November 12th, 2009: Day 7 of Circuit Today was a long cold day through a lonely desolate landscape. We are now well into a different ecosystem- our green summer paradise has morphed into a brown arctic tundra. My day began real early, I was sitting on the steps of a monastery high upon the mountain […]
November 9th, 2009: Day 4 of Circuit At 6 am, the sound of bad Asian pop music begins blaring from somewhere, all distorted and scratchy. I don’t know where it’s coming from but it strikes me really funny. At first I thought it was someone sleeping through their alarm clock and I was cracking up […]
November 8th, 2009: Day 3 of Circuit As circumstance, or fate, would have it, the curious couple who I met last night in passing are staying in the same guest house as me tonight. On this great journey we are all moving in the same direction, and for many of us, the itinerary is basically […]
November 7th, 2009: 2nd Day of the Journey Some like to sleep in and begin their hike later in the morning. Since I never seem to sleep much these days, I am usually wide awake at the crack of dawn and so I usually get gone good and early. This morning as I set out […]
A few hours before sunrise I wake up into my typical paranoia dream. This dream is pretty much every night now and it goes like this: I wake up and in my dream I clearly see myself waking up into a place that is unfamiliar to me. My eyes search around the darkness for any […]
Whenever riding public buses in Nepal it always seems like a miracle when I actually arrive at my destination. These buses are crowded and ramshackle, extremely uncomfortable and terribly hectic. No one speaks English, and when you ask the driver if they’re headed to your destination they always say something that sounds like yes, but […]
Since I’ve been in Nepal, I often find myself pondering the thought that my actions here could prove fatal– that a little mishap or a lame-brained error in judgement could have tragic results. After all, this country is wild; rescue is not always possible; and you really have to be self-sufficient here or else pretty […]
I haven’t been feeling great lately. I’m often tired, I feel like I have a cold, but am still feeling well enough to carry on. I never have troubles falling asleep, but then after a little while, I begin tossing and turning all night long. Pretty much every night, I awake several times in a […]
The drive to Pokhara was an experience in itself. I’d heard that riding the public busses around Nepal is among the most dangerous things you can do– and is, in fact, responsible for the vast majority of deaths that occur here. That reality hit home shortly after departing Kathmandu and we passed by a smoking […]
Nepal is a country that truly loves music and they love to dance. I came across a vision the other day that I will never forget. It was the middle of the afternoon and I was walking along a trail through a quiet mountain village when I began hearing music that was becoming louder with […]
