Stuck in Nowhere (Holiday Recap)

Thursday, Dec. 26, 7:35AM
Mahendra Nagaf (West border of Nepal)
1028km

Song: Territorial Pissings, Nirvana

We did remarkably well on our push to the border by Christmas, pedaling to our limits (70-90km) every day for 9 of 10 consecutive days, leaving the last 40km for an easy Christmas Eve. The plan was to spend a couple days here in Mahendra Negaf, a decent size border town on the Nepali side, where we hoped to have some internet and a chance to rest up and relax for the holiday and before India. We are here now, relaxing somewhat, but the events leading to now were not at all as we could have anticipated.

I didn't write for the last 3 days on the road due to exhaustion. We all have been pretty sick with digestive issues (ahem), except for Cara who suffered through it earlier on the month, hence had a bit more fortitude to overcome whatever we ate, ironically, in Rihar, Village of the Year. We've had a pleasant enough journey, but the days all had a similar tune: wake up at daybreak, bike till lunch time, eat Dal Bhat, bike till dusk, check-into a tiny guest house, wash up, eat Dal Bhat, repeat.

I'm sad to report that I'm sick of Dal Bhat. This shift occurred at the onset of my illness, I guess by bad association. We were actually loving it moer and more each time, as I think my three cohorts still do, but I've just had enough. 45 days, 90 meals of Dal Bhat. Bring on the Indian cuisine!

In Rihar I stocked-up on sweets, a half kg of the yummy powdered sugar-covered ones I mentioned before, but sadly (and also due to my ill association), I couldn't eat them. As Christmas was approaching I imagined myself Saint Nick on wheels, and gave them out to the kids across the countryside whenever I stopped and they came to say Hi. I honestly can't imagine a response of any more unfettered joy, intrigue and anticipation from the kids if I was a bearded fat man with reindeer over the tall cycling American curiosity that I am. My having a small token to give made this role ever more rewarding.

Closing near the border city we called our Indian friends Cab and Jaspal to coordinate meeting up for our Northern India road trip, and got invited to accompany them to a wedding in Punjab. The only catch: we'd have to book-it, as the wedding was in 2 days (today, actually), and we would have had to cross the border on Christmas Eve and take a 12 hour night bus (which is against our rule of thumb), to meet in Delhi to head North on an 8-hour car ride with them to get there in time. It wold have been a crunch, but we decided to forgo our laid-back holiday on the border for Adventure.

Things did NOT go as expected. We arrived at the Nepali border crossing and they checked us out of the country. As we walked back to our bikes with stamped passports in hand, they shut the gates behind us. The sun set and was gone. We then had to ride 1-2km on a road that can only described as Nowhere. It was pitch black, but swarming with evening traffic. The dirt road was terrible, dangerous, uneven, rocky -- my chain fell off 3 times. This road was indeed Nowhere, as it belonged neither to Nepal or India, and we weren't yet at the Indian border, if we made it there at all. In parts, there was a worn-in dirt bike path along side of the road, but it too was harrowing, as it was only wide enough for a single bike but traffic went in both directions. Also, it was elevated, so if you fell off (which was easy for us as our handlebars have so much sway with all the baggage) you would either topple down a cascade of rocks into the river to our right, or fall 3 feet down into the craggy dirt road on the left. I was to too tired and unsteady to brave the path for long. We finally made it to the Indian border. And it was Closed.

We were stuck with no Country. The officer who needed to sign our paperwork had left for the night and lived 5km away, in India. We asked if there was any way we could get him to come back, expecting to pay a bribe (which they had to do coming-in from Indian last time), as we could not go back to Nepal. The Nepali border guy should Not have stamped us out if he knew India would be closed. But I think this is all part of the games that Immigration officers like to play, like the penalty he also charged me for not having a Departure slip (which I never got). After our pleading and explaining that this was our Christmas Eve, we had to meet our friends in Delhi the next morning to go to a wedding, and that it wasn't our fault that Nepal let us exit if we couldn't get into India, he handed us the immigration paperwork to fill out. A Christmas miracle?!

Cara cannot find her Passport. The zipper of its containing compartment was half-open, surely large enough for it to jump out, especially on that horrid road. For 2 hours we scoured the entire stretch of road by flashlight, us, the Indian police, the Nepali police. On bike, by motorcycle and Jeep. It was gone.

Since then we've spent countless hours with police, at border offices, crossing into India and then back, getting Visa extensions, putting ads on the radio, calling Embassies. Cara has to go all the way back to Kathmandu to get a new passport, and Nepali visa, and Indian Visa, and the US Embassy is closed for the next 5 days due to the Christmas holidays so we're here for a week. Jamey and I will stay here on the border with the girls' bikes and luggage, at the Hotel Sweet Dreams, which, to us, is the Ritz. (Funny, as I write this, a mouse scampers across the Carpet - yeah, we have the carpeted room baby!) Seriously, we're in the nicest suite here, I'm eating Eggs for breakfast (whoo hoo!), we have always-on power due to generators, and a private bathroom with western toilet. Funny thing is, we miss the squat toilet! I won't get into too much detail, but we've agreed that it's easier when you're squatting than sitting, and the TP is just a bother. How's that for a total 180? We got our Christmas Eve and Christmas dinners here at the hotel -- room service. And I'm getting into the habit of pressing our buzzer and ordering beers. Kick butt!

Jamey and I will spend the week catching-up on internet (it's been almost 2 weeks!), troubleshooting our problematic bike chains (which have been coming off too regularly), eating Dosas, and hopefully gong on safari in the nearby Wildlife Preserve. Bonnie will accompany Cara on the 12-hour bus journey to Kathmandu as she too needs consular services (no more passport pages), and we'll hopefully meet-up and ship out in under a week.

Can you believe, on my day off, that I was up at 7:30am? Now it's finally internet time! See you online! Hot coffee and cold showers, Anthony
 

Slow and Steady (Biking Blog)

Sunday, Dec. 21, 10:37PM
812km

Jungle monkey

Rode our booties off today, 90km. It was our sixth consecutive day on the road. Good news is that I'm finding the point when I'm exercising where I'm pushing ahead steady but not too hard, so I don't get prematurely tapped out of energy. We divided the day up into 4 parts, so we took a short (10min) break every hour and a half (or 22km). That way the large distance didn't seem too endless. I'd say half the day the roads had a long steady slightly uphill grade, which combined with all our weight made it difficult to move fast, and it seemed like we should be going faster but it took a lot of work to keep going. But like I said, I found my threshold and I kept it moving, even though I could only move at 15km/hr for half the day. The other hindrance is that the road's was so textured (paved with small rocks, not asphalt) so even on downhills I was only able to achieve 35-40km/hr instead of the 50 I can do otherwise. Every day has it's ups and downs, literally and figuratively.

In other happy news I found a workaround to finally make Senuti (the iPod 'backup' software) see my iPod (and Cara's, and Jamey's). This means I can clear more room on my iPod to backup photos, and I can also borrow some tunes from my cohorts. Listening to music on the road has been awesome... I'm for once I can really listen to all the lyrics of my favorite music (since I have plenty of time to concentrate, unlike back home when I'm always doing 3 other things while playing tunes.)

Basically I'm becoming a find-tuned cycling machine. That's about it. So it's cycling, cycling, cycling until Christmas, when we'll hopefully be crossing into India, and then we'll cycle a little more until we get picked-up by friends and we'll be on holiday, cruising around in a big Jeep for maybe 2 weeks, visiting some of the sights (like the Taj Mahal in Agra) among others. I'm looking forward to some good old-fashioned tourism! I'll also probably be eating way too much Indian food and sweets... to make up for all this healthy eating! Actually, it's amazing that we all love the national food here so much, even though it's pretty much the same meal over and over and over. I love it because its real home cooking every time, with fresh veggies cut down in the back yard or nearby every time, made fresh with love. Try to find that in the USA! India's gonna be very different, so we're living it up, even though it is very simple (and we have no choice in the matter.)

