Walking In Asia

Crabs, Crabs, and More Crabs

2011-03-29T05:27:00.002-04:00

I'm back in Khao Lak between my Similan Islands liveaboards. I really enjoyed the last trip - it was probably the best of the 4 I've done here even though it rained the whole time. We even saw a whale shark at Richelieu rock, something that is quite rare for the Similans and was only the second I've seen.

Anyway, here are some pictures of crabs I took on this trip. Most of them are species who's names I haven't gotten around to learning yet.

Andaman Nudis

2011-03-21T00:02:00.004-04:00

For my last post from the Andamans here are some of the better shots of Nudibranchs that I've taken over the course of the trip.

I'm currently in Port Blair. I'll be heading for the airport shortly to catch my flight to Kolkata where I have a 12 hour layover before heading back to Thailand.

More Miscellaneous Aquatic Critters

2011-03-14T09:48:00.005-04:00

And here's another photo dump. These are a pretty much random collection of images taken over the past 2 weeks that I've been meaning to post.

In other news I have less than a week left in the Andamans before I head back to Thailand for a bit more diving in the Similans. After that I start the process of heading home in early April (although there will, of course, be more diving in the Caribbean before returning to Portland).

Update and Photo Catch-Up

2011-03-06T08:16:00.005-05:00

I'm still not sick of the diving on the Andamans - in fact, with the exception of today, the past week has seen some of the best diving I've done the whole trip. Since I'm enjoying it so much I've extended my permit and will be staying here for another two weeks.

Yesterday I did my first ever 'proper' dawn dive, beginning the dive about 20 minutes before sunrise. I was dubious about a dive that required setting my alarm for 3 AM but it was more than worth it. The pre-dawn light and crystal clear water made for a surreal dive in a high-contrast black-and-white landscape. It was simply amazing and I'm already signed up for another one in a few days. Unfortunately there are no decent pictures because of the dim light.

Anyway, on to the pictures. I've been meaning to post most of these for a while but they didn't fit with any of the recent theme posts. The last few are more recent pictures that I couldn't resist posting (the Moray shot, which I love, in particular).

The past week has been very good for photography so I should have a bunch more to post once I finish sorting though them.

Gobies And Other Bottom-Dwelling Fish

2011-02-27T08:42:00.004-05:00

It's another theme post, this time featuring fish that you find living on the bottom, either in the sand, under pieces of coral, or in small cracks or holes in the reef.

Not Your Everyday Fish

2011-02-25T08:45:00.003-05:00

This post is a grab-bag of some of the more interesting things I've seen over the past week or so.

First up, some pictures featuring critters with particularly cool eyes. Both of these are from a site near Havelock called simply 'The Wall'. I've only dived it once but am eagerly looking forward to more dives there as it is absolutely loaded with cool stuff.

Next, some small things. Both of these are things that I've seen a number of but never managed to take decent pictures of before.

And finally, some fish that aren't all that uncommon but that I want to include in this post. I've seen so many Scorpion fish that I rarely take pictures anymore but this one was posed perfectly and the picture is probably the best I've ever taken of one. Batfish are also relatively common but I've never seen a school of them anywhere near this large.

That's all for now. I'm falling behind on pictures I want to post though so expect another post in the next day or so.

Oh no, it's a theme post.

2011-02-21T08:27:00.003-05:00

Mantis Shrimps, like the one in the first picture, are currently one of my favorite critters. If you want to see something cool, search for 'Mantis Shrimp' on YouTube and watch some of the videos.

Small World

2011-02-18T08:22:00.002-05:00

Even though the guys I've been diving with (Dive India) have been great, tomorrow I'm switching to a different dive shop starting tomorrow. The other day I ran into one of the people I traveled through southern Laos with in 2003 and it turns out he's now part owner of one of the dive resorts (Andaman Bubbles) on Havelock. I'd known he that he had worked as a dive instructor for a while in the Andamans in 2005 but it was a pleasant surprise to run into him. Also, he and his former girlfriend were in fact the people who originally put the idea of getting re-certified in my head so he's at least partly responsible for the excess of fish pictures on this blog.

And, speaking of fish pictures...

Johnny's Gorge

2011-02-15T07:54:00.002-05:00

I'm still enjoying the diving in the Andamans quite a bit. The following pictures are all from "Johnny's Gorge", easily my favorite site here. The highlights are a spot I've taken to calling The Aquarium due to the sheer number of different types of fish that hang out there, and the schools of Chevron Barracuda and Jacks that roam the area. Also, although I don't have any pictures of them, I've seen White Tip Sharks on two of my three dives there. This is one of those spots that I can happily dive over and over again.

India Is Still India, Except With More Fish.

2011-02-10T08:00:00.003-05:00

I've been on Havelock Island in the Andamans for a few days now and am enjoying the diving immensely. Both of the dives today were particularly nice.

Unfortunately the internet connection on Havelock is slow and expensive so I'm not sure how much I'm going to be updating while I'm here (so possibly business as usual for this trip). On the other hand I'm feeling motivated to post right now so here are a few pictures from my second dive today...

Annapurna Circuit Final Part

2011-02-04T03:44:00.002-05:00

Here are the final pictures from my Annapurna Circuit trek (only 5 weeks after returning to Pokhara).

Day 14: Kagbeni to Murpha

Day 15: Cheater!

There are no pictures from this day. I decided to skip part of the road and take a jeep back to Tatopani. However, part way there I decided I'd rather be hiking on the road than riding so only went as far as Ghasa where I spent the night.

Day 16: Ghasa to Tatopani

Day 17: Tatopani to Shika

Day 18: Shika to Chitre

No pictures from this day either. I ended up only hiking for a couple hours in the morning before deciding not to move any further from my lunch stop.

Day 19: Chitre to Ghorepani

Day 20: Ghorepani to Tadapani

From this point on I am retracing part of the route from my Annapurana Sanctuary trek in 2007 so some of this may look a bit familiar.

Day 21: Tadapani to Chomrong

Day 22: Chomrong to "New Bridge"

Another day with no pictures. I was getting very lazy by this point.

Day 23: Chomrong to Naya Pul (and back to Pokhara).

That's it for my Nepal pictures. Sorry for the long delay in posting these but I kind of lost interest in updating the blog for a while.

In other news, I'm finished with diving in the Simalins (which has been fantastic) and am catching a bus back to Bangkok in a couple hours. On Sunday I fly to Kolkata and from there on to Port Blair in the Andaman Islands for lots more diving. This means that I'll likely be back to mostly fish pictures for a while.

Annapurna Circuit Part 2

2011-01-22T04:22:00.004-05:00

Continuing where I left off, again mostly without comment...

Day 7: Upper Pisang to Ngawal

The following day was an acclimatization day in Ngawal. I'd planned to take a short hike to higher altitude but wasn't feeling well so I just ended up lounging around the guest house. So no pictures from day 8.

Day 9: Ngawal to Manang

Day 10: Manang to Yak Kharka

Day 11: Yak Kharka to 'High Camp'

Day 12: Across the Thorang La to Muktinath

Day 13: Muktinath to Kagbeni

If you look closely at the last picture here you can see a good chunk (about 2 1/2 hours worth) of the trail descending from the Thorang La pass.

Tomorrow I'm off to do another live-aboard trip around the Simalins. I'll post part 3 when I return.

Could I be any lazyier about posting?

2011-01-21T05:28:00.003-05:00

It's been some time since I've posted so time for a quick update. I'd planned to post part two of the trek but left my map back in my room. I'll try to get it done tomorrow though.

I decided shortly after returning to Kathmandu that I wasn't up for another trek this year, mostly due to the cold. Turned out to be a good thing as the Kathmandu bug hit my gut about about the time I would have flown to Lukla. I didn't have it as bad as I did in 2007 but it would have prevented me from hiking for about a week.

