I don't know, this Emerald Buddha's pretty gripping - 31 October 2008

That's right, Halloween.  I'm just a little under a month behind now.

In case you're curious it appears that Halloween is celebrated here, although it may be exclusively for the ex-pats.  I didn't even realize that it was Halloween until one of my friends was talking about her costume.

We got back on track today, taking a water taxi to Wat Phra Kaew, which is amazing.  We've spent the last month or so viewing temples and holy sites, but I've never seen anything so shiny.  It wasn't even that sunny.

Spires of Wat Phra Kaew

Mirrored columns (and to think how hard it was tiling the master bathroom)

No pictures of the actual Emerald Buddha, though.  They don't allow photography (or shoes) in the temple where he resides.  Here's a consolation photo:

And, last but not least, something fans of Rick Springfield already know:

Ya seen one crowded, polluted, stinking town, you've seen 'em all - 30 October 2008

Ah, world travel.  A chance to experience new cultures and expand your boundaries.  It's through constant exposure to different societal norms that the process of self-discovery is best realized.

We decided to test this concept by shopping at the mall.

Not just any shopping mall, though, we went to The Emporium.  They had exotic brands, like Burberry, Louis Vuitton, and Hermes so we felt right at home in our REI gear.

We kept moving higher in the mall trying to find our tax bracket and then there it was - a Burger King.  After a satisfying lunch, I indulged in something new:

In case you can't read it - that's "Butter & Corn."  There was a little cart in the mall where they had kernel corn.  For about 80 cents you get a cup full of corn mixed with butter, salt, and if sugar (if you want).  I skipped the sugar.  Hmm, hmm, good.

Amazon Kindle Review

If you've followed the blog for long you may remember some hand-wringing over whether I should get an Amazon Kindle.  Ultimately I did decide to get one, and I've been using it extensively since late August.

If you want my quick and dirty take:  It's well worth having if you travel a lot, and read a lot of fiction.  If you don't travel, or if you read a lot of business books (or books with a lot of pictures and/or diagrams) then you should probably think twice.

Of course if you don't read (per Steve Jobs) then you definitely shouldn't buy one.

And now, on to the rambling discourse.

The Kindle is great for traveling because of its size (7.5" x 5.3" x 0.7") and weight (10.3 ounces).  This gives it a footprint that's slightly larger than a trade paperback, but much thinner.  This form factor gets you a large reading area, keyboard, cellular connectivity (for downloading books over the Sprint network), and a lot of books.  I say a lot because the device has 200 MB (that's base 10 for you pedants or lawyers out there).  If you're used to the world of iPods this may seem minuscule, but books, unlike songs and movies, are typically around 1/2 MB in size (meaning you can get about 400 books onto the stock device).  If the built-in space is not enough, or if the books you purchase are atypical, you can expand the memory capacity of the Kindle using standard SD cards and carry around a ridiculous number of books in this footprint.

It's also very resilient.  Mine's been to Everest base camp on the Tibetan side and almost made it on the Nepali side as well (my failing, not the Kindle's).  On Amazon's comment page someone claims that his Kindle survived when his son threw it out of a jeep moving at 30 mph.

Also on the plus side - the Kindle makes it easy to look up words that you don't know.  Simply scroll to the line in the text, push the button, and select lookup.  Hopefully my vocabulary (and spelling) will improve.  Now if they could just find some way to incorporate the pronunciation features of http://www.m-w.com!

There are some downsides, though.  You have to retrain yourself to use the Kindle.  The buttons are awkwardly placed and it's just too easy to accidentally push either the "Next Page" or "Prev Page" buttons.  It took me a couple of weeks to reach the point where picking the device up didn't lead to a struggle to figure out which button I'd pushed.

Likewise, the screen refreshes take some time.  If you read quickly you'll eventually start pressing "Next Page" before you're done with the current one in anticipation of the delay.  One observation without any supporting evidence:  refreshes seem to take longer in cold weather.  I can't confirm it, but it certainly felt that way at Rongbuk.

Amazon likes to tout that there are more than 190,000 books available for the Kindle, but I've ended up purchasing several books ("The Climb" by Anatoli Boukreev, "Touching the Void" by Joe Simpson, and "Addicted to Danger" by Jim Wickwire and Dorothy Bullitt) because they weren't available for Kindle. (NOTE:  There are other, non-climbing related books that I have looked for on the Kindle and not found, but I didn't end up buying the hardcopy book - neither "Good to Great" nor "Built to Last" by Jim Collins are available on Kindle).