I've also borrowed Bonnie's Nepali phrase book in an attempt to Wow the locals with my smooth Nepali phrases. So far, so good. They understand our Nepanglish well enough most of the time anyway, but it's fun and I think they appreciate that we're trying.

Ok, up at 6:30 to do another 90km tomorrow. Only 3 days till Christmas Eve! Hope your Holiday parties were awesome and merry. Enjoy the family and Holiday cheer! xoXo, A
 

Rihar, Village of the Year

Saturday, Dec. 20, 8:22PM
Song: P.S. I Love You by the Beatles
723km

Groundhog onlookers as we made breakfast.

Today began like Groundhog Day, only I was the groundhog. I didn't want to leave my tent, as there was a 'school' of children waiting outside already by the time I took off my sleeping mask, watching to see if I'd have a shadow or not. After taking my time packing up everything inside, I emerged, with a glorious long shadow coming from our east-facing river view, the sunniest morning I can remember here. (All of our recent lowland mornings have been foggy, with the heavy cool winter mist finally burning off by around 11AM.)

Tire-changing onlookers.

Somehow our 8AM wake-up became an 11AM departure. Before we hit the roadside, Cara had a flat tire, our collective first of the journey. I, being the only coffee fiend of the group, pedaled 5km ahead the the village of last night's food run, (more accurately named Bhalu Bang), for a coffee and a boiled egg -- a great find. Just as soon as I had my mug of coffee in hand, the group had caught up, but Cara's tire was flat again. As per my paragraph on crowds gathering wherever we go, no less than 30 people gathered around to watch Jamey at work, and I turned the camera on Cara and Bonnie and they had at least 50 crowded arond just observing them be Cara and Bonnie. I told them what I was documenting, and they said if this was India the crowd would be at least as big, only they'd be touching them. For some reason we all lingered and procrastinated, as if we didn't feel like biking, but we were finally on the road again, at the beginning of our day's expedition, at noon.

It was an average day, I was a bit slower than yesterday (with a bad case of weary wobbly legs), and at 4:30 we were looking for a spot to camp. This part of Nepal is much more a forest, and the vilage we stopped-in had a really cute looking inn, all clay with super cute thatched roof, and a misspelled cloth sign advertising their Guest House and Restaurant. As we stopped and debated staying (and maybe showering) vs. camping somewhere down the road, a friendly drunk man was trying to lure us to the restaurant for food, and a group of older teen boys were asking us if we needed help finding a place to stay or if we wanted to camp. They led us to the school across the street and told us we could camp there!

I think half of this friendly village escorted us to the school yard, and as soon as we asked if we could sleep inside they were hoisting a small child up into a gap above and between the wall and the roof of the first building, who opened the door from inside a minute later. This classroom is NICE! So spacious, with a clean floor, and men, women an children were all standing around smiling and helping us inside, moving the desks to the side of the room to clear room for us. This hospitality is Amazing! One guy asked if we had candles, and showed me where he lives in case we need anything. Unlike the other school we stayed in, the kids weren't annoying at all, and as soon as one of the older boys told them to give us privacy, we were left alone in our room. We washed at the nearby water pump with 40 people watching, and I'm so used to it by now that I barely noticed. I actually felt important. as I think we are of more value to the community as entertainment then for the inn-keeper to make 200 rupees, but I also believe the Nepalis have an earnest desire to do good will, and the potential commerce wasn't even an issue. I was wondering if the inn-keeper would be sore that we opted to stay for free in the school instead of his family's Inn, but after we were settled we were brought over there to eat by our unofficial 18 year old host for the evening, and the inn-keeper was the most gracious host! We were sat at the wood-burning fire/clay stove and we watched him cook our meal from scratch for an hour while we warmed-up, actually fulfilling my wish from last night to be snuggled-up by my Dad's fireplace. The food was *amazing*, the chutney out of this world, Jamey declared it his favorite Dal in his two months here, and all for 50 rupees. Even better, at 7am tomorrow he's hooking us up with our energy food, alu paratha, for breakfast. We have 90km to do, to make-up for today's lackluster mileage accrual.

Schoolhouse sleeper onlookers.

I've been on a sweets kick, and after dinner our friend brought us over to a sweet shop next to his family's house, and a second Christmas wish from last night was fulfilled: a sweet so incredibly similar to Dineen's sugar dipped cookies manifested. Mmmmmmm! Merry Christmas to me!

Sweets shop!

Other noteworthy features of Rihar, Village of the Year include: it's clean, quiet, our privacy in the school persists, the sky seems especially huge here -- tonight's heavens are the brightest and clearest since the Adikari farm in the mountains, and Internet is only 140km away! Lol, I guess no place is perfect.
 

Camping Out

Friday, Dec. 19, 11:13PM
Song: Crickets, the river's gentle murmur, a dog barking
671km

Today was such a great day! We woke up in Shithole, Nepal, and it was actually raining slightly and overcast. The feeling was unanimous that we wished to lay in bed, watch a movie, read our books, maybe go spend some time on the internet (when the power came on), and even maybe have a hot shower or go see a movie. Unfortunately we were speaking of luxuries only available in dreams, as none of this was possible, nor did we want to linger unnecessarily in our unsavory guest room. We walked around searching for our power-food, alu paratha (big spicy potato pancake and curry), and we actually found it! Hot damn they were good! (I've probably written about 'em more than we've actually eaten them, today being only my second time in Nepal), so how could it not be a spectacular day!?

Hills to brighten my day

I had a surprising amount energy today. I lead the pack, cruising up our mountains with sheer conquest pumping through my legs, and it was the most beautiful scenery we've had in 2 weeks. Sun dissolved the clouds, and I was actually Happy to have big hills, because that means big beautiful mountain scenery. Unlike the mountains I know back home, which are big, gradually rising grey giants, the Himilayas are the product of post-Pangea India crashing into the Asian continent, causing countless rippling hills, closely packed together as far as the eye can see. Anyway as long as they're not too steep, it's a pleasure to see and worth the upward effort (and downward reward.) At one pass Jamey and I got ambushed by about 20 students and we spent 30 minutes taking pictures and hanging out. Everyone wanted pics with us, wearing our helmets and posing on our bikes. I wanted one of their email addresses so I could send them the pics, but unbelievably None of them had one! I especially like the little baby sitting on my back rack for a shot.

Nepali teens, no emails.

Not far out of the mountains we saw a neat-looking clearing (that didn't look like anyone's farm land) which we thought might be campable, but I insisted we bike along the footpath leading into the woods to see if we could get nearer to the river, and we found the sweetest place to camp right on a cliff overlooking the valley. This place is incredibly sweet! So tonight we pitched our tents, washed up in the river, boiled water to drink and for tea, and now we're sleeping in a peaceful quiet spot under the stars.

Sunset food run

When we're not staying on a farm, in a guesthouse, or at hotel, (ie. in a school or in the woods), two of us will bike to the nearest town to pick up some food for dinner and some fresh fruit for breakfast. It was Bonnie's & my turn, so we biked 5km in a spectacular sunset to a town that sounds like BallBang. We did well, scoring chowmein, samosas, and veg. fritters for dinner, and tomatoes, cabbage, garlic, green beans, cilantro, oranges, bananas (and salt) for a fresh fruit & veg breakfast salad tomorrow. We made this once before, trying to re-create a tiny salad we were served at the best little hole-in-the-wall in Demauli, plus one important lemon -- I had a little English-speaking guardian angel taking me all around town asking for one! -- but no lemons in town. What fun it was! The town was dark except for a dozen fires here and there... it was so surreal, all the fires in the street. We went down a dark side street to find take-away soda (most soda is in glass bottles which you drink there at the store or restaurant), and the boy took me to 8 different stores and hotels. I never in a million years thought I'd feel so perfectly at home walking down a street lit by firelight in a foreign country, holding a 4th grader's hand, shopping for dinner, and here I am. We always create a stir wherever we go, but now I'm totally used to it, and it's pretty fun. When I came back from my hunt with the boy to find Bonnie waiting for our hot food, she had no less than 20 kids crowded around her. Each of them took turns shaking her hand and practicing their English on her. Soon we were on our way with a massive amount of food for $4 (incl. 4 kilos of fruits & veg!) and we enjoyed our nighttime ride home lit by our bike lights. We stand out so much from the other on the road as we're the only ones with lights! (One girl on the road the other day said 'Goodbye tourists!") Save for some rough pavement, it's pretty safe!

