Nepal

Advice given to travelers is `check out the political situation before you go`.  It`s good advice and all, but I like to let fate work things out.  And as Aug and I laughed about, going to Nepal from India was like jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.  We crossed the border into Nepal to discover that I could not go back to India after all.  It was too late to change our minds, Aug had extended his plane ticket and we had traveled an entire day by bus to the border.  Nepal, we found out, was in the midst of a strike ordered by the Maoists that had last 6 days already.  No transportation around the country was allowed and the Maoists threatened to enforce this with violence.  Aug and I were stuck.  We had paid a hefty fee for our bus ticket without knowledge of this situation and our money had been taken happily.  The company basically extorted us for more money saying that they found a driver to take us into Nepal despite the strike.  We spent another day on the bus in a convoy of buses and trucks headed to Pokara and had a military escort.  Trucks of soldiers led and followed the mass of vehicles and a helicopter with soldiers, weapons and all, flew overhead.  We had to stop every ten minutes or so and wait for the upcoming area to be patrolled and deemed safe, then we`d start again and stop again passing villages of thatched roof houses and herds of goats.  The farther we went from India, the more diversity I saw in clothing and in culture.  Some women were wearing saris and some shirts and pants, showing the cultural relaxation in Nepal.  I was so grateful to be away from the caste system and it`s imprisonment of hardworking worthy people.  The desperation was still there, as August and I saw more and more clearly, but there was also a hope and a fire that India had crowded out of it`s people.  Another half day on the bus and August and I finally made it safely to Pokara, a sweet little city nestled into the hills and embracing a huge mountain lake.  We spent two days in Pokara, browsing the shops and tasting Nepali food, resting after three days on a bus, and preparing for a trek in the Annapurna mountains.  We brought all the food we`d need, a tent, and sleeping bags which proved to be wise as the food in the mountains was four times as expensive as in the valley.  It makes sense, we were dropped off where the road ended, the trail head into vast mountains, where villages were days or even weeks away from the nearest road.  Our first day of the trek ended early, a hour`s walk from Gandruk, where we were headed, as we scurried into a lonely guesthouse to avoid the cold drops of water falling from doomish looking clouds.  An hour later, hail was hammering the ground and lightning and thunder danced in the sky.  What if we had camped?!  Our second day, we decided to change our route and head for some hot springs.  We were meant to go to some hot springs on our fourth day, but a Nepali guide told us of another option, peaceful hot springs in the middle of the forest with few people rather than hots pings next to a town and with many people.  It was an easy decision.  The hike to the hot springs took us through Gandruke, a ridge top town of the Gurung people and then down down down across a river on a suspension bridge, and then up up up, I was counting the steps, every fifty I would stop for two breaths, look around, and then press on.  After six hours, we made it to Jinu where we dropped our bags, went down and down and sank into the heavenliest of  warm pools just a few feet from the glacial river.  A Japanese man returning from Annapurna base Camp informed us that he hadn`t showered in ten days!  He was really proud.  In the spirit of Kiva, we jumped into the river and it wasn`t cold at all, I swear.  Monkeys were jumping in the tree branches above and traces of hail hid in the shadows of orchids and rhododendrons.  So magical.  Aug and I had to hike on as long as we could, back up and up.  I was almost delirious when we found a quiet guesthouse and it was for less than a dollar.  Again, the skies clouded and gave us a show, but sleep under heavy woolen blankets overtook me as soon as I lay my head down.  The next day, we went up and up to another ridge, we could see our destination, Tadapani, on the ridge before us, and then down and down and down across another river.  Nepali children scampered down the mountain like gazelle in a meadow asking us `sweets, scoo pencil, rupee?` in the sweetest voices.  My heart melts for them but I don`t give to children, there`s just too many.  Every village, the children would scamper to the path to greet us and ask `sweet, scool pencil, rupee?`  I can`t imagine growing up on those mountainsides, hauling every scrap of supply in for miles from the road, miles from the river, or miles from the hillside.  The teraces stretched along the mountainsides as far as the eye could see, a testimony that these people had been eaking out an existence within these extremes for generations and generations, growing their rice and livestock, climbing the slopes, persevering.  Tadapani was another seven hour destination and the guesthouse we found was bustling.  I fell asleep to the sounds of Nepalese singing and drumming, shadows of dancers cast through our window by candlelight.  The Maoists were in Gurupani, we heard, asking for `donations` from travelers.  Why go to Gurupani?  We had an amazing view of all the major ridges, clear and dazzling in the morning light, snow covered and seen from a ridge with prayer flags and soaring eagles.  True, our bags were getting lighter and lighter as we ate up our food and our bodies were getting stronger and stronger but in the spirit of vacation, we journeyed along the ridge top to Gandruke and retraced our steps to the valley below, grateful for the taste of sacred forest, mountain streams, and Himalaya lingering with us and definitely captured in my camera.  We stopped for the day early, only six hours passed, and swam and fished (pretended to fish anyway) and finally used the tent.  Camped by the riverside and used the last of my fuel for the last of our food.  Another night in Pokara and then off to Kathmandu.  Yep, it`s a city.  I liked Kathmandu a lot and it rang of India but was cleaner and more politically vibrant.  Men loved to hook us into long conversations where they spurted their political ideals.  It was good, but I was quiet from days in seclusion trekking, and the hustle and bustle of shops was a mind trip.  Kathmandu had it`s share of treasures within the narrow alleys; temples and shrines, galleries and cafes, men whispering `channis, opium` and women begging for milk, motorcycles, bicycles, taxis, and rickshaws crisscrossing in a jumble of traffic.  Ahh, just one more day, but no, the flight couldn`t be changed.  Probably for the best as another strike was due to start and rumors of Maoists in the city were fluttering about with the dustiness and haggling.  I couldn`t let myself be stranded within a strike, an easy target for theft with my skin blazing of privilege, though I am sure the time of stalemate would have been intriguing.  So out of Nepal, back to Bangkok and all the sweet familiarity of Thailand.  Pai Thais and cha yens just waiting to nourish my depleted body.  Thailand feels like unnecessary luxury.

