for just 10 Yuan a night. It was a crazy "Wild" town, with horses, cows, yaks, dogs, and goats all over the place! The guys were all dressed like Cowboys (but looked like Indians)! They even tied their horses up outside of the saloons (not really but cafe type place where they could get drunk on rics whiskey). We stayed there for two nights and climbed a 4,450 meter peak (Peter bought an altitude counter thingie in Lhasa) just outside of the killer "Wild" village we stayed at.

Yesterday, Jenah took a bus back, Peter and I were going to ride the full 98 K back, but Peter snuk a ride back with some monks after we were separated in a hail storm! I caught up with them (those bastards were eating lunch on the side of the road) about 25 K outside of Lhasa. When they hopped back into there tractor, they threw a rope out of the back and pulled me on my bike, the rest of the way! What a great time! I'm still sick, but I'm loving it up here! We're getting ready to head to Lake Namse, the highest salt lake in the world (they claim).
I'm not sure where I'll head after that...

The T.P. man...

2008-09-15T04:12:00.000-07:00

I'm on my way to Tibet soon, but don't want to forget to write this funny story down.

I was in Chengdu and Jan, Pedderass (Peter) and myself were just kickin it at an ex-pat bar, drinking a few beers. It was a nice night (outside - street side) and eventually we were joined by the owner and some of his very drunk friends. One of them really didn't like me because I was American, and he kept telling me he wanted to "test his power against me in the street" all night. That was no problem, really annoying, but I can ignore insults and challenges. By about 2:00 am, the TP man as I'll call him (power tester, backwards) went inside for a drink and I don't know why, but I turned around (maybe because I didn't trust him). When I looked inside I saw him yelling at the waitress and he pushed her away, so she slapped him, then he reached behind himself, grabbed a ceramic statue and broke it over her head! I have a hard time watching stuff like that, so when he walked past me like he was all bad and then sat down laughing about it with his friends (one of them the owner), I couldn't let it slide.

I walked over to his table without saying a word, and grabbed him... I can't remember were but I had a good grip, and I walked him through a few tables and chairs, with bottles and glasses breaking, I think I knocked a few tables down as well? Anyway, I dragged him to the steps of the bar/restaurant and stopped. He stood there and started saying something to me in drunken Chinese, with his finger raised in my face, and just before he hit my chest with his finger, I pushed with just my left hand. He went flying and landed face down on the side walk! It took him a good 5 seconds to get up, at which time the owner came up to me asking why I did that. I pointed to the waitress (that's not their proper name is it?), who had blood running down her face and neck, and then looked at the TP dude and said "he can't stay here"! The owner wasn't happy about it, but he decided to take my side (for a number of reasons probably) and walked down the steps to pacify the TP man. About 2 seconds later they were both on the ground rolling around, then the waitress came out of the bar to get into it and a minute later the police came!

Madness! That officially signaled the end of the night and the time to go back to our GH's! Really looking forward to Tibet.

Chengdu

2008-09-14T03:56:00.000-07:00

I'm in Chengdu finally! It's a cool city that I think I'm gonna end up spending a lot of time in eventually (I've already been offered English teaching jobs without looking!). There are over 11 million people here, but it doesn't feel at all like a big city. It took three days on a bus to get here and killed my back, but I made it.

I went on the old Tea Road, it runs from Yunnan to Sichuan (Chinese Province's), the road has been closed to foreigners until only a couple of years ago. They were terrible and it was almost normal to drive over a 4,000 meter pass or nearly fall off the side of the road (no guard rails), because the driver doesn't slow down on hair pin turns. The roads are only 1 1/2 lanes and all the driver does is beep the horn as he comes flying around the corner and hopes that oncoming traffic (if there is any) will do the same, so he can slow down and get back in his lane. Horns don't really do much though, since the music is blasting so loud no one would even hear an explosion! Besides that, the scenery was absolutely beautiful! We went over one pass that was 4,700 meters (well over 13,000 feet) and it felt like we could see forever. We were above the clouds and it made me forget for a while how bad my back hurt. We stayed in Tibetan villages in the night time, which are getting bigger, because many Tibetans are fleeing Tibet for more freedom in this part of China (Ironic, but kind of gross).