Amazon also likes to tout that most books are $9.99 or less and that's true of the more popular books, but for business-related books and textbooks the price can be as much as a hardcopy.  Overall the pricing feels arbitrary, and attempts to do a TCO calculation for the Kindle vs. buying hardcopy are not as straightforward as assuming that you'll pay $20 for every hardcopy and $10 for every kindle edition.

The Kindle (at least the current version) also does a poor job with diagrams and pictures.  I purchased "Presentation Zen" by Garr Reynolds for my Kindle and was disappointed to realize that trying to differentiate between good design and bad design was impossible on the kindle.  There either needs to be more resolution or a color display.  The issues around books with diagrams and pictures are further compounded by the increased size of the book.  "Presentation Zen" is roughly 10x the size of a text-only book.  So not only is it difficult to read on the Kindle, but it's also using up the memory capacity of 10 books.

There are experimental features available for the kindle such as an MP3 player and a web browser.  I have not used either of these features, and don't plan to - I've got the iPhone for that :)

If I had to rank the Kindle on a scale from 1 to 10 I'd say it's an 8.

One town's very like another when your head's down over the toilet brother - 28 & 29 October 2008

And so we flew from Kathmandu from Bangkok, thereby indulging my long fascination with the song "One Night in Bangkok".

Random facts:

• The song is from the musical "Chess" which was a collaboration between Tim Rice and two members of ABBA
• The song was released to raise money for the musical
• Murray Head is the brother of Anthony Stewart Head (Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Sadly, I knew all of the above off the top of my head - for more, check out the song's wikipedia entry.  Every entry from Thailand is going to be a lyric from the song, or some variation thereof.  As Arlo Guthrie would say, "I'm not proud - or tired."

We got off to a rough start - it was late when we got to the hotel and had the traditional travel/hunger rage passive-aggressive "discussion" about where to eat.

We ended up at the buffet in the Sheraton (gotta love those Starwood points).  In a move that exemplifies why I require constant supervision I decided to try the Hot & Sour Shrimp soup.  I spent the rest of the night wearing out the path between the bed and the bathroom.  Jen, sleeping the sleep of those smart enough to not eat seafood left out for an indeterminate period, was oblivious to my distress until she woke up around 7 am and realized something was terribly amiss.

Of course by that point the worst of it was over.  I spent the day sleeping while she slowly went stir crazy.  By dinner I felt well enough to leave the room, and we had a nice pizza dinner.  Since we lost a day we ended up extending our stay.

We are experiencing technical difficulties

By which I mean there's not pervasive internet in the Barossa Valley or McLaren Vale regions of Australia.

We're safe and doing well - from here we go to the Great Barrier Reef, Sydney, Palau, and then back to Australia to drive the Great Ocean Road. At least I think I've got the order right. More updates when it's easier to get internet.

(Written from the Nooriootpa Public Library)

It's a grade A meal - 26, 27, & 28 October 2008

And so we returned from Lukla to Kathmandu without incident.

As crazy (and dirty) as Kathmandu is, it has the benefit of many western style restaurants, and we took advantage.

Of course we started off with Fire and Ice, the pizza place mentioned at the end of the GAP China/Tibet trip.  This time, we even saved room for ice cream.

We indulged our need for steak by eating at both Kilroy's and K-too.  While the entrees were good at both the desserts really made the meal.  Hmm, banana chocolate crepes.

My favorite, though, was Himalayan Java.  Real breakfast food.  Pancakes and waffles with syrup (instead of honey) and an Oreo smoothie.  It's almost enough to make me forget all of the fried rice.

Everest wrap-up - 24 & 25 October 2008

The rest of the trek went off without a hitch.  We made it down from Namche to Phakding, and stayed in the same room in the same hotel.  From Phakding we made it down to Lukla, and since there wasn't anything new to see I don't really have any pictures.

As we descend we both start to feel better, sleep better, and we regain our appetite.  It was a tremendous experience, but it's also an affirmation that I'm not interested in climbing the really high mountains.  Maybe we made it to 19,000 feet but that's only 2/3 of the way to the top of Everest - and we were both miserable.

I've put up the Himalaya gallery - I hope you enjoy it.

Talk dirty to me - 23 October 2008

Wait!  It's not what you think.  Jen and I are lying in bed (ok, so far it is what you think) trying to name the food that we miss most.  Both the Dairy Queen Butterfinger Blizzard and the Sonic Diet Dr. Pepper w/Cherry and Vanilla are strong contenders.

We went from Pangboche to Namche today.  Jen had a rough go of it, evidently because I snored all night last night.  We're both getting sick and it's freezing in Namche.