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more pictures

New photos from southeast Asia here.

going going gone?

Namaste Namaste, I am falling in love with India, so enchanted with the people, the customs, the craziness and beauty within it all.  Funny that Aug and I are going to Nepal tomorrow morning!  India is so hectic and overwhelming sometimes, at times days felt like weeks, but the month has felt so short overall.  Aug was scheduled to leave in just a few days but we were so sad to part ways.  I encouraged him to come to Nepal with me and then I could go home satisfied, but I found out that I can go back to India without paying extra for the visa, so who knows when I'll really get home, I am so torn.  There are plenty of astrologers and psychics to consult if I desire...  Aug is a little sick with a cough and I am a little sick in my digestion but it hasn't stopped us, just slowed us a bit, which I needed anyways.  I hope we get better so we can trek in the Himalayans.  It might be so beautiful.  I can't believe how much snow CA is getting, that's so crazy!  I hope I can snowboard when I get home, I thought that was a lost cause for me this year.  I went crazy today getting gifts for people (it's my last? day in India) and my bag is bulging!  Things are so cheap and enticing and shop keepers stand outside saying "come come, nice silks, see my scarves" and I am such a sucker.  I think "oh, someone will like this, but who knows what people will do with it?!!!  India is very spiritual, very holy, rituals and temples and people praying to the cows and putting flowers on them and men standing around trying to bless you.  And I make friends with everyone so easily when I want to.  I ask a question and a person will end up giving me a tour of the city and praying for my health at the nearest shrine.  If I take a picture of a person, they want to see it and want me to take more (too bad I am too shy to take many pictures).  I heard so much about how the men stare and how men try to touch you when you walk by and how people try to rip you off, but I've had so little of this.  Is it me who just thinks people are friendly and good, or are other people just having bad luck? I don't know, but whatever, cause I find Indian people so kind and open.  They put up with things that Americans and even some tourists in India won't put up with.  Hot soda, melted ice cream, cow shit in the alley, trash everywhere, dead animals, heat and dust, a shitty government that doesn't help it's people... all of these things, sure, they're unpleasant, but it's what people deal with, walk by, and continue living without a damper on their spirit.  I ask myself, would I make a fuss over this shit, would I speak out, try to change it?  Or just accept it, try to live, be happy, be content with the way it is?  I don't know the right answer.  Gotta go, time to prepare for the long long bus ride to Nepal.  But I miss you too, so much that I have almost traded this all in just to come home early.  We'll see soon enough how long I stay.  Love you, Amy 

a few pictures

okay, it's only a miniscule amount of what I've taken, but I posted some photo's on Dan's flickr site and you can see them. Hope all is well stateside, Love Amy

going to India tomorrow!

