Episode 4: Life of Pai
June 21
Pai: my in between place & place of settlement. I live surrounded by Summer Camp, where the guitar 'round the campfire is accompanied by the click of pool balls and the pat of darts. People swing on hammocks by the stream and practice Yoga and watch the stars and fireflies. Pai is a more human Vang Vieng.
Limbo.
I must admit, I am a little anxious to continue on to Delhi--India, my last stop before my final destination. So I must fill the days towards the 29th.
June 26
I biked to a waterfall with two other fit travelers: Tony the Scotsman who lavishly gives the gift of laughter, and Rachel from Colorado. Another day, I biked to a hotspring that is literally hot enough to make Tom Yum Eric, sharing the trip with the elephants and field workers.
These adventures compared favourably to the time I rented a scrap metal bike in Laos and got caught on a remote dirt road in the monsoon. Within minutes the path turned to glue, and coated my tires two inches thick, which caused them to bind, after which I found myself dragging a 70lb blob of steel and goop through deep puddles of mud and cow dung, bludgeoned by the cannon balls from the sky.
I have a good arrangement with one restaurant here. I order the food, and I get to watch the young owner and chef make my meal, asking her questions liberally. Alternatively, cooking courses are a popular industry in Thailand.
Four consecutive days in Pai I was saught out and engaged in conversation of religious philosophy. After a month of similar experiences I feel safe in concluding that most travelers, who indeed are a fairly representative collection of individuals from Western society, though perhaps slighly more open and explorative, believe in a spiritual dimension, but only want to think of one in which their pleasures can be accomodated.
"I don't want knowledge of the perfect standard--give me a set of rules that is realistically followable in our contemporary society and sufficient for entry into heaven."
"God is in everything--I am God, just less actualized than Jesus or Buddha. My punishment for sins that I define is the knowledge that I have fallen short of my purpose, my dharma."
"Christianity is okay--I just don't like the sexual restrictions."
"I'm 19. I went to a Catholic school. Now I'm doing what I want to do."
"It's all about chakra."
I paraphrase.
Ezekiel keeps appearing before my face. I'm trying to figure out what this means.
I'm back in Vancouver--oops, I mean Chiang Mai, awaiting my flight. My Irish friends gave me a lift in their rented vehicle. The rats this part of the world hiss at you. Spooky.
June 27
One month and one day to
"The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen." Rev 22:21
And now, Queneau, Gascar, Robbe-Grillet, et al., in my collection of post-war French short stories.
This day found me headed towards Lampang to the Thai Elephant Conservation Center. Wonderful! The mission I approve of (for example, it has never been about profit, and they have established the world's first elephant hospital). I admit to my childish delight when I fed a bunch of adolescent and adult elephants whole bananas and chuncks of sugarcane, feeling their cute wet trunks probe my hand.
Then, the kindness of a local stranger brought me back to town quickly and without expense.
June 28
Phra That Doi Suthep sits atop one of the many hills that ring in Chiang Mai. There are more Thai people worshipping than tourists touring, and ringing many large bells in the courtyard is a pious gesture that fills the air with emotion. Westerners take pictures of the monks. Japanese tourists take pictures of the Westerners.
June 30
Kuala Lumpur. Made a change to my ticket with Malaysian Airlines. What better place to do this than at their own skyscraper, the central office of the whole world?
