Bangkok and Beyond

First impressions of Bangkok…the city felt incredibly different from both India and Nepal. The traffic was more under control, there was less honking, waste baskets actually existed for trash (like, if I threw something on the floor, it would make it dirty!), and I wasn’t pestered nearly as much to buy things (taxi, tuk tuk rides, hashish, food, trinkets, etc. etc.) from street vendors. The change was actually a bit of a relief, despite how much I’d enjoyed the previous two countries. At the same time, I was a bit overwhelmed by the number of backpackers in Bangkok! I’ve never seen so many in one place! They were all eating pineapple on sticks and watching afternoon movies in the common rooms of their respective hostels. Ha! So…instead of spending two nights there as planned, I simply left the day after arriving.

Since then, I’ve been heading north through Central Thailand, in search of mountains and quieter places. Along the way I spent time in the historic capitals of Ayuthaya, Sukhothai, and also a few days in Chiang Mai, Thailand’s second largest city, the “capital” of the north. In both Ayuthaya and Sukhothai I rented bicycles and honed my peddling skills on the left side of the road. It was very relaxing to spend the days on the cycle, drinking coffee, and looking at old ruins from the 13^th and 14^th centuries while trying to absorb Thai history. In Chiang Mai, I took a Thai cooking class, hoping to learn more wheat-free dishes. J It was fun to spend the day at an organic farm, with some other foreigners, even though that’s not my normal mode of traveling.

Speaking of traveling…I am daily asked if I’m OK traveling by myself. In actuality, I’m enjoying it a lot. Even as a solo female traveler in Thailand, I feel quite safe. Yes, precautions always should be taken, but Thailand is a very easy country to travel in as a female. There are so many other travelers, I find that I can enter into conversations and socializing as much or as little as I like. Traveling solo, I also have the luxury of stopping when I want,

and going where and when I want. While there are also many benefits of traveling with friends, and I’m excited to do that again, too, for the moment, I am quite content wandering around South East Asia by myself.

I’m currently headed north, touring the northernmost part of Thailand along the Burmese border. More on that to follow soon…

http://picasaweb.google.com/andriadhautamaki/BangkokAndCentralThailand#

Smiling Yaks and Praying Flags: Trekking the Annapurna Circuit

To the untrained eye ego-climbing and selfless climbing may appear identical. Both kinds of climbers place one foot in front of the other. Both breathe in and out at the same rate…But what a difference! The ego-climber is like an instrument that's out of adjustment. He puts his foot down an instant too soon or too late. He's likely to miss a beautiful passage of sunlight through the trees…He rests at odd times. He looks up the trail trying to see what's ahead even when he knows what's ahead because he just looked a second before…He's here but he's not here. He rejects the here, is unhappy with it, wants to be farther up the trail but when he gets there will be just as unhappy because then it will be "here." What he's looking for, what he wants, is all around him, but he doesn't want that because it is all around him. Every step's an effort, both physically and spiritually, because he imagines his goal to be external and distant. (Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance)

I love how open spaces open up the mind to reflect, to wander, to be still, or to process life. I had a lot of time for all of the above the last three week. Trail thinking. Nothing better than some physical movement to direct the movement of the mind as well. And, in all of the miles of footsteps, maybe I made some mental footsteps as well.

Hiking the Annapurna Circuit was an exercise in “presentness” – allowing each step to remind me of where I am, Nepal, and the ground I am walking over. During the trek, I read “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.” The metaphor of the trek as a life path, one which I walk in terms of who I am, permeated my thoughts. My friend Hana (who I was trekking with) and I had many conversations on how to walk the fine balance of expectation for future events alongside interacting with the present moment – not what has been, not what is to come, but what is now.

And the “nowness” of the trek was incredible. Nepal is a country rich in jaw-dropping scenery. Being surrounded by 24,000+ foot mountains was like walking through a land of giants. Imagine standing in the Annapurna Sanctuary at 14,000 feet, looking up, and realizing that the mountains surrounding you are still ~12,000 feet higher. Some of the “giants” we walked by included Dhaulagiri (26,795ft – 7^th highest in the world), Annapurna I (26,502ft), Annapurna II (26,041ft), Himalchuli (25,801ft), to name a few.

I could explain more details of the trek itself. But I think I'll leave you simply to ponder the present-ness of life right now, in this moment, instead of filling it with noise. However, here are a few story-starters...when we meet again, ask me about:


1) Nepali-boy
2) The dog on the roof
3) Figurative leeches
4) The Karma Cleansing Clinic
5) Television noise
6) #1 Halloween in Nepal








http://picasaweb.google.com/andriadhautamaki/SmilingYaksAndPrayingFlags#

Don't Overload the Dryer, Lessons from the Himalayas

Namaste. Greetings from the mountains. I'm currently in Pokhara, Nepal, getting reading to hike the Annapurna Circuit (340km trek) with a friend. However, before I go forward, I feel that I should fill in some of the events of the past 6 weeks.

