NoSimpleHighway

The photos in this blog entry show a different side of Beijing, China than the photos in my last entry. Beijing is a huge place and has many different sides to it. The first pictures here were taken in the ultra-modern district of Chaoyang, which is adjacent to the older neighborhood where my apartment is. Chaoyang is home to many office buildings, as well as a good chunk of Beijing's expat population. I actually looked at some apartmets in this area, but preferred the older Hutong neighborhoods in Dongcheng instead. The second half of the photos are from a hike I took on Jiufeng Mountain in one of the rural districts of Beijing. Beijing municipality, as it is often translated, covers a huge geographic area and includes several rural districts that are quite far removed from ... read more

If I had to describe my last couple weeks the first word I would use is wet. The monsoon has been in full swing since I've come back from Ladakh, and the mountain state of Himachal Pradesh is experiencing its hardest monsoon in over 50 years. While it doesn't rain all the time, in many places the clouds never lift and nothing dries out between showers. I spent my last couple weeks in the Himalaya in the Kullu and Parvati valleys staying in several towns and villages before deciding to head back down to the plains. From Manali I left to Kasol, a backpacker enclave that was almost entirely full of stoned Israeli travelers. After a night there I was more than ready to head further up the valley, this time to the village of Kalga. ... read more

This time of year, when most of India is either soaking wet or obscenely hot, scores of travelers head to the high altitude region of Ladakh in the extreme North of India. In addition to being famous for its trekking and for its barren natural landscape, Ladakh is renowned for being drier and sunnier than the Sahara desert. In a typical year less than 2 inches of rain fall in Leh, and the region can go months without seeing any precipitation. In fact, Ladakh is so dry that trekking operators here advise that hikers bring only a fleece to keep warm - rain gear is not normally recommended and few treks bring along adequate gear for wet weather. It was with this in mind that I set out on an 8 day trek across Ladakh from ... read more

NOTE: Although I do not have any pictures from this expedition, the guys I was climbing with do. If possible I will post a link to their photos as they become available. What is the difference between a trek and an expedition? Well for starters a trek is basically a long glorified walk. Twice in Nepal I strapped on a backpack, tied up my hiking boots and began to walk slowly but surely around some of the world's highest mountains. I crossed narrow canyons using rickety bridges, followed raging rivers, and admired vistas of distant peaks. Last week, here in Ladakh I also strapped on a backpack and tied up my hiking boots. This time I was part of a group of 6 guys that I met during the epic minibus ride from Manali to Leh ... read more

One of my favorite books as a young child was How I Had Trouble Getting to Solla Sollew by Dr. Seuss. I would strongly recommend this book for anyone planning to travel overland across the Indian Subcontinent, as it gives a better idea of what to expect from overland travel than any guidebook. I left Delhi almost ten days ago to begin heading toward the high altitude region of Ladakh in the far North of India. I arrived in the mountain town of Manali after spending nearly twenty hours on a decrepit tourist bus sitting under a metal curtain holder that would fall on my head every time the bus hit a pot hole. For most of the trip the man sitting next to me slept with his head on my shoulder, while the man in ... read more

Meet Ravi. The stocky father of two has deep piercing eyes and the calm gentle demeanor of someone who practices advanced meditation. Ravi owns a guesthouse in Bodhgaya Bihar, the town where the Buddha is said to have attained Enlightenment. Bodhgaya is the sole place in Bihar that regularly sees international visitors, mostly Buddhists from other Asian countries coming to visit one of the holiest sites of their religion. Ravi, who hasn't had any formal education, speaks fluent Japanese and English - languages that he taught himself from frequent practice with foreign visitors. A rack of wooden shelves in the reception area is lined with Japanese books that Ravi acquired on a trip to visit friends in Japan. Despite this Ravi struggles to fill out the numerous forms required to register foreign guests with the local ... read more

The Nepali view the Trans-Himalaya, the high altitude passes and valleys of the world's highest mountain range, with a great deal of reverence. Here the sun will burn exposed flesh within a few minutes, the wind can gust over 100 mph in the afternoons, and snowstorms can appear out of thin air. Someone flown in from sea level to a place like Thorung La (5416 M, 17800 feet) would die from lack of oxygen within 24 hours. It is one of the world's toughest environments for people to visit, but also one of the most beautiful. I spent the last 21 days hiking the Annapurna Circuit and Base Camp treks in the Annapurna region of Nepal. In three weeks I covered over 200 miles of terrain ranging from low valleys similar in climate to Florida to ... read more