Truesila River, Nepal

I’m sitting here on the balcony of my bamboo hut that overlooks the might Truesila River in South Central Nepal.  It’s winter here so they tell me the water is quiet from what it will be later in the year.  The snows of the mountains will melt and make this river a monster.  From the looks of the water line on the rocks my hut could be in danger.  I’m having the last of my Old Monk and marveling at this beautiful place.   Already I have come to like Nepal much better than India.  The scenery is spectacular and the people are very warm and friendly.  But things are hard here.  I am forever moved by how impossibly hard people work here and how difficult life is.   People from my world have no idea what this life would be like.  I watched some locals a few minutes ago going by with heavy loads on their heads and holding a very young child.   I watched them walk up a steep hillside that I would have trouble getting up on the best of days, and then disappear in the distance.  Never slowing or resting.    As night fell I could make up two men carrying huge piles of brush that completely covered them as they walked.  They decended a steep face that a goat would trouble staying on and then climbed again in the darkness.  Our local guide said they were going to make fence posts for sale in the market.  The entire bundle would be worth about 30 cents.  

Those experiences come in hard contrast to me bitching about carrying 3 wine bottles, some cheese and a 24 pack of cokes to the truck a crappy parking spot a 40 yards from the Brookshires door.   The fact is they still smile and laugh and wave as you go by.  Maybe they have the secret to it all.  Complaining and procrastinating will not get you one step closer to the market.  That would mean that you have one less moment in time to do what you really love.....whatever that may be.... 

Rumtek Monastery Sikkim

There is a very famous monastery about an hour outside of Gangtok Sikkim.  It’s current holy superstar is now at the feet of the Dali Lama himself.  It’s most famous for it’s grand Stupa which is made of gold.  Now I’m not sure if you guys know what a stupa is but I sure didn’t.  To be honest I have now seem two of them in India and Nepal and still really don’t know.  The most famous one in Rumtek was in this separate building away from the monks and had to be unlocked, which took some effort.  It was a golden box like thing that was said to hold the heart of the previous most holy monk at the monastery.  Now that sounds a little extreme but that was what was said.  The monk who showed me around had just come off of praying for 48 hours straight not including a bathroom break.  He had no formal English training but spoke better than I did.  Keep in mind I’m from Texas.  The thing I found the most interesting was the fact that there are so many young people with such strong beliefs that I now think changing the world is possible.  It may not be completely the way we would like for it to be but at least parts of it are in the hands of some very kind, peaceful, and dedicated young people.  I am also loaded with blessed prayer flags so time to live on the edge again.

In another place, the world also lost a very interesting and dedicated man last Sunday.  I was not a friend but only a bystander in his life.  He had vision and energy beyond what anyone would have found in Ben Wheeler, Texas.   So tonight in Chitwan National Reserve in Nepal.  I will drink a toast to Mr. Brooks Gremmels and hope his path continues with fast cars, local music, and dream building.  You will be missed.  

Karmi Farm Sikkim

Karmi Farm clings to the side of a steep hill on a West facing slope about half a mile from the Nepali border.  The river down below is the border with the state of Sikkim and all that goes with that.   This region is almost completely Nepali and Tibetan.  The ethnic features are obvious.  Chinese eyes with lighter skin.  The faces of the people are more rounded and the young women are very beautiful.  Andrew is the owner of Karmi with his mother who is Indian.  He is a man full of tales of the parties of the old Raj and the tea planters club in Darjeeling.  That is were his father and mother met and married.  That is also the lovely older lady who just handed me a cup of coffee as I am writing.   

Karmi is a guess house now and not a working farm but you can see the old terraces that existing in the day.  Andrew said, the super awful road had only come up this far in the last 15 years.  Before that all the supplies had to be carried by Sherpa’s across the ridge to the older road.  I also learned that Sherpa is a caste level in this part of the world.  It is also a job title and has been for many many years.  Sherpa’s are the high altiude porters that carry supplies for Himalayan Mountaineering expeditions.  Tenzing Norgay was a Sherpa from Darjeeling when he became the first person to summit Mount Everest.   I will have to settle for summiting A Mount Gay Rum bottle when I get back.  It is ridiculous to see these slight people both men and women carrying hundreds of pounds on their backs attached to trump lines on their foreheads.  I get tired and mad when I have to carry my groceries to the truck from Walmart...   Well, I have finished my coffee and every else is gone on some short hike.  I think I will just chill out and look at Nepal for a few minutes.   Wish you all were here to join me.....  Namaste