I was already supposed to be in Tibet, but I met some really cool girls that ran a bar in a guest house that we stayed in (in Zhongdian/Shangri-la), so I decided to hang out for a while. I helped the owner make menu's (they wanted to know what Western travellers like to eat) and corrected some messed up writing he had on some signs. They were so happy with me that I ate and drank (you guessed it.....rice whiskey and beer) for free!

Zhongdian has also been a Tibetan village for years, but now China is trying to turn it into a tourist trap, I really enjoyed it though. Jan and I were invited into a Tibetan house outside of the village and the family stopped working in the fields to come have yak butter tea with us and also gave me Yak Cheese and their home made bread (round flat and tasteless). They're such good, giving people! They don't have much, but what they do have they don't hesitate to share with a stranger (who they know has much more money then they do). They sing all day, even in the fields and once in a while the girls will start dancing while they sing. It's going to be great in Tibet! I'm planning to go there this Friday and was planning to go to Nepal after that (because it's so close), but as it turns out it isn't trekking season now and half the reason I'm going there is to trek to Everest base camp.

I heard some guy somewhere talking about Mongolia (I think) and it's supposed to be the best time of year (the only time) to go there, so I have a new plan! After Tibet I'll make my way to Beijing to get a Visa for Mongolia, and then take the Trans Mongolian Railway to Mongolia. After that I'll try to head across to Kazakhstan and down through a few other "Stans", the last of which is Pakistan (unless you call India Hindustan), then cross Northern India into Nepal in time for trekking season (Oct-Nov)! I'm not sure that they'll let an American into those countries, so I'll have to do some research on the "Stans". There are a bunch of Muslims around there, so I'm not gonna shave my beard till then! Woohoo!! I'm already in a no beard shaving contest with Peter (my Swedish friend) and we haven't shaved since Chang Mai, Thailand! Damn, I look like a crazy hippie with a big green Commie jacket! Oh yeah, I bought a huge green Commie jacket that goes past my knees, it has golden (fake) stars (Commie) buttons with fake fur around the collar. People don't know what the hell is happening to their town when they see me walking down their street with that on! Yeah! Feeling like the world's my personal playground!

There is so much to say, and I don't have the mental/academic capacity to relay it to everyone. Heehee! ;-) I guess the bottom line is that I'm still enjoying life to the fullest everyday and I hope everyone who reads this will take time out someday to do the same (whatever that may be to everyone)! I know travelling isn't everyone's "cup of tea" (I had to say it, I AM in China), but I hope everyone does what they really want to at some point and for however long it lasts, whatever does do it for yuh! We ALL deserve it.

Tiger leaping gorge

2008-09-13T03:42:00.000-07:00

I just got back from Tiger Leaping Gorge! I trekked there for three days, and it was absolutely beautiful! Peter, Jan and I (the Norwegian girl went home) trekked from Guest House to Guest House (only about 4-5 hours a day). We took it easy, because half of the reason people trek there is for the cool Home stays (Guest Houses).

We stayed with two different Naxi family's (a Minority Tribe - Naxi's are better than Nazi's) and with some local farmers there. They had everything a tierd traveler could want, lots of cheap food (50 cents a meal), cheap beer (50 cents for a big bottle) and Playing cards, oh yeah and a really warm bed (we hiked to about 3,000 meters or 9,000 feet). All the rooms we stayed in cost 10 Yuan ($1.25) a night!

On our last day we trekked down the gorge to the river, we wanted to see Tiger Leaping Stone. Legend says that a long time ago a man saw a tiger on that stone and it jumped across the river, thus giving it the name Tiger Leaping Gorge! Anyway, we got kind of lost on our way down (which gave me an idea for an extreme tour I could give to people, if the money was right of course. It would involve me getting everyone lost and almost killed in a far away land! What do you think of that one? Heehee!) and I figured (incorrectly) that if we could just get down to the water, we could follow the river to the sacred stone (we were lost anyway?).

