The Rocky Foothills

Location: Histan, Nepal
Local Time: Nov 30, 2005 - 8:21am

Okay, yesterday we walked for about an hour to Khibang, worked on the wireless connection there for about 30 minutes. We had a big heaping plate of popcorn for lunch, then left for Histan. That took about 3 hours of walking. Hiking the Himalayas is hardwork.

These are really impressive mountains. I think the Rockies should be renamed, the Rocky Foothills. It is a little pretencious to call them mountains.

We worked on the internet connection at the school here in Histan, then slept here for the night. Today, we are going back to Khibang for lunch, then Paudwar. Paudwar is (unfortunately) across the valley. Which means down to the bottom then up again.

Computer work in the Himalayas is much more physical than at home.

Made It

Location: Shikha, Nepal
Local Time: Monday, Nov 28, 2005 - 4:50pm

Well, I started walking at 10 this morning and got here at 4. My guide says he can do it in about 4 hours. We walked over 3 mountain ridges to get here, about 2 hours to get over each one. This hiking around the Himalayas stuff is for the Nepali.

So, apparently I am suppose to try to help set up the internet connection from the high school in this village, to a village up on the mountain side, called Copra. They haven't shown me any networking equipment yet, so I'm sitting here writing to you guys.

Everyone is very nice though.

It seems that this village is a more popular trekking destination than Nangi. It is more developed, has a couple of English signs for the hotels and restaurants. Nangi has none of that, and the store in Nangi is a little room in the bottom of someone's house with a couple of things.

There are a couple of Nepali people from Kathmandu here working for a week or two. They are leaving in 6-7 days.

I don't know how long I will be here. Apparently, Mahabir (the organizer and motivator) left Nangi over a week ago, saying he would only be gone a couple of days. I guess there are some difficulties. If they would show me a router and give me a password, I'd be set.

School Starts

Location: Nangi, Nepal
Local Time: Sunday, Nov 27, 2005 - 10:50am

First day of a new week of school here in Nangi. School starts on Sunday, and the last day is Thursday. At about 10am, there was assembly called out on the soccer field and the students lined up with a separate line for each grade, from youngest on the far end, to the grade 11 on the end near me. They did exercises in unison for about half an hour before going off to classes.

It seems as though, as soon as I get here, I go. Tomorrow I leave Nangi to go to another nearby village (only 1 day walk away.) There, Mahabir and some college students are trying to set up a new network connection. Hopefully I can be of some assistance.

While I'm gone (don't know how long that will be) I probably won't be posting. After all, I am going there to try to help set up a network connection. I assume it doesn't work at the moment.

I cooked chapatis yesterday. It turned out fairly well. It seems that they were all edible, since they were all eaten. The cooking is done over a 2 burner gas camping stove, so I guess I'll be learning how to make things that can be fried, simmered or otherwise not baked. I'm planning on bannock in the near future.

Nangi

Location: Nangi, Nepal
Local Time: Friday, Nov 25, 2005 - 4:13pm

Hi everyone, I'm back. There is internet access in Nangi. I was fairly sure there would be, but I was just covering my bases.

Nangi. It is a village, in the Himalayas. About a 7 hour walk from Beni. Beni, is about a 4 hour bus ride from Pokhara. (Although, for me it was 6 hour bus ride. From 10:30am to 4:30pm.)

I will be here in Nangi for about 2 months, unless I go crazy before then and have to escape. But there is internet access, so chances of craziness are small.

Here are more details about Nangi, and what is happening here.

What the heck am I doing here? Well, not knowing me, they have naively agreed to let me help with their network.

For the technically inclined, further details.

For the less technically inclined, these guys have built a wireless connection over the mountain from the nearest city to their village. It is part of their education program.

So, doubtless, the question occurs to some of you (probably Mr. Lawrence) is, how I could travel half way around the world, then 24 hours by bus and train, then another 7 hours walking so deep into the mountains that there are no roads, only to find a computer network and a bunch of computers to play with.

It's a gift.

I'm Back

Location: Pokhara, Nepal
Local Time: Wednesday, November 23, 2005 - 6:04pm

I'm back in Pokhara. I spent yesterday running around Kathmandu, shipping stuff home and buying a special local candy called pushtakari. I also met an Italian woman that I walked and talked with most of the day. She confirmed for me that in Italy (at least in the north) pasta is rolled using only the fork and the plate, not using a spoon at all.