On the way down to Namche we passed back through Thengboche, and this time I got a picture of the monastery there:

This monastery was commissioned by the Abbot of Rongbuk, which long-time readers will recognize as the monastery near Everest base camp on the Tibetan side of Everest.  In addition to the monastery, I also saw a guy wearing an outfit that I can only describe as shocking.  It was a matching set of bright red shorts and a short-sleeved t-shirt, knitted out of yarn.  He had the shorts pulled up roughly to his nipples - it was not a pretty sight.  (No picture, out of mercy).

In Namche, we met an American couple from Alaska who spent the last year living in Jakarta.  They're doing a more strenuous itinerary, and actually summited Mera Peak with a group, before they started the Everest base camp trek.  They're also the ones who told us about the crash at Lukla.

Too tired to be clever - 22 October 2008

Lobuche has worn me out - both physically and for the diary.  Since we're both exhibiting mild symptoms of AMS, our guide doesn't want us to go up to Everest base camp and we're more than happy to agree.  Instead we head down to Pangboche.

I've picked up a nasty (productive) cough, and am basically miserable.  Scenery's still spectacular, though:

One interesting thing about today.  We had to wait for another group to cross the river above.  There was one guy out in front with a video camera and then two guys grouped together, moving really slow.  Turns out there was a blind guy going up.

We came, We saw, We went back down - 21 October 2008

We got up at 4:30 am today for the trek up Kala Patthar to view Everest.  Just in case you're not reading through all the links, people scale Kala Patthar to view Everest because you can't actually see Everest from base camp.

It started off poorly - Jen had trouble keeping her hands warm and at one point we stopped, took off her gloves and the guide and I each put one of her hands in our armpit to warm it up.  It took us about 4 hours to get to Gorak Shep, where we stopped for lunch.  

Gorak Shep is the highest point where there's civilization, and I expected it to be similar to Lobuche.  Instead, it's actually nice.  We stopped for lunch in one of the two teahouses, and it's clean and spacious.  Originally, we were supposed to spend the night up here, but all of the rooms were sold out.  After we're done with Kala Patthar we have to go all the way back down to Lobuche and the sterling accomodations there.

Climbing Kala Patthar proved to be too much for us, unfortunately.  Jen started getting dizzy about an hour from the top and (unlike Kilimanjaro) I didn't leave her behind this time.  We took a couple of pictures and headed back down:

Mount Everest, from 2/3 the way up Kala Patthar

Part of the glacier - The mass in the center is striated

And us with Everest

Going down was, as you'd expect, much easier.  We went back to the teahouse where we had lunch, but thanks to the altitude neither one of us had an appetite.  We split a plate of popcorn and then headed back to Lobuche.

It's not as crowded tonight although we're in bed by about 6:15 pm.  I tried to listen to my iPod to put me to sleep, but wasn't able to drift off.  It feels like I have a fever, and I spent most of the night dashing for the bathroom.  Great thing about the bathrooms here at night - the water (both in the bowl and that you're supposed to pour into the "toilet" to flush) freezes.  Jen and I joke about taking the kids ice fishing.  Yep, we're mature.

Part of the reason I cant sleep is that my bunk is tilted toward the wall and so is the guy's bunk in the room next door.  Every time he moves, I feel it.  I'm sure that every time I move he feels it too.  We should have at least traded email addresses the next morning.  

Then around 2 am someone starts knocking on the door to the hotel and trying to get in.  It felt like it took them more than 30 minutes to finally get in.  At one point they started shining a flashlight through our window, trying to see if there was someone to help them.  Then, when they got in they decided it was a good time for a lengthy, loud conversation.

This is, by far, the worst I've felt in a long time.

And the spa would be...? - 20 October 2008

One of the recurring themes is that things haven't been as bad as we expected.  Until now...

Today's trek was from Dengboche to Lobuche.  Lobuche is referenced in several of the Everest books I've read, and always in a negative light.  From reading the books it sounds like the climbers prefer to camp in their own tents and eat their own food rather than stay in the tea houses - we're about to learn why.

Like Thengboche, there was an animated conversation between the porter and guide when we got to town.  Again, it looks like we got the last room in town.  This one takes the cake, though.  It looks as though they've carved it off from the dining room, and it's short enough that when I'm lying in bed my feet act as a lumbar support for the people on the other side of the wall.

Plus, it's not completely enclosed - there's a gap at the end of the hallway that's open to our room.  And, the glass in the window leaves about 1/4" gap.

There are two toilets to choose from:

• Downstairs, which is private but also doubles as the room where they dry the yak dung that they use for cooking.
• Upstairs, where it's pseudo-western style (there's a toilet, but there's no way any part of my body is touching it), but they've seen fit to put a window right above the toilet with no window covering.  There is simply no way to use this toilet without exposing yourself to the entire town.  Under enough duress, however, you get over it.