Camping spot by the river

It's SO nice to be camping out. I love the farms and the country, and love a little time in the cities (to get my fixes), but I really can do without the in-between towns that are basically crappy urban centers, devoid of the riches of agro-Nepali country goodness. You're paying to stay in dirty dingy guest houses, and despite the people's consistent friendliness it's like purgatory, and you can't wait to get out. A few kilometers out you let out a sigh of relief at the green fields, goats jumping (well there are goats everywhere but city goats are all shabby), clay homes with thatch roofs, clean streams... Anyway camping is the best, and this spot is glorious. Plus, there's nobody peering in our window (like in the school house). Actually, there's nobody, except for some apparently beautiful girl passing through that Jamey and Cara went down to the river with to fetch some water, whom they shared a long silent moment just sitting and enjoying the peace.

At first I used to think it was weird, but Nepalis just come and chill with you, whatever you're doing, often times without saying a word. It's not like they're just staring and being weird, either. And it happens everywhere: on the side of the road a whole family or two will just come and stay with you while you do your thing; at a store; in the hotel... today the 18yr (newlywed) girl just came into our guest room (for the 5th time, unannounced) and just hung out while we were carrying on, goofing and cracking jokes. It's funniest in the restaurants -- the server will sit at the table; or the whole family, with friends and neighbors, will just sit and watch you eat. This may all sound rude or invasive, but really it's not, because the vibe is so much less formal and impersonal like in most businesses we know -- it's we who are the guests, and we have stepped into the lives of these families. A server isn't really a server, but the inn-keeper's son or cousin. The cook isn't a cook, he's the owner of the guesthouse or kitchen you happened upon. On the street when we ask someone for help, everyone around is interested, because they all want to know (innocently enough) what's happening in their town, eager to help with no motives or $trings attached.

I went down to the river after dinner to wash up, and walked around with my headlamp off (ie. in total darkness save for the moon and it's reflection on the water) and I realized, as I've done repeatedly, that I'm in Nepal! Orion is looking down at me from above, just like at home, but instead of being surrounded by millions in an orange cloud I'm in dark, in the quiet, alone. Ahhhhhhhhh. I see a headlamp across the way and hear a Nepali voice. I'm in Nepal!!!! It's my extreme privilege to spend time in this alternate universe on Earth. I can't believe it's true, that I can just hop on a plane and be in a place like this. This is the miracle of our day, of our good fortune, of our good planet that we can do this. It is everything I've wished for. And I'm going to do it, again and again and again. The only thing that would make it more perfect here is You.

We came up with a Christmas plan tonight. Just before the border there is another National Park. Hopefully, we can camp in it and enjoy the peace of Nepal for one last night.

I can't believe we're going to step into another world yet again, so soon. But for now it's time for me to sneak behind my eyelids. I imagine being curled up on the comfy couch, my belly full on eggnog and the white glazed Christmas cookies, glowing embers in the fireplace, the Christmas tree and manger still yet alive in frozen timeless time. It's time for bed! Goodnight, my beloveds!

Holidays (and the Border) fast approaching, Santa M.I.A.

Thursday, Dec. 18, 10:18PM
A Shithole, Nepal
636km

How do four Americans in Nepal celebrate the holiday season, you ask? This morning over breakfast we listened to Christmas carols on Jamey's mini iPod speakers. And we've watched Babe's la la la, la la la, la la la, la laaaah scene like 10 times this month. ("Chrismas means carnage!!!") I saw a Charlie Brown Christmas tree today, well actually it was just a branch sticking up on top of a freight truck, but it was close enough to make me happy. Besides that, our Navidad is not so Feliz.

Babe

We're trucking along well, and it looks like we'll be crossing the border around Christmas Eve, give or take a day or two. NOT exactly our ideal way to spend Christmas, but what can you do in a place where your holiday doesn't exist? The extent of international cuisine outside the major tourist cities is Chow Mein and Indian food. Jamey told us over Dal Bhat tonight that his Christmas Meal so far consists of a bag of Classic Lays potato chips (all the salty snacks here are flavored with masala), Root beer, Soy jerky (from his personal US stash), and orange slice Gummy candy. As completely ridiculous as that sounds, it's no joke!

Life on the road is swell, and we're racking up the kilometers. Today was a great day of cruising on flat road, and it really flew by for me, for the first time. We were Drafting again today (riding tight like a flock) and I really like it... It's nice to work as a team, and it's less physically and mentally taxing as you're not racing yourself or trying to catch-up (if you're trailing your friends), rather you're just keeping up with the pack, and you get to coast. A great development! Today I realized that, in addition to Traveling(TM), which has been obvious from the outset, I am also Exercising regularly. I never looked at it that way before, but this is the stuff that people do to achieve goals, like losing weight or maintaining good health. And I was thinking of it all along as mere transportation!

Posters like these Indian beauties decorate many roadside lunch-spots.

Today we passed a caravan of buffalo walking down the street, and at one point (when we had just overtaken the herd) I noticed about 30 of them in front stampeding after us! It was a hot minute or two of screaming, laughing, and heavy peddling! Those beasts were BIG and running full force on our tails... it was awesome. Cara, listening to music on her headphones, was the last to notice. Awww, (poor girl!)

Nepali wiring job on our ceiling fan.

In other exciting news, our luxury digs tonight include private WC and a mirror! In all fairness we've been renting the 200 rupee ($2) rooms, but honestly I can't imagine what the more expensive rooms would do differently, based on what I've seen. I snuck into one of the fancy rooms in our hotel in Damauli to use the western shower, (as the shared one for the floor had no running water), and the difference was basically a blue carpet, a private toilet, a tv and arm chair, but it too lacked running water, there was an empty rum bottle on the bed, and the toilet had two condoms floating in it. I'm not trying to bust on Nepal, but I guess the condom box we just found in our room (with explicit sex scene pictured -- why do they have to portray sex so nasty?!) made me think of it. At another hotel in that town we were offered a room for a whopping 1500 rupees, and we just laughed and then they put us in a room for 200. But now I want to at least see what they would have offered us for $20, so my opinions can be more informed.

That's all I've got for tonight. Actually, speaking of tonight we are sharing a room with two beds pushed together, and we're all sleeping head-to-toe, Charlie and the Choc. Factory style. As usual I'm the last one awake, and it might take a while to sleep (we've got a snorer!) So I'm out. As always, New York, (and yes, NJ too!), and you All are in my thoughts. I'm really getting excited for India... more adventure awaits! And you can bet your correspondent will be reporting. Namascar. A

I Miss You, Hello Pain

Tuesday, Dec. 16, 9:26PM
Butwal, Nepal
Song: Deep in Velvet (Turnips Mix) by Aphex Twin
565km

We were on the road by 8:30am, and biked until sunset, 90km! For me, though, arriving in Butwal, out far far away goal, was against all odds, as I started this leg of the bike trip in supremely sore shape from our last day's hard work on the farm, we crossed the steepest mountain pass yet (5km/hr all the way up for 90min - I wanted to die), and then after 30km on flat road my quads felt like they were gonna explode, and sitting in a gazebo playing with baby goats I tried to convince peeps to quit, still having 28km to go! After stretching, eating Advil, and massaging the crunchy bits out of my legs (which I didn't even know could get that way) we pushed on, practicing for our 1st time on this trip a group riding style called Drafting in which you ride on each other's tails, the leader up front setting the pace and taking all the wind resistance, making it probably 25% easier for the riders behind.

