Trekkin'

Well, Michael and I are back from out Annapurna Circuit trek! We are now relaxing in a cafe in beautiful Lakeside Pokhara. I have already posted an album of photos, here are some highlights:






The rest are here.

My photos are probably the best description of the trek, although they probably only capture about 5% of the experience. The last 16 days have been one of the most incredible journeys of my entire life. In fact, I am still so overwhelmed by everything that I am having trouble putting it into words! Needless to say, sitting in a cafe on a computer next to a road with cars is totally surreal right now. Waking up this morning and not packing up all of my belongings and walking for 7 hours is relieving, yet disappointing. I am happy to have quiet time with Michael, but it doesn't seem right to be in Nepal and not drinking local wine with Nepali guides, porters, and lodge owners. At 4pm, I expect to have to order dinner since it will take 2 hours for the lodge owners to gather the ingredients and cook for all of the guests on a small wood fire. I am in total shock being back in a city.

Of course, it didn't help that the moment we returned to civilization, everything seemed to go wrong. I suffered a mild concussion on the very bumpy bus ride back, and we arrived at our hotel to find that my back had not arrived, and that our reservation was booked for the wrong day. But yesterday we got our new room and my bag, and today we can finally start to recharge our batteries and prepare for the next leg of our travel: 6 weeks in India!

Alchemy in Kathmandu

While we were in Darjeeling, I reread The Alchemist (although this was more like my second first time reading it, because the first time I was 11 and I didn't totally grasp the plot...). Maybe this story has inspired my feelings about Kathmandu. One week ago, on our first day here, we did a short walking tour of the old city. In the first 10 minutes, we stumbled into a small courtyard with a stupa and monastery and I felt suddenly extremely moved and enchanted by the environment. The best description I can think of is the feeling of fulfilling one's destiny. I remembered all the time I had spent at the Rubin Museum 2 years ago: seeing a photo exhibition of Kathmandu in the 70's, spending hours looking at thangka paintings and stone carvings, and knowing in my heart, "I have to go here, and I know that I will go here." The satisfaction of finally being immersed in this culture is unimaginable.

So the last week we have been exploring temples and hiking through villages in the Kathmandu valley, and it has been truly incredible (despite a small bike mishap). I have also felt inspired to take many photographs. Here are some of my favorites:






Plus more on facebook (Michael and I have been fondly reffering to "Nepal" as "Nipple")

I have also started doing some doodles about our days here, and will be posting some of them on Drawings of Journeys.

Tomorrow Michael and I are leaving on a 16 day trek through the Annapurnas, some of the tallest mountains in the world. Here is a map of our route:



Needless to say, I am overwhelmingly excited but also a bit nervous to be in such remote areas. So, there will be no updates for a while. Wish me luck!

UPDATES

Our month in China was amazing, read Michael's blog for more detailed adventures.

After a (too quick) layover in Bangkok, we have entered our first few days in India. We landed in Thursday afternoon in Calcutta. Although it lived up to its reputation for of extreme poverty and chaos, there were parts of the city which I found almost endearing. The whole city had an almost post apocalyptic vibe to me. There were tons of beautiful 19th century British buildings, but none of them have been maintained, so they are now dirty and dilapidated. This once great capitol is now overgrown with tropical jungle plants, and the streets and buildings seem to all be slowly crumbling. Great murders of crows added an almost Hitchcock feel.



That's not to say that I was not deeply moved by the poverty here. It is very sobering to see so many destitute in the streets making homes of garbage. However, I do think I was slightly more prepared for India's 3rd world-ness than Michael was. The first time I visited China was in 1995. Although China's economy was on the rise, there was still no significant expat scene, no backpacker hostels, and certainly no western style toilets. In addition, my first visit was not to one of the quickly developing cities of Beijing or Shanghai, but to Chengdu, which is basically the last Han Chinese city before the autonomous regions of the west. Only in the last few years has Chengdu seen more Western travelers, mostly on their way to Tibet or other rural areas of China's southwest. Although the poverty was probably not as bad as in Calcutta, I still remember being shocked and moved by all of the disfigured and mentally ill who slept on the streets. It was also not uncommon for beggars to aggressively stick their hands in taxis and ask for money or for orphan children to hold on to your legs until you gave them a few coins. In later visits, this became less and less visible, and it wasn't until we arrived in India that I realized beggars in China seemed nearly nonexistent on our trip (although I question whether they have actually been helped or the government has simply hidden them...).

So, all in all, I found Calcutta intense, wild, but intriguing, and although I might not choose to go back there, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. In fact, our last night we saw an amazing musical performance, which would have made me really start liking the city if I hadn't ended the night with my head in the toilet AGAIN.

Now, after our first Indian overnight sleeper train and a very rough 4 hour jeep ride, we are finally in our hotel in Darjeeling. It is much more laid back here, and the scenery is incredible. Sadly, Michael and I both seem to be suffering from pretty bad stomach infections, but I suppose these are common in new places. I am ecstatic to have the chance to go into the Himalayas, though, as it has been a wish of mine since my first trip to the Rubin Museum a few years ago. Truly a dream come true.