However, I've been holding the fork wrong all these years.

This morning, I caught the bus and rode for 7 hours back to Pokhara. What am I doing here? Well, tomorrow I go to a nearby town called Beni. The next day, I'm going hiking out to a village called Nangi. I'm planning to be there for about 2 months. I'm fairly certain that I will be able to get internet access there. However, if you don't hear from me for a while, it is just technical difficulties, in which case I'll be back in January.

Happier Picture

Location: Kathmandu, Nepal
Local Time: Tuesday, Oct 22, 2005 - 1:30pm

Okay, in response to e-mails accusing me of gloominess, here is a happier picture.

Visa

Location: Kathmandu, Nepal
Local Time: Monday, November 21, 2005 - 4:26pm

I went to get a visa extension today. Found the place, no problem, about a half hour walk. Then I filled in a form and stood in line for half an hour. The lady gave me a recite and told me to stand in another line to pay. So, I went to the other line. While half way through the line, I saw the sign, exact change in Nepali rupees. I had thought you paid in American dollars. At the border, you can ONLY pay in American dollars.

So, I rummaged through my pockets and collected everything I had. I needed 2206.50 Nepali rupees. I had 5170, and some spare change. So, no way. If only I hadn't spent that hundred rupee note at the bakery the night before. Like I needed more cheese buns and cookies.

I left the line, and went looking for a place to spend a little money so I could get some change. Along the way, I happened to find the Singapore Airlines office. Nice, perfect. I went in and changed my ticket. There must be some kind of charge involved, right?

My ticket said, I fly from Delhi to Singapore, short stopover there, then from Singapore to Beijing. I lengthened my stopover in Singapore from a few hours to a few months. For free. No charge.

Hmm. However, the lady says, there is a $12USD tax for entering Singapore to stay for a while. Okay, can I pay in Nepali rupees.

No.

Hmmm. But I can get change in Nepali rupees.

Perfect. Paid my tax, got my change, and walked back to submit my visa application. An hour and a half before I could get it back.

So, I went off and had a nice plate of chowmein for lunch, with buttered nan.

Biding My Time

Location: Kathmandu, Nepal
Local Time: Friday, Nov 18, 2005 - 11:49am

I haven't been doing much lately, which is why I haven't posted anything. I've been reading. Seems I neglected my education. Most of the travellers I meet over here have at least heard of Anita DeSai, Osho, Herman Harrier, etc. I had not. The book stores in Kathmandu are well stocked, so, I'm correcting that oversight.

For your viewing 'pleasure', more pictures. They are old pictures from a week or two ago. I copied them off of Seth's MP3 player before he took off to Kopan onto a computer at the hotel where I am staying. I have been trying to get them all uploaded now for over a week. It has been slow going. Once it gets around noon, and there are a few people in the place, the connection is so poor nothing gets sent, so I log out and return the next day.


This is me, riding the truck up the mountain for paragliding. If I look grim it is because I feel grim.

This is a sample of the fruit hanging beside the juice stands in Pokhara. They grab this stuff, take it in the back and bring out fabulous juices in big mugs, as well as lassis (yogurt, and fruit mixed thin enough to drink as liquid) and great bowls of fruit, museli and curd.

Bad Food, Very Bad Food

Location: Kathmandu, Nepal
Local Time: Tuesday, Nov 15, 2005 - 10:13am

Nothing special to report. I spent all of yesterday in my hotel room, very sick. I think I ate something that disagreed with me.

Feeling better today.

Pottery

Location: Kathmandu, Nepal
Local Time: Sunday, Nov 13, 2005 - 7:01pm

Today I went to Thimi with Ikuko.

A little background. I met Ikuko a couple of weeks ago in Pokhara at the meditation center. She is here in Nepal volunteering at a company called ACP (I think.) Her job at this company is create new ceramic designs which can be used as templates by the local potters to create resellable objects. ACP is an NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) which works to connect local potters with larger, usually international, markets. More realistically, ACP seems to function as a reseller, buying locally and shipping internationally to resell for profit.

Shelby and I were interested to see where Ikuko works, but Shelby took off this morning quite unexpectedly, going trekking for seven days. So, it was just me.