So, I walked to the edge of a landslide to see if I could spot a path near the river. When I turned around to yell up to my friends that there wasn't any path down there, the ground fell from underneath my feet and I slid on a huge granite rock for about 30 feet. The thing that saved me from total destruction was about ten weeds all grouped together sharing the same roots! My foot hit a lip at the end of the rock (only an inch high, but enough to slow me way down) and I grabbed my new best friends (the weeds), then I almost (I'm not ashamed to say it) peed my pants.

The drop was well over 200 feet and laying there with shredded finger nails and bloody nuckles I thanked God for letting that bird eat a seed and take a crap there, which turned out to grow into a cluster of weeds, that one day would save my life! After that, the day just kept getting better! I think everyone should start the day off almost dying! The day can't get any worse than that right? Anyway, thanks for all the prayers and positive thoughts!
I'm back in Lijiang now, I renewed my Visa, so I have 42 more days here in China if I want. I plan on spending most of them in Tibet, but first I have to catch a flight from Chengdu (which means getting to Chengdu first). I can't believe it's cheaper to fly there than to take a bus, which is good, because if the bus was cheaper I would have taken it, even if it was a 38-60 hour ride (a little time fluctuation there). OK, I'll try not fall off of anymore cliffs.

Chi-na-na (China)

2008-09-12T03:20:00.000-07:00

I made it through Laos and I'm in south central China. I'm in Jinhong right now, we crossed by land, from Muang Sing (Laos) to Mengla (China) and then took a bus for a few hours north to Jinhong. Laos was absolutely beautiful though, and I had a great time there!

I stayed in Luang Namtha (Northern Laos) for a while. Besides the three friends I'm travelling with, I met a few more cool people there. We decided to take a bus (without a guide or tour company) and stay with some Hill tribe people.

We bought all the supplies needed to be self sufficient in case of the worst cast scenario. When we got out of our chartered mini bus the whole village ran up to us and brought us to a long house. They rolled out sleeping mats for everyone and we agreed on the price (to sleep there), 10,000 Kip each, just under a dollar!

To make a long story lot so long, we were all set up and even swam in their river, when the Tourist police showed up. They said we couldn't be there with out a guide and escorted us back to their office where they questioned us all separately(like we were drug smugglers), and finally fined us 15,000 kip each!

They were so rude and intimidating that they had two girls in tears! They pissed us all off enough that I ended up throwing an extra 5,000 kip at them and told them to have a nice day, with a perfect smile!

Anyway, I saw a basketball court down the road, so I'll have to show them (there are no tourists here) what's up. I really love China so far (more than expected) and the south is totally different than Bejing, like another country.

Oh yeah, I forgot to write about the wedding we were all invited to in Laos! We were all just walking along, minding our own business when a pickup truck full of locals dressed up asked us if we wanted to go to a wedding! We all looked at each other and said why not. So, we all jumped in the back and enjoyed the ten minute ride through a killer little village till we were dumped in someone's back yard!

The minute all the whitey's showed up the locals scrambled to give us all the Lao-Lao (rice whiskey) we could handle, and then some, and then some more. I've never drank so much so fast, and there was nothing we could do to stop them!

Of course we all had a great time though, even the two girls (that came with me) that blew chunks after their 8th shot! They treated us very well too. They gave us all the food we could eat, they kept on bring more and more along with the Lao-Lao! What a great night, I think. I'm glad I have pictures because I don't remember much!

Just a couple of days ago here in Jinghong (China), we were all invited to an Akha (a minority hill tribe) village and had a feast! We had about 20 dishes of food on a circular table that you can spin like a giant record. Then the Akha girls came to sing traditional songs for the whitey's!

They would sing a song standing in front of you and at the end you hug around the neck and then do the shot (also rice whiskey) while embracing. They ganged up on me because I was kidding around with them (maybe flirting a bit), then they said through an interpreter (a friend we met in town that invited us there) that I had to sing a song or do 3 shots. I was already buzzed from all the girls doing shots with me, they just did one shot with all my friends (big mouth), so I couldn't think of anything to say except "line'em up!"