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Want a glimpse into my personal life? Here's my inventory (thanks to the assistance of most wonderful Asheya):
1 - Arcteryx 70 L backpack containing:
1 - Outbound backpack
16 - rolls of ISO 200 film
1 - Stylus Epic camera
1 - camera carrying case
1 - 50 ml shaving cream
1 - 59 ml shampoo
1 - 59 ml biodegradable camp soap
2 - disposable razors
1 - 30 ml hair gel
1 - 110 ml pure aloe gel
6 - 60 ml instant hand sanitizer
4 - wax earplugs
2 - water blocking earplugs
1 - round earplug carrying case
1 - 18 ml Optrex sterile eye drops
1 - bunch Q-tips
1 - lip balm 30 SPF
1 - night mask
1 - inflatable neck rest
1 - Holy Bible NIV
1 - South-East Asia phrasebook
1 - travel guide "Southeast Asia on a Shoestring"
1 - compilation of vocabulary for study
1 - collection of short stories in French
55 - Canadian postcards
1 - 240 ml Hawaiian Tropic sunblock 45 SPF
1 - 40 ml Clinique facial sunblock 25 SPF
1 - 20 ml Crest regular toothpaste
1 - 45 ml Listerine
1 - compact toothbrush
2 - 400 sheet rolls of toilet paper
60 - travel wipes individually wrapped
1 - 100 ml Muskol 30% DEET
1 - 120 ml Bactine antiseptic
5 - N-95 face masks
1 - sewing kit (safety pins, coloured thread, 5 needles, buttons, thimble, scissors)
2 - rolls gauze bandage 100% Cotton
24 - sterile gauze pads
1 - tensor bandage
1 - clip for tensor bandage
1 - 4" compress bandage sterilized
1 roll - bandage tape
2 - pairs surgical latex gloves
1 - visibly marked first aid carrying kit containing:
1 - digital fever thermometer
1 - pin with large head
Assortment of Band-Aids
1 - 15 g Polysporin triple
1 - 15 g hydrocortisone cream
1 - pair tweezers
1 - nail clipper
10 - 500 mg tablets Ciprofloxacin
120 - 100 mg tablets Doxycycline
5 - Pepcid Complete tablets
10 - Gravol 50 tablets
24 - 2 mg tablets Imodium
10 - 4.9 g packets Gastrolyte oral rehydration salts
1 - 17 g Fungi Cure anti-fungal gel
1 - 10 ml Polysporin Eye/Ear Drops
24 - 200mg tablets Advil
1 - Blood Transmitted Disease Prevention Kit including:
3 - 5cc syringes
3 - 3cc syringes
3 - 1.5" needles
3 - 3.5" insulin needles
1 - suture
1 - I.V. drip needle
6 - alcohol swabs
4 - lancets
2 - pkg. steri-strip
6 - spot band-aids
1 - authorization letter
1 - pair zip-off pants
1 - pair light weight pants
3 - pairs boxers
1 - waterproof lightweight jacket
2 - long sleeved lightweight shirts (Thrift Store)
4 - pairs socks
1 - pair runners
1 - pair Merrell walking sandals
1 - pair Sand-n-Sun showering sandals
1 - fleece
1 - brimmed hat
1 - clothesline
1 - pack cover
2 - hackysacks
1 - threadbare towel
10 - extra passport photos
1 - international driver's licence
1 - travel insurance policy
1 - photocopy pacekt of plane tickets, receipts, bank cards
1 - 200 sheet 13.9 cm x 10.5 cm notebook
1 - Marine Band Honer harmonica in "A"
1 - Big River Honer harmonica in "A"
1 - accessory cord, several meters
Assortment zip-lock bags
1 - metal fork
1 - spare eye glasses with case
1 - pair clip-on sunglasses with case
1 - glasses case
1 - money belt containing various currencies and travellers cheques in American dollars, passport, plane tickets
1 - universal drain plug
1 - pair headphones with plane adaptor
1 - travel alarm clock
1 - small calculator
30 - business cards
2 - pens
2 - pencils
1 - digital watch without strap
1 - Lip Rescue lip balm
1 - extensible pack lock
2 - boxes of 30 Redbird matches
1 - travel mirror
1 - Swiss Army knife
2 - zipper locks
1 - whistle
1 - Permethrin treated single point bug net
2 - AAA batteries
1 - small sew-on Canadian flag
1 - compass
1 - stainless steel mug
1 - CD important data
1 - disc important data
3 - packs mystery item
1 - 2 L platypus bag
1 - 30 ml Pristine water purification system (chlorine dioxide)
Episode 5: Who is Delhi Belly?
July 1
Delhi is phenomenal and a phenomenon. I walk around with a smirk, and occasionally a smile, on my face.
I feel quite at home--I have pictured this place many times in my mind, often with slight angst, and I am not disappointed. Many other travelers have had such a 50/50 attitude with regard to their time spent in this world, and shared this with me, to the point of warning me away, but that's bosh.