Instead of taking me to the office where she works, Ikuko took me to Thimi, a nearby town (20-30 min. ride on the local bus) where there a lot of local potters, producing for both the local and international market.

We went to two different pottery workshops. The first place had just changed location, and was in a bigger building. It was a lovely place, with extra space now that they are in the larger building. There were 5-6 people working with clay. Two working at pottery wheels, the rest adding the final touches to the products produced by the two at the pottery wheels.

One man was making the bases for lamps. Each base was about 45 cm ( 1.5 feet) tall, and about 30 cm (1 foot) wide at it's widest point. There was a narrow top with a hole where the lamp could be inserted. The other man was making clay elephant heads. Amazing what people will buy.

At the second place they concentrated on cups, mugs, teapots and incense holders.

At each place, we were treated like royalty. We were given food, chai tea and pottery. At the time I thought we were carrying the pottery back to the ACP as samples, but Ikuko told me later they were gifts for us.

At each place they talked to Ikuko, showing her what they were working on, new designs, new kilns, etc. These guys make their own kilns. I got to see one in progress. It is a steel frame, filled in with a concrete type mixture of tar, ash, sawdust and other ingredients to make a box, which is heated electrically for small kilns (used for baking samples, one off pieces), or using kerosene for the large kilns (used for producing large runs of objects.)

And they talked about difficult it was with the rising cost of kerosene, used for running the kilns.

A mug takes about 10 minutes on the pottery wheel, about 5 minutes to decorate, 11 - 12 hours in the kiln to bake it, then it is painted and glazed and baked again.

The potter is paid $1 USD for each mug. ACP resells internationally for $2.50 USD. Ikuko says they are worth $6 - $8 USD in the States in catalogs.

A Picture is Worth 1000 Words

Location: Kathmandu, Nepal
Local Time: Sunday, Nov 13, 2005 - 6:38pm

In an effort to save me from typing several thousand words, I will post the photos I promised some time ago.


This was about 2 weeks ago now. The day I had it shaved. I am sitting in the barbershop.



I must be telling a windy here.

The Musical Me

Location: Kathmandu, Nepal
Local Time: Friday, Nov 11, 2005 - 9:48am

Well, I finally caved in and bought one of those flutes the guys on the street are selling. I have been tempted for many weeks now, especially when I learned how Seth got lessons when he was in India. An Israeli girl we met a couple of weeks ago got lessons in Dharamsala. So, I bought one. Now I just have to find a teacher.

When I blow on it right now, it sounds like whistling. Without the whistling sound.

Hanging in Kathmandu

Location: Kathmandu, Nepal
Local Time: Tuesday, Nov 8, 2005 - 10:00am

Well, a lot has happened since last time I posted.

I jumped off a mountain on Sunday. I did a tandem paraglide. Basically it works like this. You fork over your $75 USD (wow did that day break the budget). A truck hauls you up the mountain beside Phewa Lake in Pokhara for a good 45 minutes to an hour. Then they strap a harness on you and clip you on to someone who actually knows how to paraglide.

Next, you stand on the hillside, which is really only big enough for you, your pilot, and the parachute laying on the ground behind you. In front of you there is about 3 meters (10 feet) of hillside before it drops of at about a 75 degree slope. Your instructions are, wait until told. Then walk a couple steps, then run. Me, I'm standing there, my legs tremblings, truly astonished by my lack of good sense, thinking, there is only about 4 -5 steps of space there before we jump a LONG way down the mountain. Walking a couple steps will really eat into the available space.

However, it all worked out. It is a little fuzzy, but I think I remember walking about 2 steps, maybe 3, then running, and within 1 - 2 steps we were in the air.

Being in the air is far less frightening than actually taking off. We flew around in circles trying to stay near the thermal air currents that lift us up and keep us in the air. Without thermals, we are in a constant fall until we hit the ground.

So, we circled up there, looking at the houses that pokadot the hillside beside their little tiered fields.

We chased the vultures a couple of times. Elliot, my pilot, told me that they really know how to catch the thermals.

Then, we flew out over the lake and I got to try my hand at the controls for a few minutes. I circled left and right a couple of times and that was that. We were approaching the ground so Elliot took us off the lake over to the 'highway' where we landed.

