Category: Current

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Pokhara, Nepal

Pokhara was a nice change from Kathmandu. Calmer, cleaner, and more picturesque, Pokhara was the city from where I began and ended my trek. The Lakeside shops and restaurants were fun, vibrant, and all with a fantastic view, especially when the clouds would cooperate. Just before the trek, it was a bit surreal to watch the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Catherine as the television footage would cut in and out with the electricity.

After returning from my trekking adventure, I had a couple extra days before continuing on to Europe and decided to spend most of that time in Pokhara instead of Kathmandu. The speed and atmosphere of the town was much more pleasant. During this time, I rented a bicycle and toured around the different neighborhoods, visited the Ghurka museum, tried to visit the mountaineering museum (but was turned away by a worker’s strike), and caught up on emails and journaling. In addition, many of the friends I made throughout the trek were still there and we shared stories and dinners. Unfortunately, the day I chose to leave, the bus system employees were striking. I needed to get back to Kathmandu in order to catch my flight the next day, but all buses had been canceled. My only choice was to fly the very short, roughly 30-minute flight from Pokhara airport. The strike affected more than just buses as it was impossible to find any transportation to the airport, so I had one final trek as I walked to the airport alongside Bill and Susan from San Diego from my hotel who were also doing the same thing.

Pokhara

In the terminal while waiting for my flight, I had the small world experience of running into a couple who lives only 15 minutes away from me in the San Francisco Bay Area. Setareh and Salvador were very friendly and talking with them made the short wait and even shorter flight literally and figuratively fly by. When we boarded the plane that seats maybe 20 people, the captain soon emerged and started by saying, “Unfortunately, the flight has been delayed…”. I held my breath waiting for him to say because of a strike and then it would be almost impossible to get back to Kathmandu, but I was relieved when he finished his sentence with “… because of bad weather in Kathmandu.” The weather in Nepal had been changing so quickly that I am confident the wait cannot be too long. Although we were shuttled back into the waiting area, we only had to stall about 20 minutes before re-boarding the plane and taking off.

Pokhara airport

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Stories Heard Along the Way

Trekkers talk trekking. Throughout my journey, I learned of famous climbers past as well as stories of those currently on the trail, and only the biggest of world news made its way up to the top. In my case, this meant learning about the killing of Osama bin Laden.

In this entry, I will describe some of the more memorable stories/rumors that spread over the mountain. Before even departing on my trek, I was talking with a couple who had just returned from Everest Base Camp, and they had a frightening tale to share. They described a girl under 30 years old at around 4400 meters on her way up to Everest Base Camp. She felt horrible, her lips were blue, her symptoms numerous, and her energy completely depleted. She did not continue her ascent and instead stayed at a lodge at 4400 meters while the rest of her group left her behind. The guides and other local Nepali were confident that if she rested at that altitude, her condition would improve and she could descend with her group when they returned. Sadly, she never had the chance to descend. A couple days later, this young girl at a high, but not excessive altitude of 4400 meters, passed away. The dangers of the mountain are real, and it is important to listen to our bodies as we trek.

This next story occurred on the same night I was at Annapurna Base Camp; however, I did not learn about it until the following day. This time, symptoms of altitude sickness came suddenly to a woman of about 40 years after she reached ABC. Her condition escalated so quickly that there was little time to react before she slipped into unconsciousness. She had to be carried from Base Camp and eventually helicoptered off the trail. I do not know how this story ends, but if she suffered from something as serious as cerebral edema, the risks are very serious.

Climbing and trekking is an exhilarating and sometimes dangerous activity. Annapurna’s highest peak holds the greatest death rate with respect to those who attempt to reach the summit. Although not many have tried, I heard about one of every two climbers die trying to summit Annapurna. In comparison, summiting Mount Everest has a lower death rate but higher total deaths because of the large number of attempts each year.

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Thai-Cambodian Conflict

When traveling, it can sometimes be difficult to stay up-to-date with current events; however, when those events are happening in the same part of the world as my travels, all of the locals will be talking about them. This is true of the fighting occurring between Thailand and Cambodia over sacred temples near their border. While in Thailand in Koh Samui, the grandparents at Chaweng Tara were listening to a television program that was anti-Cambodian, and while in Cambodia, the locals cannot understand why Thailand won’t leave them alone as it has already been decided that the temple is on their land is of mostly Khmer architecture. Here is a BBC article from April 23, 2011 with more information:

Thailand and Cambodia clash again along border

At least four soldiers have been killed in fighting along the border between Thailand and Cambodia, raising the death toll to 10 in two days.

