9/12/22

Srinagar is so damn cool. I know I say this for every place, so it must lose some meaning by now I guess. But truly I don’t think there is another place in the world like Srinagar. Fiercely proud people, tons of different cultures all smashed together, Indian soldiers on every street corner, good meat-based food, incredibly beautiful valley, and KIND PEOPLE. I love the people I’ve met here- all have been so friendly and kind and they really love their home with a ferocious intensity. Sidenote- don’t casually refer to Kashmir as India… or to the locals as Indians… 

We met up with a Kashmiri guy that we met in HP and he drove Nat and I to a place called Pahalgam up in the mountains. We met up with his friends and hung out enjoying the majesty of the Kashmiri mountainside. Nat was sick from Turbomode so I spent the day riding around on this guy I met’s motorbike and seeing the city.

Long journey to Thailand starts tomorrow. Bus to Jammu, overnight train to Delhi, flight from Delhi to Bangkok. Let’s go…

9/7/22

That journey was another doozy. Six to eight hours on our bike, over Chang La pass, the second highest motorable pass on the planet. The land north of the Ladakh Range of mountains was austere, frigid, and highly militarized. I got sick in Merak, probably from Turbomode Exertion.

On this one, the journey turned out to be the destination. At least this time no spills on the bike, despite rough high mountain roads.

Tomorrow we are taking an overnight bus from Leh to Srinagar and arriving at 4 am. I love arriving in the nighttime to a unfamiliar city rife with separatist conflict…

9/4/22

Turbomode it is. With just one day of rest after climbing Kang Yatse we will be renting a motorcycle tomorrow and riding 112 miles over the Ladakh Range of the Himalayas to Pangong Lake on the Indochinese border.

I thought we’d take a good long break from motorcycling after Malana, and I thought we’d take a lot of rest after climbing Kang Yatse, but desperate times call for desperate measures- this is Turbomode.

9/3/22

All of a sudden we feel like our September 16th flight to Bangkok is coming up so fast on us. We still want to go to Pangong Lake here in Ladakh and see Srinagar, Kashmir. Then we have to make it down to Delhi for our flight out of India.

So we either cut one of these activities out (Pangong or Kashmir) or go what nat and I have been referring to as “Turbomode” and do it all at high speed.

9/2/22

We climbed a 6,200 ft mountain called Kang Yatse 2 in the Markha Valley of the Zanskar Range of Tibet. This was a challenging feat and I feel very proud. I also feel like I’ve leveled up my mountaineering on this adventure, as it was about 500 meters of pure snow and ice climbing on a steep grade with crampons and axe. 

We have been moving fast and hard and I’m feeling so beat down. No time to write…

8/21/22

Well of course we hitchhiked! I think any time I am considering two options, one of them being predictable and reliable, one of them being an unpredictable and adventurous, I will pretty much always go with the option rife with potential conflict and adventure. Sometimes it takes me a few days to realize such a thing, and then the realization comes very quickly like, “of course!” Of course we hitchhiked.

It was a fucking brutal adventure though. Two different rides and in the end, about twenty-five hours in the ramped cockpit of a long-haul Indian truck with two great guys we met on the road. I think this will become a blog post too but we are just moving too fast for me to be able to write consistently. 

Leh is really awesome- high desert village of Tibetan and Buddhist culture in the jaw-dropping Indus Valley.

8/18/22

We did an epic motorcycle adventure up the Malana Valley to Malana village. This was a real tumultuous ride but truly an incredible experience.

I had to write about this one; see the blog post linked HERE.

We’re gonna head up to Leh, Ladakh pretty soon. We’re debating whether to take a bus (boring) or try and hitchhike. Its a 260 mile road through one of the most remote places on the planet, but my buddy Jonas from Pokhara mentioned he had hitchhiked it before, hence the scheming.

8/12/22

Manali is a very nice, peaceful mountain city up in the Kullu Valley here. It is hemmed in by the big green foothills of the Himalayas on all sides, with the Beas river cutting down right through the city. Big destination for Indian tourists. The Indian tourists pretty much all stay down in “New Manali” which is all newer construction built in the last couple decades to accommodate the huge influx of new tourists into this place. “Old Manali” is where Nat and I are staying, it is a little more quaint and quiet- old buildings where the city used to be. Now all is tourism; but still pretty nice. 

