I'm running a 5K tomorrow - Saturday, May 9! Won't you join me in helping to change the lives of children throughout Tibet, China, India and beyond? Many of you know how passionate I am about Vision Builders, the organization I worked through in Tibet and India. WELL --- TOMORROW I'm running in a 5K and it's the last day to sponsor me. Won't you please consider a small or large donation? Just think of it, $10 can buy a child's food for nearly a month at our Varanasi, India project. Really, no amount is too small. Please visit my fundraising [View Full Entry]

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(Die Internetverbindung erlaubt keine Bilder. Stuerzt sofort ab. Also noch ein wenig Geduld fuer die stetigen Mitleser! Ausserdem folgt eine weitere Ueberarbeitung, denn alles an einem Tag ist zu viel. Details fehlen zu Hauf! Auch werden Erklaerungen in den Bildunterschriften folgen. Wie bereits geschrieben: Wenn diese Abteilung fertig ist, werde ich an ALLE eine Email senden). Das grosse Treffen sollte in Guwahati am Bahnsteig stattfinden. Renate, Stefan, Marina, Donald und Raj der Guide waren bereits im Zug, Helmut und ich sollten zusteigen. Der Zug kam auf Gleis 1 an und fuhr auf Gle [View Full Entry]

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It was drizzling at Tawang lamasery as in Bomdila. The 400-year-old gompa, surpassed in antiquity only by the temple of Llasa, the heartland of Tibetan Buddhism, is still in slumber. The monks are yet to gather for prayers. The sonorous tune from the gyaling pervades the lamasery. Two young monks shrouded in morning mist blow the short trumpets from a small temple atop an unfinished building in the compound. Neighbourhood Monpa women help monks with their daily chores. The monastic musicians enter the gompa past ferocious chimandas who guard the pantheon of Vajrayana deities. They stow away [View Full Entry]

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Dileep Muktan pulled over his car at Bhalukpong, where soldiers watched over every vehicle entering Arunachal Pradesh. After the driver entered his name and car number in the register, the army clerk inspected our inner-line permits. All clean. Two shops farther, a liquor shop awaits us. Arunachal Pradesh was the cheapest of all our destinations, when it came to foreign liquor. But what bowled us over was the ingenious brew called rakshi, lower in price but higher in spirit. After chasing a bus which left us at a roadside dhaba in Orang and fleeing from a group of rickshahwallahs in Tezpur [View Full Entry]

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A Colorful Beginning We left Varanasi during Holi, the “Festival of Colors,” an fertility celebration glorifying the Hindu god Krishna. The festivities began the evening prior with huge bonfires on the street burning effigies of the demoness Holika. On the second day of Holi - the day that we left - the streets were lined with people of all ages throwing pink and blue paint on every passerby. No car, bicycle or pedestrian was safe from the colorful ammunition, so our driver strategically maneuvered us through a less crowded route to the train station from which [View Full Entry]

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While the north-west corner of Arunachal is very Tibetan, the centre is populated by several different (though related) and colourful tribes who generally live in hillside villages, and practice a mix of padi-rice and shifting (jhumm) cultivation. Houses are generally made from local bamboo/timber, and thatched with palm leaves or straw. We had arranged for a 10day extension to be added to our original 10 day permit, when Ann and I dropped back into Bomdilla on our way back out of the Tawang area. The ever-helpful Mr. Tsering Wonge had organised that he would fax the extension to us (Yes you [View Full Entry]

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One of my main reasons for travelling to Arunachal Pradesh in the first place was to visit the Tawang valley in the far north-west corner of the state. This is definitely the Himalayas and very Tibetan. In fact before the British took control of it, it was a district of Tibet. Almost as soon as we entered Arunachal, we began to see Tibetan prayer flags. The Kameng river which we travelled up for the beginning of the journey is fast-flowing and in a steep forested valley - some spectacular rainforest which gradually gives way to more temperate species of trees, [View Full Entry]

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It's not the longest trek, but is an un-spoilt and idyllic neighborhood in North East India. And, like all great journeys, it leaves images of beauty in the mind and vestigial memories of pain in the hamstrings. It's Tawang, named from the horse of Reverend Mera Lama Lodre Gyatso, the founder of Tawang Monastery in the seventeen-century. According to village elders, Tawang was blessed (Wang) by the horse (Ta) choosen by it. The town at an elevation ranging between 6,000 to 22,000 feet hugs the borders of China, Bhutan. The track itself is never far from the Himalayan summits, which is [View Full Entry]

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There's a saying: "It never rains but it pours"...and it comes to my mind not only because we are in the middle of flood season here near Byron Bay, but because after a couple of months of no interest in my ads for travel companions, suddenly I have several enquiries. Not only that, but now there seems to be the real possibility that I may be able to spend some time riding a motorcycle during my explorations. So this tantalising opportunity has arisen...and yet it makes planning even more complex! Now I have to see whether the motorcycle tour will get [View Full Entry]

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Well I have finally fixed my dates for travel. I decided I needed a week before travelling, just to get all domestic things in order, so I've taken enough leave to allow for that. Living on a small rural property has its disadvantages when it comes to preparing for extended journeys: water supplies must be checked, weeds suppressed, fences etc checked and repaired. On the other hand it does mean I can personally grow the trees to offset the CO2 from the flights! Not ideal, but I couldn't find a ship (or the time) going my way. So far I've had [View Full Entry]

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