Archive for the ‘Nepal’ Category

Pics from the last great adventure…

Sunday, April 16th, 2006

This isn’t all of them, but its most of them. Crazy times… stories will be told.

Part 1 – Kathmandu…

View of Thailand from the air..
I also would have taken a picture of Burma fromt he air but it was just brown.. all of it.
airthailand

Kathmandu during our landing. This was the sketchist landing ever.. we sorta bounced off the ground then went few meters to the side then landed and ‘explored’ the runway. Kathmandu is really spread out in a vally. Theres lots of condensed city then big open parts like this.
Kathmandu1

Kathmandu city is a hodge podge really. This was on my walk to the monkey temple.
kat city1

The garbage river. Alot of the countries ive been to dont have garbage trucks. They burn it, pile it, leave it, or throw it … plastic is a miracle and a curse it seems.

The bottem of the monkey temple.
monkey temple1

The way up.. why do all great monuments have stairs that are to high too step up, and too thin to stand on? Did ancient humans have long legs and no feet? Maybe if you pray a lot your legs get longer and your feet fall off… and you get called ‘the stumpies’.
staircase

View of Kathmandu city. There is supposed to be mountains in the background but the airpollution sits in the valley. When you pick your nose it comes out black. My enjoyment of nose picking decreased.

I Think this is the tibetan budda ‘Manjushuri’ the buddha of wisdom.. but i could be wrong. It was hard to read my map of the temple. although i got lost and ended up eating free buffalo meat… it tastes like fat.
buddhaMJ

Random section of the city with prayer flags from the back of the Monkey temple.

Kathmandu streets..

Hindu Temple in Kathmandu.. those fires are buring bodies then they get pushed into the river.
hindutemple

Monkeys!
monkeys..

Budnath stupa. The biggest one in the world. I chilled here for quite a while.. comtemplating life or .. something. My realization:… star trek IS that awesome, isn’t it.
bodnath stupa

Monk. ‘Gong!!!!!’
monk.

People praying and repairing le stupa.

Sun set in the city. After the sun goes down they have power till about 9pm .. then everything is closed. It eventually got worse..
sunset kathmandu

Himalaya section.. Trekking to Annapurna “The Grandmother of all” so they say.

I have way to many pics of mountains and things… so heres just a few.

Me with a ‘Tika’ for good luck. This pic is blurry and i am sleepy.. it works out.
tikamatt

The mountains im going to climb too. That peak will get closer and closer…

Donkeys..

Dat 1 Look at me! Im trekking!!!

Swimming in Glacier water… cold doesnt really do it justice. It actually sorta hurt.

Picture of mountian houses..

Inside mountian town..

Day 2 Me after climbing 2000 steps with that 50lbs on my back.. the worst parts were when the little school girls would skip past you.. dang yo.

The Jungle.. we saw crazy white monkeys here but taking a picture was imposible due to my slowness and their quickness.

Annapurna mountian range from Poon Hill.. this is the town where i got drunk in the local bar(it was a barn) that turned out to be filled with Maoists. Uhh.. i am still alive!

Day 3 Me at 3200 meters. I saw a plane fly below me later from this mountian.. sweet.

Sunrise from Poon hill.

Nepali kids..

On top of the world at 8am.. this was the day of reckoning.. walked for 14 hours.. up and down two valleys.. then i died an emotional death in freezing rain. But this picture was taken while happiness still existed. It later left and was replaced by bitterness at having to walk up… again.

Pretty flowers that seem to be everywhere at high altitude. Apparently they can be used as medicine as well.

Day 4 Getting closer..

The valley that leads to Annapurna base camp.

Abandoned way station.. or goat shack.

Himalay.. where i slept and chatted with da germans. It was about here that things started to get cold. No more showers..

Day 6 Valley with small town.. walking is inevitable.

Me .. i dont even know what i was thinking at this point. I remember every step was painful, my feet were blistered, soaked and icy and showering was out of the question. But i look happy.. i think i was happy… i think i just stopped thinking about it actually. Life consisted of walking.. and more then more walking. It was pretty simple i guess.

Back down the valley..

Heres the peak from the first picture of the mountains.. im now at the base camp 3700 meters.

On my way to Annapurna base camp.. with no clouds in sight. sweeet.

Surrounded by mountians…

Annapurna..

It speaks for itself..

