Photos: Nepal

ahimsa — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 15:37:00 GMT

Some pictures from my two months in Nepal in March & April 2010.

Photos: Best Of

ahimsa — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 15:32:00 GMT

Some of my favorite shots and favorite places around the world. I chose New Zealand as the location, but really there are shots from many places.

My Travel Writing Scholarship 2011 entry - Responsible Travel

ahimsa — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 04:19:00 GMT

There were three Sadhus—Hindu holy men—on the trail in front of me. They were much further down the mountain, and I only could see occasional flashes of ambling red and yellow. As I eventually reached them they moved to the side of the trail. I offered each of the men a namaste, but that wasn’t enough. The one in front held out his hand. I reached into my pocket and offered a smooshed granola bar. It was a meager offering, and he knew it. The Sadhu slowly shook his head. His long grey hair flicked back and forth. He rubbed his thumb on his fingers suggestively. Rupees. Suddenly I wasn't one human being helping another but a Western ATM to be tapped at need. Well shit. This … this was a problem.

It's no secret that traveling can be difficult, but what surprises me is how the difficulties manifest. Waiting an extra hour for your bus, getting rained on or overcharged by locals, coming down with traveler's indigestion; none of these constitute a problem if you have the right mindset.

A much greater difficulty, for me at least, is how to be a responsible traveler. If you travel to resorts or first world countries, these problems are largely hidden (though certainly still there), but traveling to developing countries will be much more confronting.

The extreme poverty in India, for example, is difficult for many travelers to accept. When children, holy men, or beggars ask for money (or even if they don't) it creates a dilemma. You shouldn’t hand out money to everyone who asks, but this maxim is challenged when rail thin children ask for the equivalent of thirty cents.

Part of me thinks that if I have enough money for a plane ticket, it's irresponsible not to just donate the money to those who could use it. People who need things like food, cement floors, or basic electricity. The Catch-22 is that I wouldn’t have gained this perspective without having traveled in the first place.

I have no savings account, no retirement plan, no house or car for equity. I travel close to as cheap as possible, but I don't kid myself. I've got a lot more money than a holy man who owns nothing more that the clothes on his back. Or just about anybody else in the developing world.

I didn't give the Sadhus any money. I was hiking my third week of Nepal's Annapurna Circuit and I didn’t have cash to spare. More to the point, I wasn't sure if I should. My lunch later that afternoon cost 150 rupees, or 2 US dollars. Ridiculously cheap, by Western standards. But what would it have bought for the Sadhus? What would it meant to the children that daily asked for cash, chocolates or pens? As I walked, post-lunch, through the cherry blossoms and budding rhododendrons of early spring, I wondered what the responsible choice would have been.

I still do.

More than a Namaste and a Granola Bar

Photos: Nepal

Photos: Best Of

My Travel Writing Scholarship 2011 entry - Responsible Travel