Troops exchanged artillery and gunfire in jungle around Ta Krabey temple, which both sides claim.

The area is about 200km (125 miles) west of the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple, the scene of deadly clashes in February.

Thousands of civilians have been evacuated from the area.

The BBC’s Rachel Harvey in Bangkok says it is not immediately clear what sparked the most recent violence.

Both sides blamed each other for the fighting.

“Fresh fighting started at around 0600 (2300 GMT Friday) with rifles and mor

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The Ponheary Ly Foundation

Ponheary Ly, the sister of our Siem Reap guide Dara, is a CNN hero for her work in educating the under-served and orphaned youth of Cambodia. We had the opportunity to visit one of the schools supported by her foundation, the Ponheary Ly Foundation, between temples during our tour of Siem Reap. This is an inspirational story of a woman overcoming her own losses, including the murder of several family members, and helping others do the same. Here is the CNN article by Allie Brown, CNN, Sept. 6, 2010:

Tour guide helps kids find way to school

Koh Ker, Cambodia (CNN) — Ponheary Ly has survived genocide, the murder of several family members — including her father — and life in poverty. Today, she’s working to build a brighter future for the children of Cambodia — by helping them go to school.

“Education is important for me,” says Ly, “because my father was a teacher.”

Primary schools are free to attend in Cambodia, but not all children go. With most of the population living in rural areas, children often lack transportation to get to school — and many families keep children home to help on the farm and earn money, said Ly.

Those able to go often must pay a small fee — around $20 a year — to buy uniforms and supplies, and many families can’t afford it.

Cambodia is one of the poorest nations in the world, where about 40 percent of the population of 14.7 million live off less than $1.25 a day, according to World Bank.

“They don’t have enough to eat,” said Ly. “How can they have the money to buy uniforms and supplies?”

Ly, 47, is bridging that gap. She and her foundation are helping thousands of rural children attend school by providing them with uniforms, supplies and other services.

“I need them to have a good education, to build their own family as well as to build their own country,” Ly said.

Ly’s family was thrown into poverty during the Khmer Rouge regime. Their father was the main breadwinner, and when he was killed in 1977, along with 13 other family members, the family was left with nothing. After the regime dissolved, Ly, her six remaining siblings and their mother were forced to start over.

Education was Ly’s answer.

She became a teacher in 1982, struggling to get by on her government salary. But she used her meager earnings to work with other teachers to create libraries, and she offered free instruction to children who couldn’t afford lessons.

When Cambodia opened up to tourism in the 1990s, Ly — who speaks Khmer, Russian, French and English — became a licensed tour guide to earn more money.

As she guided tourists to the ancient Angkor Wat temples in Siem Reap, she saw children begging tourists for money at the temples. On her tours in the countryside, she noticed that many children didn’t go to school at all.

Ly began using tip money — and soliciting donations from tourists in lieu of tips — to support the children’s education. She started with one girl who was in school but lacked the resources to continue, and by the next year she was helping 40 children.

As Ly was slowly growing her program, one child at a time, she met an unlikely ally from Texas.

Lori Carlson was visiting Cambodia in December 2005 and ended up on one of Ly’s tours.

“She explained to me the work that she and her family were doing in the community,” Carlson said. “When I saw what she was doing and saw how incredibly effective it was and how important it was in the country, it became very compelling to me.”

Carlson was so moved that she returned to Texas and helped establish the Ponheary Ly Foundation.

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Songkran Begins

Songkran, as celebrated in Thailand, is the traditional New Year’s Day and includes a celebration that lasts almost a week. In each of my last two days in Chiang Mai, this festival began, the music got louder and more abundant, and the water wars were beginning in full force. Tradition is that people cover each other in water to celebrate the clean slate given to all at the beginning of a new year. All weapons are allowed from water guns to buckets to garden hoses, and every street I walk down, I try to spot any potential threats. I don’t mind the water guns, but it’s the buckets of water that can really do damage. Unfortunately (or fortunately because of the 95 degree weather), I was hit by a bucket right next door to my guest house while my guard was down.  From a safe distance, here she is smiling while holding her weapon of choice.