Anyway, I'm back in Thailand for more diving in the Simalin islands. I plan to spend a couple weeks here then head back west to the Andamans for a month or so. I'm getting kind of excited as it's been a long time since I've been in India.

Annapurna Circuit Part 1

2011-01-11T10:17:00.006-05:00

I guess it's about time I start posting pictures from the Annapurna circuit trek. Posted mostly without comment.

Day 0: Kathmandu to Bhulbhule

The first day was mostly a long day by bus then jeep to Khudi. From there it was a short 45 minute walk along the road to Bhulbhule.

Day 1: Bhulbhule to Bahundanda

An easy start to the trek. Most of the day was a gentle climb with only a short steep section below Bahundanda.

Day 2: Bahundanda to Jagat

Day 3: Jagat to Tal

Day 4: Tal to Danakyu

Day 5: Danakyu to Chame

This was the first day with lots of mountain views as the trail started to head northwest past the eastern end of the Annapurna range.

Day 6: Chame to Upper Pisang

Thorang La

2011-01-04T05:51:00.002-05:00

I'm back from the Annapurna Circuit trek (I've actually been back in Pokhara for a few days already but have been too lazy to post). The Trek was nice but exhausting - I had a much harder time than last time I was here. However, I managed to make it over the Thorang La pass, which is something I was never sure I could manage.

I'm not going to post many pictures until I get back to my laptop in Kathmandu but in the meantime here's a shot of my scruffy self at the pass.

Still In Kathmandu

2010-12-06T07:17:00.004-05:00

As usual I'm slower getting moving than planned. I've got my permits now and plan to leave for the Annapurna Circuit trail-head by Wednesday.

In the meantime, I wandered over to Swanambunath yesterday for a little stair climbing practice.

This will probably be my last post until I get to Pokhara which could be weeks depending on how much I'm enjoying the hiking.

More Simalins

2010-12-04T04:54:00.004-05:00

I'm in Kathmandu now, but here's one more post from my diving in the Simalin Islands.

Hopefully I'll only be in Kathmandu for a couple of nights while I arrange my trekking permit for Annapurna, although I may spend an additional night or two in nearby Bhaktapur. I plan to start my trekking with the Annapurna circuit (what's left of it at least) and see what happens from there.

Similans

2010-11-23T06:12:00.002-05:00

I suppose a post with fish pictures is better than no post at all. So without further ado...

Tomorrow I set out on a four day liveaboard around the Similan Islands. We'll be diving some of the sites I've already done on day trips but I'm looking forward to diving from a liveaboard again.

Nothing to see here.

2010-11-19T05:19:00.002-05:00

I suppose it's about time I post something since I'm traveling again. I'm currently in Khao Lak in southern Thailand and had my first dives here this morning.

I'll be here for about 2 weeks of diving then I head to Nepal on December 3'rd. In the meantime I don't expect to post much unless I get some particularly interesting fish pictures.

Until Next Time...

2009-10-13T07:30:00.001-04:00

I'm heading back to the US tomorrow so that's it until next year. I've been meaning to post a last round or two of pictures from the second Komodo trip but I'm going to skip it. I assume everyone is sick to death of fish pictures by now anyway.

The Way Overdue Nusa Lembongan Post

2009-10-07T07:14:00.004-04:00

Here are the pictures from Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Penida (finally). These were all taken around a month ago.

I've been back in Koh Tao for a little over a week now and I have just one week to go before I fly home. After that the blog will be back on hiatus (um, more so) until the next trip.

A Second Trip to 100

2009-09-25T07:39:00.007-04:00

As mentioned in my last post I made another dive to 100 meters on my last day in Gilli Trawangan. This time we had a photographer along for part of the dive to document the trip. He came down to around 65 meters with us and met us again during the deco stops.

I almost lost this dive at the last minute. When I was pressurizing my tanks while gearing up I stripped the valve on the 50% deco tank (the small one on my right in the second picture) and it wouldn't open again. We decided to execute the dive anyway with me following the "loss of 50%" contingency schedule. Normally this schedule would be used if a problem occurred during the actual dive rather than just jumping in anyway after a problem on the surface. But with this being my last chance to do this dive, and with plenty of extra gas between the three divers and the drop tanks, I decided to go ahead and treat it like a training exercise. I was a little nervous for most of the dive but it was worth it. I confirmed that I can indeed complete such a contingency plan without running out of gas. Of course I was well into my reserves on both the travel and 80% deco tanks but didn't run out of either.

Anyway, on to the pictures...

All photographs in this post are used with the permission of, and are copyright by, Foued Kaddachi (www.foued.biz).

Finishing Up The First Ikan Biru Trip

2009-09-22T00:28:00.002-04:00

I'm back in Gilli Trawangan after the second trip to Komodo. If anything this one was even better. Most sites we dived were the same as the first trip however we did get in a few new dives and many of the dives on sites I'd already seen were significantly different from the first time.

Anyway, here are the last pictures from the first trip before I get on with the pictures from Nusa Lembongan and the second trip. First up are some pictures of the Ikan Biru itself...

And these last 3 diving shots were taken over the last two days of the first trip.

Tomorrow morning I'm doing another 100 meter dive then on Thursday I leave Gilli Trawangan and start making my way back to Thailand.

More Ikan Biru

2009-09-12T08:44:00.003-04:00

Now I'm really falling behind, but here goes...

Tomorrow I leave for another trip back to Komodo (on the Ikan Biru again) so it's going to be a week or so before I get a chance to post again. And I still haven't even gotten to the last two days of the first trip.

Here There Be Dragons (i.e. Ikan Biru part 3).

2009-09-07T06:25:00.004-04:00

On to day 3 of the Ikan Biru trip. On the second dive I saw my first Manta Ray, but I didn't get any pictures (I saw #'s 2 through 6 or so this morning - bad pics will be along eventually).

In between the second and night dives we visited Komodo to see the Komodo dragons as well. Most of the ones we saw were kind of hanging out at the visitor's center (I assume they feed them to keep the around for the tourists) but there was one slightly more authentic one out sunning itself on the beach when we returned to the boat.

Anatomy Of A Deep Trimix Dive

2009-09-06T05:49:00.026-04:00

This post is quite a bit longer than I'd intended so bear with me.

Preparation

Preparation on morning of the dive starts by analyzing the oxygen and helium content in the tanks I'll be carrying. As I analyze each tank I mark it with the mix, the MOD (maximum operating depth) for that mix, and my name.

Once I know the final mixes it's time to sit down with Will (my Advanced Trimix instructor and guide/buddy for this dive) and "cut" tables that will show our decompression schedule. We work out a reasonable profile on ProPlanner that gives us 5 minutes at 100 meters, another 5 at 80, and a total dive time of 105 minutes.

We copy the schedule to our wrist slates along with contingency schedules to be used in the event I lose travel or deco gasses. Although we'll be following our computers on the way up we carry the decompression schedules we created as a backup in case they fail.

I enter my mixes into my computer and do a final visual check of my gear. When everything is ready we help the boat crew load our gear. I finish my second bottle of water for the morning and buy another one for the boat then we set out for Don Yang wall. Shortly after we start moving Will and I go over our pre-dive START check and afterwords I zip up my wetsuit, attach my wrist slate and backup bottom timer to my left arm and my primary dive computer to my right. Then we take a few minutes of quite time to relax during which I visualize the dive, walking through each of the important steps and checkpoints.

With 10 minutes to go to the dive site the boat slows down so we can finish gearing up. I lift my twinset to the side of the boat, open both tank valves and confirm the manifold is open. I don't like wearing a wetsuit hood so it's the last thing I put on before I climb into the harness. I put on my fins, clip my spare mask to the chest strap, hang the spare regulator around my neck, and route the long hose over my chest and around the back of my neck so my primary reg hangs over my right shoulder. Since the 12/63 bottom mix (12% oxygen, 63% helium) doesn't have enough oxygen to use on the surface I make sure to test both regulators using the purge valve instead of by breathing from them.