Well, my time in Thailand has come to a sudden end.  I went to buy my ticket to India and the best ticket I could find leaves tomorrow.  I am so excited and also nervous for a new country.  I was getting so comfortable here, learning the language, the ropes, the food, the people.  I met August in Bangkok on the 3rd and we have been having a blast together.  Helping him find his way here has made me realize that I am an old veteran.  It was so fun to show him all the craziness I have been within and I saw things with new eyes again, re-realizing the things that had made me so awestruck like being with 20 people in the back of a truck or the strange nasty smells dripping from random pipes above, or the way Thai people smile so beautifully and unrestrained.  We went back to Whispering Seed and helped out on the farm when we could.  Sara and I learned some natural building and helped with a mud house and oven.  After a few days, the other travellers there, Jim and Nao, and their 4 year old burmese orphan, Suan Chai, felt like a family.  Our efforts were combined to help farm, help Senema as she struggles with AIDS, support her soon to be orphan daughter, Aeow, who cares for her mother with a smile and with diligence beyond that of any nine year old I've ever met.  My last day at Whispering Seed, a medicine woman came and we held a ceremony to communicate with the spirits on the land.  The old woman went into a trance and rode a horse into and out of the spirit world, having conversations, yelling, soothing, spirits we couldn't see.  We fed the spirits and gave them alcohol and tobacco and when they were full, we had to finish the offerings.  The woman gave us each a bracelet to hold our souls close as we travel.  It was sad to leave, but I was ancie and feeling futile and Aug was ready to see more of Thailand.  He and I went South to the beautiful white beaches of Krabi and explored some islands and snorkled one day.  The next day we rented a motor bike and found a huge cave.  The second cave we found cut my head so we left and went to a temple and a monkey jumped on my head, crawled up my back, and started inspecting my head and the cut.  It was sweet, but this was a wild monkey On My Head!  It jumped off but then I missed it, it was so sweet to check out my wound.  We climbed 1,274 stairs to the top of a mountain and had a view of the province from the wat and saw a footprint in the stone believed to be that of Buddha's.  Sara is still at Whispering Seed and we are going to meet in India.  Yep, going to India.  Wish me luck, Love Amy

breast cancer website

Hi y'all.  If you go to this site and click on the link, free mamograms are provided in exchange for the advertising space.  They haven't been getting enough visits lately.  So go here if you can, it's free for us and could help a woman in need.  www.thebreastcancersite.com  Thanks, Amy

refuge

Hi Loves.  How's it going out there?  I am good.  The craziness and goodness continues.  West of Bangkok, Sara and I visited Chonchonaburi and the area around it which was occupied by the Japanese during WWII and is known for it's Death Railway, a railroad that 60,000 POWs died building.  I never really considered how impacted Asia was by WWII, we focus so much on Europe, but a lot of Thai and Burmese were affected in this area.  I still have so much to learn about the history here and learning about Thailand inevitably include Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia.  Then I start getting into the Vietnam War erra and I feel pretty angry at the US govn't for unloading so many bombs on innocent civillians.  There are so many people here that are missing limbs or were poisoned by chemicals, so many people have been destabilized, poverty is rampant, and I think it is the long lasting affects of war, though of course the US had only a part to play.  Sara and I found a beautiful organization called Whispering Seed (whisperingseed.org)  in Sangklaburi, which is in the west of Thailand, and a beautiful group of people within.  Sara, two kids from the east coast, Maya and Julien, and I went to a nearby children's home/ orphanage/   school to volunteer.  We taught yoga and played games.   I taught them the ABC's and some short words that I know also in Thai and I taught them addition and subtraction.  There were some kids that were so sweet and loving and at first they stayed awy but after just a little while they were climbing on me and I was tickling them and I just hugged them and loved them because they don't get much of that.  Some of them had lice and most had runny noses.  I put some salve on a little girl's rash.  It makes me realize that all I really want to do with my life is help people and these little children need so much.  It was hard to think  I might only be there a few more times and I really couldn't help too much.  I wanted to take some of the kids away from there, give them anything and everything I can, but even though adoption is such a beautiful thing, I don't know if it is right to take a child away from their roots.  Thai culture is so beautiful and loving, would they feel as much love and community in a western home?    