That was a really cool experience, and I've been hanging with that Akha guy - Shou San - at his store every day since then. He's teaching me to make Akha jewelry and I showed him how to make native American jewelry. We all sit on the floor of his store (a tiny street side store) and eat fruit and watch the town go bye. It's great! He doesn't want me to leave, he offered to let me live with him and his family. I'll have to come back here, and I just might stay a long time!

I'm going to take a 30-36 hour bus ride tomorrow, so I'll rest me bum now...

Song Kron

2008-09-11T03:12:00.000-07:00

I'm out of Bangkok. I got my Chinese Visa and took off as soon as possible. I'm in Chiang Mai now (Northern Thailand), and I met up with the Dutch girls and my Swedish friend (Peter) that I met in Indonesia. We're all staying at the same Guest House and it's a really cool place to hang out.

Today is the last day of Song Kron, the Thai New Year. It's a four day holiday, but it started on Monday, so they really start celebrating the weekend before. The whole country celebrates it, but Chiang Mai has the biggest and best celebration. I've never seen anything like this!

People come here from all over Thailand for Song Kron. Everyone goes to the old city (of Chiang Mai), I'm staying inside the old walls that still surround the city. There are moats filled with water surrounding the old city just outside the walls and that's where everyone gathers. Being here for Song Kron can't be explained, but if you can imagine thousands and thousands of people from all over Thailand (and the world) having the biggest, craziest, water fight ever (while drunk) then you can begin to understand! Try to picture a huge parade with tubs of water everywhere and everyone armed with big water guns or buckets, going mad at the biggest water fight in the world, with no rules!

There is a non-stop traffic jam around the walls, with people in the back of pick up trucks, on the roofs of cars or inside Tuk-Tuks (kind of like a three wheeled motorcycle with with a small seat in the back and a roof over the top - local taxi's) and they all have huge buckets or barrels of water with them and they squirt everyone as they pass, the people on the side walk are all doing the same thing to each other and the passing cars. It's pure madness! Lots and lots of fun! Some people throw their buckets into the moat with rope tied to the handle, then just pull them up and splash away.

The highlight of the holidays for me was me totally soaking three completely dry police officers walking in the middle of the road like they were all bad! I did a run by soaking with a bucket of water from the moat, you could hear everyone at the same time yell...OOOH, when I soaked the cops! Then all the Thai guys started giving me shots of they're local whiskey! What a great time. One guy was shooting us with ice cold water from his car, then rolling up the window and laughing. I ran to the car, opened the door and all my friends (about 7 of us) all threw buckets of water in the car. The guy was shocked, but then he just yelled Happy New Year, and everyone started cheering! By the end of the first day people were getting pushed into the moat! Craziness! Needless to say I'm still having the time of my life, I feel like I'm getting younger instead of older.

I'm getting ready to do some serious travelling in a couple of days though. It will probably be the hardest part of my trip ( except for parts of India). I'll start over land through Laos, head north to southern China, go north west overland through China then west overland through Tibet, then on to Nepal where I'll stay for awhile. I'll be in Thailand for 3-4 more days, then I get to travel again! I'll be travelling with my friend Peter and two of his friends (Norwegian) most of the way, so at least I'm not alone for the hard part. Wish me luck, as I don't know how to get into Tibet from China, and I don't know anything about Northern Laos, or Southern China (no guide books)!

Never Bored!

2008-09-10T09:05:00.000-07:00

OK, just a few things - I just got back from my boarder run to Kouthong (Burma). I'm in Ranong now, I spent the night in a hotel room (100 Baht/$2.50) that has it's own (private bathroom) bathroom. It's been a while since I've have my own bathroom! But, just when it was time to feel like I was all bad, I noticed the sink had no drain pipe and the shower had no head on it!

Wooohooo! So, now when I go in my very own bathroom, if I use the sink the water just lands on my feet, and when I take a shower, the water comes out like a hose! I love it!!