With help from the boat boys I attach my remaining tanks. The 24/33 travel gas clips to my harness on my left side. The 81% (i.e. nitrox containing 81% oxygen) deco tank clips on my right side with the smaller bottle of 51% clipped to it. I verify the long hose wasn't trapped by the deco tanks then presurise the regulator on each of the extra tanks, leaving the valve on the travel tank open since that's what I'll be breathing at the start. The last piece of equipment I attach is my reel which I clip to a D-ring on my belt where it is out of the way but easy to reach. Finally I spit in my mask, hand it to a boat boy to dip, pour the water he brings up in it over my face, and slip it on.

As the boat nears the GPS coordinates for the dropoff I turn on my computer and verify one last time that the travel gas is selected. Timing to hit the wall is pretty tight so I'll be doing a "negative entry" with my wings fully deflated and meet Will under the boat. With a few seconds to go the driver starts a countdown and at 0 meters I slap the travel regulator into my mouth and roll backwards off the boat half a second after Will.

Bottom Time

As usual the pre-pinnacle-dive jitters vanish the moment I hit the water. I immediately kick down to clear the boat before turning to find Will who's just leaving the surface. At 7 meters Will does a bubble check for me, looking for leaks from the valves, manifold, and other plumbing behind my head. Normally I would do the same for my buddy but Will likes to do his own using his dive computer as a mirror. I pressurize my deco tanks again to look for leaks. We signal each other that everything is OK and drop. I grab the regulator on my long hose to make sure it will be available for the upcoming gas switch.

Visibility isn't great but at around 30 meters we can see the top of the wall appear 20 meters below us and we angle across the slight current towards the edge. At 45 meters I switch my computer to the 12/63 bottom mix, spit out the travel regulator and start breathing from the long hose attached to the twinset on my back. A quick exchange of OKs and it's over the top of the wall and passing through 55 meters as I close the valve on the travel tank and tuck the reg away. At 65 meters and around 3 minutes my computer beeps and throws up an 11 minute ascent time as I exceed my no decompression limit.

A minute later we hit a strong thermocline just below 80 meters and it gets cold as the temperature drops suddenly by 7 degrees C. At the same time the visibility opens up to more than 30 meters. I start adding occasional spurts of gas to my wings to control the descent. At 90 meters (the depth of my previous deepest dive) I start holding the inflator button open. By 95 meters I've slowed my descent to a crawl and level off at 97. It's now 4 1/2 minutes into the dive and we're about 1 1/2 minutes ahead of schedule. Will turns and shakes my hand than we turn right along the wall and drift down a bit more. I just kiss the 100 meter mark then float up a meter to give myself a buffer. There's no actual harm going a meter or two below the planned depth for a few seconds but it's sloppy and I try to avoid it.

In contrast to the shallows, the water is crystal clear at 100. Hugging the wall I spend the time looking in a constant circle from the pressure gauge hanging off my left shoulder, to the computer on my right wrist, to the wall, and out into to the blue. I'm tearing through back gas at this depth and I can tell early on that I'm going to hit my turnaround pressure before the 11 minute mark. I concentrate on my breathing pattern and we move at a nice relaxed pace with gentle kicks. Vigorous exercise is a killer at this depth. Literally.

I spend some time amusing myself by looking up at the wall looming over us until it vanishes somewhere above. At some point I notice my computer is showing a 40 minute ascent time and spend some time watching that number climb. At 9 minutes into the dive the SPG on my twins reads 130 bar so I signal Will that I've hit my turnaround pressure. We start the 2 minute ascent to our multilevel stop at 80 meters with my computer showing a total ascent time of a bit over an hour as we leave the bottom. At 80 meters we pass back through the thermocline and can see a clear black shadow separating the layers in the water. As we come through to the warmer water we encounter the other team starting their ascent from their 85 meter dive and swim with them for a minute until they continue on up to their next stop.

Our plan gives us 5 minutes at 80 meters so we level off and start swimming along the wall again. We signal our respective ceilings to each other to prepare for the first leg of our ascent. Five minutes later, with my computer showing just under 90 minutes ascent time, we start the long trip back to the surface.

Ascent

Will hits his first deepstop at 66 meters. I pause for few seconds then continue up to my ceiling 2 meters above that for my first 90 second deepstop.

Sometime during the ascent up over the top of the wall we hit a colony of something or other and my ankles start itching like crazy from the bites. When I hit 60 meters I start I prepare my travel gas for the upcoming switch. As I pass through 50 meters I signal my gas switch, exchange regs, switch my computer back to the 24/33 travel mix, and continue ascending to the next deepstop at 47 meters.

At the 35 meter deepstop we deploy our DSMBs (Delayed Surface Marker Buoys). This gives us something to hang from during the rest of the ascent and also allows the boat crew to find us. Will sends his up first and I follow with mine. Deploying from this depth is fairly easy as you only need to fill the bag 1/4 full but it's still a skill I need practice on. I lose a bit of buoyancy and drift below the deepstop zone for a few seconds during the deployment. I correct quickly and return to the ceiling to finish the stop then it's up to the next one. At around 30 meters I catch myself ascending too fast and dump air from my wings. I'm too late to avoid tripping the ascent rate alarm on my computer and it adds an extra minute or two of deco time to compensate.

Coming out of the last deepstop my computer gives me my first hard ceiling at 20 meters. From here on up the stops are real decompression stops rather than the semi-optional deepstops we've had below this depth. As I resume my ascent I prepare my 51% deco tank. As soon as I pass through the 21 meter MOD for that mix I confirm I have the correct reg in my hand because I really don't want to kill myself by breathing 81% oxygen at 20 meters. I perform the switch and stop my ascent just below my ceiling. I wait out the first deco stop hanging in the narrow gap between my 20 meter ceiling and the 21 meter MOD below which it is unsafe to breath the 51% mix.

As my ceiling moves up I follow it, normally keeping myself about 1 meter below. Each stop is a little longer than the one before it but soon I'm approaching 9 meters. I start preparing my 81% tank so I can switch to it asap when I pass above its 9.5 meter MOD. By this time the boat crew has dropped a tank containing an extra suppply of 80% deco gas down my line for contingencies and it's hanging at 9 meters. I need to keep an eye on that as I'm ascending head first directly up my line underneath it and surface swells are bouncing it around like crazy.

Meanwhile, the current has been pushing us over a ridge so I've been watching the bottom slowly creep towards us. With my ceiling at 8.7 meters we're quickly running out of bottom. Normally I would wait until my ceiling creeps a bit higher before proceeding to 9 meters and switching gas however I'm running out of room. I hug the ceiling and switch gasses while dodging small coral heads. While I'm doing this Will takes the drop tank from me to lighten my task load, hauls it up a meter, and ties it off. Then we kick across the current to slightly deeper water to give ourselves a bit of extra breathing room.

Hang

At the final gas switch my computer is showing 51 minutes of ascent time remaining. From here on there is nothing much to do except follow the ceiling as it slowly moves up and tops out at 3 meters. Ultimately I'll spend a full 3'rd of the dive just hanging between 4 and 5 meters. About the time I reach 6 meters we drift off the ridge and the rest of the dive will be spent in the blue. Occasionally I haul the drop tank up, tie a new knot in it's line, and clip it off at our current depth. At some point Will points out a tiny fish swimming in the eddy created by the drop tank. That's good for a minute or two of entertainment.