Yesterday's ride was pretty damn ugly, basically because we were traveling through the surrounding 'burbs of that dump Narayanaghad, and even the guest house we stayed at, though charming in some aspects, like the dining room we which felt like a tiny local pub in Prague -- the one in Vinorhady that serves Kozel (goat) beer -- the town was so dingy and so was the stinky green petri-dish mutant cesspool behind the outhouse... I was worried that it'd be 500+km of dumpy lowlands. I'm speaking mainly of aesthetic appeal, as Nepalis are Nepalis wherever you go (good), but today the sights got kickass again, with sprawling farmland, tall forests, cute villages decorated for weddings, goats when you need 'em (for smiles and their cute voices), and increasing numbers of Buddhist temples and, for me, more interesting Hindu temples (which I haven't seen so many of) with crazy big colorful 3D statues of gods and goddesses.

Butwal, Nepal

Butwal, where we are tonight, is a big crazy city, much bigger than Pokhara, and more like Kathmandu. There are stores with everything, from tech and fashion goods (which I haven't seen in a month ago in Kat - seems so long ago!), internet, hips kids, hustlers, rickshaws, the works. The scene at night was mayhem -- Kathmandu never got this crazy! This town is also close to the birthplace of the Buddha, so it draws many visitors, hence the booming industry. I ate SO much food and a startling variety for dinner and didn't even feel overstuffed (cuz it's all more or less fresh and healthy). It's nice to alternate between city and rural life! Our hotel room (and potty) is so clean and modern compared to any we've been in, same cheap price, although we had a conversation about how even this 'nice' Nepali room would Never pass back home... our standards have just adjusted so much, and I couldn't be more happy about it. We have TWO outlets, and TWO light bulbs, and a clean enough floor to stretch on, and a ceiling fan! [[Family: skip the rest of this paragraph]] >>> Cara and I went up to the roof after we brushed teeth to check out the view. I noticed a temple atop of the neighboring building and we were gonna try and sneak up there to see, and walking back the way we came through the darkness I tripped on a brick and my reflex was to grab the nearby wall. Ow! It was covered with the Rustiest nails all along the top, and my middle finger had a nice hole poked in it. Add that to my two head bangings today and it was just another day on the road. (My body's never sustained so many cuts, bruises, bites, band-aids, scabs, and bumps before. I'm using this vessel!) Thank gods for preemptive tetanus shots.

Next day, I ended up using the rusty nails for the forces of Good -- to dry my laundry -- as does the hotel.

We're sleeping-in tomorrow - 8am, yay!, then getting some yummy city alu paratha (fav. (Indian) breakfast food), hitting a book shop (burning to finish that Dalai Lama book I started on the farm), and getting our weekly internet fix! We'll be on the road by noon for a short 50km day... it's already 12:45 (yikes!) so I need to regulate. Aww, and I was going to write about all the things I've been missing... ok, quick:

(New song: Late In the Day by Supergrass)

I MISS: * Christmas! Wish I had some Yule-tide cheer in my stocking. * my girl, Amy. got the sweetest email from her last week and I've been running it over in my mind every day... * By day I daydream Burning Man, and at night I dream in Black Rock City. I look forward to it more every day. Only 250 more days and I'll be on my way back! So happy I'll get to start preparing as soon as I'm home! If you want to come this year (Helen Jen, Jasandra, GC) the BM family always has room for You! Let me know so we can start to conspire by email :) * My dear family! Mom, Dad, Dineen, Cristina, Robbie, Dave, Grandma, Tommy, Devon and Dylan... it's burned into my soul to be spending this time of year with you, and instead of having outings and feasting I'm taking you along in my head on this adventure. * My cozy and comforting Brooklyn home. Axl Rose - my red-hot son, and the best neighbors and roommates... * My NY family... Mis Amigos! Where art thou now? (Drop me a line yo!) * Obama! Wish I could see the news more often so I know what's up with my Prez-elect. * Okay, enough schmaltz for tonight.

Sweet siamese daydreams, A
 

Leaving Nepal, 520km to go

Monday, Dec. 15, 9:26PM
30km West of Narayanaghad, Nepal
Song: Peacock tail, Boards of Canada
475km


Today I've officially been in Nepal for a month! And I can't believe we're already leaving, although we have 2 weeks left on our tourist visas and it'll take much of that to get out, the way we're going. Nepal is a relatively teeeny country, and we visited its three largest cities and countless villages in between. Now we're heading due west, traversing what would be a big ol' stretch of NE India, but opting to cover the distance on the Nepali side of the border, bound to meet up with friends that the group made on a farm outside New Delhi in the month before I got here. All I can really know about them is that one is the son of a well-to-do organic Indian farmer, who thinks Cara is his girlfriend. More on that in 2 weeks.

Hay Muffin (the goal)

I'm happy to report that yesterday we spent our last day on the Bhattarai family farm actually doing some labor! It may be hard to grasp, but we woke up early and busted our hump all day moving a huge pile of hay. I'll skip my essay on the significance of hay on a farm, but everyone with buffalo needs it, and it takes a lot of work to make those picture-perfect straw muffins you see everywhere! I'm sore as heck, more than any day of biking so far, so we done good! What's funny is that we spent all day 'processing' the hay (shaking the leftover rice out of it), finally got the whole pile moved into a nice muffin in the back yard just before sunset, cleaned up the loose mess, swept the yard, until all that was left was a modest 4 foot mound of salvaged rice. Exhausted, we were so happy to be done, and hungry! Imagine it pitch black, no lights anywhere, and all of a sudden you hear this ominous noisy tractor coming down the street. Balarm borrowed my headlamp and rushed out into the street, and I see a silhouette of the biggest, most oversized (3x the width and height of the tractor) Mountain of new hay I've ever seen, and they dumped it into the middle of the yard, right on top of our little pile we worked so hard for! It looked like an avalanche, many times bigger than the hay we started with, and all we could do was jump into it. And that's where we made a cozy nest to eat dinner. So fun!

Hay mountain, us in it

It's too late to write about today! We're getting up at 6 to bike 70-100km (big day!) Just in case you weren't sure, Nepal still kicks supreme booty! Today we started our long journey on the right foot, and now we're savoring our long country road exit route. This evening we're in a simple guest house with most gracious hosts, and our candle-lit dinner and stimulating, hilarious conversation about Nepali economics and culture couldn't have been more enjoyable. Love and humility, A
 

Chitwan, Shitwan... (updated Video links)

Chitwan, Nepal
448km
Song: The L Train is a Swell Train and I Don't Want to Hear You Indies Complain by Out Hud

...I muttered at least a few times during the last 2 days off-roading in pursuit of the wonders of Chitwan National Park. Disregard any previous references to Royal Chitwan, as the royal family no longer has much pull or influence over things in Nepal, nor are they in the public's favor. 25km-in today, (25 too far on these roads, in my opinion), I wanted to give-up and go home. I imagined skipping out on the Elephant Safari we were booking it to, late for our 3pm appointment, going home and laying in the hay pile and reading the Dalai Lama book I started yesterday, sipping on lots of warm tea, and blogging about how I hate biking these Nepali back roads. It was too late, we were too close, I had to push-on. I lucked-out actually, because the safari was much better than I expected, and I had a minor epiphany about these crap roads. I'm more tired than ever, and typing (and my English) is difficult tonight, but Let's take it from the top:

Yesterday, Balarm the farmer graciously led us on bike to Chitwan National Park to hopefully go on safari, but it was a wickedly ass-kicking ride (in a bad way) 10km down some main thoroughfares, which for some reason around here are all covered with baseball to football-sized rocks. (The same roads we've suffered through before between here and Narayanaghad on bike and gypsy bus.) Unfortunately for us there was no safari yesterday, because unfortunately for some other humans and cattle in another area of the park, a dastardly tiger has been out terrorizing, and the elephants were called to duty to scare it away. (Tigers are scared of elephants.) We went out for a nice leisurely lunch at the nearby Rhino Resort, and had a much more pleasant ride back home on mostly nice smooth dirt paths that cut through the endless back fields of yellow, purple and pink flowers, which it was quite fun and picturesque. Why can't they all be of smooth dirt? I don't know why the main roads are all so rocky, when the land is obviously not -- they must have been added deliberately by some misguided city planners, cuz they suck! (Sorry, just had to get that out. I disclaim, my Rant may not be fully exorcised yet.)

