annapurna cicuit day 4

day 4 was a doozy. the views were astounding up that point, but had lacked the monster mountains i came for. but no more. i walked out my door in the morning and there she was, lamjung himal (22,910 ft), staring at me with the glory of the rising sun dressing her in a glowing yellow. off to the right the 26,040 ft annapurna II was just visible over other mountains. what a beginning to the day. they, as i was brushing my teeth a few minutes later there was a cloud of white on lamjung himal. an avalanche. it was breathtaking.

that day we climbed more than 2500 ft to lower pisang, passing one of the most stunning remnants of glaciation i've ever seen in person. the the swargadwari danda is a smooth as glass rock face that looks more like a slide, soaring from the riverbed more than 4000 ft. i couldn't help but think it would be fun to slide down it. deadly too.

in the afternoon we gained enough elevation and turned in behind what is called the great barrier, to see the vegetation grow sparser and dryer. mom, it looked like the mountains around flagstaff to be sure. i remarked the very thing to my guide. in pisang, where i spent the night, i was once again among tibetans. it felt like home in a way. though they spoke a different language and i could not communicate with them, it was good to be with them.

on this day i began to see that i was in a very daring place, daring of life to take hold and live abundantly. these people struggle so hard to make their living. and the weather is brutal. the winds ripped through the valley, chapping my skin, and giving all the locals the distinctive red cheeks of the tibetan plateau. at night the temperatures dropped quickly, and i had to run back to my room to put on the long johns, which i wore with shorts. quite stylish indeed.

this was also the place i met the most racist man i've ever met. maybe i've ever heard of outside a few famous ones. listening to him talk literally made my stomach knot up. it had to bite my tongue to avoid lashing out in violent speak, or from getting made enough to hit him. he was so pompous he offered to send me his book, detailing his theories of race for free, offering that it might open up some doors for me and help me see things clearly. what and prick. the really strange thing was that he did not see that his theories were based on bad science. really bad science. to me he was just a man giddy to have a justification for his bigotry. science can be a danger to those with causes to justify. my opinion of aussies changed a lot on this trip. 3 out of 4 offered what i consider to be racist opinions of the aborigines. i know they are not all that way, but man.

a mother and child, with my guide buying chewing gum in the background.

a small home along the trail.

the evening view of annapurna II, the monster standing at 26,040 ft. awesome.

two young nepalis (one of tibetan descent) eating apples and laughing up a storm.

a young nepali boy relaxing.

me standing on a suspension bridge in front of my guest house in chame

a little girl and her mom in a local tea shop, or the
front room of their little house.

annapurna cicuit day 3

day 3 began with my heels heavily taped and me being very unsure of my fitness level. had i really become that out of shape? no. after this day i became stronger by the day, until my guide was telling me to slow down, and then unable to keep up with me. i did indeed finally learn the moral of the fable about the hare and the tortoise though. slow and steady.

with every passing kilometer the forests grew thicker and were filled with more birds and animals. though i saw few, the sounds of monkeys and birds echoed on the valley walls. it was a spectacular day.

these porters would lug up to 80 kilos on their heads through the
mountains so that i could, if i so chose, eat a snickers anytime.

i told you they would become ubiquitous. but still so beautiful.

we came up and over a little pass and the waterfalls gave way to a verdant valley with a meandering glacial river, near the town tal.

annapurna cicuit day 2

hardest day of them all. two reasons. i was out of shape and i developed blisters on both heels. in reality it should not have been that bad. just one of those bad athletic days. it just was not a wonderful day. for most of the day we climbed steadily. we walked past village after village of rice farmers, till finally we ended in jagot, where every kid came out to get their photos taken. some even tried reaching into my pockets to get money for allowing me to photograph them. crazy little kids. but adorable and so photogenic.

first view of the day. it really got me going.

bhulbule as the sun rises. the start of day 2.

using a wall to avoid the mud.

waterfalls like this would soon become a dime a dozen. this
one spilled over the mountainside a good 1000 feet.

my guide, on the left, and another enjoying a seat after a longish day.

a little one from jagot. i don't think he knew what i was doing when i took his photo.

a view through jagat. a very small little village where i spent the night.

this little boy was enamored with a little bead.

one of the few older people not afraid to have their picture taken.

just lines on a map

the last few days i've been thinking about something. it sparked when a guy i was trekking asked me if my guide was indian. 'he sure looks like it,' he said. to that i said he was brahmin, and that they are essentially india. 'really, it's just lines on a map,' i said. and this got me going.

imagine the differences in lives because of a long wavy black line that separates one country from another. this was clear to me in certain areas of my annapuran trek. i came across a group of ethnic tibetans that were as wealthy and prosperous in every area of life as any i've ever seen. some owned houses in 2 or more places and vacationed in europe. this was all thanks to special trading rights granted to them hundreds of years ago. but just across the border, about 250 kilometers north, their ethnic brethren toil away as nomads, never washing, eating the same meal every day, and certainly never seeing more than photos of europe, much less kathmandu. what a difference a line can make.

i just finished dave eggers' 'what is the whay?,' a sort of sarcastically fictionalized memoir of a man who escaped the civil war of sudan and resettled in the u.s. this too made me thing of the importance of a little ink on a page. in the book he describes the fatal mistake the southern sudanese made in joining the northern in the middle of the 20th century. they were duped he said. they decided to be a united sudan with the muslim arabs of the north, while they were african catholics. more or less, from then on they had suffered at the hands of the khartoum government. because of a line on a map. now, maybe they would have suffered in a similar way anyway, but that is no matter to me.