At dinner there was chaos.  The girl working the counter would scream out orders in her best Frau Farbissina voice, while all of the guides are trying to use the telephone (on speakerphone).  It was bad enough while eating dinner, but it went on while we were trying to sleep.

I cracked my head again, this time on the ceiling beam in the yak dung drying room.  That's two (visible) lines on my noggin now.  Jen doesn't know whether to laugh at me or cry.

At least we're better off than our guide.  He had to sleep in the common room after everyone went to sleep.

Compounding matters, they're charging the extortionary rate of $10/night per room.  This is almost twice the going rate, for inferior accomodation.

But hey, at least there's good scenery:

We want chocolate cake (pancakes that is) - 19 October 2008

We woke to the curtains moving in the breeze.  I understand that it's expensive to build up here - everything has to be carried by human or yak.  But honestly, couldn't they throw a couple of tubes of caulk in?

All was forgiven at breakfast, though.  We ordered chocolate pancakes.  Now you've got to understand that you're rolling the dice when you order anything that isn't rice based.  Chocolate pancakes could mean pancakes that are chocolate, it could mean pancakes with Hershey's syrup, or it could mean something you can't even imagine.  In this case, though, it meant a big, cake-like pancake with chocolate frosting.  Yummy!

We took off for our acclimatization hike to Chukklung, and I got a nice shot with the moon still in the sky:

The hike was pretty strenuous (aren't they all) and complicated by a continuously running nose.  As soft as these tissues are supposed to be I'm still getting chafed around the nose.

We got up to Chukklung around 10:45 and had some milk tea at the Ama Dablam lodge.  Every town has an Ama Dablam, a Mt. Kailas, and an Everst View hotel.  We're at 15,500 feet at this point.

Everyone here is just killing time waiting for the sun to rise to the point where you can get a good picture of the ice wall.  Here's what I think was my best:

And since I know family is reading this blog, here's a pic of Jen and me with Ama Dablam, gratuitously lifted from her picture collection:

Me write pretty one day

Jen's started reading the blog regularly and an unexpected consequence has been that she's catching my grammatical (and spelling) errors.

I'd just like to apologize to those of you out there who are particular about spelling, punctuation, grammar, and clear communication - I'm truly embarrassed.  I would promise to do better going forward but I think more than a decade of working with computers has reduced my writing to a 5th grade level.  If, however, you're interested in my favorite setting for $PATH on *nix systems, I'd be happy to oblige.

Apologies again.

Pun time - 18 October 2008

Today's trek took us from Thengboche to Dengboche.  I'm not sure what boche means, but I'm guessing town.  It was another strenuous, albeit spectacular hike.

Here, as promised, is a picture of a suspension bridge:

I cheated, though, we didn't actually have to cross this - there's a much newer, and nicer bridge directly above this one.  It's frightenting, though, you see the remains of bridges all over the place.  Trying to build on a glacier is like building on shifting sand.

During the hike today we saw several himalayn tahrs, which look like mountain goats to me:

We ended up at the "Hotel Arizona" with this wonderful view from our window:

Thankfully our toilet is actually inside the hotel.

As we were resting Jen and I started talking about our developing fear of yaks.  I told her that I was especially afraid, since I'm a gore-a-phobic.  She didn't laugh, so I repeated it.  It turns out she got it the first time and just didn't think it was funny.

I'll grant you that it's not this (which I first heard at Camp Orr as a Boy Scout), or this (which I heard from a consultant on a gig in Houston), or the one that ends with "Pardon me, Toi, is that the Shadow's nougat you chew" (which Jen's uncle Gary told me once - AND I CAN'T FIND ONLINE!!!).  But it is mine.  Guess I'd better hope my computer-fu holds up through this trip, huh?

Multiple choice question - 17 October 2008

When your wife compares herself to this, what do you do?

1. Make yak-related jokes
2. Act offended that she'd compare herself to livestock
3. Laugh nervously, and move on
4. Be very still and very, very quiet

I ask, because the altitude is starting to get to us and even though the vast majority of our junk is being carried by a porter we both feel a little empathy for this poor beast.

Today we trekked from Namche to Thengboche and I'm noticing a disturbing trend.  It appears that we hike down in the mornings, only to hike the entire vertical distance (and then some) back up in the afternoon.  It's bad enough right now but it also means we'll have to hike down and up on the return trip.  Maybe this is what they mean by hiking to school uphill both ways.

