Sagarmatha!
Sagarmartha (Mt. Everest)!
FROM YESTERDAY
Just got back from a wonderful walk - thru Patan (the old city begins about 200m from campus... just lovely). I got completely lost... winding alleys, through 1500 year old houses and squares and temples, with people going about their business… but the advice lady (Cousin Prof Wycoff who is my mentor in all things south Asian and who is sweltering with her husband in Agra, India) would be glad to know, that I didn't panic. I now tactfully instruct all the hawkers (I have decided to adopt my son’s method and not buy from children) that I am not a tourist, but I teach at the university... they turn away now… not bad for 1.5 weeks here. One child asked me then to buy him ice cream… he was cute, but I declined.
My colleagues told me that I am doing great, and do not seem to be afraid of anything. They have been so helpful as well, warning me off certain things that might cause sudden and extreme weight loss in the bathroom. Yesterday we returned to a restaurant that by any international standard should be shut down... but the food is to die for (unfortunate metaphore see below) and the view… well also is less than one star. One learns early in one’s travels to not look at the kitchen, or ask what it is before eating. If the food is hot, I say dig in… the bits of spicy water buffalo besides (read below) was amazing. They constant refer to other visitors who were nervous “he'd never eat here, he kept bringing a sandwich", or "she complained to the cook of the guest house about the potaoes in the curry". I have realized that this Dorothy is not in Kansas, and to make due and relax... I mean why ever do the taxpayers of the good state of California pay my health bennifts and allow me to spend all that quality time in the Kaiser travel clinic to get the shots? Or magic pills, right?
So I asked them both to join me tomorrow on the hour flight over of Everest...
FROM TODAY
After all the above… I spent about 2am to 4ish off loadign the buffalo as it were… my food allergy must have kicked in… I mean it couldn't have been the unsanitary conditions of the restaurant we visited now could it, nor the spicy buffalo meat (Actually after returning from buying the tickets… Prof. S spent an inordinate amount of time in the downstairs john as well. Prof T claims it was the buffalo meet we ate at lunch.
Just got back from a wonderful walk - thru Patan (the old city begins about 200m from campus... just lovely). I got completely lost... winding alleys, through 1500 year old houses and squares and temples, with people going about their business… but the advice lady (Cousin Prof Wycoff who is my mentor in all things south Asian and who is sweltering with her husband in Agra, India) would be glad to know, that I didn't panic. I now tactfully instruct all the hawkers (I have decided to adopt my son’s method and not buy from children) that I am not a tourist, but I teach at the university... they turn away now… not bad for 1.5 weeks here. One child asked me then to buy him ice cream… he was cute, but I declined.
My colleagues told me that I am doing great, and do not seem to be afraid of anything. They have been so helpful as well, warning me off certain things that might cause sudden and extreme weight loss in the bathroom. Yesterday we returned to a restaurant that by any international standard should be shut down... but the food is to die for (unfortunate metaphore see below) and the view… well also is less than one star. One learns early in one’s travels to not look at the kitchen, or ask what it is before eating. If the food is hot, I say dig in… the bits of spicy water buffalo besides (read below) was amazing. They constant refer to other visitors who were nervous “he'd never eat here, he kept bringing a sandwich", or "she complained to the cook of the guest house about the potaoes in the curry". I have realized that this Dorothy is not in Kansas, and to make due and relax... I mean why ever do the taxpayers of the good state of California pay my health bennifts and allow me to spend all that quality time in the Kaiser travel clinic to get the shots? Or magic pills, right?
So I asked them both to join me tomorrow on the hour flight over of Everest...
FROM TODAY
After all the above… I spent about 2am to 4ish off loadign the buffalo as it were… my food allergy must have kicked in… I mean it couldn't have been the unsanitary conditions of the restaurant we visited now could it, nor the spicy buffalo meat (Actually after returning from buying the tickets… Prof. S spent an inordinate amount of time in the downstairs john as well. Prof T claims it was the buffalo meet we ate at lunch.
They all welcomed me to Nepal, and a have informed me that I have finally arrived. Funny how one can arrive while “evacuating”. So I broke out the pills, and continue to nosh on a bottle of water with a few drops of GSE (that saved the trip for Spencer & me in Guatemala).
At any rate I was sound asleep (they both agreed there was no need for me to come into work as they were going to teach and I would just be sitting around) so when the bell rang and the man from the travel agency came with tickets for a weekend trip to Pokhara… I decided to get up and take a well needed bath, shave and write a bit… perhaps I will have it in me to walk up to the Greenhouse Cyber to post this. I dwell on all these “niceties” and have neglected the most important part of the morning… THE HIMALAYAN MOUNTAIN FLIGHT.