it really is a strange thing, the power of maps. they decide who is what. they determine our prospects of a future. take me, for example, growing up so close to the mexican border. many times i have been to the other side and seen the difference. and i have seen countless mexicans risk their lives to cross an ink line for better future. what if i was born on the other side? who would i be? what would i be doing? maybe painting houses in san antonio. maybe i'd be a shepherd in jalisco. or a maybe i'd still be pursuing a graduate degree, but in mexico city. all the same, it would be a different life for me. sorry to get preachy and all, but i've think it a very interesting thing to consider.

annapurna cicuit day 1

day 1 began with a 7 hour long bus ride from kathmandu. along the way we were in an accident and stopped to pick up countless standing room only passengers, and even a few chickens. but nothing dampened my excitement for setting off on the annapurna circuit. not even finding out that the guy who arranged my guide had lied to me. my guide said in no uncertain terms, that he would not carry anything for me, because 'i am a guide now. i used to be a porter, but not anymore.' what a start to a beautiful trip. but honestly, i did not let any of this get me down. i picked up my pack and we set off and a brisk pace. we only had a few hours of daylight left after disembarking from the bus.

really, the first day was uneventful. we walked along a dirt road, that to me looked undriveable, but the nepalis must have a different definition for that word that me. about 2.5 hours of walking left us in a quaint little town called bhulbule, so we checking into a teahouse/guesthouse with nothing built in 90* angles. every wall and floor was off square.

end day one.

twin girls i came across along the dirt road. just too cute.

the first of at least 50 suspension bridges along the way.,

the final view of the day (upper left in the clouds). it made my heart skip a beat.
this is what i came for, mountains piercing the sky.

it's a kathmandoozy

this girl was adorable, and when i showed her the photo
i took of her, she smiled as big as i've ever seen.

a variation of henna.

a sadhu asking for money to live on.

dried dyes used to paint the faces of festival goers.

women gathered for a festival in kathmandu.

something i forgot to say the other day

i forgot to tell you guys this the other day. you know the bangkok riots you've been seeing on cnn and cspan? maybe not, i guess. well, i was in those the other day. i was walking along the road the other day and all of a sudden i was surrounded by a sea of yellow clad protesters. the were nearly all wearing motorcycles helmets and wielding sticks, or metal poles. there were 1000s of them streaming down the sidewalks, and even stopping traffic to get to the prime ministers residence. as i began to get to the edge of the scene i stopped and chatted with some international journalist and asked if this was what i had been seeing on tv. they said it was indeed. and apparently their cause is a very just one. they simply want a very corrupt man out of leadership of their country, and they are willing to skip work, risking their employment, and get beat by police to see it done. i find that sort of person inspiring. now, i am not saying rioting is a good thing, but if i am honest, i would hope i would rise up when injustice needs an opponent. it's how the great countries of the world were started.

one final thing. as i walked the opposite direction as the ever growing numbers of protesters i was struck by their faces. many were stern and stone faced, heading for battle and difficulty. but many offered me unsolicited smiles, like they were truly excited about what they were doing, and difference it might make. it was a strange thing in the moment, a man clad in helmet with weapon in hand beaming a smile. just thought i would share this with you. not sure what is adds though.

riverside in laos

little girls i meet while riding my bike around the villages.

sunset from a restaurant in muang ngoi.

rice field near nong khiaw.

sunset at nong khiaw.

the rooftop of my little bungalow.

this little girl and her mom were on the bus with me to
non khiaw, a heavenly riverside town.

a few pics from my way into laos

a meal along the way. chicken cooked in a hollowed out coconut, sticky rice, local mushrooms, and a beerlao. great combo.

sunset over a hilltop wat in udomxay, loas.

caught in one laos' infamous mud slides. thankfully, my driver was very industrious
and found a way to get the farthest bus unstuck, making us the first to get through. only 45 minutes, not bad. the two other trucks though, there must've been there for a while. they were axle deep in drying mud and the drivers were using small shovels to try and dig them out.

oh my, he really does post on his blog!

okay, so i have spent the last 20 minutes waiting for a single picture to upload. nope, not gonna happen. blame the slow laos internet speed. anyway, i will give you a little update on me and then post pictures once i arrive in fast paced bangkok.

the last 10 days have more or less been spent lounging by the river. the mekong and nam oh rivers. a nice little bungalow with porch and hammock, all for about $5/day. i am midway through my second 500 page novel too. i've been busy sipping the famed beerlao, staring at the wondrous limestone mountains that form the buttresses of the river valley, and drinking syrupy thick laos coffee sweetened with condensed milk. a bit much even for me, a sugar fanatic. oh, and i have ambled my way through a few 'remote hill tribe' villages too.

i must say, it's been wonderful. all but for one thing. and every step of the way i am learning this more. i've seen a large amount of the world, but i've seen most of it alone. and that's just not that much fun at the end of the day. don't take this wrong, i am not depressed about it, but every day i become more aware of the value of a life shared. the most powerful moments of my travels are when i encounter some person and we move past the barrier of 'strangers' and act like we know each other. this world is about people, and as i travel it more and more, that is what i travel for, the people. now, if i long for the touch of another person, having the spirit within me, then imagine the pain and need within the lost for that touch. i see it everywhere. in watery eyes that follow another all night bender. in the worn backs of rural laborers. in the humiliated eyes of a beggar. they all need Him. perhaps that is what this whole trip is about. before i left it was all an idea for me, and an idealistic one at that. now i have seen the reality of the world's needs (as i can understand now). it's tangible if we are not too arrogant to see it. the world crumbles to pieces around them. and what i know now is that i will be broken and miserable if i just watch it happen and snap a few photos along the way. my own life has become wrapped up in the hopes and dreams of the lost. i want it this way too. i want to feel His heart. and it won't always feel like apple pie and ice cream.