First, a synopsis. We climbed. We saw. We completed. After leaving the United States and landing in Delhi we traveled by bus to Ranikhet, a small mountain town, where NOLS India is based. After a few days of rest and repacking group and individual gear, we left for another full day of travel to the mountains. From there, the trip itself can be divided into 3 sections.

I. Rain, Rain Go Away. Our first week of trekking up to the glacier was a very soggy one. Late monsoon weather kept the sky falling and our gear wet. However, it was a good week of getting to know the other group members and getting acquainted with our equipment. The trail was mostly cobblestones, as it's the main artery – could I even say a foot and donkey highway? – up to the small villages throughout the valley. Our last camp was spent at the base of the Pindari Glacier, where we were taken care of by Babaji. Babaji is a name given to any spiritual man; this particular Babaji is a friend of NOLS. He's a Hindu holy man and practices a simple life of meditation and of giving. He cooked us an incredible meal while we camped near his hut; we were grateful recipients of his care.

II. Don't Overheat the Dryer. In other words, don't try and dry too many wet socks or clothes in your sleeping bag with you overnight! If you do, you'll sleep cold and wet until morning, and your clothes won't dry. However, if you load the "dryer" properly - for example, one pair of socks and some gloves - a sleeping bag and body heat is a very effective way to dry small items at 16,000+ feet.

During this section of the course we camped mostly on glacier and spent our days shuttling up rations to future camps, or traveling on rope teams to our new camps. A typical day: 6am Wakeup/Breakfast. Take down camp. Repack. 8 or 9am rope up on rope teams. Hike. Wait for the first group to break snow. Hike. Wait. Hike. Wait. 1-5pm arrive at new camp. Probe for crevasses. Level snow for a tent. Dig out a kitchen and community latrine. Make dinner. Make hot drinks. 7-8pm Go to bed.

What was most surprising to me was the temperature extremes while on the glacier. During the day, if the sun was out, it felt like we were on a white beach. The reflectivity was so strong, and the temperature felt so hot, it seemed we should be sunbathing, not hiking! However, the minute the sun went down, being on glacier was an entirely different, very cold, world.

Highlights: Seeing the sun set over Nanda Devi (25,643ft). from the top of the first pass (17,600ft). Having constant snowball ammunition for 2 weeks to throw at anyone for any reason. Laughing through life with other people. Night skies full of stars and the Milky Way.

III. More chai? After completing our glacier travel (we were the first group in 18 years to complete the trek as a group, with no evacuations), we hiked out the Milam Valley to catch jeeps back to Ranikhet. This valley is tightly controlled by the India military. Because we were only a few miles from the Tibet border, we had to go through certain checkpoints down the valley so the government would know that we exited. During these few days our instructors went ahead of us as we traveled in small, independent groups of 4-6 students. Again, it rained, but after weeks on snow, we didn't flinch. This time we stayed in small guest houses instead of camping and it was a welcome relief not to pitch a tent. Our favorite guest house in the one-hut town of Siuni, consisted of an old man and 10 cups of chai (chai = milk tea). That is, 10 cups of chai, each! We had chai in bed, before bed, and the minute I sat up in the morning, I had a cup of chai in my hand.

The course winded down with a few more days in the mountains, cleaning equipment and final debriefing in Ranikhet, and then a train to Delhi. I loved being in the Himalayas for such a long time, and hope to spend more time in them in the future. They are big, gorgeous mountains. And speaking of mountains, I'm already on my way to being back in them. Tomorrow a new friend from Colorado and I will start the Annapurna Hike, a classic trek through the Nepalese mountains. Namaste…goodbye.

Interested in seeing more pictures? Check out Picasa web album: http://picasaweb.google.com/andriadhautamaki/NOLSMountaineering2009#

All Things Begin Somewhere

Quiet, Pacific Northwest night. The first crisp of fall is present and outside there is a damp chill in the air. Sitting inside and listening to the hum of the refrigerator, I’m trying to formulate words to describe how I feel at the beginning of a 6-11 month trip. Flying up to Seattle to spend a few days with friends has felt more like a normal, weekend visit than the beginning of some saga-like adventure. I like that. I like the emphasis on the present moment more than the preoccupation with the unknown future.

Tomorrow morning I meet up with my NOLS Mountaineering group, ushering in the next five weeks of new friends and the glacial ice of the Himalayas. I’ll be back in contact with the outside world during the second week of October. After that, there are countries I’d like to visit, but my plans are more oriented in how I’d like to interact with the world than an itinerary that I feel obligated to keep. I do know that I’ll be in Asia until the end of January and then flying to Argentina on January 24^th, 2010.

If I could sum up the purpose of my trip, I’d borrow author Salmon Rushdie’s words: “To understand just one life, you have to swallow the whole world.” I’m setting out to swallow - to taste, touch, feel, see, and ponder - the world. Not to quantify or qualify people or cultures, but to seek understanding and communication between people. As I see more of how others live, I can only hope that it will help me understand “one life” - my life - more fully and the lives of the people from the worlds of Colorado, Wheaton College, and Los Angeles that I’ve loved and inhabited. Here I go.