Ready for Songkran

I am dripping in water and many faces from around the street are smiling and some are laughing. I look at the culprit, and she is probably a little over 10 years old and has the biggest grin of anyone. I smile back, and continue walking down the street missing my guest house because I am understandably flustered. A little farther down, a couple, who witnessed the whole bucket-drenching event shot me benignly with their water guns and ask if I want to borrow one to get a little revenge. I take the biggest one I can find, the one where you stick the end in water and fill the gun like a giant syringe. I hide my weapon behind my back, approach the girl who is still smiling, wait for her to dump her water on the next unsuspecting passerby, and I get a clean hit on her back. My dignity is saved and I now feel I had a chance to play a role in the water wars of Songkran.

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Best Laid Schemes

The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft aglay.  -Robert Burns

This quote as written by Robert Burns and later quoted by John Steinbeck, describes how I felt when rainy season hit Thailand early. I knew the rainy season wasn’t normally for another month and thus the risk of flooding and excessive rains was minimal. The Suan Mokkh Meditation Retreat, which was to take place starting on April 1 near Chaiya in Southern Thailand was canceled on account of severe flooding. The story of how my plans shifted goes as follows.

After my train is canceled Monday night, I wake up at WE Bangkok Hostel and start planning how I am going to make my way towards Suan Mokkh Monastery. I first check the Monastery’s website in the morning, and they have a notice on the home page indicating that they are unaffected by the flooding. Unfortunately, trains, planes and some buses have been stopped that would have otherwise ventured southwards. Only the tourist buses are stopped because it’s not economical to charter a bus that tourists won’t want to take because laying on the beach sounds less glamorous when the beach is already underwater. I go to the Bangkok South Bus Terminal and purchase my bus ticket that is scheduled to leave in the evening.

Around 3pm, I’m double checking that the bus is still leaving, that the weather hasn’t worsened too much, and that the monastery is still unaffected. Now, on the monastery’s home page, I read, “The April 2011 Retreat may get canceled.” This felt like getting wait-listed in that I wasn’t sure if I should keep pursuing it or if I should already start moving on. Because of the word “may” in the sentence on the monastery’s website, and because I feel I am a relatively optimistic person, I took my chances and made my way to the bus station, all the while checking the website to make sure the update hadn’t changed.

Fast forwarding to 6pm, I get to the bus station early because I do not know exactly where to go and don’t want to miss my bus. Immediately at 6pm, everything stops, people stand up, and the national anthem is played on the loud speaker. I also stood up, but at the time I had little idea of what was transpiring. I grab some dinner, meet a couple Thais also waiting for the same bus, and make myself comfortable for the 10-hour journey when I get to my seat. I have not always been so lucky, but the bus I picked for this journey had a great chair that reclined almost 70-degrees. However, about 10 minutes into the trip, before I try falling asleep, I check my phone one last time to see if anything new was posted on the monastery’s website, and I read that the meditation retreat has been canceled.

suan mokkh screenshot

I spend a minute or two frustrated and disappointed, and then remember I’m en route to the middle of a terrible tropical storm and it might be 24 hours before I could get back to Bangkok, assuming everything went relatively smoothly. I consider my options. The cost I paid for the bus is now a sunk cost and there’s no reason to pay for a return bus if I don’t have to. I decide to make a fool of myself by roaming the moving bus tripping over seats and bags until I get to the driver. Eventually, I communicate that I want off the bus, and I trip my way back to my seat to get my backpack as the diver pulls over on the side of the highway. I get my things, get off the bus, and am now somewhere near Bangkok in the middle of a highway. Considering the situation, I don’t feel I’m doing too badly.

Within an hour, I get to the Northern Bangkok Bus Station, which I learn is called Mo Chit, find a bus to Chiang Mai, and board another bus, which is slightly less comfortable and heading North. After sleeping decently on the ten hour bus ride, I arrive in Chiang Mai about the time I would’ve arrived at the monastery, get my barrings, find a place to stay, and figure out what there is to do. As any feel-good story should end, I find that there are a couple monasteries near Chiang Mai, research them online, and learn that one has meditation courses. I try emailing and calling with little success. I get over there, ask around, and eventually sign myself up for a week long retreat starting on Monday, April 4th.