Yes, there are thousands of scams and scammers (beware the scams!!). Yes, often there are unusual smells. Yes, you sometimes have close associations with insects. Yes, you must drink many litres a day just to stay alive. Yes, eat often on the street and you'll likely become a pro at the 100m sprint. Yes, six people die in Delhi in traffic every day. Yes, one day in Delhi is the pollutive equivalent to smoking twenty cigarettes (which you believe after observing the layer of junk on your skin at the end of the day). Yes, yes, and the poverty is dramatic. I could go on.
But if you put aside your naivete--do your research, know the common scams, think ahead, prepare your equipment (locks, tethers, ties--the *easiest* thing to steal will be that which is stolen 99% of the time--just make it the tiniest bit more difficult), and keep your wits about you (I could have said suspicion)--then you become free to enjoy the moment. At this moment, I was just offered some small rock candy and aniseed as a digestive aid and mouth freshener after my meal. I have found a wonderful eatery, and I was wise to tip after my first meal.
It's a bit of a dash to the finish line in Kathmandu. I'm glad to have my plans solidified--all my tickets booked in my first day here, which was no small feat, let me assure you!! (The transit system in Vancouver could take a little time to figure out--zones, transfers, connections, etc.; try a countrywide rail network, and in India no less! Eiyy!) Tomorrow to Agra at 5:00am, back by midnight. Catch a night bus (16h) the next day to Manali in Himachal Pradesh. Chill. Back to Delhi, zoom far to the southern border with Nepal by train then bus, and bus to Kathmandu. Whew! That's a lot of km's!
By the way, the piece of electronics I created for the Light Up The World Foundation (LUTW), and the ultimate reason for this trip--my journies in SE Asia, India, and my time in Nepal--is still ticking along happily beside me! For those unfamiliar, it is a data logging device for the really efficient and long lived rural lighting system LUTW has created for developing nations. It will provide a quantification of the usefulness of the thousands of lamps already in the field for further sponsorship and development purposes. It has been logging some of my activities of the trip, while subjected to extreme physical abuse, jungle humidity, desert heat, and soon the conditions at the heights of the Indian and Nepali Himalaya.
July 2
I spent the entire day with the Taj Mahal, which is really the only specific "tourist" activity I had on my agenda this whole trip. I'll be brief: this is the only human-made structure I can remember observing that inspires something akin to awe every single time I look at it.
While hangin', I was invited to visit with a large family for a time, and ultimately invited to a wedding tomorrow night in Agra. Here is one problem with well laid plans...
This can be a tough place. Imagine: you have an extra piece of naan. Seven frail young boys at the train station beg you for food. You give the bread to the boy who crawls along the ground on his hands because his feet are missing. He shares a few small pieces with the others, but a plumper boy ends up with the majority.
I don't speak Hindi, which makes arbitration difficult.
July 3
From the Gandhi Memorial Museum:
"My life is my message."
"Often does good come out of evil. But that is God's, not man's plan. Man knows that only evil can come out of evil, as good out of good."
July 4
Change of plans: cancel train to border with Nepal, replace with plane ticket. Cost benefit analysis => very good move! 18h bus to Manali confirms some points of analysis.
If you have ever taken a bus on a narrow road, particularly in a foreign country, you may wonder how the drivers always manage to squeak by the other vehicles. Well, I have learned that they don't! We blew out a side window of another bus and took off one of our side mirrors in the delightful gravelly crunch of two busses engaging in a painful embrace.
Quick note: my fragmented prose throughout these Episodes is a function of my poor wrists and lack of Asheya to help write/type.
Here is a great place--the Kullu Valley, getting in to the heart of the Himalaya. I stay in Vashisht, farther up the valley from Manali and elevated above the great Beas River (Alex the Great's army refused to march any farther east than this river). I take a lovely walk several km down into town each day.
I find my friends these days from among the locals (often they find *me*). India attracts a rugged, edgy, lost traveling crowd. So many people have disappeared so far inside themselves that they are no longer to be found. Few of them smile.
