NEPAL | Monday, 23 Apr 2007 | Views [973]
It's not often one can say at 4:00 am, they have a breathtaking moment. Even harder to believe at negative 19 degrees celsius, after rising from a warm down sleeping bag, fully clothed in wool thermals, hiking pants, fleece and down jacket, to walk the ... Read more >
Tags: Mountains
NEPAL | Sunday, 22 Apr 2007 | Views [1068]
The guest house accommodations facilities get much less "accommodating" as the altitude goes above 2500M. It's been two days since we've even seen a shower. The "bathroom" consists of a cement block with a piece of tin covering u the sky. No faucet, ... Read more >
Tags: Mountains
NEPAL | Saturday, 21 Apr 2007 | Views [2301]
After 16+ years in the corporate world, one is well versed in the skills of multi-tasking. Take for example my past employment environment which took the multi-tasking culture to the extreme. Your days filled with meetings, it was expected that you ... Read more >
Tags: Mountains
NEPAL | Friday, 20 Apr 2007 | Views [2195]
I scoffed at Darrin when he hunted relentlessly for the perfect walking stick in Pokhara, for the trek. Like we're professional trekkers or something, or scaling Everest and need a technical pole with shocks. We learned today, however, how invaluable ... Read more >
Tags: Mountains
NEPAL | Thursday, 19 Apr 2007 | Views [892]
Freezing cold at 5:00 am, we are on the trail heading a very steep incline, far too steep for this hour of the morning and we're gasping for oxygen. Headlamps strapped to the head, gloves and new woolen hat, we're ready for the short 1.5K hike to Poon ... Read more >
Tags: Mountains
NEPAL | Wednesday, 18 Apr 2007 | Views [957]
Our muscles were feeling the strain of the prior days 4 hours trek, and the past 4 months of little to no working out. Yes- those of you who know me as the work-out-aholic, it's true, the biggest obsession I've had to let go of on this trip (besides ... Read more >
Tags: Mountains
NEPAL | Tuesday, 17 Apr 2007 | Views [781]
After making our way through the Nepal Trekking Administrative Government bureaucracy, we finally have our permits in hand and are with our sherpa, driving up to Lumle, to begin our 10 day trekking expedition to Annapurna Base Camp (ABC). Our car chugs ... Read more >
Tags: Mountains
NEPAL | Monday, 16 Apr 2007 | Views [1336]
We did our pre-trek training- a whole 2 hour trek up and down a steep hill to the World Peace Pagoda which was constructed by Buddhist monks form the Japanese Nipponzan Myohoji. We hired a canoe with a 'rower/driver' for 500 NPR, and he paddled us across ... Read more >
Tags: Sightseeing
NEPAL | Sunday, 15 Apr 2007 | Views [2772]
Pokhara is a beautiful little lakeside mountain town and the typical jumping off point for treks to the Annapurna Range. Located on a lake, the air is a bit fresher than Kathmandu, and at a lower altitude, its just a bit warmer temperature, and more ... Read more >
Tags: Food & eating
NEPAL | Saturday, 14 Apr 2007 | Views [3444]
We kicked off the morning with a dugout canoe ride along the river that runs the boarder of the park. The canoe was like those we've seen throughout Asia and Papua New Guinea - a tree trunk carved into a thin, semi-stable canoe. Ours, however, had movable ... Read more >
Tags: The Great Outdoors
NEPAL | Friday, 13 Apr 2007 | Views [3235]
Up early, we're ready for our drive to Chitwan to check out the Royal Chitwan National Park. It took us over an hour just to navigate the town traffic at early morning rush hour- trucks, and people movers bumper to bumper. Out of town we got into a ... Read more >
Tags: Misadventures
NEPAL | Thursday, 12 Apr 2007 | Views [2663]
Hindu holy men, called Sadhu's, roam the city here dressed in yellow or orangy gold robes, skin clad in body paint, with long dread-lock hair. They hand out blessings like they're on a mission to nail every white person's head with a tika (range from ... Read more >
Tags: I should have known better!