The mountian.. those clouds turned into real clouds.. then it got real cold.. then in snowed on us. This was the last time to see the mountian clearly for 3 days it rained everyday after this.. So i was pretty luckey or else i would have walked all that way to see clouds.

Day 7 or 8 .. ?? The way home required more walking. Hurray.

This is a house thats burning down on the other side of the mountian.

The last of the mountians..

Leaving Nepal.
Busy street.

Same street at curfew.

After this i worked the miracle of leaving… hard to do with no taxis and means of travel. I was going to go to india but flights were expensive and buses ceased to exist. Eventually i got to the airport and flew back to Thailand.

Once i came back to Thailand i subdued tigers with my mind… they respected my inner mountain dominance. I will be a great captain like Picard.

Email from the consulate

Tuesday, April 4th, 2006

I fly to Thailand tommorow because ..

1. Buses to India have been shut down due to strike action.
2. Flights today were full
3. The revolution is nigh..

Security Notice to Canadian Citizens in Nepal
Issued Wednesday, 5 April 2006

In a bid to foil the April 6-9 national protest programme of the Seven Party Alliance, the Government has announced prohibitory orders against any demonstrations inside the Ring Road in Kathmandu Valley. The Government claims that the Maoists’ unilateral ceasefire for the Kathmandu valley declared on Monday is nothing but a dangerous conspiracy.

Police have carried out search operation and a large number of citizens including students, journalists, lawyers, professors, doctors and political leaders have already been taken into custody. The search operation and arrests are expected to continue in the days ahead. The government has indicated that it may, if necessary, declare a state of emergency, impose a curfew or issue “shoot on sight” orders.

Canadians in the country are strongly advised to maintain a high level of personal security awareness, avoid demonstrations and carefully monitor events. Curfew regulations, if/when imposed, should be strictly followed. If necessary, the warden network will be activated for Canadian residents in Nepal.

Thank you.

The latest in Nepal..

Monday, April 3rd, 2006

This happened yesturday but life seems to go on… being in a country that is seemly at war with itself is differenet then expected.

Days are still just days.

Im debating weather i should go to India or not seeing its 45 degrees there!!!!

I walked so high planes flew below me..

Sunday, April 2nd, 2006

Mission harness the power of clouds and mountains successful.

Now i get all those fantasy stories about long walks and troll battles. Except replace the trolls with “horrible cultural reference about indeginous peoples”

I’m alive!

Kathmandu…

Thursday, March 23rd, 2006

So far everything has been amazing. I really like it here.. the city is very unique and the smells remind me of the buddhist temples. I’ve spent the last day or so visiting Stupas and talking with locals and monks.

I also saw Mt.Everest from the plane .. it was far off but unmistakable. A black/dark blue diamond in the sky with white ice crystals blowing off the peak.

The weird thing about this place is the random army people (police) with guns that range from M16’s and shotguns , to rifles that predate WWII … its a bit of a hodge podge of a police force. The country is incredibly poor and tourists are probably at an all time low. There is no power for most of the day and only a few hours at night, everything else (ala this computer) runs on generators. At about 830 everything shuts down and closes with the exception of a few restaurants and bars.

Not to worry anyone, and all decisions i make from here on are of my own informed volition.

I was talking with a freelance photo journalist here (we were the only two in the bar) and he was telling me the state of Nepal as of the hour. It seems that revolution here is a few weeks away, and that the Maoists are preparing to take power… aka. Nepal is the next communist state. Weather this is likely to happen while im here or not is immposible to tell, but information doesnt look as bad as he said it was, but people are dieng…..but who knows.


33 dead the day i arrived.

I arrived after this blockade was lifted

To add to the complications Nepal is in a draught and there is no water available. Not to say i have no water, just that there is conservation.. that would also explain the dry air and the sea of brown i flew over on the way here.

SO… i will move around the country for the next week or two and then go to India. I have no return flight from here i came one way. Tommorow I will take the bus to Pokhara to the east , second largest city, and then trek into the mountians.. so no more interneting.. until April 3rd/4th.

Off to Nepal…

Tuesday, March 21st, 2006

In Bangkok now.. in about 4 hrs i fly to Nepal..

I plan to see friends of friends, temples, go on a long walk and not shower for a long time, and hunt the yetti.

Edit: Landed and wandering around.. there are no street lights here. You wander in the dark and most restaurants are lit by candle. If you replace motor bikes with horses this place would be Kings Quest.. very peaceful here.