We’re just relaxing here and moving slowly. Been hiking, walking in the woods, writing, stuff like that. No rush to get up to Ladakh. Vaguely planning a motorcycle trip soon.

8/7/22

Nat landed successfully and we’ve been exploring the chaos of New Delhi. Its such a pleasure to have a companion on this journey now; it really re-orients my entire life and freshens everything up. And of course Nat is an amazing travel companion. 

This afternoon, we are catching an overnight bus to Manali, first stop on our journey up to Ladakh. I can’t wait to get out of the smoggy humidity of Delhi and back up to those beautiful Himalayas. I hope the monsoons and roads cooperate!

8/4/22

Delhi is a challenge… as always! But Nat arrives tomorrow! Can’t wait.

8/3/22

Boudha Stupa is amazing! Definitely re-oriented my whole idea of Kathmandu. Its a super livable little neighborhood filled with Tibetans and Buddhist monks west of Kathmandu. Headed to India today to meet Nat on the fifth!

7/26/22

Headed to Kathmandu for my flight back on India on the third. Staying in the Tibetan neighborhood of Boudha Stupa.

7/1/22

Just read the post. “Life in Pokhara”

6/24/22

Back in Pokhara after spending the week in Chapakot, Syangja doing maintenance work on biogas reactors for some of the small farms out there. This was a super cool experience! Check out my new post for the full story. On Sunday I start teaching English with the NGO Priya Life in Similduda, just outside of Pokhara. Pokhara is pretty much dead these days…

6/17/22

Still in Pokhara. Last week, I moved from my bustling hostel on the lake to a more secluded lodge up in the hills just below a monastery. Its still not too far from town, just about 350 stone steps up the steep mountain from the main street. Being more in the jungle, I have become pretty accustomed to the crawlies. There are Huntsman Spiders in this hotel; these are the largest spiders in the world. There’s also a troupe of monkeys which rolls through every now and then and bangs on the roof and causes general havoc. 

I’ve taken the opportunity of the Pokhara off-season and the monsoons that roll through every day to focus on some learning goals that i had for this trip. Been spending a lot of time writing, reading, meditating, and learning Python. This Sunday, I will travel with an NGO called Atmosfair to Syanji to evaluate repairs on biogas reactors in the rural villages there. I am also planning on teaching in Similduda with an NGO called Priya Life starting in July.

6/6/22

Returned safely from Lower Annapurna. Offseason trekking in the Himalayas means no crowds, rain, fog, leeches, and crisp clean damp air. We had an amazing time checking out the jungly lower Annapurna area with all its waterfalls and lush rainforest foliage. The rainy season is coming on heavy now in Pokhara. I believe I will stay put in Pokhara for a little while preparing for Vipassana on July 1.

6/2/22

Vignesh and Swathi have arrived safely in Pokhara from Chennai. I booked a jeep and some permits to take us into the lower Annapurna Conservation Area for trekking. We will first walk to Ghorepani up to the Poon Hill viewpoint, then to Ghandruk.

5/30/22

I arrived back in Pokhara from Mustang by bike yesterday. All went well with no issues. It was a very difficult trip with over 130 miles of biking over 5 days. It was so steep in many places I felt like dying. I don’t think that a mountain-bike is necessarily the smartest way to tour the Himalayas but I’m quite glad that I did it, especially because it offered such an intimate look at the Nepal countryside as I biked 100 miles across Nepal back from Mustang to Pokhara. There was no way to take a normal road bike on this trip as many of the roads were dirt and large rocks. See the blog post about this adventure.

I’ll relax and let my body recover until Wednesday when my good friend Vignesh and his sister arrive in Pokhara. I believe we will go on a trekking adventure to Poon Hill.

5/23/22

I was working quietly in the yard this morning when 4 Nepali guys rolled into the hostel on their mud splattered mountain bikes with huge grins on their faces. They had rode 180 km from the Mustang Valley to Pokhara in the past two days. I immediately realized this is something I must do. So over the next two days I will plan this trip including haggling a bike, getting permits, getting a bus ticket, finding a light backpack, getting maps, etc. And then on Tuesday I will set off to Jomsom for a mountain biking adventure in the Mustang Valley.

