searching

2/22/2011

in a taxi somewhere between siem reap and phnom penh.

Ben is suffering from EXD (excessive temple disorder).  i may have a touch of it myself. Everybody is a little on edge.  Methinks it is sinking in that we are going home.  No home.  no jobs.  kjds worried about standardized tests and lunchbox coolness factor.

 Had dinner last night with a family from England. Kids aged 8, 5, and 1.  Mom is an infectious disease researcher associated with oxford university.  Dad is a carpenter.  Living in Laos and Cambodia for last 4 years.  kids spent most of the time catching frogs.  Saw my favorite wat.  

I feel that i am supposed to be coming up with some deep conclusions.  Some boiled down essence of truth from six and a half months on the road.  so of course i got nada for u. So out of the mouths of babes...

me: "tell me a few things that u learned on the trip."

Ben:

"i'm good at skiing."

"i learned how to do archery."

"Before, I didn't know that Islam is a religion."

"i learned that I prefer to have a reservation at a hotel instead of just showing up."

Clare:

"i learned how to weave."

"lichtenstein is a very tiny country that people forget about"

"i didn't know that Islamic people didn't eat pork."

"i learned that the caryatid porch ladies were fake and the real ones are in the acropolis museum."

"Beijing does not have dim sum"

'i learned how to use a compass."

somewhere in the above is what we are all looking for.

aforementioned ox-cart

2/20/2011
siem reap

early wake up call.  Pile into tuk-tuk.  Head out of town to a lake where folks live and work on the water.  Floating pigstys and chicken coops.  Lots of hardworking fisherman who throw small nets.  Stopped at a floating restaurant/shop for lunch.  Big hit as there were crocodiles and snakes on display.  Later we nabbed a quick ride on the aforementioned ox-cart.  Then off to the silk farm to watch worms eat mulberry leaves and silk being spun from cocoons.

aforementioned ox-cart

clare adjusts ben's tie

clare with khmer frog

extra crusty

goofy or regular?

game of marbles at wat

good look

house on water

veggie boat

sunset on pub street

vaguely looks like joe's bike

wat polanka

Later we had that great asian dinner where u sit outside at plastic tables and you order stuff and it gets thrown on the grill of the sidewalk kitchen.  Giant prawns, spare ribs, sauteed morning glory leaves with beef and oyster sauce.  The cash register is a cookie tin.  The electricity goes out, nobody bats an eye.  No designer outfitted waitron coming to your table saying that they are Richard and will be your server for the evening and blithering about which farm the turnips came from. 

rest day

mysteres d'angkhor
siem reap
2/18/2011

Rest day.  good coffee followed by pool, reading, noodles, beer, pool, and nap.  sad to leave bhutan but happy to be under the coconuts once again.  Also happy to have spent the 880$ on bangkok air and not have to deal with artillery shells and the overland bus trip "from hell."

rest day over.  followed by a furious round of watting.  these things were built in the 11th century and are featured in movies in the 21st century.  does "lasting style" sound about right?  Gotta love tooling around on elephants and tuk-tuks.  sticking straws into coconuts is an underrated pleasure. 

There are hundreds of 8 year olds selling stuff at the temples.  Today i turned the tables.  A couple of young girls were working me real hard trying to sell beaded bracelets.  I was getting a pretty good rhythm with the "no thanks," when they noticed i had a few silly bands on my wrist (emergency stash).  When they flashed the international "gimme sign" I gave them each a silly band.  As they were admiring their score I said "one dollar."  it took them a minute but then we all had a good chuckle.  Pretty convenient, everything for sale at the wats is one dollar.

