Off to the Jungle...

All right. I'm heading up north to feed and bathe elephants for week. Wish me luck. It's hot, humid, and mosquito-y.

I doubt they have internet access, but if they do I'll let you know how it goes. Otherwise, I'll be online again next Sunday night.

If you get chili in your right eye...

Wash your left foot with cold water. If you get chili in your left eye, wash your right foot in cold water.

I didn't suffer, but one of the Dutch guys in the class did. He said it worked.

After.

Green curry with chicken. Tom Yam with Shrimp. Chicken and Vegetable Stir Fry with Basil Leaves.
Spring Rolls.

Before...

Green Curry Paste.

Cooking class at an organic farm.

Go ahead...take a closer look.

At the market...

Look at this...you can refill your own bottle instead of buying a million plastic bottles.

Brilliant.

Temple

Wat Chedi Luang

Monk Chat

I sat with a monk for about an hour. We laughed a lot.

Rub down by an ex-con.

Yesterday, I got a foot massage at the Women's Prison Spa. One hour = $4.

Uhhhhhhhh...

Thailand is like a dream.

It's so easy. There are official people in the airport and train stations to help you. There are touts, too, but they leave you alone when you say no the first time. Clean bathrooms. Clean taxis. Clean streets. What a relief.

Chang Mai

Arrived around 7 a.m. Didn't have anything booked for tonight but met an Australian woman traveling with her Polish parents and hitched a ride with them to their hotel.

Bangkok

Royal Nepal Airlines delivered me to Bankok safely (I was, honestly, quite worried). Feeling lucky, I took a taxi to the train station and managed to get a first-class sleeper to Chang Mai leaving in 20 minutes. Good-bye Bangkok.

Tomorrow...Thailand

Hopefully. I'm flying an airline that LP calls "notoriously unreliable." If I'm stuck in Kathmandu, I don't know what I'll do.

My plan is to spend one night in Bangkok then take the overnight train to Chang Mai. I start my volunteer week at the Elephant Nature Park on Monday so I need to move quickly. After that, who knows?

Durbar Square

Namaste

Namaste

Namaste

Boudnanath Stupa

Namaste

Back in the filth.

I'm in Kathmandu again. Planning some sightseeing tomorrow. Then, perhaps I'll have some photos to show you of something other than green. I don't get tired of nature, but maybe you do?

Day Seven - Sunrise in Sarangkot then back to Pokhara

That's Pokhara and Phewa Tal.
Buddhist prayer flags from the observation point.

Daal Baht 9, 10....I don't know what happened with the others.

Day Seven - Patanah to Sarangkot

Day Six - Jhinu to Patanah (1900m)

Crossed over many bridges like this.

Daal Baht 6, 7, 8

Day Five - Chhomrong (2050m) to Jhinu (1760m)

A steep, but short, downhill to Jhinu. We walked down the natural hot springs by the river later, about an hour's walk down, then back up. A rest day, really.

"Yesterday was day of great celebrating in America. Big festival, yes?"

This is Dipu's question for me while we sit in the teahouse dining room and I try to read Herzog.

I'm sitting, thinking, I pull out my calendar, it's the 19th of September, what holiday could I possibly be forgetting?

He continues, "Yes, yes, lots animals, people, lots celebrating."

I am still puzzled.

Look, look there it is." He points to the television (unusual in the mountains) and there is coverage of the Kentucky State Fair on the Nepalese news.

I laugh, and nod.

Chhomrong - Decision Time

Now, that we'd arrived in Chhomrong, I had to decide if I could make it to Annapurna Base Camp (ABC). I didn't feel like my leg had gotten much better, really better at all, and climbing another 2000m with the shooting pain didn't seem like a good idea.

So, as has happened before on this trip, I chose caution, and we decided to head down the mountain, back to Pokhara, rather than up to the ABC. I wasn't happy.

How I was feeling...

Here it is. Daal Baht #5

Maybe I counted wrong...this should be number 7. I must have forgotten to take a photo sometime.

This lady cooked my lunch.

Most of the women wear this kind of outfit. Some of the teenagers wear the wrap skirt with a t-shirt. A lot, but not all, of the kitchens are wood-burning stoves. Traditional, but not so good for the environment. The alternative is using an electric stove (with access to electricity of course), or kerosene, which someone has to haul up the mountain.

Day Four - Tadapani to Chhomrong

Again, up around 5:30 a.m. and the walk to Chhomrong begins. I wrap my leg and hope for the best. We have to make a lot of stops because the steep downhill is pretty painful. Sections like this, flat, easy, and beautiful, made it possible to keep going.

Day Four - Sunrise in Tadapani

Finally...Tadapani (2680m)

There was a festive mood at the teahouse because everyone was so happy to be out of the rain. A lot of guests, guides, and porters were here.

Daal Baht # 4

Leeches.

Not the scary Stand By Me type, but blood sucking nonetheless. They come out in the rain, so you have to sprinkle your socks and shoes with salt to keep them away. I only suffered one bite from a leech, but four from ants, one from a spider (I think) and numerous mosquito bites. Itchy.

Rhododendron

I never knew it could grow this tall! Did you? Also the national tree, or flower, or Nepal.

Rain and Albert.

Albert is from Switzerland and speaks French. He has been traveling for six months - first cycling across the whole of Turkey and Iran with friends, then visiting China, Tibet and Nepal on his own.

I loaned him my ipod and we talked about music in Ghorepani and Tadapani. He's a musician - bass, guitar, accordian, etc. He translated Serge Gainsbourg and Jacques Dutronc for me, which was quite funny because his English isn't so good.

If I ever go to Switzerland again he has offered to take me on a cycling tour of the whole country. That, I think, would be awesome.

Nepali Knee Brace

We paused at a tea shop to give ourselves a break from the rain. Dipu turned up with this knit knee brace (he's good for something) which I could buy for 250 rupees ($4). About five Nepalis were clustered around me trying to fit it properly, and we had to do some snipping, but once it was on I was relieved of a lot of pain.

"You walks like old lady."

Dipu's incessant commentary, but he didn't leave me stranded.

We walked about one hour before it really started raining. Rain gear can only prevent so much. The path along the side of the river was submerged by it, so we did a lot of wading. When your boots are flooded there's not much you can do but slosh through the mud to your next destination. Luckily, it wasn't cold so it wasn't even that uncomfortable. I'd say it was actually pretty fun, despite the injured leg.

There is the fear of landslides, which happen, quite frequently, but it would have to rain for several days before that was a real danger.

Day Three continued - Poon Hill to Ghorepani to Tadapani

Around 7:00 a.m. we walked back down the mountain to Ghorepani. Somehow, most likely as a result of waking up and climbing a mountain 10 minutes later, I managed to injure myself. I think I pulled my hamstring in my left leg. I think. It hurt to climb and it hurt to descend. It really hurt to do anything that required bending my left leg. Stretching didn't help.

But, we had breakfast and set off for Tadapani anyway. Slowly.

And me.

Pondering the meaning of life. As usual.

...

Dhaulagiri