   The next day a man (who speaks Thai, English, and Karen) led Jim and Now (the founders of Whispering Seed), Sara, Maya, myself, seven Thai elementary school aged kids, and their teacher on an intense trek through the jungle to a Karen village that is barely accesable by road (sometimes and only recently).  We  were hosted by the village elder, a really old man with a topknot of gray hair.  He chewed some kind of tobacco and spit red juice through the cracks of his floor every few minutes, wore really hip sunglasses, and had the warmest toothless smile.  We feasted on jungle greens and Karen foods at the elder's house and then realized we had to eat a second dinner at the village leader's home and it is rude to refuse food.  Now told me a story about how she made a trip to a village where 12 homes invited her to dinner and she was eating food (as little as possible) until midnight.  When we got back to the elder's home, most of the village had gathered inside and the old man spoke to the group of us with his wisdom of how God had brought us there for a reason and we had much to learn from each other.  His people were of the same mother and father but we were all from the same source.  He spoke of how all they had to give us was music and the entire village went on to sing to us for hours.  The men played banjo type guitars and led the singing with the women  often echoing them and great undulations of sound, strong and soft, high and low.  It was enchanting and I was so grateful.  The next day, the kids with us gave puppet shows and told stories to the Karen kids at their school, while Now and our guide documented the villages who were too poor to register themselves.  Now took pictures of each person and our guide wrote their names.  They asked me to document their work and I am really inspired to help with an advocacy project.   The Thai government won't let the kids go to school, the people go to hospitals or even leave the region because they are tribal, but at least being registered allows them to be in the country without deportation.  I later learned that many of the undocumented  people may have come from Karen villages nearby on the Burmese side, which is being terrorized by a military coup.  It was amazing to be in the middle of the jungle, welcomed and helping a tribal community that is so quickly being absorbed by globalization but still retains so much of it's cultural identity just in being there, so isolated.  We hiked 3 hours to another village to assess what kind of help they wanted and the next day we hiked seven more hours again to another village for the same reason and another hour to the road.  The middle village was a six or seven hour hike from any road, it's so good that people can still live this way.  And the group of kids we took with us were so much fun to play with and be a big sister to.  They cuddled up between Sara and I when while we slept the last night in the village.  Hiking through the jungle was as amazing as the people within it.  Huge bamboo as round as my legs and two stories high.  Giant trees with giant vines creeping up them and giant ferns growing below them, Gibbon monkeys calling in the distance, crazy huge birds and springs forming clean streams.  Jim and Now are doing this every weekend and I am staying in Thailand longer to help them and to do a documentary.  India can wait but ahh, so many things to be busy doing.  I am distracted from missing home but still miss everyone so much and I just realize how much love I have and how much beauty  there is everywhere.   

flowing

Well, time has been flying by. In a travelling foursome of ladies, Sara, two Canadian friends we've made, Shanelle and Sylvie, and I all caught a ride to Southern Thailand with a sweet Thai couple, Wewe and Dang. They saw Sara and thought just one person needed a ride; when we all tumbled into their car, they were totally suprised but happy to help. We were squeased into the back seat, four giggling hippy girls, and Wewe and Dang totally loved us. They took us to Wewe's sister's home and we spent the night and morning living as Thai's do, had a feast on floor mats and slept all together in one big room. They dropped us off in Ayuthaya, the old capital of Thailand and we explored anciet ruins of the old city, destroyed by Burmese invaders in the 1700's. Then our foursome caught a train to Bangkok and found a hotel that lets travellers live on their rooftop for free. There are hammocks but I sleep in my tent to avoid the mosquitos (who love my blood abnormally excessively!) Sara and I had to wait a week for our visas to India so we've really had the chance to explore Bangkok. It's been fun despite the immensity of the city below a layer of hot humid smog. I can find my way along the public transit routes of subway and skyway, but my favorite mode is by canal boat and I can argue with tuk tuk drivers like a local. There was a world music festival for four nights and some of the music was so magical, I couldn't help but dance, which is funny because there were only a few Thai dancing but many foreigners. Sara and I were dancing on national television for the second time, the first being on New Year's eve with the circus. Ohh, I'm famous! Thankfully, our India visas arrived and Sara and I are getting out of Bangkok, off to the clean air and forests in the West. I picked out a drum at the giant outdoor weekend market and have been banging on that for the past few days and Sara and I extended our plane tickets till June 7. It's kinda crazy, thinking of where I'll be and what will happen in the next four months, but I couldn't imagine leaving all this in March. I'll miss coming home but there is just so much to see.

