While stuck in Dharan, Nepal I was fortunate to meet this family who took me in for the night, fed me, spoke with me, and genuinely just wanted to be friendly to the ONLY foreigner in town!

The morning I went to this Buddhist temple in Kathmandu was the start of a 8-Game winning streak for the Tigers...I am now a Buddhist

Holy men of a Hindu Temple...the absolute worst people in India...exploiting religion to make money and exploit tourists

From a peak above Gokyo's 5th lake...hell of a climb, but well worth the amazing view of Gokyo Valley, Lakes, and Glaciers

View from Gokyo Ri at Sunrise (6:00Am)

Me and the Mountains from Dole at Sunset

My time spent in the mountains was 23 of the hardest days of my life. My knees ached, my back felt like it were to give out at any time, and though my feet held up pretty well they took took a beat down. I trekked and traveled with some amazing people whom I will never forget, and have made friendships with a number of people that I truly hope to stay in contact with and continue to get to know. And its funny, the reason I originally planned this trip was to see Everest Base Camp and yet I only spent a couple hours there and in no way was it the highlight of the trip, that just tells you not how disappointing base camp was, because it wasn't, but rather how unexpectedly amazing everything else was!

So now I'm in Darjeeling, been here for a few days, it is basically India-lite so I am able to stand it. I have changed my ticket so that I won't leave upper India till the 6th, giving me a few days to go up into Sikkim which is a restricted area since it borders both Tibet and Bhutan. But I was able to land a permit for 15 days and I'll head up tomorrow I think to see the monastaries and hopefully go to some hot springs without having to trek there. Either way it should be relaxing and hopefully further away from India's pollution, horns, and touts.

Me after 23 Days on the trail, before my Nepali haircut, massage, and beard trim which by the way was all done with "Teacher Scissors" and a basic comb

Something I saw at a park yesterday I liked, the other was "All the Joy this world contains has come from wishing happiness for others - All the Misery this world contains has come from wishing pleasure for ourselves", this pretty much sums up buddhism as it is suppose to be.

stuck in dharan

well after 8 days or so from namche through the arun valley, after days of hard hard climbs up and down through heat, clouds, rain, etc. i've made it to civilization once again. when we finally made it to the end/start of the road we grabbed a land rover which proceeded to go through 2 flat tires then to dump us off onto a tractor pulling a trailer, quite the bumpy and painful ride but it got us out of the middle hills of nepal.

unfortunately, now i sit in dharan baazar waiting for a bus strike to stop so i can in fact travel to india. i've been here two days and i'm sick of it and ready to move on as there is not much here, i'm the ONLY tourist in town, now that my two friends left or kathmandu last night. i'm still trying to figure out what people do here, its suppose to be a rather large city but its now 9:30 and people have yet to open stores and they seem more preoccupied with holding rallies and putting up posters supporting the maoists (communist party which recently, may 9th, was classified as a terrorist organization by the u.s. state department).

so here i wait to get to darjeeling, india which is home of my favorite tea. i'll now only have a day or so to be there unless i can change my tickets that i had purchased about a month ago.

my trip in the mountains was absolutely amazing, like being amongst giants for a month, traveling through jurassic park almost. staying in villages where as recently as 1999 offical police reports cited Yeti's (bigfoots) as the sole reason for attacks on animals and humans. spending the night in people's homes was great and only a few nights could be classified as uncomfortable. eating lots of dal bhat, which is the main dish that everyone eats here twice a day, which is also different everywhere you go, but mainly consisting of rice with lentil soup, and maybe a potatoe or veg curry, best part of it is that its served to you as an unlimited dish, they keep heaping on the portions till you are done.

the people are amazing (friendly "namaste"s everywhere you go), the food was great, my feet and back held up quite well (i'm sure i lost a few pounds)...so now with a fresh haircut and beard trim along with massage and strait razor neck shave yesterday ($1.50), i'm ready to move on and make my way towards thailand and cambodia for a few weeks...if the buses ever start moving again and the strike shutting down my road to india is ever lifted...

made it back to namche

heading out towards the arun valley, to india, to darjeeling, then to calcutta where i should be able to drop some pics to everyone...i'm doing fine, although sick this morning, having a great time, seeing everest and gokyo was amazing and you wouldn't beleive how gorgeous it is up here in these parts, hope all is well and we will talk again in about a week or so

made it to namche

rest day in namche bazaar before heading up towards gokyo then over the pass towards everest base camp and kalla pathar. i'll be gone from civilization (if you can call this that) for about 12 days or so. i'm doing well traveling with a german, irish, british, and chicago(an) for the past 6 days from jiri to here. its been rough, very hard trails, never flat always up and down, but we've had good weather and stayed at good places eating good food. take care everyone.

Off to Everest

Tomorrow I leave on a bus for Jiri on my way up to Namche then to Everest Base Camp and Kala Patther. Hopefully all goes well and the Maosists who are holding a big rally today that I was afraid I was gonna get stuck in, won't tie me up much. I had dinner with a Danish guy last night who had just returned from there and he said it was amazing and had no problems. Take care everyone and wish me luck!

-by the way Malaria pills make me sick and I'm not taking them anymore, I can survive malaria if I have to