I now will experience Northern Thailand for several days, not be torrentially rained on, and will still learn Vipassana Meditation. Sometimes initial plans are not the best laid schemes.

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Flooding in Southern Thailand

It’s decision time here in Thailand.  The monastery with the best dates and a meditation program that best fit to my level of practice has now been affected by the flooding.  The rain is supposed to start letting up tomorrow, but the question remains if I try to get down there and take my chances.  Flights are cancelled, trains are cancelled, and now all that remain are buses.

I tried taking a sleeper train last night, but it was cancelled at the last moment.  Apparently, other trains took off this morning, so I am not sure if my train was cancelled for purely weather-related reasons.  Trains, now, however have all been cancelled today that originate in Bangkok and head southwards.  Upon learning my train was cancelled last night at 11pm, I found some other people wearing over-sized backpacks looking as lost as I was, and we rallied to find a good hostel and spend the night in Bangkok.  The Hostel we stayed at is called WE Bangkok and the people were very friendly and the accommodations very clean.

I have considered my other options, which if I am unable to attend this meditation retreat, will probably consist of going to northern Thailand and into Laos for a couple days.  I have to make sure there are no travel visa issues.  Both areas are supposed to be spectacular as I’ve heard from all the people I’ve run into during my trip.

My current plan is to try to get on an overnight bus tonight to the monastery.  I already have my ticket, and I feel I am so close that it is worth a try because I do not know when else I might have the opportunity to take a 10-day mediation retreat.  If the bus is cancelled, can’t make it to the monastery, or the retreat itself is cancelled, which is now also an option as indicated on their website, I will turn around, and do my plan B, which really doesn’t sound too bad.  In the meantime, I would only burn about 24 hours on this adventure to see if I can get down to the Suan Mokkh Monastery before having to restart in Bangkok.

Today I spent playing in Bangkok.  After meeting Joel from British Columbia on Khaosan Road, we shared stories, took a Long Tail Boat Ride through the canals of Bangkok, and later grabbed some delicious Thai food washed down by fresh Coconut water.

Bangkok Long Tail Boat
Bangkok Long Tail Boat
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Invest More in Chicken

While listening to the radio in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the same news story was repeated multiple times in an hour segment. The price of chicken in Malaysia has reached a 10-year high. Chicken now costs more than 6 ringgit ($2 USD) per kilogram, which surpasses the 1999 record price of more than 5 ringgit ($1.70 USD). Chicken supply is just not meeting the needs of the chicken demand. And as one of the largest fast food chains in Asia, KFC may be one of the culprits. Here’s an article from the Malaysian Star Newspaper explaining the issue in more detail:

Country’s chicken shortage to be overcome by next month
By P. ARUNA

KUALA LUMPUR: The shortage of chicken in the country is expected to be overcome by next month, said Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Datuk Seri Noh Omar.

He said that the shortage was due to several factors, including the unexpected high demand that exceeded the supply of chicken after the Chinese New Year.

There is usually a drop in demand between April and June after the festive season.

This year, the high demand for chicken continued into the school holidays after the festive season,” he said, adding that the poultry industry had not been prepared for the continuous demand.

Commenting on the recent price increase for dressed chicken, he said that prices would stabilise by next month when the supply returned to normal.

Noh added that floods in several states, including Negri Sembilan, Malacca and Johor, early this year and the 60% surge in the price of chicken feed last year also contributed to the shortage.

The Veterinary Services Department (VSD) would take several immediate measures to ensure sufficient supply of chicken, he added.

A national buffer stock programme will be implemented to stabilise the price of dressed chicken,” he said, adding that excess supply of chicken would be frozen and stored for distribution to locations facing shortage.

He said 24 import permits were issued to private companies but none were used as the price in neighbouring countries was higher.

Currently, Malaysia imported only chicken parts while local poultry farmers produce adequate whole chicken to meet the demand.

Noh said that the shortage of chicken had nothing to do with the disaster in Japan as the country did not import meat from Japan.

There are no production plants in Japan that meet our halal standards,” he said, adding that the VSD would make an audit trip to Thailand next month to increase the import of chicken from the country.

Department director-general Datuk Dr Abdul Aziz Jamaluddin said that the daily demand for chicken in the country stood at 1.2 million.

The supply of chicken is usually more than enough with 1.3 million, but it has now dropped to below 1.2 million daily,” he said.