Besides that, since I've been on vacation I've been chased relentlessly by taxi drivers, bus drivers, shop owners or the people that want commission for bringing me to someones store! They all ask the same questions (just to make conversation - then you're theirs), where you go, where you come from, what you do today? It gets annoying after 5000 times, so I came up with the perfect answers to the annoying questions!

Question - Where you go, what you do today? Answer - Toilet! Sometimes they need sound affects to go with it, because they don't understand at first. But, it works like a charm!

Next question - Where you come from? Answer - Dengue! As in the fever that was getting out of control when I was in Indonesia. They give me a puzzled look and then ask where that is located. I just tell them it's inside of South Africa, between Swaziland and Lesotho ! Gets them every time!
One shop owner even called me in, I told him he doesn't have what I'm looking for, he told me he has everything! I asked if he had Dengue, he told me ohhh yes! I asked him to show me and he looked around for about 5 minutes before I explained to him what Dengue is, he took it like a champ though!

Anyway, even when You're just in a town for 1 day and it seems like there is nothing to do, you can still have fun out here! OK, I'm just killing time before my bus to Bangkok leaves. It's ridiculously hot outside and there is no beach around here. I checked out of my room because I won't be staying tonight (no need to pay for another day). That's why I've graced you with my Tao of travel today.

Jakarta

2008-09-09T07:22:00.000-07:00

I'm in Jakarta! It's a big crazy city, but It's pretty fun. I arrived yesterday and the Dutch girls flew in last night, so I still have some good company. We're leaving tomorrow for Jogjakarta (some of the biggest ruins in Asia).

Sumatra was great, I would go back in a heartbeat. I ended up doing a trek there, from Bukattinggi to Manenjau (43 Kilometers).

Besides the beautiful scenery, wildlife and killer waterfalls (were you take your morning bath), my friend and I got a bunch of leeches! We had so many that we didn't even bother taking them off every time we saw one, other wise we'd never get anywhere! Instead we just waited and took them all off every fifteen minutes.

Lake Manenjau is a beautiful place and totally laid-back. It's completely surrounded by mountains and they drop almost straight down till they touch the water. The trek included a bus ride back, but I just stayed at Manenjau and the Dutch girls brought my big backpack for me (by bus) from Bukattinggi. That was cool of them and saved my back and legs a bunch of extra work.

Anyway, we all survived an earthquake of 5.4! We were just sitting in a cafe drinking a few beers, when the whole building started shaking! Everyone scrambled to the steps or just jumped over the railing into the street and watched the buildings and bridge (that crosses over the street) sway! It was fun for us, but six people died and half the city slept in the street because they were so afraid....one thing after another!! I'll try to let you all know how Java is, I'll be able to see alot tomorrow on the train and then check it out on foot. Peace...

Welcome to Indonesia (begining of my trip)

2008-09-08T07:14:00.000-07:00

Lets see, I started out in LA and flew stand by to Japan. I got busness class! The plan was to go to Bangkok next. The flights were full for the next week though and Japan was cold (I didn't pack for cold weather), so I decided to fly to Singapore. The flight was wide open and I got Business class again! Singapore was a good place to start. It's a VERY clean city and it's not such a smack in the face of a difference from home. I stayed in a dorm for 12 Singapore Dollers (the cheapest I could find) and met some cool people, we ended up drinking vodka and orange juice in the dorm till the wee hours of the morning. I checked out the city for a few days and found some really good food in the Arab and Indian sections. I also ended up talking politics with some Muslims, not a good idea for an American, but they were great and they even gave me free coffee and cigarettes!

From Singapore, I decided to head off to Sumatra, Indonesia. I took a ferry to Batam on Feb 1, I call it bottom cause it sucks! It used to be a visa free entry point. I thought I was all cool entering through the "loop hole", but it turns out that Feb 1 was the first day that they issued visas from there and they also stopped giving 2 month visa's. I was the very first person given a visa (30 day) from there and they said I was lucky, that's a good way to look at things cause I felt ripped off. From there I flew to Medan, I couldn't take a boat because a Muslim holiday had the whole port shut down, no worries.