In case I haven't hammered it home enough yet, it's beautiful here.  Here's a picture of Everest, Nuptse, and Ama Dablaum, with a chorten commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Everest ascent:

It's funny, evidently the Nepalese army makes their recruits going on training runs up here.  We saw probably 50-60 guys in fatigues running along the trail, kicking a dust cloud up along the way.  At this altitude it doesn't take long for the packs to start separating.  The main group passed, followed by an ever smaller number of stragglers, until one lone surly-looking soldier went walking by.  I bet he gets to peel lots of potatoes.

There was some excitement when we got to Thengboche.  Our guide has taken to sending our porter ahead to get rooms for us (since we're so slow) and when we got to town they had an extended conversation.  It turns out that there was one room left (which we got), and our guide had to sleep outside in a tent.  Here's a picture of the room, taken with my back wedged against the opposite corner:

We're taking it in stride, though, by joking that we wish Jen's dad (who is 6' 3") was here :)

It's also a lot easier to take when you see the older tourists that ended up in the bunk above the dining area - they took it because it was all that was left in the town, but I can't imagine it was very comfortable.

You mess with the Yak - 16 October 2008

We spent last night in Namche, home of the Namche bazaar.  Every Saturday traders congregate here to sell goods.  Unfortunately we're not going to be here on a Saturday, but it's still an impressive town given the remote location.  Candy bars and soft drinks are cheaper here than they were along the way, since this is a staging center for folks climbing Everest.

I did see a Mountain Hardware fleece sporting a Shaq tag, though, so caveat emptor.

Because of the altitude we'll actually spend the night here, and just do a day hike to help with our acclimatization.  We hiked up to the Everest View Hotel, which is beautiful, especially compared to our accommodation.  Here's an attempt to be artistic, by capturing the view from the hotel in its windows:

I toyed with the idea of trying to spend the night up here, but in 2002 it cost $200/night.  Our rooms, in contrast, cost about $6/night - so I'll keep the extra cash, thanks.

The balcony was a crowded mess when we got there - people trying to take in the views without paying the cost of staying there (like us).  There was a group of Brits and one of them had a heart monitor.  They were amusing themselves by doing star-jumps (that's jumping jacks to you and me) and seeing how it changed their heart rate.  Thankfully no one collapsed.

We got our first good views of Everest today, but since it will feature prominently later on I'm going to hold on to those.  Instead I offer up Ama Dablaum which is more striking in profile:

Its name means "Mother" something (no rude comments, please).  I've heard it described as resembling a thumb, and the guide books say that it's named after a turquoise necklace traditionally worn by mothers in Nepal.  I think it's the prettiest mountain I've ever seen.

Later we trekked back to Namche:

When we got there we found that one of the MT Sobek campers had either broken or sprained her ankle during their day trek.  It ended her trip, but she was lucky that it happened near Namche - they were able to helicopter her out.  If it happened at one of the intermediate towns she would either have been carried by a porter or have to ride on a horse (for at least a day) until a helipad was reached.  Another reminder of how fragile we are.

Speaking of which, we also heard that a French tourist was gored by a yak last night and also had to be helicoptered out.  The yaks made us nervous before this news, but now we're especially wary of them.  Our guide, Hira, told us that 6-7 years ago a guide was actually killed by a yak.

Now we're downright terrified of them.

He's as clumsy as he is stupid - 15 October 2008

We spent last night in Phakding in one of the tea houses along the trail.  In what will unfortunately become a common occurrence, I smacked my head on the door frame on the way to the bathroom last night, and have a nice linear cut on my forehead now.

I'm just the wrong size for both China and Nepal.  I'm not big enough to be an object of curiousity, but I'm too just a little too large to not look out for door frames, ceiling beams and light fixtures.

The scenery is ridiculous here - once I've finished blogging the entire trek I'll throw up a Himalayan album, but in the meanwhile here are a couple of pics:

You can barely make out the suspension bridge in the distance - more of them (and better pictures) in the coming days.

Ignorance really is bliss - 14 October 2008

We leave the hotel around 7:45 am, and take a taxi to the Kathmandu airport.  We're supposed to fly into Lukla around 8:15.

At the airport we're "helped" with our bags by two guys - I'm about to walk through the metal detector when Jen physically grabs me and says that they want a tip for their help.  It's extortionary, but I'm trying to hurry so I give them what they want and walk through.

Then we spend an hour and a half standing.  I'd say standing in line, but there's no order to the proceedings and it turns out that the people who know what's going on aren't standing in line.  Finally we're led through security (his and hers pat-downs) and then we take a bus onto the tarmac to board the plane.  This is where it starts to get interesting.

