Kathmandu

Delights for the eyes

Kyungi Ri peak (4770 m) Trail to Langtang
Khymjung Glaciar

Syabrubensi - Langtang - Kyungi Ri - Thulo Syabru - Gosainkude - Kathmandu

12 days

:) :) :)

Namaste

PS: Next stop ... India

Trekking in Nepal

Just arrived from a 2 week trek in Langtang Valley and Gosaikunde, around some of the highest mountains of the planet. A lot of stories to tell if I have the time :)

In the end I got a very common infection for the visitors in these microbiological rich countries :) ... now I have an interesting boil (called a staphyloccocus infection) to treat hopefully in the next few days. After walking and climbing I don't know how many kilometers, now I can't almost walk to the toilet.

Soon I'll post some photos and writings.

Krazy Kathmandu... is always running of electricity... :)

Namaste

Nepal ... at the roof of the World

After an amazing bus travel around hills and mountains with lots of local people and a couple of chickens. Here I am in the foothills of the Himalayas. The place of choice for now is Pokhara, a touristic village that is the start of the trekking circuit of the Annapurnas. Nevertheless it's a beautiful place with a valley and lakes, surrounded by mountains with around 7000 mts high, including the Annapurna I (goddess of fertility) with 8091 mts.


Some photos for the interested ones:

Nepal buses

Pagoda in Pokhara

Cycling around

The view from the roof of my house

My personal paddler :)

Sooner or later I may post some more news...

Namaste !!!

Fuck China Olympic Games... Free Tibet

Yesterday, 07.08.2008, the Olympic Games started in China... yesterday Tibetans and supporters lighten up candles in pacific protest all around the world.

So we did, we went and manifest ourselves in Mcleod Ganj with many other Tibetans and supporters.
Everything went smooth with a couple of speeches about the current situation and the Olympics from Tibetan representatives perspective, the national anthem (which was quite powerful) and a film about the march to Tibet realized early this year.
As more knowledge I get from the Tibetan issue, and believe me, I can be quite impartial in this political issues with my biologist view, more I see the injustice and the repression of a people that deserves much more and can actually be an example for the humankind.

At most, the Tibetan issue is a terrorism act against the evolution of human civilization based on non-violence behaviour.
Anyway… for sure I will not watch or participate in any event related with the Olympic Games.

Free Tibet !!!

Tashi Delek

Crows, Slugs and a River of Trash

Plastic bottles, metal cans, plastic bags, boxes, rests of food, wasted clothes… anything goes directly to the ground or to the river, as if it would be a natural process of recycling (maybe related with some analogy with Buddhism which I’m still trying to understand). But guess what, the things don’t go anywhere. At most they flow a couple of meters down the river to gather maybe for eternity (depending on degradability times) in some nice small pond. There they all show their beautiful colours for a while, as if we would be talking about Tibetan preying flags. The problem is that the colours don’t last so long, and the impacts on the river streams, soils, and anywhere else are immense, from visual to permanent contamination of waters, from smelly to poisoning to the native animals.

There’s not such a thing as garbage disposal facilities, collecting or waste treatment… or anything at all regarding waste care. I think they burn or bury some stuff sometimes.

Considering life priorities, well-being, and surviving instincts, of course I’m not naïf to the point that I would thing that people that are so worried about surviving every single day, would be worried about environmental issues… but at the same time, aren’t those behaviours becoming real life-threatening and worth about?

Contaminated water = diarrhoea, cholera, giardia, parasites
Contaminated soil = plant diseases, non-fertile soils, human contact diseases
Plastic waste = pets, cows, wild life eats them and get serious health problems or death

Etc, etc, etc, …

I guess I feel disappointed from the fact that I see Buddhism (and I’m not a follower) as something related with every single day life of Nature as a whole and I would expect that people that preach all along this religion would see and be concerned about this SHIT.
Maybe it’s just a different cultural issue… which can also be used as an excuse for many problems that occur in our days all around the globe, and affects every single living being. :)

Anyway, there is a small environmental centre which I think has some action around here… small but maybe a good way to start!

For sure this region, along with many others in India require an environmental action… otherwise it will not last longer.

Teachings by the Dalai Lama

This last days the Dalai Lama has been giving some teachings to any interested person that is around McLeod Ganj (Dharamsala).
A lot of believers and curious are attending the teachings, from tibetean monks, hindus, tourists, etc.
Beeing an atheist, but also a curious about budhist philosophies it was interesting to be in the first day and listen to his teachings. Even though, listening to translations in a FM radio, with lots of delay and a bit repetitive, may be a bit too much for my impatient mind :)
Many of the teachings were about existence, consciousness, birth, life and death, and what budhism and some scriptures would have to say about it, relating also with some other main religions.
It was nice for the experience, but I guess a bit to heavy for most of the lay people that attended the lectures. So in the afternoon I decided to go experiment a bit of Yoga. Nice to keep the body also in place.

No photos of the Dalai Lama, of course, since the security was strong... maybe one of this days when we both go for a dinner together :) ... but there is a photo of a himalayan monkey :)

Tashi Delek

... and here I go back to my dissertation writings :)

India

Arriving in India... New Delhi... again another cultural shock...

As most of you know I'm not a city guy... and this one is something ... mostly what I can tell for the short experience (or long in my case) is that at the eyes of western (developed!?!) countries it's dificult to imagine human beings living in this conditions.

If you're looking for adrenaline bursts, forget any radical adventure sports you may know... travelling in india is the one activity for you.
I guess it is very proper to believe in reencarnation around here... there's no other option for the low value for life that persists around (considering traffic, basic patterns of living conditions, etc). And yes, life is always on a slackline here.

After running away from the city, I finnaly make it to the place where I'm gonna stay for the next couple of months... Mcleod Ganj ... a beautiful village in the mountains of the Himalayas in the North of India.
This place is knowned for hosting a big community of tibetean refugees, including the headquarters of tibete and the house of the Dalai Lama.
Nice sceneries and atmosphere, surrounded by big mountains and a lot of cultural mix from tibeteans, hindus, nepalese, foreigners, etc.
A place for practices such as yoga, reiki, massages, buddhism, and many kinds of natural medicines and activities.

Anyway, it looks quite a pleasant place to be experiencing for the coming times.

See ya

Novidades!!! News!!!

Depois deste tempo todo e de ter parado de dar noticias... apos a Tailandia e uma breve estadia em portugal ... vou voltar a activar o blog, mas agora em regime lentinho e em ingles, so' para colocar algumas fotos e dar noticias ao pessoal amigo e conhecido que esteja em interessado

assim sendo... curtam a vida e vemos por ai', algures no mundo

Bruno