Will's computer clears with mine still showing about 15 minutes but he sticks around. On deep trimix dives it's especially important to watch your buddy towards the end of the dive. The long time on high oxygen deco mixes means this is the most likely time for a convulsion due to CNS oxygen toxicity. The convulsion itself isn't harmful but chances are you're going to lose your reg and drown if it happens. Of course our dive has been planned well within the safe oxygen exposure limits so this is extremely unlikely to happen.

Four minutes before I'm done Will surfaces to signal the boat while still keeping an eye on me. Eventually my computer clears and I slowly ascend, taking a full minute to cover the final 4 meters to the surface.

109 minutes after hitting the water I break the surface and the dive is over.

Nusa Lembongan

2009-09-05T09:20:00.003-04:00

I'm currently in Nusa Lembongen off the southern coast of Bali. I saw my first Mola Mola (Sunfish) today which was kind of cool. This picture isn't great but shows the size of the fish against the diver in the foreground.

Also, I'll probably have the writeup about my big dive up tomorrow. It's a bit wordier than my usual. After that it's back to playing catch-up with my pictures from the Ikan Biru live-aboard.

Ikan Biru part 2

2009-09-03T11:13:00.002-04:00

More pictures from the trip to Komodo as promised.

In other news, I've extended my stay in Indonesia by a few more weeks since the diving here has spoiled Koh Tao for me. I'm heading back to Bali tomorrow for a week for change of scenery. After that I'm coming back here for another live-aboard trip back to Komodo and will probably fit in a few more big dives before I leave.

One Hundred Meters

2009-09-02T09:07:00.001-04:00

No pictures today - I'm just posting to crow about the 100 meter (328 feet) dive I made today. This dive was the culmination of the Trimix training I've been doing in Lombok. Deep diving at these depths is easily the most dangerous thing I've ever done and when the possibility of a 100 meter dive was presented to me I wasn't sure I was going to do it.

Although I'd finished my training over a week ago we were never able to complete the full progression of deep dives before the Komodo to instructor scheduling and gas supply problems. So yesterday I did a warm up dive to 80 meters (saying things like that still sounds weird) and this morning set out for the big 100.

Anyway, the dive went pretty much flawlessly and I'm quite proud of the achievement. I may do a longer write up if anyone is interested in a play-by-play of what is involved in a serious deep dive.

More Komodo pictures tomorrow.

Ikan Biru part 1

2009-09-01T08:54:00.002-04:00

A few pictures from my first day of diving on the Ikan Biru...

Back In Gilli Trawangan

2009-08-31T08:55:00.002-04:00

I'm back from the Live-aboard trip. The diving was fantastic and I've got some pictures to post. I haven't had time to sort through them yet but look for them in the next day or two.

Recess

2009-08-20T05:22:00.002-04:00

I've just had a 3 day break from the course I'm taking because the dive shop's helium shipment was delayed. Since we couldn't do any training dives I had a couple days of normal diving. Tomorrow it's back to the deep dives so today I had a nice "light" warm-up Tec dive to 55 meters.

For now, here are the only remotely worthwhile pictures I managed to take yesterday.

Plan B

2009-08-13T10:47:00.002-04:00

The Live-aboard I was signed up for was canceled at the last minute due to a couple of people backing out. I'm going on the next trip instead, but that doesn't leave until the 23'rd. In the meantime I'm going to continue my Tec training with the TDI Advanced Trimix course. So, don't expect any content in the next week or so (possibly not until I get back from the live-aboard, but I'll try to post something before then).

Anyway, this blog is about to become even more boring than usual.

Miscellaneous

2009-08-11T08:52:00.003-04:00

I haven't been carrying my camera on most dives for the past few days - thus the lack of posts. And there's about to be another big gap in my posting as I leave on Thursday for a week long live-aboard to the Komodo islands

In the meantime, here are a few pictures from my dives in Bali and Lombok that I never got around to posting.

I expect to have lots to post after the trip. The diving around Komodo is supposed to be the best in Indonesia.

Tunang Wall & Han's Reef

2009-08-07T09:13:00.004-04:00

Only the first shot here is from my deep dive on Tunang Wall. The rest are from another dive at Han's Reef.

Tomorrow morning I'm diving the Japanese patrol boat wreck again.

Some Reefs & A Wreck

2009-08-06T09:06:00.003-04:00

To start out with, here are a few pictures from some more reef dives I've done around Gili Trawangan since the last post. Most of these are from this afternoon's dive at Sunset reef, which is rapidly becoming my favorite spot to dive here as the coral is in great shape and hosts lots of interesting critters.

This morning I jumped back into the Tec diving with a warm-up dive to visit the wreck of a Japanese patrol boat lying at 45 meters (150 feet) off the coast of Lombok itself. Visibility was much better than on any of the deep dives I did in Thailand so I actually managed to get a few pictures.

Tomorrow morning I'm continuing the Tec diving with a wall dive to around 55 meters.

Bounty Reef, Shark Point, Deep Turbo & Sunset Reef

2009-08-04T09:29:00.003-04:00

These pictures are from some of my dives yesterday...

...and today...

Unfortunately none of my pictures of the four sharks I saw today came out but maybe next time.

Lombok: Hans Reef

2009-08-03T10:24:00.003-04:00

I'm staying on the island of Gili Trawangan off the the north-west coast of Lombok. So far I've done four dives, the best of which was a night dive last night (of course I decided not to bring my camera on that one). Most of the dives here have been in fairly strong currents which makes photography somewhat hit or miss, but here are a few from my first dive at a reef off Gili Air.

Surface Interval: Amed

2009-08-03T10:11:00.003-04:00

Before I start dumping pictures from the Lombok dives here are a few from the surface from my stay in Amed to break things up.

More Bali Dives

2009-07-31T21:01:00.003-04:00

Some pictures from my last two days diving in Bali... Most of these have been cleaned up on the computer, something I'm going to be doing more of with my underwater pictures from now on.

I'm leaving for Lombok shortly. With any luck I'll be back in the water by tomorrow.

Selang and Jemeluk

2009-07-29T09:02:00.002-04:00

Did three dives today. The first was mostly a drift dive in a very fast current so I didn't get many pictures (only the first of these is from that dive). Anyway, on to the pictures...

Amed and More of The Liberty.

2009-07-28T03:27:00.002-04:00

I'm still in Bali. I met up with one of my dive buddies from Koh Tao in Kuta so, instead of leaving directly for Lombok, I decided to stay and dive with him for a few days before he heads back to Thailand. I'm in Amed in the NE part of the island now. There are a whole bunch of reef dives here and it's only 20 minutes from Tulamben where the Liberty wreck lies.

The Liberty.

2009-07-24T09:41:00.002-04:00

The Liberty, a freighter wreck just off the beach in Tulamben is is probably the largest wreck I've dived. Unfortunately most of the pictures I took of the wreck itself didn't come out so it's hard to tell I'm diving anything other than a normal reef in these shots. I'll be diving it again before I leave though.

That last shot is a Titan Triggerfish, the same species that was such a problem in Koh Tao. They seem much calmer here - the one in the picture was swimming right around me for a while and never popped it's trigger.

Lovina & Menjangan Island.

2009-07-23T07:53:00.004-04:00

I hadn't planned to spend much time on Bali but it's a nice change from Java and I'm enjoying it quite a bit.

And the diving's not bad either...

Tomorrow I'm diving the Liberty, a WWII freighter lying off the beach on the east of the island. After that I will probably head down to Kuta for a couple days before working my way to Lombok where the serious diving will resume.

Bromo

2009-07-21T11:14:00.006-04:00

Bromo was pretty cool with this unreal landscape over the Tennger caldera with multiple smaller volcanic cones in view.

I'm in Lovina in northern Bali now. I'll probably be here for a couple days - at least long enough to get in a few dives.