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where to start?

Where to start? So much has happened since xmas. Gotta make it short so I don't drive anyone crazy... must leave internet cafe vortex before I pass point of no return. Can't send psychic memories yet. I'll work on it. But wow, this might be a long one.

After xmas, Sara and I took a bus to Pai. The journey there was like highway 17 only more windy, steep, and with a crazy Thai bus driver and tiny bus seats that were fun to try to stay on. Pai is sooo beautiful, nestled in the mountains north west of Chaing Mai. Really secluded and the town is surrounded by distant tribal villages of the long necked Karen tribe and a few other tribes I forget the name of right now. Pai is so much sweeter than any place I have been in Thailand. You can walk around the whole town easily, run into the same people and make friends, find comfort in the same cafe and market but still find new places to try. The goods are more expensive so I can not shop and it feels great but the streets are lined with hilltribe women and beautifully colorful goods, hand made purses, clothing, hats (crazy pointy Wizard of Oz hats and zig zag lined square Alice in Wonderland hats. I don't think they've seen Doctor Suess books, but maybe he's been here. The inner town is surrounded by outlying villages and farms and a lot of international artists settle in Pai for part of the year, writing or painting in paradise while their homelands darken with storms. A good way to avoid the sultry depression of good deep art. I found a new poet to love. Garuda. He lives here with his Thai wife. He teaches breathing meditiation too, I might go. But we arrived in Pai and were looking for a guesthouse (they were all full or expensive) and asked this girl if she knew of any and she said "oh, come live on a farm with me" so we went and found this beautiful experimental organic farm with eight hippie travellling kids and one beatnick ("beatnick" ?) old man named Mikel who wants to start "a travelling circus with a pony and a wagon to go through rural China for at least a year, they'd love us" he says. Mikel is the essence of Jack Kerouack, Ken Kesey and all those guys. He utterly rejects as much of "the system" as he can but I see how he has forfeited stability and solid relationships and comfort for dreams of free will and adventure. I don't think he really realizes that there is a huge age gap between him and the rest of us, he has such big crazy dreams still. It is good for me to be around impractical people. Maybe I'll go to China in a circus.
Sara and I spent three days taking a Reiki course at our teacher, Julie's, farm and it feels so good to be back in the sway of the healing arts. We got a discount on the course and gave Julie two tandom massages and one tandom massage to her friend in return for the discount and it was really fun to massage in a new format, Julie really liked it, she's so funny. She's married to a Thai man and they make such a great couple. He gives guided rafting tours and takes people to hilltribe villages but I won't go on a tour of people, I refuse. And I have all these ethical concerns about taking pictures of Thai and of Tribals. New Year's Eve totally changed everything though. Pai became crowded with Thai tourists, all these Thai who want to see the tribal people and who want to escape their cities. I watched the Thai people barter for goods and go picture crazy and sign up for guided tours and I watched them take photos of the Tribal people. It made me feel more comfortable being a tourist. All the kids (they range from 18 to 29 and are so sweet) and I went to town and claimed a corner of the street and started juggling and playing drums and dancing and I spun some poi but without fire (too shy) and a crowd of people gathered around us and watched and all these Thai people were taking pictures of US. It made Mikel's dream of the circus seem so much more plausible. We sent a hat around and collected 1000 bhat ($25) which was so needed cause the farm pays rent. It was strange, being an attraction to the people that are My attraction and taking money from people that I am spending all My money to be with. A parade of the Hilltribes went down the street too, celebrating their ethnicity and distinctions, wearing their traditional clothing. We went over to the school fields and a huge stage was set up with a Thai pop singer wearing a hot pink flapper's dress and all these Thai were screaming and dancing and moshing around by the stage and there were booths set up with games and stuffed animals. It was a carnival. Hundreds of lanterns were being set into the air, huge paper lanters lifting from the strength of a candle's heat. I started