Today we biked 10km in the Other direction to another part of Chitwan Park (hopefully not That other part of the park with the bad tiger), with Pradeep, the farmer's son, to hopefully see the purportedly kick-butt museum. The roads to get there, you guessed-it, Sucked! Then we paid the 500 rupees 'tourist admission' to military guards with machine guns -- a handsome sum of money which we could live off for 3 days on the road, and get this, admission for Nepalis is only 20 rupees! With the theme of Jurassic Park going through my head we pass through the barbed-wire entrance, bike across a long bridge an get our admission 'Permits' looked over by another set of guards, then go down a short hill where some more guards try to make us leave our bikes with them, but Pradeep somehow gets us permission, thanking them Formally (Namascar!) before we follow the path towards the museum, which is Closed today. We went over to a nearby Alligator refuge, paid another 100 rupees each (gratis for Nepalis), and saw a bunch of alligators. There were a bunch of big turtle areas, but No turtles. The best thing we saw -- no special fee required -- was the Orphan Tiger. We walk through the woods and find a big wooden cage, as tall as it is wide and deep. I climb a ladder and look-in at the huge gorgeous Bengali Tiger, whose mother was a man-eater, which in this case runs in the family! I can comment on how much you're all on your own regarding safety here, from the sketchy ladder that takes you up 20 feet, how easily I could have fallen (in or off), to the fact that I was taking video of the stunning beast through 1/2 inch of termite-chewed wood, and yes you can stick your fingers right in and touch her if you dared. Amazing!

The Orphan Tiger (videos on Flickr: one / two)

Suddenly it was half past two and we had to beat it 15-20km to make our last-reservation-of-the-day Elephant Safari! Man, I knew it when we started off in the opposite direction that this would be the case! At 4pm we made it (an hour late), and somehow Pradeep convinced them to still take us on our wild journey. Another 4,200 rupees later (1,000 each for us, 200 for Pradeep) and with the Jurassic Park theme still playing we were crossing through multiple tall barbed-wire electric fences into the Elephant Sanctuary, which was indeed wild, sprawling, and beautiful. This is where everything changed to Amazing.

Armored [Rhino] Butt

I was worried that this whole elephant business might be a sad, exploitative affair. Ironically, my Vegan amigos were all gung-ho and despite my being grumpy on the ride over and trying to get out of it, here I was. As soon as I saw our two big elephants waiting for us, eating bundles of greens, I got excited. They looks SO adorable, lively, fit, and I'll be damned if they weren't happy to see us and Smiling. I've seen a bunch of elephants, a bunch of them heartbreaking, but also some happy ones, indeed, but these two 40 year old babes seemed to be doing all right. In a minute we were all petting them, holding their warm thick trunks in our arms, climbing on top. And off we went! Apparently we were very lucky to come across a couple of Rhinos only minutes into our jungle tour, a momma and baby. Single-horned Rhinos, native only to Nepal I believe, are SO cool-looking! Super thick, steel grey, with leathery armored bodies. Their butts look so funny! (Video to come on my Flickr, eventually.) The land was thick forest, with prehistoric-looking growth everywhere, no paths; we just forged through the brush atop our giant elephant kings of Chitwan like timeless kings or aboriginals ourselves.

Elephant Butt

Man I'm tired now, as you probably are of reading, but an hour later and many snuggles with our purring beastly friends (or were they growling? I can't be sure), we were on our bikes again. It was suddenly dark, and we had a decent distance ahead of us to get home. And now for my epiphany, revisited...

This summer at Burning Man, the desert's dry cracked surface was mostly soft and far more difficult to bike on than in previous years, due to some late rains in the season. Many people refused to even attempt traversing the playa on bike after their first day out, as the quicksand dunes could be seen everywhere -- it just wasn't as fun. One night after running our bar for a couple hours I borrowed someone's cruiser and took-off into the night, biking like the wind, inebriated, uninhibited, and unfazed by the unfavorable playa conditions. It was then I realized that, regarding the sand dunes, what you can't see can't hold you back. So for the rest of the week I just didn't pay them any mind, and I was free.

I had an idea that this might be the case, too, on these hell roads. In the fleeting light the road looked more smooth. Darkness descended, and we could barely make out the street or its countless rocks, road-apples and ditches, but we didn't stop. Rocks went flying, we got slowed-down soft dirt, we bounced and jolted and surely had some close calls, but none more than during the daylight, and it was a lot less stressful. Miraculously we followed the strip of not-black home, and none of us busted our asses! I even think, opposed to our daytime weave to the clearest-looking patches of road, our blissfully ignorant direct path was smoother, and it went by a lot quicker.

With my eyes Off the road, I got to take-in the sights. As usual, electricity was out for miles, and I noticed all the dark homes with families within, an the rest with only a single candle (or two at the most). Oh, what a sight! Since we never bike at night, I've never yet had the pleasure to drive through towns in this minimal light. To glimpse into earthen homes lit by a single wick of fire is incredibly transcendent, just raw beautiful. All day today I've been noticing the beautiful architectural and aesthetic simplicity of the country homes, and by night they are ever more vivid. When we got back to our lightless home, I ditched my bike and lay in the hay pile. Balarm sat and spoke to me, and I could barley move, but eventually rolled over to show him video of the tiger and our jungle trip. It was all worth it. Pradeep went right to sleep (without dinner, I think!), we washed up, ate, and retired to our beds. Speaking of books, are you still reading? Sweet safari dreams!
 

No Christmas in Chitwan / Hanging on For Dear Life

Thursday, Dec. 11, 9:58PM
Narayanaghad, Nepal
Song: Do You Close Your Eyes, The Smashing Pumpkins

Lazy Pups

Today we went to the big city, and reflecting on it and the general atmosphere around here, it's not December, nor is it Christmas. Most everyone here is Hindu or Buddhist, and in contrast to America, where everyone, regardless of creed, can soft of enjoy Christmas as a holiday, Nobody here does. Not a shred of Christmas to be found. This may sound delightful to some of you! I certainly felt that it might be cool to get away from it. But it's a bit weird. (Gingerbread, boo hoo.)

In other news, we Somehow skipped out on doing farm labour for the last two days. Yesterday after breakfast and laundry we went to do Internet. As my fourth grade Social Studies teacher Mrs. Lawrence would have said, doing internet from a village of a developing country is like taking the slow boat to China. After three hours of click and wait, peppered by a couple outages, we got back at the farm with enough daylight to plant a couple rows of sunflower seeds in our newly weeded garden. Wwoof! (And boy were we tired, from all that internet tedium! Ironically, we really were.) Today, over breakfast we were making plans for tomorrow's Elephant-riding Safari and realized we didn't have the requisite 1500 rupees apiece, so our host Balarm insisted we hop on the next bus to town. An hour later (there's Much waiting when it involves the gypsy bus) we were atop our trusty steed, zig-zagging the long way on country roads ride-em-cowboy-style, 2 hours at least, through every village between Chitwan and Narayanaghad. Our only business was to use the ATM and pick up some sweets. In under an hour we withdrew many rupees, then we waited an hour, and were on our way home with a big box of sweets from a yummmy looking bakery to share with the family tonight at our much-anticipated screening of The Jungle Book. There had to be 75-80 of us in and Atop the tiny metal shuttle (I named her Tetanus) which would have legally carried only 25 people in the US. Actually, Tetanus wouldn't be legal in the US any way you slice it. (Cara has the must-share pic!)

