25 OCT 98

I have spent the last week hanging out in Kathmandu and figuring out what to do next. Every day my plans change as I find out new information. But, at last, I have come up with a plan.

Tomorrow, Gary and I will take a local bus to Jiri. The bus ride takes about 12 hours to go 190 kilometers. It cost us each about three dollars, but that includes the extra seat we had to get for our backpacks.

Jiri is the end of the road and from there we will walk. We will take a little over a week to get up to the Everest area. My friends Mike and Tim, along with two other people, will meet us in Namche Bazar. From there we will take about two weeks to walk around the high mountains in the Mt. Everest area. Then Gary and I will keep walking southeast for another two weeks until we get to Hile. From there we will catch a bus back to Kathmandu.

We should get back here around my birthday. I will check for mail at the American Express office (hint, hint). On the ninth of December we will start a four day kayak course on one of the nearby rivers.

It will probably be getting pretty cold in this mountain kingdom by then. For today at least, the plan is to go around India until March or so and then come back up here to Nepal. I will then take a walk around the Annapurna region before heading home.

The Internet costs about five cents per minute here, which is pretty good. It is also very fast.

On Friday I ate lunch at a little place across the street. The waiter's 15 year old brother-in-law had no school that day and was hanging out at the restaurant. Segun became my guide for the afternoon. We went up to the Monkey Temple and he explained a bit of it to me. We also took a bunch of local buses around the area. I was able to ask him all sorts of questions about life in Nepal and I learned a lot.

I think my diet will change considerably tomorrow. I expect to be eating little more than rice and beans for the next five weeks. This will be a big change from my time here in Kathmandu. I usually eat yogurt and granola with bananas and oranges in the morning. For lunch and dinner I have been choosing from one of the many Italian, Korean, Japanese, Indian, Thai, Tibeten, Nepali, and American places in the tourist district.

I don't think I will be able to update this for about six weeks, but it should be a pretty exciting update when I do.

23 OCT 98

In Singapore, I took a walk around the city and looked at the sights. I went to the National Museum and learned a little bit about the history of the City/State. I also went to the Chinese Gardens, but they were not very impressive.

On Saturday, I went to dinner at Joanne and Ho's house. They are a Singaporean couple who came on one of my Trek America trips last year. They cooked a very nice meal for me at their place and then we went to Little India. It was the Hindu new year, so we checked out a temple and wandered with the crowds.

The next day I flew to India. On the plane, almost every man had a beard, and for a change, mine was the shortest. I had my choice of twenty movies and some computer games on my personal entertainment center. After the flight, I went to a dormitory near the airport. A bed cost a little over a dollar. I got my first four bed bug bites of the trip.

On Monday, I flew into Nepal. I met Gary at the airport and the two of us found a very nice room in Kathmandu for six dollars per day. Gary is a pretty interesting person. He rode his bike to India from London last year.

We have spent the last few days seeing the sights. The first day we went up to the Monkey Temple and had our first taste of Nepalese culture. Two days ago, we found my friends from Australia. With Michael and Rachael, we watched a few cremations on the open funeral pyres by the river. Then we went to a Tibetan temple and walked around it with the monks. I also had my picture taken with a big snake around my neck.

Yesterday, the four of us took a local bus out to a nearby town. It cost about five cents each and lasted an hour. In Bhaktapur we wandered around the narrow, winding streets and looked at temples. We also watched the women winnowing the rice. The bus ride back to Khatmandu was very exciting. The bus was jam packed and when we got to the end of the line about fifty people were waiting for us to get off so they could get on. A women handed me her three kids through the bus window so they could save a seat for her. Then we tried to get off. The ticket taker was checking tickets as we got off and he was also keeping the crowd from rushing onto the bus before we all got off. Eventually, he blinked and the crowed rushed past him. The bus was filled to overflowing and half of the people were still trying to get off. We were swept deeper back into the bus and then had to plow our way back towards the door. We eventually squeezed out, but it sure was fun.

Mike and Rach went back to Oz today. I am going to use today to catch up on some paperwork and read a book in the center of town.

The last few days have been the festival of Depwali, the Hindu New Year. Every night the kids set off fireworks. It is a festival of lights. All of the buildings are draped in electric lights and the roads are lined with candles. It is very pretty, but loud. I think their firecrackers are more like dynamite than the stuff I play with in the States.

The roads are very crowded with people, cars, motorcycles and rickshaws. When a vehicle approaches pedestrians, it honks its horn. This happens about once every second. Nepalese drivers use their horns more than they blink. The streets are very noisy.

Thamal, the tourist area, is set up very well for us. On a typical block there are a few hotels, a few Internet places, a few trinket shops, a few places to eat, a few camping supply shops and a few book stores.

I am spending nearly ten dollars a day on food and lodging, but I hope to bring that down once I leave the capital and start walking.

16 OCT 98

I hung out in Boston for the rest of the week and then went down to New Jersey. I played a game called 'Pitch and Putt' on a shrunken golf course with Uncle Jim and Cousin Josh. I also visited with Aunt Anne and Cousin Nancy. Then I vegetated on their couch for a few days before heading down to Florida.

I spent almost two weeks at my mother's. Mostly I slept and read books. Occasionally I moved boxes and furniture and painted a room. I also saw my grandparents and cousins Dori and Uri. I also tried to rearrange my web page, so now it is a little messed up. I hope to fix it someday.

On Wednesday afternoon I flew to Los Angeles. I went to the hotel I stay at when I am working and visited with the tour leaders who were hanging around. I also arranged my meeting with Mike, a fellow tour leader, in Nepal.

After a few hours in the hotel, I returned to the airport and got on a big plane for a long flight. Thirteen hours after take off we got to Taiwan. There was a typhoon. We tried landing twice, but the wind shear was too strong. We ended up going to Hong Kong instead, it was only another hour further.

I think that the Hong Kong airport is the nicest one I have ever seen. It is huge and it is clean. It is also very quiet. I could hear the dishes clattering in a restaurant three floors above me.

After a few hours, I got on another plane and came over here to Singapore. I used my usual method to find a place to sleep. I took a bus to the section of the city that has many cheap places to stay. When I got off the bus there was a man from one of the hostels there, ready to take me to my new home. I have a dirty, hard bed in a room with three sets of bunk beds. But, it is my first bed since I stopped working. No more couches or floors for me, I am going in style from now on. The bed is a little expensive, but I guess six dollars it not too bad.

I went to some street stalls for lunch. I ate a nice noodle soup and washed it down with sugar cane juice. Now I am ready to go explore the city. Bye.