Solo

2009-07-18T07:07:00.002-04:00

There's not a whole lot to see in Solo, and one of the main sites was closed today due to some private event, but here are some of the very few pictures I managed to take. Most of these are from Puri Mangkunegaran, a palace that is still occupied by part of the local royal family.

Tomorrow I'm off to see the volcanoes at Gunung Bromo. I'm not sure if there is internet access in the little town where I'll be staying so I may be offline until I get to Bali in a few days.

Borobudur and more of Yogyakarta

2009-07-16T08:35:00.008-04:00

As expected I spent the morning seeing the rest of the Kraton (Sultan's Palace) in Yogyakarta. Here are a few pictures from the palace and surrounds.

I'd originally planned to pack up and move to Borobudur for a night but decided to just visit for the afternoon instead which was much less hassle. The draw at Borobudur is the largest Buddhist temple in the world. The Lonely Planet actually mentions it alongside Angkor Wat and Bagan which is pushing things a bit (it was quite impressive though).

Tomorrow I'm off to the nearby town of Solo.

Yogyakarta

2009-07-15T08:15:00.003-04:00

Some pictures from around Yogyakarta...

Tomorrow I'm going to head to the nearby town of Borobudur, although I may try to see a bit more of 'Yogya' in the morning.

Side Trip to Bogor

2009-07-14T07:57:00.002-04:00

There wasn't much to see in Jakarta itself so yesterday I took a local train to the nearby town of Bogor. There wasn't a whole lot to see there either but it was something to do.

Today I set out for real from Jakarta. After a full day's train ride I'm in Yogayakarta, a town about mid way between Jakarta and the eastern end of Java.

Cute Fish Ugly Fish

2009-07-11T23:14:00.002-04:00

These are some of the rarer and more distinctive fish found around Koh Tao.

Common Fish from Koh Tao

2009-07-11T22:51:00.002-04:00

Continuing with the Koh Tao picture dump, here are a bunch of the more common fish from around Koh Tao.

There will be one or two more Koh Tao posts to follow. In the meantime, I arrived in Jakarta last night. I'll probably stay here for one more night then start making my way east across Java towards Bali and Lombok.

Corals, etc.

2009-07-10T03:38:00.003-04:00

To begin the final dump of pictures from dives around Koh Tao, here are a bunch featuring corals and other things that grow on the rocks.

On The Surface

2009-07-10T03:22:00.004-04:00

I'm out of the water temporarily, having left Koh Tao yesterday. I'm currently in Bangkok for the day but flying to Indonesia tomorrow afternoon.

In the meantime, I have a top of pictures that I never got around to posting. To start this series of final Koh Tao posts, here are some of the very few pictures I took on the surface. These are somewhat repetitive but at least there are no fish visible.

First up are the closest things I have to pictures of my dive resort.

And here are a some pictures taken as I was setting for the 3 day trip aboard the Trident last week. Also, while I'm at it, there is a writeup about that trip with lots more pictures on the Big Blue Tech blog.

I expect to do quite a bit of diving in Indonesia, but not to the exclusion of all other sight seeing activities. Hopefully there will be some more non-fish content on the way soon.

Going Deeper

2009-07-07T08:34:00.004-04:00

Diving the HTMS Pangan from the Trident this past week was a blast. I broke my personal depth records every day, ultimately hitting 194 feet on Sunday. Most of my pictures from the dive didn't come out very well, but here are a few anyway.

The whole trip was amazing, from the diving to the details. Although I don't think anyone planned it that way I even ended up with a proper 4'th of July dinner (barbecued chicken and ribs, corn-on-the-cob, and garlic bread). I will definitely be spending time on (and under) the Trident in the future.

Divers

2009-07-02T04:16:00.002-04:00

Anemones

2009-06-30T08:51:00.007-04:00

Apologies for the lack of posts lately. I've been taking a series of technical diving courses, which has kept me pretty busy (and tired) for the past week or so. On top of that the internet has been down at my dive resort for the past week which has made it too easy for me to skip the posting. I haven't been carrying my camera on the courses but my instructor has posted some pictures and info about my training on their blog.

Anyway, on to the pictures of sea anemones. Some of these are pretty old and I don't remember where all of them were taken.

I have another class tomorrow and, assuming I don't screw up too badly, on Tuesday I leave for three days diving on the wreck of the HTMS Pangan from a live-aboard (the MV Trident) that runs out of Koh Tao. Should be a blast. I'm going to try to get another post out before I leave on Tuesday, otherwise it'll be a while.

White Eyes

2009-06-23T12:10:00.003-04:00

Morays are probably my favorite of the common-but-not-too-common wildlife in the reefs off Koh Tao. They're lots of fun to watch, particularly on the rare occasions when you see one swimming free instead of hiding under a ledge or poking it's head out of a crack in the rock. I'm still working on getting a good picture of a swimming Moray (or better yet a video), but in the meantime here are some pictures from more typical sightings.

Mmm, Shellfish

2009-06-21T10:59:00.004-04:00

Small Crawling Critters

2009-06-18T22:56:00.003-04:00

Starfish

2009-06-16T07:31:00.003-04:00

A few pictures of starfish from around Koh Tao...

These first two are Walking Feather Stars, which are all over the place during night dives but rarely out during the day (both shots are from the same night dive). They don't like light and when you shine a flashlight on them they curl up.

This next one is a Crown Of Thorns Starfish. These guys are cool to look at but not nice to see as they are pests that destroy the coral.

Calling this post "School's Out" would be way too cheesy.

2009-06-12T04:39:00.005-04:00

Some pictures of schools of fish from some of my dives over the past two weeks...

Fish Aggro

2009-06-09T08:38:00.006-04:00

About the most exciting thing that happens diving off Koh Tao is the occasional attack by a Trigger fish. Triggers are territorial fish that can grow up to about 3 feet long and can be very aggressive. Everyone tries to give them a wide berth but sometimes you can't get out of their area quickly enough. The picture below shows a Trigger attacking my dive master during a dive at 'The Twins' from about a week ago.

Anyway, if you dive around here enough there's a pretty good chance of getting 'triggered' and it I finally happened to me yesterday. Ironically enough it was during the emergency scenarios certification dive for my rescue diver course. Although it's kind of a tense situation, once things were under control (i.e. backing away with my fins between me and the obnoxious fish) I was cautiously amused by the whole thing.

Colorful Clams

2009-06-07T11:08:00.002-04:00

Koh Tao Sunset

2009-06-06T11:19:00.002-04:00

So far it's been overcast almost every afternoon for this whole trip, which is not too surprising given the time of year. However, a few days ago the weather was nice enough that there was an approximation of a sunset.

Tomorrow I start my rescue diver certification course which means I won't be carrying my camera on the few dives. Not that anyone can tell the difference what with the stellar job I've been doing keeping this blog updated. I do have a whole bunch of pictures that I want to post from my recent dives that I haven't gotten around to sorting through yet.

In other news it looks like I'm going to spend the rest of my time in Thailand on Koh Tao. My original plan was to leave in a week or so and dive the west coast, however I've been asking around and it sounds like it's not worth it during the monsoon.

Koh Tao Dives - May 30 / May 31

2009-06-02T03:44:00.003-04:00

May 30'th - Chumphon Pinnacle

May 30'th - 'The Twins'

May 31'st - Southwest Pinnacle

May 31'st - Chumphon Pinnacle

One Big Fish

2009-05-31T08:41:00.003-04:00

I've been diving in Koh Tao for a few days now. At the second dive today I saw my first Whale Shark, one of the big attractions here. Whale Sharks are the biggest fish in the world, although at @ 20 feet long this one was only mid-sized. This picture is the only one that came out well.

I have a few more pictures that are worth posting. Look for them in the next day or so.

Farewell To Laos

2009-05-25T06:35:00.004-04:00

I ended up staying in Vang Vieng for a week longer than I'd planned (surprise), but am back in Bangkok now.