Good bye Darjeeling

Saying good bye to Darjeeling was very hard.  It is a wonderful city and continues to hold on to some of the colonial charm of the British Raj.  It’s a city that  I will return to one day and spend more time.  I only barely scratched the surface of the place.  Darjeeling had a wonderful send off for me as it revealed Mt. Kuchenjunga for the first time all week.  Looking at the 3rd highest mountain in the world from my hotel window was a big treat on the last morning.   It is breathtaking to see how massive and regal these mountains are in the morning sun.  Time for a new adventure and some overlanding to Karmi Farm.  A place owned by a British fellow with ties to India that go back generations.  One thing about Karmi Farm is that it is not easy to get to.  It took four hours by jeep on some of the roughest roads I have ever seen.  They were steep and narrow and about half had been washed out leaving you to navigate a road with only a couple of inches between the rocks on one side and 500 feet of cliff on the other.  Not to mention heavy machinery that was tearing up portions of the road and required another near death move to get around them.  This time trusting your life to the newly moved loose earth. Next time,  I will have some great photos of this process because I will not be inside that jeep anymore on those crossings of faith.  So If I owe anyone money don’t panic...I will get out of this alive.

It's Republic Day

Today was the Indian 4th of July, well sort of, it's Republic Day  Not a ton of flag waving but a proud holiday none the less.  The bad thing is that everything is closed today.  I didn’t even know about Republic Day until late yesterday afternoon.  At least I got to stock up on some Old Monk before the world shut down.   The biggest thing going on was some regional dancing done by local villages and from Darjeeling itself.  My favorite was the youngest member of a local dance troupe.  She was gorgeous and was very into this extremely long dance.  Not bad for a 3 or 4 year old.  And of course put her own spin on it.  You couldn’t have be in this part of the world without the king and his dancers. The young girls were beautiful and it was funny to see them in traditional dance and then talking on their cell phones afterward.  What kids do for their parents....  And no Rebublic Day celebration would be complete without some military type bands to get the patriotism flowing.  The gentleman who was leading the police bag pipe band commanded a respect that caused everyone to take notice.  The festivities were capped off with some hot tea from the local plantations.  All in all a very nice morning.  Then....the world closed back up.  

Darjeeling

We arrived in this amazing place late yesterday after a night train from Calcutta.  I managed to carve out my sleeping bunk amongst eight very loud and playful Indians who enjoyed each others company enough to stand at the side of the bunks for most of the night.  Their little girl of about 5 was sleeping in the bunk above me and kept reaching her hand down and hitting me on the head.  After about three of these I was ready to be the ugly American only to realize that she was completely asleep.  Nothing like opening your eyes to see an Indians back side and having the occasion slap from a 5 year old to relax someone on a long journey.

All of that was worth it to get to this fabulous place.  They call it the gateway to the Himalayas and everything about it seems to ring a bell with me.  Darjeeling is really a series of small villages precariously perched on the sides of steep hillsides and cliffs.  I promise you there is not 10 square yard of level ground in the entire place.  On a clear day you can see the see 4 out of 5 of the worlds tallest mountains including Mt. Everest.  Kachenjunga, the worlds third highest mountain is very close to Darjeeling.  All can be seen from Tiger Hill.    I’m staying in the Old Bellevue Hotel which was built for the British at the turn of last century.  It’s very run down now but you can still see how grand the place must have been in it’s day.  The British Raj used Darjeeling to escape the summer heat in West Bengal.  Today however, it has no heat!  And its pretty damn cold up here.  There are 6 inches of wool blankets on the bed which make sleeping fine but that late night trip to the bathroom is an eye opener.    The people here are very western and are mostly Nepali and Tibetan looking.  Very different from their countrymen just a couple of hours away.  It really makes you wonder when you are listening to the music in the shops and the morning prayers how diverse we really are as a world.  The thought did occur to me to buy a space heater and spend some more time here.  It’s just that kind of place.  

Back Alley Calcutta

Sorry for the resend but the power went out and the photos didn't go. Enjoy

After spending a few days in this enormous city I have decided I love Calcutta.  It’s huge for sure but as clean as any large city anywhere.  There is an energy and pace here that is not available in Bombay or Madras.  The streets in the Chowinghee district are laced with small tight back alleys that house a completely unique society.  The alley on the back side of Sudder Street is one of those places.  If you dare to sit on the small bench opposite the hawker stalls you will see a piece of this city that is far removed from the Oberoi Hotel or the posh restaurants of Park Street.  My Chai guy could say hello in about 10 languages and was pretty good at figuring out that I was American.  He did not know “Howdy” and could not speak much Texan.   He did make amazing Chai tea that was cooked on this grill that had a compression cylinder that was pumped to spray what smelled like Kerosene or something.  Toast, eggs, and butter was about 25 cents.  

The street was also full of rickshaws moving people all over the place in the steady pace of the driver.  As you set there and watched the rickshaw comes to make sense in a place that has so many people.  The driver, who is walking can move and stop and wiggle his way along without causing any stress to anyone.  You can’t say that about the young kids on the motorbikes.   There are many wonders here in Calcutta and it’s a place I would come back to.