[ Cara's pic: us clinging on top of the rusty barrel-o-monkeys for 2 hours ]

The ride home was freakin' Craaayzee! It took longer, we were a lot less comfortable, bootys ached, as did our clenched-for-dear-life knuckles. Also it was scary to watch for oncoming branches and low-hanging power lines in the thick foggy darkness. (The signal for 'look out' for passengers behind us was "Aggggggggh!") We got home at 7:30, inhaled our warm delicious dal, rice and Soy meat -- Chitwan Ama is a culinary genius -- 8 of us piled into our room for the movie, and we all fell asleep. Oh, the worst was that our yummy sweets got left on top of the bus! (Ahem, wasn't me.) But woe was.

Tomorrow on Safari will make 3 consecutive days of labor-less WWOOFing. (There go the crazy choir of dogs again! They always surprise me with their thunderous preamble.) We all feel really bad that we're not doing much work here. But I honestly just don't think there's much to be done here right now. Today we were going to weed another plot, go to a neighbor's and pick some coffee beans, and set-them up to become sprouts in the nursery-to-be. Depending on how much weeding, it wasn't going to be that big a day anyhow. Well there's always Saturday!

Babe hit it right on the head when he sung La la la, la la la, la la la, la laaaa! Merry Christmas from Nepal! (Imagination required.)
 

To Protect and Serve the Queen

Song: Dew In June, Howie B; I Love You, I Do by I Love You Airlines

(Queen Bee)

We've decided to stay here on the farm for 5 days, which will give us about 2 weeks to bike out to India, taking a road that traces the south edge of the country for 2/3 the length of Nepal. We could choose a closer border crossing into India, (like 1/10 the distance away), but we'd rather travel the long distance towards central India in Nepal where it's cleaner and more stress-free than India.

Today we settled back into farm life, waking up just before tea time, and then Balarm gave us a proper tour of the property. His main field crops this time of year are mustard seed, maiz, and wheat grass, but foremost he's a bee farmer, with about 40-50 hives buzzing full tilt all day. So now, in addition to spiders, flies, beetles and ants, I'm getting used to living in a bee's world. Pradeep showed me the Queen bee in one of the hives, who's job it is to lay eggs, most of whom become her workers. If a new queen is born they kill her, so as not to confuse the bees, who's only focus is serving Her. No matter what bug I find at any turn, I won't hurt or kill it, as it's an integral part of the wild ecosystem which perfectly maintains itself, and which allows me this blissful experience in nature, away from anything resembling a city or a factory farm. This farm, like Surya's, barely has any tools. Nepali goodness!

Today we weeded the front yard so we can plant sunflower seeds tomorrow. Man was it overgrown! And guess what tools we used... that's right, hands. We did some major bushwacking, man! We also had a hoe and a curved blade to help. I so wish we took before and after pics, but we had no idea how much ground we'd cover. We started with a small plot next to the water pump, and before you knew it 5 hours had passed and we did the whole front yard.

(Ho's hard at work.)

As one would expect of farm life, it's chock full of fun with animals. Squatting like a Nepali I watched the three buffalo do there thing (which is Chewing) for 45 minutes. The calf, so pretty and awkward, has a little piggy face (maybe I'm projecting, having watched Babe movies 3 times in 3 weeks) is really shy but let me pet her a little. Bonnie got real close with the neighbor's sheep (letting her play ventriloquist with his mount, no resistance whatsoever), and of course a few cool goats kept us laughing all day. Also quite charming is the choir of countless dogs who howl all night long in these parts. It's nuts. They don't keep me up or freak me out, but boy do they get riled up come bedtime!

Other highlights of the day include identifying fruit trees by tasting their leaves (mmm mango!), riding a random old crappy bike with Cara on the back sidesaddle, chasing Congo the cat all around with my videocam, my outdoor shower (I love it), eating the most amazing Dal in my life (it's like chickpea soup that is served with every meal but never ceases to amaze), the daughters singing to us during dinner, getting my hair braided by the youngin', hearing all about the Nepali funeral (and cremation) Pradeep attended today, reading the Future of Food article in Wired, getting my butt beat by Jamie in Checkers, and watching Shrek 2 with the whole family and neighbors in our tiny room before bed.

That's all the exciting news from Chitwan! And tomorrow, power outages-willing, we'll hit up the internet place so I can tell you all about it! Love and love, Anthony

Climbing Mountains to get to the Lowlands

Climbing Mountains to get to the Lowlands
Monday Dec. 8, 10:07PM
Sucranada, a village near Chitwan, Nepal

Song: "After Class" by Atlas Sound on Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Not Feel

Today we pushed it, 80km (twice the distance we did each of the last two days!) The first 30 or so were hard, up and down rolling hills on a dusty narrow broken mountain road. Then, all of a sudden, it flattened out, like we were on a plateau. It was weird to be biking in Nepal without going either up or down a hill. As the mountains faded into the background behind us, we were cruising fast on level ground, and the vegetation changed radically to more temperate, sprawling forest, and I could imagine THIS to be the home of all the wildlife I've heard about. A saw some monkeys in the road, and only imagined far-off sounds of elephants and tigers. Suddenly we were going trough the very large and kinda dumpy city of Naranghar (Nepal's 2nd largest city to Kathmandu).

Happy Cow, aka Cowface

(The Bhattari family farm guest house. We shared the room on the left.)

We heard the farm was another 10-15km beyond the city.... 40km later down the bumpiest-ass crap country road (I was really cursing) we arrived at the Balarm Bhattarai House, Balarm being the man of the house, Pradeep his son (20) and Pradicha (13) and Pramila (16) his daughters. From what we could tell in the sunset, the farm is beauiful, but as we were exhausted we skipped the tour and hit the showers. After unpacking and dinner we sat around on the stoop of our newly-completed guest quarters and got to know each other. Cara guided us all through some yoga stretches. Pradeep narrated a photo album filled with past guests, Nepali traditional ceremonies, and photos from a Safari we'll go on in the National Park we're actually in right now! If we were here 2 days earlier, we would have attended an Elephant festival in which they play elephant polo! And we got the low-down on some of the national dress (and those cool caps that the men wear). Many guests in the guestbook were sporting traditional Nepali dress... wonder if we'll be around for any special occasions!

They also have a tiny cat named Conga, who looks just like the one from last night in the classroom. We actually saw a few more cats today, and I'm going to make a generalization that they all look pretty much the same: light-colored, tiny and skinny, with large ears. I would never have guessed Conga was a mother 3 times over. Anyway I'm happy to have a kitty around.

I can already tell, this family is so cool. It's ridiculous and hard to get over that we can just travel around, help out a bit, but basically be treated as family and get shown around. It's just so... foreign! I mean the concept of being so friendly to strangers. People rule. I never thought traveling could be so easy, at least in regards to feeling welcome, and safe, and so well looked-after. It's truly an inspiration on how I want to live my life, not as a guest but as a host. Well both, as you can't have one without the other! I want to be more open, and learn not to distrust every stranger I meet... that's bad culture! Brotherhood of all (wo)men! Hey, where'd that soap box come from?

Anyway I'm super-duper beat, but psyched that we might get on the internet tomorrow so I can finish uploading some of these pictures! Or at least I'll try. Love from Chitwan, Anthony

Sleeping in the School, Again!