We're flying on a Twin Otter, and the first row of seats is filled with extra cargo.  Before the engines are started the stewardess (I don't think it's enlightened enough hear to use "flight attendant") offers everyone a piece of candy and some cotton for their ears.  Thanks to Yvonne, from our China trip, we knew to sit on the left-hand side of the aircraft for the good scenery.

I knew that Lukla was a challenging airport from the guidebooks, but didn't realize that it was widely considered to be one of the most dangerous airports in the world.  We also didn't know that there was a terrible plane crash there less than a week ago, killing all but one person on the plane.  We were fortunate, though, and our flight went off without issue.  If you'd like to see what it's like there, just look up Lukla on YouTube.

Here's a picture of porters loading up yaks by the airstrip:

And on the trek we passed lots of teahouses with stickers from around this world.  My friends from 'consin, this one's for you:

Good night Wisconsin!

Chilling in Kathmandu - 12 & 13 October 2008

So consider this a lesson learned.  Instead of heading off on our trek for Everest base camp the next day, we planned a couple days of downtime in Kathmandu.

This gave us time to do some laundry, enjoy the warm showers, and just generally recharge.

Kathmandu is chaos.  We're staying in Thamel, which is the main tourist region, and there's just noise all the time.  It's overwhelming, quite frankly.  There are street vendors hawking tiger balm, chess sets, and flutes.  You quickly learn to just shake your head "no" at anyone who approaches.

There's one oddity, though.  A weather-beaten white guy trying to sell flutes in the crowds of natives.  He's got an accent that sounds either Australian or English, and refers to Jen as "madam."  I'm half tempted to offer to buy him a drink in exchange for his life's story - I mean how do you end up selling flutes on a street corner in Kathmandu - but decide against it.  He's a constant fixture, though.

We spent a disproportionate amount of our time at the New Orleans cafe, home of good cappuccinos and free wi-fi, and where I posted a couple of quick missives.

We also met up with the folks from Malla Treks, who put together our trek to Everest base camp.  They're actual part owned by Mountain Travel Sobek, which was our first choice but didn't have any treks available for the dates we wanted to go.  You'll hear more over the coming days, but just in case you're curious I highly recommend them.

A gift from the editor

Ok, so technically speaking I don't have an editor.  My constant companion (and wife), however, has pointed out that I didn't cover all of the promised topics/catchphrases in my discussion of China.

Here, then, is a breakdown of the promised list:

1. Noodle Bucket - sustenance on the train from Beijing to Lhasa.  Despite an initial rush of enthusiasm it's unlikely I'll eat another one of these any time soon.
   
2. White Lightning - Chinese rotgut, available in supermarkets for 40 cents a bottle - which is just too much.
   
3. Split Pants - Chinese pajamas for kids, with a split in the nether region(s) so kids can go to the bathroom wherever they are - and I do mean wherever.
   
4. NO THANK YOU - Phrase screamed back at Melissa by an overenthusiastic street vendor.
   
5. Bazooka disease - Affliction where you're discharging from both ends.  Afflicted at least 3 other members of the group during our trip (but Jen and I avoided it, for now).
   
6. Hallomoney - One of two english phrases mastered by begging Chinese children.
   
7. Me so hungry - The other english phrase mastered by begging Chinese children.
   
8. Children of the corn - Encounter in a town where there were no adults, the main path was barracaded, and we almost lost Stefan when he tried to get out to move a rock.
   
9. The party loft - The top bunk of the "other" compartment on the train, home of Noodle Bucket and White Lightning.  Our compartment might also be described as the party loft - but only for the Chinese folks that cooked breakfast there on the first morning.
   
10. The "fake" lama, and V for Vendetta - As part of the ongoing occupation of Tibet, China has taken it upon itself to start appointing Tibetan religous leaders, including the 11th Panchen Lama.  At one of the monasteries Melissa asked quite loudly "Isn't that the fake lama?"  And we all scattered in case she was abducted.  Later I asked if she'd seen "V for Vendetta," referencing the scenes where the secret police abduct dissenters, leading them away with bags over their heads.
    
11. Taxi problems from the Summer Palace - You know that we failed to make it the first time, and that we were too tired to see the whole thing the second time.  What you don't know is that it took forever to find a taxi back from the Summer Palace to the subway station.  First we couldn't get a taxi to stop (although they were passing), then we couldn't find any taxis, and finally we got misled by a bystander.  He told us that we were in a good place to catch taxis, but they kept passing us.  Turns out we needed to head about 100 yards down the road where there was a good place to pull over.  This took well over 30 minutes, and caused Jen to get quite stressed.
    
