Greetings folks! Having just returned from the Mt. Everest trek, I realize that it's been a little while since my last posting here. A lot has transpired, but I'll ty to keep it brief here and just stick to the main events. Since my last entry, my friend Elaine and I headed back from Pokhara to Katmandu (about 185 km east) to line up our permits and make necessary arrangements to begin our trek to Mt. Everest (i.e. Sagarmatha) base camp at about 17,000-ft elevation. Our journey got off to an inauspicious start with me battling a vicious but thankfully short-lived [View Full Entry]

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Hello folks. Kids, do I have a treat for you! Not only do I have photos today, but I finally figured out how to upload video clips into this website! Actually, the 2 videos that I posted here are pretty boring, but you're welcome to check them out anyway. Well, back in Pokhara after having just completed my first of two Himalayan treks. This first 9-day trek took me into the Annapurna Sanctuary in the central Himalaya. It was a spectacular hike of about 70 miles or so. The scenery was amazing (the photos really don't do the area justice, kind [View Full Entry]

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Namaste from Pokhara, folks. It's been a while since my last post, I realize. I just finished my volunteer teaching (and farming, as it turned out) assignment in the village of Sarangkot, and am just now getting around to writing. Well, it was a good experience, living up in the village and getting in with the local folks who really welcomed me very warmly. After a couple of rough days in the teaching arena, I settled into a groove with grades 7, 8, & 9 and began to enjoy myself in class. My host family, Yam Thapa (whose name I misspelled [View Full Entry]

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Namaste from Pokhara, in the western part of Nepal, at the foot of the Himalayas! Ah, Pokhara, what can I say about this wonderful place that hasn't already been said. Situated on the beautiful Phewa Lake and at the foot of some of the most spectacular mountain scenery in the world, it is truly a blessed spot to spend some time. If you plan to do any trekking in the Annapurna/Jomson area of Nepal, you will undoubtedly pass through Pokhara. It should be said, though that apart from the lakeshore area, where Western tourists are almost as plentiful as shops selling [View Full Entry]

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Namaste from Kathmandu, in the heart of Nepal! Well, since my last posting I've been doing a fair amount of moving around: From Kuala Lumpur through Bangkok for a couple of days, and then on to Kathmandu (KTM) where I'm at right now. Ironically, I really haven't too much to report since then, primarilly since I've been pretty much sidelined due to a bacterial infection of my foot that became fairly serious. Dr. Syed's $14 treatment that you may remember me recounting in my last posting wasn't too effective, apparently. I also don't have too many pictures this time, but I'll [View Full Entry]

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Well, hello folks and Selamut Datang (Welcome) from Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capitol. Thanks for checking back in with me. It's been a little while since I last wrote anything or added any pictures. Let's see, I think the last thing I wrote had to do with the Mt. Kinabalu trek, and that was nearly 2 weeks ago! Since then, I had moved on to Semporna, on the South China Sea, where I took some scuba diving lessons in one of the world's most dramatic coral reef habitats (Sipidan Island and the other islands nearby). I didn't take any underwater photos, [View Full Entry]

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Hello and selamat pagi from the Malaysian province of Sabah on the island of Borneo! I've been here for about a week now, had the opportunity to do some snorkeling at a couple of the islands just off of Kota Kinabalu (on the north coast) and some mountain trekking to Kinabalu National Partk, including Low's Peak (13,400-ft). Since then I've hoofed it over to the east coast and the city of Sandakan, although I really don't think I'll be staying here very long. I'll get into that later. First, a few words about Borneo. It's the second largest island in the [View Full Entry]

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Well, my Indonesian visa expired on October 10th, and rather than overstay my welcome, and possibly find myself shelling out some serious cash as a penalty for doing so, I decided it was time to leave. I'm not sure what possessed me to think that I would be able to see all of Indonesia in a month's time. Kind of the same logic that I child might use, thinking that with enough persistence and determination that he might be able to dig his way to China from the back yard. I now realize that it would take, at minimum, a solid [View Full Entry]

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I think it was Friedriche Nietzsche (I'm sure Imangled the spelling here) that said, "Little maketh the best happiness." Well, seeing the sunrise from the top of a volcanic mountain certainly validates that claim. My last few days on the island of Lombok have been spent trekking the area around Ganung (Mount) Rinjani, a 3,700-meter (11,000-ft) inactive volcano whose crater is now a lake measuring about 3 to 4 km in diameter. But first, a word about extended travelling: It's not wall-to-wall excitement. In fact, for every day spent doing something really special and exhilarating, t [View Full Entry]

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Greetings from Senggigi in Pulau Lombok, the easternmost island in the Nusa Tenggara chain. I left Labuanbajo on the island of Pulau Flores by boat where I booked a 4-day passage aboard a tiny deathtrap named the Tiga Putra, which means "three brothers" in Bahasa Indonesian. I asked our ever-cheerful captain, Iman, if any of the brothers who owned the boat were aboard for the trip: They weren't. Apparently they knew better than to go to sea in this rickety bucket. In fairness, even though the boat lacked even the most basic safety features (like fire extinguishers, liferaft, [View Full Entry]

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