(Down down down the mountain, my friends riding on top of the bus with our bikes, me safely bouncing around inside with our bags.)

Songs: Orgasm by L7, Monster Hospital by Metric

I'll make this a quickie entry. I just powered-up to charge my dangerously low-batt iPod to, but since we're sleeping in a school again (without much privacy) I best make haste before they notice my pretty shiny Apples.

(Geek: Did you know that you can charge your iPod from your notebook running on battery power? Me neither, till recently. It actually sort of sucks if you're just trying to play movies from your iPod on the big screen, as it automatically charges your iPod/and subsequently discharges your computer. No options for this, Apple?)

We've been in bed for 2 hours and groups of people coming home peer in the window and say hello (some singing, some drunk, all laughing). So we're back in the school house from 2 weeks ago, and boy that seems like ages ago! Back then, I though sleeping in a simple room with rock walls, tin roof, and dirt floor was roughing it. Now we're seasoned pros, and this is great, and free! Yeah, the rooms for 150 rupees ($2) we can do without! It was funny to have the school room as our destination today, and only moments after we arrived the kids came down off the mountain running and kept us company until sunset. This time I didn't feel as objectified, (like when we we re setting-up and dozens of them were watching from all angles through the windows.) This time, set-up was lickety-split, they know us now (from last time), and we spent most of the next 2 hours playing in the school yard.

(We slept in these kids' classroom.)

We've doubled-back in the direction we came from (82km so far from the farm in Begnas Tal), two days of pedaling behind us and in another day we'll be at the next farm in Royal Chitwan National Park. Biking has been great. I'm stronger, riding back over familiar terrain has been a pleasure -- usually I'm bored going back the same way, like when hiking -- and I re-arranged my bags by taking my bedding out of the big panniers to make more room and strapping them on to the top (in Bob's awesome waterproof bag, big wink!), moving heavy stuff out from the front bags for way better handling. The ride in this direction has also been much easier, with lots more downhill riding. One hill I was dreading was about 10km up, and whenever I felt weak I'd ponder this deep thought: "Would I rather be working in Midtown, or be climbing this mountain in Nepal?" I don't think I even enjoyed the downhills we had on the first trip, as I knew they meant long climbs today. But I've been tackling these hills like a beast and singing all the way down, as they're behind me now! Today I topped 50km/hr downhill four times! We also stopped off at familiar places where we had great meals, got some killer groceries for fresh fruit and vegetable salad for breakfast. In short, we've got this down!

[ Pic: ferocious kitten ]

Today I saw some monkeys doing it. They were big baboon-types. I haven't seen any monkeys since Kathmandu, so that was a treat. We also saw some dogs doing it earlier. Now we're heading to Chitwan to see the tigers do it. My sex life is strictly vicarious -- so how's the action back home? One more animal anecdote: Shortly after we got in our sleeping bags and started reading we hear this loud, incessant meowing. Either it was kids (not a long-shot) or a rare Nepali kitten! (There are so few cats here, I can count all I've seen on one hand.) So the little cat jumps in the window and she's like a constant meow-machine! She snooped all around us, smelled our bags, then jumped up into the rafters and climbed all around the top of the classroom until she really started crying and we tried to rescue her. Eventually she did some cat aerial acrobatics and got down, and hung out with us until just a little while ago. I started to miss Ezmy, Amy's cat, and looked at going away pictures on my iPod for a while. Sniffle. I miss you guys!!!

I may sound like Ironman when it comes to biking but I'm freaking tired! I was ready for bed at 6:30 when we got here. You wouldn't believe it but I've been up by 7am most days, which still adds up to more sleep than I've ever gotten in my life! Tonight Jamey reported that his love handles are officially shrinking, and Bonnie's declared her butt is, too. I wonder what's happening to me! I haven't looked in a mirror in weeks. Oh dang, I'm the last one awake! I better catch some zzZZz before class is in session. I loved reading some positive feedback emails last night. I'll keep posting if you keep writing! (Ahem, ahem! Sorry, must be some phlem from the burning trash.) So much for a short entry! Goodnight, lovelies!

We part ways with heavy hearts

(last night's sunset)

Song: In a beautiful place out in the country (Boards of Canada)

Sad! Our last night at the farm. We all really love it here, and as every signatory in the guest book can attest to from the years the Adikari's have had their open home/farm, this place feels like a home you never want to leave. And for that reason we have repeatedly extended our stay form 3 nights to over a week. Tonight I was the bad guy, because folks were talking about staying another night (again, 5th night in a row) and I said "No, let's just get on with it!" I'm probably the biggest wuss of the group when it comes to long-distance biking, but I've been mentally preparing for the long haul and I just want to start already. (Do I sound defensive?)

Really, though, this place rules. If anyone wants to volunteer on a farm and get to know Nepali people, I'd definitely recommend it here. My cohorts only went to one farm before I arrived, and on that farm they didn't even have to work (that farm was a big machine with day laborers, albeit an organic one). This place is the real deal, and I think everyone wanted to stay because, for the first time on the whole trip, it's the all-around most pleasant, beautiful, stress-free, friendly, warm, communal, open and loving environment we've found. Plus, there are tigers! Today's breaking news over morning tea was that last night a small tiger killed two goats down the road, and the store by the school house got robbed for 6000 rupees by some punk kids! And I thought all Nepali's were so sweet! The Adikari's are appalled at kids these days. (FYI, 6k rupees is about $80, but that's a lot of dough around here.)

The Adikari House is also a focal point of the region's farming community, as it's the "Pulping Center" and growers and harvesters from all over the mountain bring their coffee beans here for weighing and processing. (Surya sells all the beans on behalf of the whole mountain to Everest Coffee, who brings them to market in Japan.) Throughout the day farmers drop off their daily harvest, or sometimes it's their children passing through on their way to school (which is just up the road). It's been really nice to become part of the community instead of passers-through, as many neighbors and people in the neighborhood see us every day, and we all interface with them regularly. The kids jump on and hang all over us like family, too. Yesterday , Cara got a makeover by the girls next door. Today, we washed our clothes and hair with Bimela, the neighbor's 11-year old daughter. Today, after tuning up my bike, I took a ride down the street (with a 4-year old on sitting on my back rack). Not to mention the 11 guests who are currently staying here at the house with a common interest and widespread origins -- our great web of purpose is expanded and fortified.

Tomorrow at 9am, with our 4 bikes and 20 bags, we will board the decorated bus that comes down our road once a day, so we don't kill ourselves getting off this mountain. (Yesterday my crazy friends took a bike ride a short ways down the mountain, without luggage -- I passed without hesitation -- and all 3 fell off and suffered minor injuries due to the untamed terrain.) I have a feeling we will be riding on top of the bus, which is exciting! I've heard nothing but Fun! (On a safety note, and I know this sounds terrible, but in the event of an accident, like falling off a cliff, which is always a concern when riding these mountain-traversing third-world buses, at least we can jump off instead of tumbling down trapped like sardines.) Our morning descent will only be a short trip, 30 minutes to the bottom, and it'll be slow-going. Also, if you're reading this, I made it OK!, (as I'm typing all this stuff from the least 8 days offline, posted from the safety somewhere in wild beautiful Nepal.) Next stop, after maybe 3 days of biking, is Royal Chitwan National Park! (where all the postcards of huge Bengali tigers and doing it originate.) As we say maybe a hundred times a day and night, Namaste!

Or for a good old fashioned good night: Subayatri!