To wrap up the Laos portion of the trip, here are a few more miscellaneous pictures Vientiane and Vang Vieng.

And, here are a couple HDR shots from Vang Vieng. Probably not my best efforts at HDR but I was in the mood to play around with it again.

Tomorrow night I leave for Koh Tao to start the diving portion of the trip. I'll be diving around southern Thailand for the next seven weeks, after which I head to Indonesia for two months.

I'm sure the blog has been spectacularly uninteresting for the past few weeks. Hopefully I'll be updating more regularly from now on though. Prepare to get sick of pictures of fish.

Rockets

2009-05-12T08:39:00.003-04:00

This past Friday was the Rocket Festival in Vang Vieng. This is an annual event where the locals fire off large home-made rockets as part of a celebration relating to the upcoming monsoon. The festival started in late morning and went on all day. The rockets are pretty large and the better ones probably traveled well over a mile so you could see them from everywhere in town.

Anyway, the festival was a good excuse to finally break out my camera so here are a few pictures.

Also, while I'm at it, here's an artsy crop of an picture I took on the bus from Vientiane to Vang Vieng my first day here. The full picture is rather crappy but I kind of like the cropped view.

Other than that there's not much to report. I'm back in Vientiane for the day to get a visa for Thailand so that I can stay longer than the 2 weeks they give you at the border. Assuming the visa is done on time I'm heading back to Vang Vieng tomorrow.

This Place Looks Familiar

2009-05-02T23:08:00.002-04:00

In Vang Vieng. I decided not to stick around in Bangkok and rushed straight up here the day after I arrived. Not much of interest to say yet - I pretty much crashed as soon as I got here after the 2 days of travel with only a short break in Bangkok.

I'll be here for two weeks before returning to Thailand to start diving my way around the south. I wouldn't count of too much posting from Vang Vieng since I've seen it all before.

3...2...1

2009-04-26T21:10:00.002-04:00

I leave for the next leg of the trip Wednesday so posting should resume shortly.

Cayman Review

2008-03-12T11:04:00.003-04:00

I don't know if anyone is still paying attention since I haven't posted in a few weeks, but here are a few photos from my diving trip to the Cayman Islands last week.

Apologies for the quality of some of these photos. Taking pictures underwater is a lot harder than on the surface and I'm pretty new at it.

March 5: Shore Dives

March 6: The Wall, The 'Doc Polson', and a night dive.

March 7: The Wall, Egan Rock, and The 'Nicholson'.

March 8: The Wall, 'Cheeseburger Reef', and 'Stingray City'

I may have another post or two up in the next few days. I'm going diving in the Florida keys tomorrow and hopefully will have a few more pictures worth posting.

That Final Nepal Post I've Been Promising.

2008-02-19T04:23:00.004-05:00

Seems a bit strange to be posting more Nepal pictures this long after I left, but better late than never I guess.

These are all pictures taken in and around Kathmandu, including my walks to Swayambunath and Boudhanath stupas and Pashnupatinath temple.

Swayambunath

Pashnupatinath

Boudhanath

Around Kathmandu

Leaving Nepal

I don't really have any wrap-up for Nepal other than to mention that I loved just about every minute of my time there (the exception being the part where I was very very ill right after arriving). I already miss it and am starting to think about going back for more hiking.

In other news, I head back to the states in only two days. Since I don't have many pictures from Thailand, this may well be the last real post from this trip. However, I am going diving in the Caymans the first week March and will probably buy or rent an underwater camera for the trip. So, check back around the second week of March for pictures of this post-trip vacation. After that this blog goes on hiatus for about a year until the next trip begins.

Delay

2008-02-12T06:56:00.000-05:00

That final Nepal post probably won't happen until I return to Bangkok (i.e. 5 to 6 days), both because the internet connection here is a bit of a ripoff and because I'm not really in the mood after the whole EBC series. Of course that second part could change at any time so you can always hope I get bored with the ocean.

In any case I suspect there will only be one or two more posts before I head home anyway, at which point the blog will go on its usual hiatus until my next trip.

In the meantime, I'm enjoying the dive course although so far it has all been classroom and pool work. Tomorrow I have a couple ocean dives though which should be fun.

Hiking To EBC Part 7: Why Am I Doing This Again?

2008-02-09T03:03:00.000-05:00

Map here of course.

Day 22: Junbesi to Kinja

At last we come to the single most painful day of the hike. As I'd learned by now the climb wasn't so bad, although when I woke up in the morning the 850 meter gain sounded pretty bad. All in all the morning was great though. The hike up to the Lamajura La pass was pretty and the trail was pretty different from other areas I'd hiked. The end of the climb was a steep clamber up a heavily forested hill before popping out above the tree line right below the pass.

The afternoon was another story entirely. After the pass I had descended over 1900 meters to Kinja. By mid-afternoon my knees were screaming and we won't even talk about the pressure on my toes. I probably should have stopped mid-way in Sette (the usual stop for trekkers coming the other way) but by this point I'd had about enough hiking and just wanted to get back to Jiri as quickly as possible. Not sure why though because even during the painful parts of the hike I knew that I would enjoy sitting around in Kathmandu waiting for my flight even less.

Day 23: Kinja to Bhandar Deurali

Energized by the knowledge that the hard part was behind me this day passed reasonably quickly. The whole day was a climb from Kinja at 1660 meters, through Bhandar to the pass (Deurali) above Bhandar at around 2700 meters.

All in all it was another pleasant days walk. After the big descent the day before, I enjoyed most of the climb, although the walk through Bhandar itself seemed to take forever even though it was the flattest part of the day.

I'd planned to stay in Deurali all along and decided to stick with this plan even though I arrived shortly after lunch and could easily have made it to Shivalaya that afternoon.

Day 24: Bhandar Deurali to Jiri

The last day of the trek started out with another long descent to Shivalaya at 1760 meters. When I arrived I was very glad I'd decided to stay in Deurali as Shivalaya was dangerously close to being back in civilization. There is now a road as far a Shivalaya and as I approached town I could see and here motorcycles and trucks for the first time since leaving Kathmandu.

After a quick cup of tea and a bite to eat I set out for the last leg of the hike. Of course it wouldn't be Nepal without one last climb up to Mali, although by this point 500 meters was really no more than a bump in the trail.

The afternoon turned out to be more exciting than I'd expected though. Shortly after Mali I ran into very heavy cloud cover and at about the same time the nice easy to follow trail broke down as it crossed both the Jiri/Shivalaya road and a series of other trails. I ended up wandering around the ridge for over an hour before descending below the clouds where I could finally see the, by this point obvious, trail to Jiri below me. Had I not had a compass to keep me pointed in approximately the right direction I'd probably still be walking around in circles up there. Once I found the trail again it was a short descent down to Jiri and the end of the trek.

So, I've finally finished the trekking posts. I do have one more set of photos from around Kathmandu I want to post so look for one more Nepal post to wrap things up.

Tonight I'm heading down to Koh Tao by overnight bus + ferry. I'm not sure what time I get to the island tomorrow and I suspect most of the afternoon will be taken up with looking for a place to stay so I may not get to the final Nepal post tomorrow. It is high season in Thailand now and my understanding is that rooms on the islands can be hard to find so wish me luck.

Hiking To EBC Part 6: The Hard Part Begins.

2008-02-08T03:40:00.000-05:00

Map is here of course.

Day 19: Namche Bazaar To Chheubas

This was probably my longest single day of walking on the whole trek. I woke up and immediately set out, stopping only for a cup of coffee and cinnamon roll at the bakery on the way out of Namche. I practically flew down the first part of the trail, reaching the first river crossing at the bottom of the valley only 40 minutes after leaving town. From there it was a leisurely walk back along the path I'd taken in from Lukla up to the point where the path back to Jiri splits from the path to Lukla (no sense climbing up to Lukla on the way out - there's plenty of that to come over the next 6 days).