I say 'highway' because this road is the main road leading out north of Pokhara. To say it has 1 lane to be shared for both directions of traffic would be generous. There is a few inches of pavement on each side of the tires of larger trucks that drive this road.

Chilled out in Pokhara for the rest of the afternoon. Drank the fabulous orange juice and fruit lassis that are available at the road side stands. We went looking to see if there was a movie to see for our last night in Pokhara, but only Mr. & Mrs. Smith was playing. At several different restaurants. I've seen it twice already.

So, we had dinner at a sandwich shop. Think of a footlong sub from Subway, with ham omlet, mayonese and veggies. Pretty good. Wash it down with a fruit lassi (mixture of yogurt, juice and fruit) and that is very nice.

We met the next morning at 6:45am to get a taxi to the bus station. When I got there, Shelby was so sick (from something, maybe the food the day before) that she had decided not to come. So, Seth and I took the taxi to the bus station. Shelby's friend, Mayrav from Israel, shared a taxi with us, and happened to be on the same bus too.

The bus took until 5:30pm to get to Kathmandu. 4.5 hours longer than I expected. There was a military roadblock where soldiers (who may start shaving any day now) made the Nepali young men get off the bus and walk to the other side of the roadblock. Tourists, kids, women and family men didn't have to get off the bus.

So, that was yesterday.

Today, Seth is off to Kopan Monastery for a 1 month Buddhist retreat. So my travelling buddy and I are parting ways for the time being. Maybe I'll see him again sometime. He plans to visit India, Thailand and China. All places on my list.

Of course, my list grows the more I talk to other travellers. If this keeps up I'll never get to China, which is meant to be the crowning glory of my journey.

Joys of Breakfast

Location: Pokhara, Nepal
Local Time: Saturday, Nov 5, 2005 -12:24pm

I'm still sleeping at the meditation center. It is nice and quiet there, with a lawn and a view. It is also very affordable. 100Rs / night ($2 CND).

I left at about 8:30am, stopping quickly at the Hungry Eye Restaurant to grab a chocolate bun. Attachment to food is an issue I have. So tasty.

Then, off to meet Seth and Shelby for breakfast. We went to a juice place, just off the main street along Lakeside. Lakeside is the name used to identify the tourist area of Pokhara. The main street (there is a lane for traffic in EACH direction) runs more or less north-south along the eastern edge of Phewa Lake.

60Rs for a large bowl of museli, fruit and curd. Great stuff. The same place also serves large mugs of freshly squeezed juice. To bad I don't have room for both the juice and the breakfast. I highly recommend a mug of bannana-pineapple juice. The lemon juice is also quite tasty, though obviously not sweet.

Sarangkot Again

Location: Pokhara, Nepal
Local Time: Friday, Nov 4, 2005 - 6:35pm

Well, we rented motorcycles and went riding again. I had a 150cc Pulsar, Seth got the 150cc Yamaha cruiser.

We got the bikes, then went for breakfast. The bikes were not in as good of shape as the last two. Nothing really wrong, just a little run down. However, only 350Rs ($7 CND) each for the day. So, 50Rs cheaper.

We had breakfast at a place on the street. Museli, fruit and curd. It wasn't as good as yesterday, so maybe tomorrow we go back to the place from yesterday. And they tried to charge us twice as much for the bowl. Just go a little way off the main tourist street here in Pokhara and the prices start dropping.

After breakfast, we rode up to Sarangkot again. This time we parked the bikes at the rough part and walked. It was much easier to walk up the stairs than it was to ride up that rough road.

The view, however, was similar to before. Hazy and cloudy. The vantage gives an almost 360 view of the surrounding area, and it is high enough that it SHOULD allow you to see the 8000m peaks that are around here. However, both times we've been there it has been cloudy, the peaks obscured.

Getting to Sarangkot and coming back took most of the afternoon. We went for a little ride up north from Pokhara. The 'highway' is 1 lane wide. Seriously, only 1 lane. No shoulder. And that road servers all truck, car, motorcycle and bicycle traffic. It's crazy.

Views of the lake are extra-ordinary though.