Things I love about farm life in Nepal (in no particular order):

/ > Hands. All I can say is hands. Magic hands do it all - harvesting juicy red coffee beans one by one, pulling coffee tree branches down low to get high-up beans, removing thousands of fermenting rinds off of harder-to-peel beans, scooping wet slimy beans into buckets, carrying buckets down to the water source, scooping water out of the well, washing each half bucket of beans ten times and stirring them clean (of course, with your hands), spreading a sea of coffee beans out to dry, and piling mounds of them up for safe keeping again at night, climbing trees, weeding gardens, washing dishes, pots, cups, sweeping the dirt ground, washing buckets out for their next use (and they have many), scrubbing and rinsing clothes, getting peas and lentils out of their pods, squeezing hundreds of lemons, peeling oranges, feeding the orange rinds to the momma goat, milking the buffalo, picking radishes. Washing your hands. If you're Nepali, eating your food (without utensils.) Today Chris came back from a day trip to Pokhara with a rake for Surya. Can this possibly change everything? (I doubt it.)

/ > Carrying stuff on your back (or head). There's no fancy machines or conveyor belts or trucks or tractors or elevators or pulleys moving things up and down the hills. There are women and Americans loading up buckets and jugs and carrying them in baskets on our backs, held up by a rope with a headband on the front to secure with your forehead.

/ > Tea time (twice a day).

/ > Nap time (if I need it or have time to kill.)

/ > There's only ONE farm tool in this whole place that uses electricity: the de-pulper. I'm not sure if that's the name or just what I imagined it was called. It takes the rind off the coffee beans. That's the one thing I'm glad we have, or de-pulping would take a looong time. There's aren't even hand-crank devices. Weeding is done with a curved blade. A man comes down the street plucking his single string on the cotton weaving device he carries that looks like a musical instrument, advertising his service -- spinning cotton. The day before we got here they got a rice cooker. Besides light bulbs not much else requires electricity. That's especially good because there isn't electricity for 1/2 the day anyhow. When we need to charge our cameras and computers Surya just unplugs his flat screen and wi-fi router... just kidding.

(foreground: a pile of whole coffee; midground: the coffee de-pulping machine)

/ > Star-gazing, at least for a little while every night. And sunsets -- a great time to take a walk.

/ > Spiders and their webs. In Pokhara, while we were waiting for our Thanksgiving tempura to be served, we were standing up in our shoe-less booth to watch the spiders weaving their webs in the paper lamp above the table. Each of the four tassels hanging from the corners formed a curved-in spine for a big web, each with a nail-sized spider sitting in the middle. Our waiter asked if we enjoyed watching the spiders "making their home". Yes, we did very much. And I especially enjoy that the spiders are at home, in just about every room in Nepal that I've been in, going about their lives, living together with their mountain people. They come in all sizes, and I wouldn't dream of killing them or disturbing their homes (unless they're blocking a nice cluster of juicy red coffee beans during harvest.)

My bedfellow

/ > The bee box in our bedroom above the buffalo. Midday, while we're out doing our chores, hundreds of bees are flying in and out of their bee home in our window. There's another one right in front of 'the library', or shared bookshelf in the hallway in front of everyone else's rooms. I'm not worried at all about them, and I doubt they think much of me.

/ > Cows in the street. Just munching away, or drinking from a puddle by one of the watering holes. Some have hilarious voices, like the baby calf who sounds half frog, and crack me up.

/ > School children everywhere, especially around 3PM. The other day I was carrying baskets with my head and I passed by a couple dozen of them. Some boys say "Hello!" like little parrots and others laugh at my uncharacteristic role of a white boy with french braids and two flowers in his hair doing the women's work, and when you make eye contact with the girls they press their hands together saying "Namaste", then turn away giggling like, well, school girls.

The baby goats. I already wrote about them, but they're just like Kids! (bu dum bom ba!) So playful, excitedly scrambling and hopping around with all four legs at once, loving to jump on each other and you! If you bend down, they'll jump on your back. Or your lap. And eat your hair. At three weeks old they still only drink from Maa, but they seize those nipples with ferocity (to get the milk flowing again) and the boy is already trying to mount the girl one. Supposedly he's been doing it since 10 days old! They're a riot. Today while we were peeling beans they were jumping on everyones backs so Ama put a backet over them with a rock on top. They just went to sleep. And Bonnie had one in her arms, and with his legs all folded like origami he fell right asleep, out cold! Ama thought he was dead, and was sticking her finger in its mouth to see if he'd suckle. Nope! So funny! Kids!

/ > Dal Bhat (translated Lentils & Rice). Usually accompanied by a vegetable curry (right now it's the seasonal potatoes and cauliflower,) and another season vegetable (like stewed greens or a little chutney and pickle). It's our two meals a day, and the two meals of pretty much every Nepali person. Ama changes it up just a little every day. Yesterday Ama made Roti, flat bread. The night before, pigeon peas in the curry! Today, Chris brought us each a samosa from Pokhara! Today's stewed greens tasted more delicious than ever, as she let me watch her cook them, and I could taste the garden tomatoes I never knew were in there, and the onion, and mustard oil.

(Dhal bhat)

/ > Listening to my iPod before bed while writing in my journal, listening to an Out Hud song named "Dear Mr. Bush, There are Over 100 Words for Shit and Only 1 for Music. Fuck you, Out Hud". It's two beautiful worlds coming together, East and West. Is my real home back East, or back West? I feel at home here too. I love missing all the things I love about life in NY. Like ice cream and soy milk, tacos, avocados, and un-chicken patties. And my whole entire family. And my darling friends and special lady. And my precious spoiled and handsome turtle! And the Holidays. We were talking about making ginger bread houses today and I got a warm tingle in my heart. I've never been without the Holidays before! Twinkle lights, christmas specials, egg nog, decorations, the family tree chop, bloody marys and horseradish dip! It's so wonderful to miss it all, because the emotion is all positive, I can appreciate it unadulterated, and it will be even sweeter next time!

Wow, midnight already! And I'm getting up to watch the sun rise over the southern ridge of the Annapuras this morning! Baaaaaaaaah!

Baboo still going strong.

Yesterday I was a little out of it, my appetite small and my body (and especially my back) fatigued from the last couple days of pushing it (the bikes up the mountain, and from Day 1 of farm labor.) Surya and Ama were a both a bit concerned about me, but sometimes you just need a day to recuperate, and they understood. I took a nap mid-afternoon and spent numerous parts of the day lying on my back. Today I felt 100% again and had a blast. Even washing the beans was fun. This chore involves carrying buckets of slimy, semi-fermented beans Nepali-style on our backs to the well (on foot, down and up a hill, using baskets supported by your head) to be washed. I was dreading doing this again, as my first day I had tired back and legs. It's brilliant that the chores rotate from day to day, keeping things interesting and giving your body a break. But I definitely do like the hard work, and pushing myself. Like with the biking, it's a beautiful thing to find peace in potentially grueling work, by just accepting it, letting-go of any negative thoughts, and thinking nice things.

After washing the beans and tea time, all of us 'guests' took a walk to hang out by the big tree on the hill. We hung out and climbed the tree for a long while, while the light changed form daytime to dusk, then came home for dinner. After our meal a ghost seized us! It came out from the dark bushes a screaming, lunging specter covered in straw, with a gas mask and gargantuan radish penis. In a creepy voice it asked for food and he also said "give me pen", a joke as all the kids in these parts ask you for a pen (because it's easy to say). I found out later that the ghost was none other than our friend Gary, acting out an elaborate idea thought up by the women juicing lemons this afternoon. Ama had been feeling sick for the last few days and was walking with Gary down the road when a man felt her pulse and told her that she'd be well off making a food offering. Whether of not the show did the trick, it was hilarious, so moving, in-fact, that Cara peed herself! LOL.

One more day here at Surya Presad Adikari House will make five, and then we are bound for Royal Chitwan. It's gonna be a lot of biking from here on out, with a week or two in-between to enjoy the sights of Agra, Rajasthan, and who knows where else our Indian friends will take us on our Jeep journey to Goa. Funny, though, with all the biking we're still looking at another whole month in Nepal before we even set foot in crazy India.

I can't believe how fast time is going-by. Happy December, everyone!