12. Mil "bringing up the rear" - Per the 'more active" comment, Mil's a fast walker.  When we got off of the train in Lhasa she said that she'd bring up the rear of the group.  One small problem, though, most of us walk slower than Mil.  By the time we'd gone about two blocks she was in the middle of the group.
    
13. Sausage racing - The Brewers annual 5k for charity.  I inted to run in this in 2009.
    

Fire and Ice - 11 October 2008

We spent last night in Nyalam in what 2 weeks ago would have been considered basic accomodation.  After a night a Rongbuk, though, it was pretty nice.  The combination of space and decrease in altitude led to the best night's sleep I've had in a while.

We crossed the "Friendship Bridge" on the border between Nepal and China (or Tibet, depending on how you look at it).  I would complain about carrying our luggage, but I saw a Nepali guy carrying a department store display case using his head, so I didn't really have it that bad.

Mil went to the trouble of telling us that they drive on the left-hand side of the street in Nepal, so we need to be careful and look the other way.  As far as I can tell this is wasted advice - they drive wherever they want to in Nepal.  The bus ride from the border to Kathmandu was one of the most nerve racking experiences of my life.

They've got to have at least 4 different horns on the bus, each with a different meaning.  As you round a corner, you sound the horn (since the road is too narrow for two vehicles).  If someone else is coming then a negotiation ensues, and one of you has to back up.  To help with the backing up there's a "handler" who thumps the side of the bus with his hand when it's safe to back up.  I don't know the distance we covered, but we covered a lot of it twice.

It's only worse in the cities.  At one point we tucked in behind an ambulance and used it like a flying wedge in football.  I read the kindle as much as I could during this ride.

On the way to Kathmandu we passed a bungy jumping place, with what we were told was the second highest fall in the world.  I would do it, but I'm scared of the bus ride back - seriously.

At Kathmandu we stayed at the Fuji Guest house, where we had a warm shower and a king sized bed.  Heaven!  We also found Pilgrim's Book Store, which has English language books cheaper than they'd be in the States, and has all of the climbing related books you can imagine.  We found the 4th edition of "Trekking in the Everest Region," which we'd been looking for for our upcoming trek.  All in all, very pleasing.

We met up at Fire and Ice, a pizzeria in Kathmandu for a little western food to end the trip.  It was outstanding - garlic cheese foccacia, pizza, and pasta - a fitting end to this part of our trip.

We really prefer to be bureaucratic in the afternoons - 10 October 2008

Interesting tidbit - the guards don't really care to see your passports if it means they have to get out of the warm tents.

When we went to Everest yesterday, we were stopped 3 differrent times and had to show our passports.  Today, since we're trying to get there before dawn, the guards can't be bothered.  

Yesterday's pictures didn't turn out, but it's amazing what a little sunlight will do:

And, for you man-ox followers out there (Hi Ptero!):
As we were leaving, our driver exchanged some words with one of the girls who worked at the lodge.  Later, after a cell call, Stefan tried busting his chops by asking if it was the girl who called - he didn't deny it.

Another interesting thing about our driver - he has an MP3 player.  It has plenty of Chinese music, but there's also quite a bit of rap (or whatever the kids are calling it these days).  It's a little jarring to go from "Om mani padme hum" (a buddhist chant) to "Smack That."  He also played a rap cover of "Sorry seems to be the hardest word", and we've established that he likes Dido but not Eminem (when he realized it was "Stan" he couldn't change fast enough).

As another digression, there are children begging all over the place.  They've mastered enough english to beg, but instead of "please", they've shortened it to "Hallomoney."  This call is so pervasive that it's become a joke in the group.  It seemed a laughing matter until today when we came into a village where there didn't seem to be any adults.  The first two cars took the normal path, which was barricaded for some reason.  Our driver elected to instead shoot off to the side through a gap that was just wide enough.

As the cars slowed, they were swarmed by kids.  There was a real Children of the Corn vibe going on.  At one point Stefan was going to get out to move a rock, but the driver wanted him to stay inside.  The driver used the wheels to move the rocks.  It's a good thing Stefan didn't get out - we might have never seen him again.

Rustic Charms - 9 October 2008

At 7:15 (exactly) this morning we awoke to the sounds of what I can only describe as glorious comrade music.  I've no idea what the purpose is, but evidently "the man" wants you up bright and early in Sakya.

We drove to Rongbuk Monastery, the highest (I bet it is, Panama Red) monastery in the world.  We got there towards dusk, and hustled our way up to Everest base camp on the Tibetan side.  It was too dark to get any good pictures.