Shortly after the split, the path drops steeply down to cross a river at 2200 meters near Surke before climbing up to Cheubbas at around 2800 meters. I had originally planned to make it to Paiya which was a bit further on but by that point I'd had enough and just stayed in Cheubbas in what turned out to be the worst lodge I stayed in in Nepal.

Day 20: Cheubbas To Nunthala

I had heard stories about what a pain the walk between Jiri and Lukla was from many people and this day was my first real taste with lots of steep downhills and a long long uphill climb at the end of the day. All in all this day wasn't such a bad walk though, except for the very long steep downhill portion to Kharikola in the morning. This was about the time I figured out that the steep uphill climbs were going to end up being the "fun" part of the hike out.

The afternoon started with a short drop back down to about 1600 meters to cross the Dudh Khosi for the last time. After that I left the river behind as the trail from this point on headed west over a series of ridges instead of following the river valleys. The afternoon was a long but pleasant hike up to Nunthala at 2330 meters.

Day 21: Nunthala To Junbesi

This day started with another long climb up to the Taksindu La pass at 3070 meters. About 30 minutes after leaving Nunthala I hit the fresh snowfall from the night before and the remaining climb up to the pass was quite beautiful and seemed to pass quickly.

From the pass, the path dropped down through Ringmo to cross another river, climbed back up through Phortenu at a hair over 3000 meters then dropped down to Junbesi 2650 meters. Unfortunately I hit clouds on the climb to Phortenu so I didn't take too many pictures in the afternoon.

Junbesi itself was a nice town and if it hadn't been snowing heavily when I arrived I would have taken some time to look around. If I'm ever crazy enough to do this leg of the trek again I will definitely give myself an extra night or so there to explore the area.

Enough for now. Tomorrow night I'm leaving Bangkok to head down south to Koh Tao to start diving, but I should have time before I leave to post the last part of my trek.

Hiking To EBC Part 5: Gokyo Ri and The Return To Namche

2008-02-07T02:35:00.000-05:00

Made it to Bangkok safe and sound last night. Looking into booking my ticket for my return to the US then getting myself down to one of the islands (probably Koh Tao) for a diving refresher course.

In the meantime, on with the EBC trek photos. The usual map link is here.

Day 14: A failed attempt to walk to Fifth Lake.

A few days before arriving in Gokyo ran into another American who I'd been hanging out with in Pokhara and Kathmandu and he suggested that the views from Fifth Lake up above Gokyo were spectacular and well worth a day hike up there. Since the weather was OK on the day after I arrived in Gokyo I decided to give it a shot.

Unfortunately the trail was completely hidden by the snowfall from the day before and to top it off I got some bad directions from someone in my lodge. Rather than following the river bed I ended up trying to hike up the top of the moraine. After 2 1/2 hours I had made it only as far as Fourth Lake which was only about 1/3 of the way up. I hiked for another hour or so then decided it was getting too late to continue and turned back. Oh well, at least I have an excuse to go back now.

Here are a couple of the very few pictures I took on my first day in Gokyo.

Day 15: Hike up Gokyo Ri

The usual thing to do in Gokyo is hike up Gokyo Ri, a hill with Everest views that are at least as good as those from Kala Patthar. Unfortunately the weather wasn't the best so most of my Everest shots have the summit hidden in the clouds. Regardless it was a beautiful hike and I took quite a few photos on the way up.

Day 16: Gokyo to Portse Tenga

Had the weather been nice on this day I would have liked to make another attempt at making it up to Fifth Lake. When I woke up it was another miserable cloudy day so after a quick breakfast I decided it was time to start heading back. This was a long, cold, grey day but I made it all the way back down the Gokyo valley past Machhermo and Dole to Portse Tenga.

Since the weather was bad and I had already covered this ground on the way up I only took a few photos on the way. The most interesting part of the day was the climbing school that was being held on the ice waterfalls below Dole. This is a big multi-day course that is held out of Portse once each year and I spent quite a bit of time watching all the activity on the way down.

Day 17: Portse Tenga to Namche Bazaar

This was another day with ugly weather and mostly covered ground I'd seen on the way up so I took even fewer photos than the day before. Here's one of the least lame ones.

Day 18: Side trip to Thame

By this point I had decided to walk out to Jiri instead of flying from Lukla. When I woke up it looked like a nice day so I decided to take a side trip west up the valley to the town of Thame instead of starting the hike out immediately.

Although the clouds rolled in in the late morning (a pattern that was to continue almost daily for the rest of the trek) it was still a nice walk and worth the extra day in Namche.

And that's it for this post. I probably have enough photos from the walk out to Jiri for two more posts. I'll continue tomorrow or the day after with the next one.

Hiking To EBC Part 4: Leaving EBC Behind

2008-02-05T00:27:00.000-05:00

I'm going to continue calling these posts "Hiking To EBC" even though the actual base camp portion of the trek is over. Here's the usual link to the route map.

Day 9: Gorak Shep to Shomore

After leaving Gorak Shep I wanted to make it pretty far back down the Imja Khola valley so I passed through Lobuche, Dugla, and Pheriche and went all the way to Shomore, where I had stopped for lunch on the fourth day. I could have gone a bit further to Pengboche but the trail to Gokyo branches off after Shomore and I didn't know there were lodges open in the upper part of Pengboche so decided to play it safe.

The morning was just retracing my steps back to Dugla, however the trail after Dugla was new as I had come in from Dingboche further to the east on the way up.

Day 10: Shomore to Dole

The next day I left the upper Imja Khola valley behind and wrapped around the ridge to the west to the Gokyo valley to head up to Gokyo Ri.

The morning was a pleasant walk around the southern end of the ridge before dropping down through Portse to the river crossing at Portse Tenga. After that came the first steep climb in several days but, fortified with the first diet coke I'd found (in Portse Tenga?!?!), since leaving home in September I practically flew up the hill and made it to Dole in early afternoon.

Day 11: Dole to Machhermo

This was kind of a nothing day. The trail was deceptively steep and tiring and the scenery wasn't anything special. Combined this meant I didn't take many pictures on my way to Machhermo.

Day 12: Wasting Time in Machhermo

The next day was a lost day. The weather had turned during the night and the beautiful blue skies I'd become used to had been replaced by a ugly and featureless layer of clouds. By this point I thought I could use a day of rest anyway so I decided to sit in Machhermo for the day, justifying my lack of activity as caution in case we got a heavy snowfall. This ended up being the only day of the entire trek with no hiking and I ended up badly bored and spent the day wishing I'd just headed up to Gokyo as planned.

Day 13: Machhermo To Gokyo

When I woke up on the morning of the 13'th day it was snowing. The snowfall wasn't very heavy though so as soon as it stopped I decided to stop bitching to myself about the weather, threw my pack on, and set out for Gokyo.

That's all for this post. I'm off to Bangkok tomorrow so this is the last actual post from Kathmandu. I'll continue with the trekking posts in a day or so and also have some pictures from around Kathmandu that I want to post.

Hiking To EBC Part 3: We Come To The Point

2008-02-04T01:15:00.000-05:00

So, after only a week of hiking I arrived at Gorak Shep, the gateway to Everest Base Camp and ostensibly the point of the whole trek. As a reminder, the trail map is here.

Day 7 (cont): Kala Patthar

Kala Patthar is a hill above Gorak Shep. At 5550 meters it has great views of Everest and is the common destination for most people who "trek to Everest base camp".