Ben has become a lime sorbet fiend.  Jill mumbled something about an ox-cart tomorrow.

you are now entering the 11th century

the wheel is always turning

clare slurps

serious crust

repetition for effect

planning the wat attack

angkor

bootes the herdsman

feb 16th

back in paro

my legs are rubber.  just got back from our 2 day trek.  Spectacular.  Yesterday gained over 3,000 feet in elevation.  slept in an alpine meadow at 11,500 feet.  Had paneer curry, cucumber salad, rice, broccoli with ginger, and finished up with killer bread pudding done on the camp stove with a special bhutanese bain marie maneuver.  Although the hike up was in shirtsleeves, it started snowing around dinner and the wind howled all night.  Forced myself out of the tent to take a leak at 2am and Bootes the Herdsman appeared to me as never before.  His pipe included.  Communed with some yaks this morning before starting on our descent.  We were followed by an auspicious snowstorm which peaked as we arrived at the tiger's nest monastery.  750 steps up and down (2x).  Sometime in the 8th century Lotus Born Buddha rode a flying tiger (his tibetan consort) from Bumthang in the east to these cliffs above paro to subdue some troublesome demons.  Massive waterfall.   Ben and Clare were super troopers.  After 6 months it is funny that they still think that we are going to screw something up royally.  They constantly double check departure times, hotel reservations (or lack thereof), and demand constant updates on itineraries that don't even exist yet.

basket of firewood by the turning wheel on the way down from the Tiger's Nest

first day, ben and Chhimi take a break

ben at lunch on the way up

afternoon, ben on horseback

chhimi's grandmother's house at the start of our trek. it is now the home of an  incarnation of a  buddha

chhimi's father, chhimi and jimmy at lunch 

chortens and prayer flags on the way down to the tiger's nest

the alpine meadow where we camped with chortens, prayer flags, mules and horseman

clare having a buck brannaman moment

clare on her trusty steed on the way up

one of many spectacular places to meditate if you are a monk (who makes a long commitment!) 

family on the way to the tiger's nest

perfect spot for a hot stone bath- it has a great view over the paro valley

lead pony gets to wear a special bridle decoration

another pony looking for his friends on the trail

meditation houses above the meadow where we slept

finally, a good picture of memorial flags!

the mess tent glowing at night

the fire the next morning, snowing lightly, mountains beyond already white  

prayer flags and waterfall next to tiger's nest

the wind blew most of the snow away the night we were there. the next day while we walked down, they got a foot of fresh powder!

snowy trees 

chhimi and clare walking in the falling snow

tiger's nest, 750 steps up and down to get there. do it all again when you leave.

walk to guru's glory

waterfall and snow next to the tiger's nest

we are in crisis...

relaxing in the meadow at 11.5, first day

our friends the yaks

juniper, cypress and blue pine

2/13/2010
namgay heritage hotel
thimpu, bhutan

Spent the last two days at the epic annual festival called Punaka Dromchoe.  The festival is a week long.  People walk from villages sometimes 30 kms away.  The colors, smells, dancing, faces, masks, costumes, smiles, reverance and compassion are overwhelmingly beautiful.  Today was the one day of the year that a massive tonka portraying Zhabdrung  (the "man who unified bhutan") was unfurled and displayed.  People are fired up.

the divine madman

feb 11, 2011
punaka, bhutan

stretched our legs a bunch today as we hiked to a couple of dzongs and rambled down the river valley  bouncing around terraced paddies and flying penii.  One of the main deities in these parts is the Divine Madman who followed an arrow he shot from Nepal and ended up in bhutan,  He favored a small loincloth (generally not appropriate for a holy man) and pretty much demanded lots of wine and beautiful women to get into holy mode.  He is revered for (among other things) subduing a dog demon who was causing problems in this neck of the woods.   We are going to a big festival in his honor tomorrow.  Below are a couple of shots specially edited by the artiste.

bamboo picture frame

buddha behind prayer wheels

dzong bell

wheel

mustard field

chhimi and nun

mellow nun

little monks

friends of jerry

dancing policeman in thimpu

real darts

happy dart dance

subdued demon

nonchalance

phub demonstrates buddhist broad jump

flying penii

snow lion

wheel is turning

The other memorable activity was watching a full on match of Bhutanese darts.  Do not think Irish pub.  Think about twenty dudes in a clearing in the woods wearing traditional dress firing heavy metal missiles at a small wooden target 150 feet away.  There is some drinking and a lot of heckling.  If you got hit by one of these things it would knock you over.  It seems like it was two teams of ten.  When somebody buried one of these rockets in the target the happy team would do a very happy end zone dance and chant.

tricky little situation (artillary shells) between thailand and cambodia.  need to figure out if we can still get from Bangok to Siem Reap overland.