5/20/22

Have been spending some quality relaxation time in Pokhara for the past two weeks. I’m staying at a hostel for 359 rupees/night just outside of town with a big contingent of Indians working remote. This is quite alright with me as Indians are some of my favorite people and I’m happy to have a more calm environment on which to work on my writing and do some jobs research. I usually spend my mornings drinking coffee and working in the backyard of the hostel. Then I will go and get some Dal Bhat at my usual cafe for lunch. There is a small group of travelers from all over the world there usually hanging and playing cards. Importantly, there are a few good chess players in that group which I have been sorely needing to find. In the afternoon, I’ll usually find some interesting thing to do around Pokhara like yoga, guided meditation, Himalayan sound healing, biking in the hills, hiking, riding around Pokhara, or maybe just writing some more at a cafe. I feel very content and relaxed here. At some point the mountains will come calling again.

5/12/22

We emerged from the Langtang Valley in the first week of May after a truly incredible 10 days or so trekking. Check out my blog post linked above for the full story on that one. Ben, Nick and Jordan headed home to USA and I took a harrowing 9 hour bus ride over to Pokhara. 

Pokhara is a cool city from what I can tell so far, and I imagine that I will stay here for a few weeks. It is the second most populous city in Nepal (after Kathmandu) and the base base camp for trekkers seeking all types of destinations in the Himalayas. There is an old, authentic part of the city as well as a touristy “Lakeside” Pokhara which has tons of awesome restaurants, coffee shops, bars, adventure sports shops, massage parlors, yoga and meditation gurus and all sorts of crazy stuff mostly geared to tourists. It feels like a really comfortable place to stay after being in Rajasthan, Kerala, and the Langtang valley without much access to the classic comforts of the western world like coffee and beer.

There are so many things I want to do here but I’m definitely just trying to take it slow. I need to recharge my batteries after the past month and a half moving quickly on the road. My hostel here is out of town, on this quiet part of the lakeshore with rice paddies and grazing lands. I’ve been doing yoga and guided meditations in the mornings and then working on writing in the afternoon. Its quite nice sitting on the back deck of my hostel every afternoon as the thunderstorms roll in. I can see horses and bison grazing on the pastures, big eagles fighting over prey, and the lake and mountains beyond. It is very peaceful. 

After some weeks here I think I will plan another expedition the mountains… but we shall see.

4/25/22

I landed in Kathmandu yesterday and met up with Nick, Ben, & Jordan! So incredibly good to see some friendly faces after being about a month solo on the road. Tomorrow, we will start a two-week trek in the Langtang valley of the Himalayas. We will probably try our axes on a few big peaks out there in the vicinity of Kyanjin Gompa. I don’t imagine having service in the Himalayas so I’ll probably be radio silent at least until May 6.

4/21/22

Took a train from Aleppey to Varkala yesterday. I’ll post up at the Lost Hostel here until I train back up to Kochi on Saturday to catch my flight to Nepal. This is a picturesque expat town which sits on a cliff overlooking a beautiful beach.

4/18/22

Took a packed bus from Kochi to Aleppey/Alappuzha yesterday. Packed in like sardines and sweating my ass off but hey I made it for only like 50 rupees. Aleppey seems to be a nice, quiet, beach town with good access to the backwaters. After a horrible, sleepless last night on the couch in Zostel Kochin I got a personal room right on the beach for 800 rupees. Need some regeneration. 

4/16/22

Arrived in Cochin/Kochi last night. This city is really cool- kind of like a bayou style swampy backwater tropical spot. It’s an old Portuguese trading fort. Already I can tell the pace is a lot slower and more laid back than in Northern India. I’m less stressed walking around here than in any city in Rajasthan. I’ll spend the next week slowly moving south down the coast before I have to catch my flight to Nepal on the 25th.

4/15/22

Sick as a dog. Had to skip the Taj Mahal to stay near a bathroom. Flying from New Delhi to Kochi, Kerala today. Excited to get out of the blistering heat of the desert into the muggy humidity of the South Indian swamps.

4/3/22

In Rajasthan! Planning on Bikaner > Koriya > Jaisalmer > Jodhpur > Ranakpur > Udaipur > Pushkar > Jaipur > Agra. Its hot as hell and not many tourists here.

4/2/22

Landed in New Delhi and just getting oriented. Had a tumultuous first 24 hours! I wrote a little bit about my experience landing in New Delhi in the middle of the night. I’ll spend the next two weeks traveling through Rajasthan.

3/22/22

All gear is fit up and ready to go. Wrote two technical posts on gear preparations and first-aid preparations.