Darjeeling Take 1

Sadly, Michael's stomach infection took a turn for the worse yesterday morning, and climaxed in a very stressful visit to an Indian clinic, which I think was a bit traumatizing for Michael...

So I have been playing mom for the last couple days, which has actually given me a chance to see Darjeeling from an interesting perspective. It is very different here than in Calcutta. The ethnicity, Ghorka, shares more with Tibet and Nepal than with the rest of India. It is much quieter and more laid back. It is also feels much less threatening, particularly as a solo lady. Travelling in Egypt last year gave me some preparation for the attitude towards women here, but it was still pretty intimidating to walk into the bar at our hotel in Calcutta and have 40 sets of hungry male eyes land on me at once.

However, equally intimidating was the search to fill Michael's prescriptions here. After the clinic visit, Michael was sent home in a taxi and I went with the daughter of the hostel owner to go find medicine. Since it was only 6am, many pharmacies were not open yet, so our first stop was the state run hospital. To get there, she suggested we take a short cut but warned me that it was a bit "dirty." I wanted to get the medicine back to Michael as fast as possible, so I followed her through a burned out building full of garbage piles to the entrance of the hospital.

The clinic we had gone to in the morning was described to us by the owner of our hostel as, "a very nice private hospital, much cleaner than the state run hospital." However, by American standards, the private clinic was not clean at all. The bathroom smelled and the toilet seat had dirty water on it, and in his delirious state Michael compared the garbage can in his room to the chicken slaughtering jar he had seen at the animal market in Yangshuo. The whole facility was really offputting. But when we arrived at the state hospital, it was not only the garbage cans but the entire building that was reminicent of a giant chicken death jar. Needless to say, I was happy with our clinic choice.

So we woke up the man in the pharmacy across the street who quickly filled our prescriptions and then headed back through the dark burned out garbage building towards the hostel. Again, the girl asked me if I wanted to take another "difficult" short cut, and I agreed to. This one was up a series of tiny alleys with steep narrow stairs that wove through a series of small courtyards. The first had a large pack of stray dogs taking a group nap and the second had 3 men who appeared to be making a very sketchy business transaction. I was relieved to make it back to the main roads soon after this and deliver the medicine to Michael.

By that evening, I had seen many young women walking the alleys here on their own, which made me feel much less nervous about running errands solo. In fact, I beginning to feel quite comfortable in Darjeeling, and am sort of looking forward to being stuck here a few extra days while Michael recovers.

Sadly, it has been raining the last couple days, so we haven't even had any killer Himalayan views yet! But we posibly have two treks planned for here and Nepal, which I am very much looking forward to and praying for better weather. Also, I am making a serious effort to write more blogs, so keep checking back for more updates!

China reflections

I seem to be running out of excuses for not having updated my blog since we arrived. The main problem is, with Michael's thorough and frequent descriptions of our trips events, I am at a loss of what to blog about. Another is that I've grown so accustomed to the odd cultural differences in China that I don't even notice when interesting things happen until Michael asks, "Why is that man walking around town in his pajamas?" or "Why do people like eating old stinky tofu?" or "Why is that old lady on the bus grabbing onto your butt for support?" In my head, the answer to these questions is clear: "Because it's China."

And anyway, how many old ladies dancing in the park or bicycles with loads the size of small trucks or beautiful women hacking loogies can you watch before it just gets old?



Nevermind, China is awesome and I'm ecstatic to be back.

Disaster Strikes!

So yesterday morning, Michael and I got on the m60 bus as 5am and headed to Laguardia for our flight to Shanghai. Sadly, we never made it on the flight, because when we got off at the airport, the bus rolled away with my passport, visas, and wallet. Begin one of the most physically and emotionally exhausting days of my life. After several hours of calling MTA and arguing with Air Canada lady, we managed to reschedule our flight for Saturday morning and accept that my purse is probably not coming back.

Here is the scenario as we pull out of Laguardia: It's 9:30 am, I've been up since 4:30am after approximately 3.5 hours of sleep, and I have 30 hours to acquire a new passport and a new Chinese visa with no money, ID, or cell phone. Looks like it's time to initiate operation "Call Mom."

Luckily, my mom met me at the passport center downtown around 11 with all the documents I would need, and we managed get an appointment for a same day passport. 4 hours and one exhaustion and starvation induced breakdown later, I picked up my shiny new passport, complete with a new photo of me half asleep in a Duane Reade.

Now I am waiting to pick up my new Chinese visa. Despite this unforseen catastrophe, it seems like everything is going to work out after all, thanks to to my Michael's patience and my mom's saintliness.

Countdown to Asia

Michael and I are 3 days away from our 2-3 month trip across Asia! Here is our tentative (and rather ambitious) itinerary:


View Asia Trip Fall 2009 in a larger map

*Don't mind that pin in Turkmenistan, I am having trouble figuring out this whole google maps business. I've also added this map to the sidebar, where I will be updating it with dates and photos.

Having spent the last 5 weeks caught up in the stress of moving out of my loft, caring for my mom during her shoulder surgery, and helping my slightly demented cat switch homes, I'm suddenly shocked at how excited I am! I mean, this is kind of a big deal, right?