It's really cold up here, so much so that I broke out the balaclava:

I bet Snake Eyes doesn't have a problem with his goggles fogging up

Rongbuk actually isn't as bad as I expected.  Sure there's no electricity and the heat (and cooking) are done over yak dung fires but there weren't any yaks in the lavatories.  Of course when I say lavatories, this is what I mean:

Yeah, each is a two-holer.  More than one person decided to hold it overnight rather than risk the trip.

As for the accomodation, well it's 4 to a room, each with a bunk.  Because of the altitude I didn't sleep a wink, and nobody slept very well.  Here's a shot of our room:

All in all, quite the adventure.

If it's Wednesday, it must be time for a monastery - 8 October 2008

Once more into the Land Rovers. I'm not sure how other groups handle it, but we're pretty well sticking in the same Land Rovers we stared in (which is fine).

A long drive to Sakya, to view the Sakya Monastery. Mostly destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, it's nowhere near as majestic as it used to be. I, sadly, am officially monasteried out - it says so in my diary.

There was one interesting room, that regrettably was closed. Supposedly it has visions of a Buddhist hell. I guess I need a little TV-MA to liven things up.

One funny thing, though. We walked through a hall where the monks were chanting. At least most of them were. One monk was asleep when we walked by and we saw one of his buddies give him a violent nudge to wake him up. Of course consciousness was only temporary, and we watched him battle to stay awake with amusement.

The hotel was relatively spartan, and the service at the restaurant was suspect - evidently the waitress didn't speak Chinese or Tibetan, and the food wasn't all that good either.

There was a nice, hot shower, though, and that makes up for a lot at this point.

At least it's something different - 7 October 2008

This morning there was no cold water in the hotel. While it's different from the usual no hot water, it's effectively as bad (if not worse, since you can't brush your teeth or flush the toilet without cold water).

Today we went to visit the fort above Giantse (Ooh, isn't transliteration fun - try Gyantse). Although it's juvenile (and I know their English is better than my Chinese) I just can't resist posting this:


Really? It's dangerous so I should take a devious route? And I left my ninja gear in my bag at the hotel! Worry not, though, it will make an appearance later.

The fort also has the first staircase I've ever seen with a false summit. I figured that if I kept up with Mil up to the first landing that she'd relent and give us all a break, but she just kept on trudging. When it comes to climbing, she's just a machine.

Here we are, going down the staircase:


And since I don't think that fully captures it, here's a picture of the staircase from the town:

Afterward, we visited the Kumbum, whose name (we were told) menas 10,000 rooms. You have to pay to take pictures in there - so no pics for you.

Then we all loaded back into the land rovers, only to stop at a barley mill for no apparent reason other than to be extorted for tips. Literally, the guy yelled "TIPS!" at us as we were leaving. Good times.

Finally we made it to Shigatse, where one of us got an unfortunate lesson about western food in China. He ordered a pizza, which he got after everyone else had almost finished their meal. Not only that, but it was tiny - I mean smaller than an individual pizza, and the most expensive thing on the menu.

And now for something completely different

Continuing to muddle the chronology...

Jeremy ran in the US Half Marathon in San Francisco this weekend, and I got the following email with the subject "The dangers of allowing customization".

Strong work my friend...

A journey of a thousand miles - 6 October 2008

We're back on the road today, loading into 3 Land Rovers for the overland portion of our excursion. Jen and I ended up in a car with Mike and Stefan and probably the hippest of the available drivers (but more on that later).

On the way to Giantse we stopped off at the Yamzhog Yumcog (Oh no! It's not in wikipedia).

According to the ticket:

"The Yamzhog Yumcog is located in Nagarze County of Shannan Prefecture, Tibet. The lake is one of the Three Great Sacred Lakes in Tibet. So a large number of Tibetans come to walk it around every year. It covers an area of 638 square kilometers and is surrounded by lots of mountains, which have an average altitude of 4500 metres. Looking southward on the top of Gangbala Mountains with an altitude of 4990 meters, you can see the lake beset in the mountains like a blue diamond. White clouds and snow mountains are reflected upside-down on the surface of the lake. The scenery is so intoxicated."

We, however, are not intoxicated - other than at the sight of the sparkling new bathrooms.

Here's an (unfortunately washed out) picture of the lake:
There were touts around offering necklaces and knick-knacks, and I could have taken a picture with the yak for 5 Yuan, but regrettably there is no yak/ox picture.

We also stopped by another lake that stranded an ancient fort when it was created:

Evidently Giantse was the second largest city in Tibet during the 15th century, but it definitely seems to be in decline now. There's no internet to be found, presumably because the Chinese government has shut it down.

At dinner we commented on how quite the town seemed, which led Mil to say "this place was really happening in the 15th century." Of course we wanted to know where she liked to hang out back then.

Strange what you find funny at this point in a trip.