taking pictures of the lanterns and the people and I took a picture of this guy with his lantern and he invited me to help him with his lantern so we stood there holding this huge lantern, waiting for the hot air to balance enough for it to fly strong, it was such a gift to help, we let it go and watched it fly into the air, me and this Thai guy celebrating the hope of a new year together. I went back to my friends, watching the Hilltribe people now on stage and having a microphone projecting their shy voices, such a contradiction - hilltribe seclusion and fame- and we said the countdown in English as hundreds of Thai counted down in Thai and then there were fireworks and lanterns were still flying. I was praying that we wouldn't find our farm in flames from a stray fallen lantern (it happens every year to hundreds of people around the country). The celebration felt so jovial and authentic, it felt so good to be celebrating a new year. Funny that our New Year's has only been celebrated in Thailand for a few years. They know how to party.
After that huge celebration, I feel like such a local. I have a real place to live, with a kitchen to shop at the market for, a family to cook for, a place to do some gardening and work and hitch hike or walk to and from. I have met a lot of locals too and easily understand why this place is such a vortex. My comfort was shattered by a bout of illness. One of the girls made tea with river water and didn't boil it all the way and she, Sara, and I all spent a night throwing up and feeling sooo sick. I spent the whole next day in bed, literally could not walk, but the bedrest did cure my cold which I think was bronchitis, so now my cough is all gone and I am all better and hey, maybe it's good to get all this sickness out of me in the beginning of my travels. We had to leave the farm to make our visa run (have to leave the country every 30 days) and got rides all the way to Burma. Our first ride was with the sweetest Thai couple who bought us Heinekins for the ride and kept taking pictures of us. Then we got a ride with a woman who offered to take us to dinner at her cafe so we accepted and when we tried to leave to get a guesthouse she said "no, no guesthouse here. You stay here with me" Sara and I wanted to leave, this lady was really hard to talk with so we were just sitting there with nothing to do, but she insisted and we ended up sleeping there above the apartment. We had all these imaginings of being traded into the slave market or having our organs stolen, but really, she was just this nice Thai lady who was being hospitable. But in the morning, we were so happy to go to the bus station and be free. We crossed the border into Burma. It was so crazy. Go under a fence into an office, get a passport stamp, go over a bridge into another office,give some money, get a stamp on your passport, go under another fence and you're in a new country, a scary one with people who don't speak any English and are really poor. They were approaching us trying to sell us cigarettes and begging for money and following us around and we were so tired and hot and overwhelmed and couldn't find a place to sit and get a drink. I wanted to understand the country, stay a few hours, but we just left as soon as we could. The poverty was really hard and it helps to spend money, but I also heard to boycott Burma because of human rights abuses. Such sweet children begging for money. Crossed back under the fences and got some more stamps and there were no more children begging. Clean streets and educated people. What is going on in the world that a river divides wealth? Divides opportunity and education? We got a ride to Chang Rai with five beautiful giggling Thai women who stopped at every roadside stand and gave us slices of strange fruit. Every time they spoke English, they giggled and burst into a frenzy of Thai to eachother. Giggled more at our Thai. Then we got a ride with this really nice man who was a taxi driver and drove like one. He laughed at me for taking pictures out the window (well, trying to) as he swerved around the mountain roads. He took us to dinner and professed his undying love to me. Thank god we had a guest house in mind to go to. Sara was no help, she was glad he didn't love her. But he also was really helpful with our Thai and we helped him with his English. Now we are back in Chiang Mai but we're going back to the farm today. Can't stay away from Pai for too long. I am starting to feel like I fit in here, it's getting comfortable to be a traveller and I can process what life back home is like in new ways that being there never afforded. Still missing home and my people, but enjoying the craziness, getting through it in leaps of rest and chaos.