I spent the whole evening yesterday visiting with an Indian couple and their five month and four year old daughters (they will keep having children until they have a boy) in their home, which is the size of the bathroom in a modern house. They gave me a massive plate of rice and chickpeas and some chai--know that many days in the year they go hungry. Jimmi tells me that after a long time without food for his children he reluctantly sells some marijuana to travelers; it grows as a weed along the side of the road and everywhere else.
Heeramani breastfeeds Debia as we talk, and Ima goes to sleep with her grandparents in their home above us.
God has kept me from sickness thus far. Perhaps one in ten days I feel a bit off, but that's probably not too far off the norm, factoring in the many stresses traveling puts on the body. Today is about the worst--the food, an infected blister, a cold, the change in climate, the unfiltered cigarette and cooking smoke in Jimmi's house, dengue, typhoid, malaria? You never know until it passes into nothing or develops full force.
July 8
Back in Delhi waiting for my plane tomorrow. Had a light fever after my last entry. The rule: assume all fever is malaria until proven otherwise! First test indicates it is not. Still feeling generally off (I count myself lucky so long as my malaise doesn't worsen--I haven't even had a case of Delhi Belly!).
Laos was delightful in a very relaxed way. India is delightful in a furious way. By far, this land is the most *interesting*, and I love things perking my interest. But it is also very draining, in a similar way to Hanoi but a little more pleasant though intensified. I leave you and India with the words I entered with: beware the scams! Transportation = #1 scam factory. From innocent to harmful. E-mail me if you are coming here and I'll share my knowledge of the scams and how to avoid them.
Peace.
Episode 6: Fin
July 13
The monsoon has trapped me under an umbrella on a roof-top restaurant overlooking the Patan Durbar Square, a concentrated collection of temples in the courtyard of the ancient royal palace. Mine is a wholly pleasant prison. Patan is just south of Kathmandu, and I live outside the city centre, amidst the rice paddies, frogs, and dogs.
My family is perfectly wonderful, and we share dal bhaat every night. I am training their rottwiler mutt, slowly. During the afternoon and evening I work on my logging device and assist Pico Power Nepal in getting its electronic equipment together for the project in Humla, which is still moving ahead.
My brief, mild illness has left me with an enlarged spleen, so when I bike around Kathmandu in the mornings, I walk up the steeper hills.
On the way from Delhi, I met a flamboyant Mexican fashion designer. It was an interesting encounter: one day, she presented to many of the wives of the world’s male Presidents. She gave me her hotel coordinates (one of the best in Kathmandu, of course), but I think she and her friends are a little too fast-paced for my life here otherwise.
July 17
I travel for fun. But more importantly, I travel for its contribution to my growth as an individual who can appreciate that many different yet valid perspectives exist, in every situation.
However, I know that one typical day at home contains so many more riches than the best day spent traveling. This I have believed, and continue to believe.
July 18
Biked to the Child Haven just outside Kathmandu—a great organization founded by friends of Asheya’s grandmother (www.childhaven.ca). After a couple of hours spent with one of the volunteers, I connected the fact that I had exchanged a few words with him in a bank the previous week!
Greater Kathmandu is convenient in that everything is just within biking distance, if you can handle being continually cut off by noisy, dirty, inconsiderate buses and minivans (the public transporters), and suffer the very real possibility of being expectorated upon. I’m glad fewer people smoke and scratch their crotches, in comparison to the previous country, but, my goodness, the continual horking!
If you knew what biking on the roads here is like, SARS would seem a lot less relevant of a concern…
So here’s a picture of the other side of the story: on arrival, within 1/2h of being in Nepal, one airport security guard actually apologized for inconveniencing me in asking for my baggage claim tag, and another let me use his phone card and refused compensation! This theme is often pleasantly repeated.
July 21
And here I close. I hope you have enjoyed the journey; it’s been such a pleasure to share it. I have no less than 200 e-mails (granted, Asheya has written me once or twice), and have sent close to the same. Being away from home, your words are so meaningful--even a sentence sent to the other side of the world conveys meaning with potency that paragraphs written while only kilometers apart may not.
I will now be home for August, to continue work on my company and, more importantly, to celebrate life with Asheya, and with you.
Namaste,
Eric