Driving Mentality

Location: Pokhara, Nepal
Local Time: Friday, Nov 4, 2005 - 6:30pm

I was riding around on a bicycle yesterday, and I noticed something. In Canada, we are responsible for our own car. We do appropriate checks to make sure there is space, then move into that space. Well, in theory any way.

In Nepal, it seems as though the driver behind is responsible for the vehicle ahead. The drivers pull out in the road without checking, go slow, whatever. However, the following driver always responds in time and makes the adjustments to give space to the driver ahead. And passes after beeping to warn he's going by.

Cycling in Pokhara

Location: Pokhara, Nepal
Local Time: Friday, Nov 4, 2005 - 6:23pm

Okay, I'm a couple days behind, so quick catch up here. Yesterday (Thursday) Seth, Ikuko and I went bicycling. We rented bikes for 100Rs for the day ($2 CND) and rode to the dam at the south end of Phewa Lake, then to Devi Falls, where the river falls 100m down underground. We crossed the road to enter the caves where the water falls too.

Later, we relaxed with a plate of potato and cheese momos at the little road side restaurant, Holy Momo.

In the evening we went to the Bamboo Tea Restaurant and watched the movie The Island while eating dinner. We were joined by Tammy and later Shelby, who had been having tika with a Nepali family she knew.

Thursday was a special festival in Nepal. There seem to be a lot of festivals to tell you the truth. We arrived during a big festival a couple of weeks ago, and 4 of the 5 days this week were festival. Monday they gave tika to the dogs. Tuesday they gave tika to the cows. Wednesday they gave tika to the oxen. Thursday sisters gave tika to their brothers.

Tika is basically a blessing, which involves putting a dot on the forehead of the recipient. It looks like a dot of paint on most people, but on some people it looks like a dot of rasberry yogurt, with extra seeds.

So, Monday was entertaining. There were lots of dogs running around with paint on their foreheads.

Stupa and Swimming

Location: Pokhara, Nepal
Local Time: Wednesday, Nov 2, 2005 - 10:44pm

Busy day today. Seth and I met Shelby for breakfast at 10am. And there is a new member of our group today, Ikuko. She lived in New York city for 9 years, she's volunteering in Kathmandu right now and on vacation for a few days here in Pokhara.

After breakfast, we rented a boat for the day and rowed over to the Hindu temple on the island in the lake, Phewa Lake I believe is the name. After that, we crossed to the other side of the lake and hiked up the hillside to the stupa. It is a very impressive view.

Afterwards, we paddled out to the middle of the lake and jumped in to swim around for a while. The water was nice and warm. Lovely.

Afterwards, we went back into town. We had momos (a Tibetan food) at the Special Momo place. Fried momos stuffed with vegetables, fried momos stuffed with apple and steamed momos stuffed with vegetables, accompanied with a big pot of milk tea. Good stuff.

Next, we walked around a little before going to Once Upon a Time Restaurant to eat dinner while watching a movie. We chose the restaurant based on the movie that was playing. Crash was the movie. Kind of thought provoking, all about prejudice in LA.

Next, we headed off to another restaurant to have Mars and Snicker roll, fried. Think of a spring roll, stuffed with a Mars (or Snicker) bar, and deep fried.

The Snickers roll was much better than the Mars roll.

Mars Toast and Lassi

Location: Pokhara, Nepal
Local Time: Wednesday, Nov 2, 2005 - 10:43pm

Okay, this happened last night, but it is important, so I'm putting it in here.

After posting yesterday, Shelby, Seth and I went walking around, and we were struck with the sudden craving for food. So, we walked back to the sandwish shop we had seen earlier in the day and sat down for Mars toast.

Basically, it is bread, in the shape of a hot dog bun, toasted, with a Mars bar smushed and spread in it. Kind of a toast Mars bar sandwich. Good stuff.

And we washed all that down with a bannana/orange lassi. Basically bannanas, oranges, yogurt and a little milk mixed together. Great stuff.

So, I'm eating healthy here. No worries.

Hanging Out

Location: Pokhara, Nepal
Local Time: Tuesday, Nov 1, 2005 - 6:01pm

Today I chilled out. Wrote in my journal, tried a little yoga, meditated in the gompa, walked around Pokhara, had my beard shaved, had my head shaved, watched the Fantastic Four movie, followed by pizza and War of the Worlds.

So, not much happened.

My head is cold.