Medan was a zoo and I took the first bus out of there. I headed straight for Bukit Lawang, the LP (Lonely Planet guide book) said it's a nice place to relax and take an inner tube down the river. That sounded perfect! When I got there I found something totally different. A few months ago it rained so much that a dam broke up river, in less than an hour about 300 people were dead and the town (of 1,200 people) was almost completely destroyed. Now there is just one guest house and a few homestays left. I still had a great time and my next door neighbors (Kim and Luc) would turn out to be great friends that would follow me all the way to Java.

To get to the guest house I stayed in I had to cross a river by standing on a shady bamboo raft thing. Once you're on you have to hold on to a rope attached to a pullie that someone powers manually. Once you cross the river you're on the boundrey of a National Park/Orang-Utan rehabilitation center. There is no electricity, which was fine with me, but besides Luc and Kim I was the only other person there. The staff 2-3 people all cross the river to sleep at night. So, when I was awoken around 2am from someone, or something, banging on my door (loud) I have to admit, I was scared! I figuered it was some bandits or theives that knew a tourist was staying there and that tourists have money, plus they probably out numbered me and possibly had guns! Still I couldn't just lay down in bed and hide under the covers.

When I finally got the curage to get up I ran to a desk in the room and grabbed a wooden chair and then went to the window to see what I was up against! I had my flashlight in my pocket, but didn't want to use it (then they would know exactly where I was), so clutching my only protection (a wooden chair) I peeked through the window curtain. What I saw was the last thing on earth I expected, it looked like a Monster!! Actually it was a huge Orang-Utan! It scared the shit out of me and I almost fell backwards, since I was still half asleep! After I took a deep breath I decided to turn on my flashlight (and shine it in his face) and start making as much noise as possible! It turns out he couldn't have cared less. Instead of running away, he ripped the handle off of the door and charged into my room! He grabbed my backpack and threw my clothes everywhere! I dove back onto my bed paralyzed with fear! The mighty wooden chair I had was now laying at the foot of the bed and I had nothing but a tiny flash light in my hands! I tried to use it (the flashlight) like a light saber, but that didn't work very well. Luckily he lost interest quickly and left! Once he was gone I baracaded the door shut and just couldn't get back to sleep. I had an open air bathroom (back door) with a rock garden in it that he got into as well and I was just waiting for him to break that door down too! Long night.

The next day Kim and Luc were outta there. The O-U (Orang-Utan) tried to break down their door too! Later that day I took a trek in the National Park (my backyard) with a Dutch couple. to make a long story a little shorter, a different O-U ended up throwing the Dutch dude down, stealing his day pack, climbing a tree, then throwing the contents of the backpack down one by one! Luckily for the Dutch guy, he threw down his moneybelt and passport (they were in the day pack), but he stole his shirt and destroyed the backpack! After our guide figuered out that this wasn't a "nice" O-U, he pulled out his toy sling shot and told us to RUN! What an idiot! The poor Dutch guy, I could see the fear in his eyes, but for some reason that (the fear in his eyes) just made me laugh!

I couldn't even run I was laughing so hard! I would look back and see our "professional guide" shooting this huge animal with a sling shot and some tiny pebbles, just pissing it off even more, and that just added to my hysterical laughter! Every time I turned around, I would see this huge Orang-Utan trying to catch us (good thing they're really slow runners) and then I'd see the Dutch guy loosing his mind even more! Madness! Before the day was done we all got (as a gift from the jungle) our first leeches too. In the end though, everyone was OK and we sat down and laughed about it when we got back to safety. So, this is how my travels began! Not even two weeks into my trip! I had no idea what to expect from the rest of my trip....

*** The day after the O-U broke into my room, I was talking to one of the employee's that was replacing my door handle. He told me that the O-U's name is Abdullah and since the flood he's been living in one of the empty rooms (he broke in and no one was gonna kick him out). Well, since I've been back home (Miami) I heard, by chance, a program on the radio (NPR). They were talking about Bukit Lawang, Indonesia and the Orang-Utans and they mentioned Abdullah. It turns out the Guest house that I stayed in is still his "territory", so Abdullah is in good health and it turns out he's an international celebrity.***