NEPAL | Wednesday, 11 Apr 2007 | Views [1153]
Kathmandu is the worlds largest REI knock-off warehouse. You can get it all here; North Face, Mountain Hardware, Patagonia, etc. Bags, bikes, clothing, camping gear. We really didn't need to bring anything with us - it's all here and available at rock ... Read more >
Tags: Shopping
INDIA | Tuesday, 10 Apr 2007 | Views [1049]
Wake up call at 5:00 am, strip the sardine can bunkers, and we're dazed and confused, getting ourselves freshened up for our grand entrance into the Delhi train station. The station looks, sounds and smells just as we remembered it back in 2004. A mass ... Read more >
Tags: planes trains & automobiles
INDIA | Monday, 9 Apr 2007 | Views [1163]
And the fun never ends... Try sharing a train compartment with 8 other strangers for two days/two nights. The first day-night isn't so bad; you're just getting to know your compartment compadres, and everyone is nice, social, unobtrusive... The honeymoon ... Read more >
Tags: planes trains & automobiles
INDIA | Sunday, 8 Apr 2007 | Views [1028]
It's a bit anticlimactic, celebrating Easter in a country where Christianity is in the minority. The very global and cosmopolitan make up of Bangalore leads one to find a bit of Easter paraphernalia on the streets - like chocolate Easter Bunnies and ... Read more >
Tags: Culture
INDIA | Saturday, 7 Apr 2007 | Views [1585]
We have been truly fortunate to have met some genuine, wonderful friends along our path in India. Sandeep and Archana are an amazing couple that we met at during a hike in the Wayanad Sanctuary. THey are both professional "RJ's" or radio jockeys as ... Read more >
Tags: People
INDIA | Friday, 6 Apr 2007 | Views [1044]
No better way to beat the heat, but to chill out in a movie theater for a matinee. We wanted to indulge in the experience of seeing a newly released Bollywood flick in a local cinema. Indians love their locally produced movies, and hold their actors ... Read more >
Tags: Culture
INDIA | Thursday, 5 Apr 2007 | Views [928]
We feel so fortunate to have had the chance to stay with both our local friends, and our expatriate (Indian returnees) friends, as well as the opportunity to speak with other local and foreign women we met in restaurants, public transportation, and on ... Read more >
Tags: Culture
INDIA | Wednesday, 4 Apr 2007 | Views [862]
Well, nearly a girls day out; me, Shravani, and Darrin headed into town to the local market to purchase some local handicrafts & clothing.
We've been in search of a carved, wooden Ganesha (the Hindu deity considered good luck, and the remover of ... Read more >
Tags: Shopping
INDIA | Tuesday, 3 Apr 2007 | Views [1269]
We have had the good fortune of being able to observe the rhythm of local life here in Bangalore... and it has been nothing short of fascinating. It's given us a clearer view on the multitude of manual services that are provided, which we in the West ... Read more >
Tags: Friends
INDIA | Monday, 2 Apr 2007 | Views [905]
It's a strange sense of calm and security I feel, sitting here at the Bangalore office I helped to set up in 2004 with my past employer. Today and tomorrow we've dedicated to completing and filing our taxes, finalizing and uploading web content, paying ... Read more >
Tags: Friends
INDIA | Sunday, 1 Apr 2007 | Views [4133]
Today we had the pleasure of exploring the city with Sambit, Shravani, and their daughter Shubhangi. On the top of the list was shopping for some local ethnic women’s wear, and Darrin’s need for a hair cut. Shopping for women’s Indian ... Read more >
Tags: Adventures
INDIA | Friday, 30 Mar 2007 | Views [1175]
We continue to be overwhelmed by the warmth, generosity and hospitality of our friends that we visit, and people we meet along the way. Two and a half years ago I had come to Bangalore to help set up an R&D office. The first two ... Read more >
Tags: Friends
INDIA | Friday, 30 Mar 2007 | Views [758]
We have experienced the many modes of commuting in India. There is no way we would venture out on the roads here to drive on our own – car, scooter or even bicycle. One of the things we have learned from our driver, is that right of way ... Read more >
Tags: On the Road
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