My colleagues showed up at the guest house at 530am, and we were thru security and check in by 6am for the 630am flight… there are no words for how amazing it was… the plane took off and circled and rose over Kathmandu… I looked down and saw the Stupa at Bodhnath, the Royal Palace, Durbar Square, the neighborhood I am living in and of course the whole Kathmandu Valley before we flew into the clouds. Breaking through the left side there they were… a great white wall of rock and ice from east to west. We flew east diagonally with Everest dead ahead. The flight attendant walked up and down the aisle pointing out various peaks that correlated with the very helpful pamphlet that they provided. Then to my utter surprise and delight, she came thru the plane and let each of us take a few moments in the cockpit to see the mountain itself, the pilots talked to us, and showed them to us… to be able to see the whole range through clean and not scratched windows was such a delight, not to mention to be able to converse with the pilots was a thrill. After everyone had a chance, she came through again and we were allowed another turn if we so wanted.
Truly astonishing, there are no words, and these pictures don’t really capture it either… all I can say that should (the chance being well over 50% now) my flight to Hong Kong be delayed, I may just saunter over to do another of these…
This was the one flight, which I can say that absolutely everyone left their window shades up and looked out. Those of you who have been diligent followers of this daily rant, know that one of my pet peeves are those who purchase window seats in flights and then proceed the keep the shades drawn, thus contributing to the international decline in geographic literacy.
My only contact with the outside world seems to be the 24hr BBC FM station (a complete delight) and the morning edition of the newspaper here that is published in both Nepali and English. So it was that during my time in the bathroom I enjoyed a rather insightful story about the history of refrigeration – with a reporter here in Kathmandu interviewing people using traditional forms of keeping food cool in clay pots… and now a great story from the Capitol Building in Sacramento about Swartzeneggar’s health plan… the world is indeed small, despite the .size of the mountains that divide us.
Tomorrow off to Pokhara (6 hour bus ride west along the mountains) until early Sunday, then Monday we begin our project in the village.
Enjoy the snaps…
At any rate I was sound asleep (they both agreed there was no need for me to come into work as they were going to teach and I would just be sitting around) so when the bell rang and the man from the travel agency came with tickets for a weekend trip to Pokhara… I decided to get up and take a well needed bath, shave and write a bit… perhaps I will have it in me to walk up to the Greenhouse Cyber to post this. I dwell on all these “niceties” and have neglected the most important part of the morning… THE HIMALAYAN MOUNTAIN FLIGHT.
My colleagues showed up at the guest house at 530am, and we were thru security and check in by 6am for the 630am flight… there are no words for how amazing it was… the plane took off and circled and rose over Kathmandu… I looked down and saw the Stupa at Bodhnath, the Royal Palace, Durbar Square, the neighborhood I am living in and of course the whole Kathmandu Valley before we flew into the clouds. Breaking through the left side there they were… a great white wall of rock and ice from east to west. We flew east diagonally with Everest dead ahead. The flight attendant walked up and down the aisle pointing out various peaks that correlated with the very helpful pamphlet that they provided. Then to my utter surprise and delight, she came thru the plane and let each of us take a few moments in the cockpit to see the mountain itself, the pilots talked to us, and showed them to us… to be able to see the whole range through clean and not scratched windows was such a delight, not to mention to be able to converse with the pilots was a thrill. After everyone had a chance, she came through again and we were allowed another turn if we so wanted.
Truly astonishing, there are no words, and these pictures don’t really capture it either… all I can say that should (the chance being well over 50% now) my flight to Hong Kong be delayed, I may just saunter over to do another of these…
This was the one flight, which I can say that absolutely everyone left their window shades up and looked out. Those of you who have been diligent followers of this daily rant, know that one of my pet peeves are those who purchase window seats in flights and then proceed the keep the shades drawn, thus contributing to the international decline in geographic literacy.
My only contact with the outside world seems to be the 24hr BBC FM station (a complete delight) and the morning edition of the newspaper here that is published in both Nepali and English. So it was that during my time in the bathroom I enjoyed a rather insightful story about the history of refrigeration – with a reporter here in Kathmandu interviewing people using traditional forms of keeping food cool in clay pots… and now a great story from the Capitol Building in Sacramento about Swartzeneggar’s health plan… the world is indeed small, despite the .size of the mountains that divide us.
Tomorrow off to Pokhara (6 hour bus ride west along the mountains) until early Sunday, then Monday we begin our project in the village.
Enjoy the snaps…
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