Day 8: Everest Base Camp

The next day I set out to hike to base camp itself. There isn't any view of Everest's summit from base camp itself so many people skip it altogether, but I really enjoyed this day. Getting to base camp involves crossing part of the Khumbu glacier which I found fascinating. I'd never been on a real glacier before and had always pictured them as flat expanses of ice. As the pictures show this is actually far from the case as the pressure of all that ice flowing down the mountains creates a distorted and rather spectacular landscape. And the whole time you're on the glacier you can hear it creaking and shifting beneath you with occasional avalanches in the background for emphasis.

I'm going to make today's post a shortish one and stop here. I'll continue tomorrow with the beginning of the walk up to Gokyo Ri.

Hiking to EBC Part 2: To Gorak Shep

2008-02-03T03:39:00.000-05:00

The trail map of my trek is here for those who want to follow along.

Day 4: Tengboche To Dingboche

Continuing where I left off, the next morning I got up and set out from Tengboche for the hike up to Dingboche at 4410 meters. Dingboche is a bit out of the way so traditionally people used to go to Pheriche which is about 150 meters lower and on the more direct route up to base camp. However, gaining the additional 150 meters not only makes the next leg easier but also makes it safer to skip a night at Dugla and head directly to Lobuche so now most trekkers take this route.

In any case the hike up to Dingboche was another pleasant day although one of the longest days of the hike up to base camp. Anyway, on to the pictures.

After reaching Dingboche I took a walk several hundred meters higher up the ridge behind town to aid in acclimatization.

Day 5: Acclimatization Hike To Chukkung Ri

Since I was now higher than I had been anywhere in the Annapurna region I spent the usual day acclimatizing in Dingboche. This does not mean I just sat around doing nothing however, instead a stiff walk up to a higher altitude is recommended. Rather than just climbing the ridge behind town as most people did I walked up to the town of Chhukhung then climbed most of the way up Chhukhung Ri. At over 5500 meters this put me within a few of meters of the highest altitude I would reach, and made for the single largest daily altitude gain of the entire trek.

Day 6: Dingboche To Lobuche

The next day was an easy walk up through Dugla to the town of Lobuche at 4910 meters. Most of the day was a gentle and relatively flat hike with only one steep part climbing up the terminal moraine of the Khumba glacier after lunch in Dugla.

Day 7: Lobuche To Gorak Shep

This day was another short hike up to Gorak Shep at 5140 meters. This is the last town on the way to base camp and I spent two nights there while exploring Kala Patthar and Everest base camp itself.

On the afternoon of the day I arrived in Gorak Shep I climbed Kala Patthar for the views of Everest but I'm saving the photos of that part for the next post.

While I'm at it, its time to mention that this trip is just about over. I fly to Bangkok on the 6'th (only 3 days). I plan to spend a couple weeks in Thailand renewing my scuba certification on one of the islands before I head home in late February. I probably won't finish posting my pictures of Nepal before I leave though so expect regular posting to continue for at least another week. As usual I wouldn't expect too much in the way of pictures from Thailand itself although there may be a few since I'll be going somewhere new this time.

Intermission: Bothe Khosi Rafting Video

2008-02-01T23:19:00.000-05:00

One of the Kayakers who was accompanying the rafting trip I took on the Bothe Khosi river in December has posted hilights from the trip on You Tube. If you have trouble picking me out, I'm the one wearing sunglasses and sitting in the port side bow of one of the rafts.

If it doesn't show up directly in this post, you can also watch it here.

Hiking To EBC Part 1: Setting Out

2008-02-01T05:58:00.000-05:00

Day 1: Lukla To Jorsale

After catching an early morning flight from Kathmandu to Lukla, I immediately set out to hike as far as I could the first day. The normal stop is the town of Phakding about midway between Lukla and Namche Bazaar but I continued on to Jorsale to shorten the second day with its notorious climb up to Namche.

Day 2: Jorsale To Namche

The climb up to Namche Bazaar ended up being much easier than the stories I'd heard led me to believe. Probably my recent trek in Annapurna had me well acclimatized at this altitude and used to the hills. Whatever the reason I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly I arrived in Namche.

After a quick I took a long afternoon hike down through Namche and then up the ridge above town. At the top of the ridge I got my first view of Everest and some of its neighbors.

Day 3: Namche To Tengboche

The next day was a longer walk up to Tengboche at around 3800 meters. The morning was a very pleasant and nearly flat walk along the side of the valley.

In the afternoon the trail dipped down to cross the Dudh Khosi river valley then climbed steeply up to Tengboche at around 3800 meters. This climb is steeper and longer than the climb up to Namche and ended up being probably the toughest part of the hike up to base camp.

That's enough for today. I'll post the next leg in a day or two.

EBC Trek Route Map

2008-02-01T05:32:00.000-05:00

For this trek I put together a very basic map of my route so those who are so inclined can follow along better. The lines in the darker brown/red color are side trips while the bright red lines are days walking between towns. The numbers correspond to the day of the trek (there is no day 13 because I sat around doing nothing in Machhermo that day).

The map is large and pretty blurry so you'll definately need to zoom in to make anyting out.

My Socks Could Drop A Yak At 50 Paces.

2008-01-31T06:51:00.000-05:00

I'm back from my trek after a grueling 6 day hike from Namche to Jiri followed by a long bus ride back to Kathmandu. I'll start dumping photos tomorrow. In the meantime, I'm off to have the steak that I've been dreaming about nightly for the past week or so.

Sagarmatha, Goddess of the Sky.

2008-01-23T04:34:00.000-05:00

I'm back in Namche Bazaar after two weeks hiking up to Everest base camp and the Gokyo valley. Here are a few pictures of Everest from various spots.

I am probably going to walk out to Jiri instead of flying from Lukla so it may be a week or so until I get back to Kathmandu where I'll be able to continue regular posting.

Namche Bazaar

2008-01-08T03:15:00.000-05:00

I'm in the large Sherpa town of Namche Bazaar on the Everest Base Camp trekking route. Made it up here this morning after a steep but much shorter than expected walk up from Josale yesterday. The normal first night's stop is Phakding but I got there so early yesterday I continued on to make today easier.

Internet here is too expensive to post much, but here are two photos. The quality of the first one is horrible but wanted to post it anyway because of what it shows.

Off To Lukla

2008-01-06T07:22:00.000-05:00

I'll flying to Lukla early tomorrow morning to do the trek to Everest Base Camp. This trek could take anywhere from 2 to 3+ weeks depending on whether I decide to do the Gokyo Ri valley and/or walk back to Jiri instead of flying. I *may* have internet access during the 2 or 3 times I pass through Namche bazaar but can't promise anything.

No time for a real blog post tonight before I leave, which is too bad because I have a few pictures from Kathmandu that I wanted to post.

Hiking To ABC Part 4: The Path Back

2008-01-05T07:06:00.000-05:00

And finally I'm up to the last post of the Annapurna trek.

Day 9: Himalaya Hotel To Sinua

This first picture was actually taken the evening before. Shortly after I got to Himalaya the clouds rolled in and stayed for the evening. Unfortunately this became a pattern that continued for 3 of the last four days of the trip.

Sinua is the town on the far side of the "final" valley from Chomrong. I'd liked it when I went through on the way up and thought it would be a nice place to stay instead of Chomrong so this was another short day.

Day 10: Sinua To Landruk

The morning was a hike back down that valley and up to Chomrong. The rest of my trek from this point was following the trail I took up on my first trip in reverse. The first part was a short but very steep descent to Jinu down a hill that I remember well from my first trip.

I'd originally planned to stay in Jinu for the hot springs but didn't want another short day so decided to push on another 3 hours or so to Landruk.

Day 11: Landruk To Pothana

This was another short day to Pothana with one last steep climb in the afternoon. This made for a short day but I didn't want to go all the way back to Pokhara that day and Pothana is a much nicer place to stay than Dhampus. Also, I remember it from my first trip so didn't mind spending my last night there.

Day 12: Pothana To Phedi (And Back To Pokhara)

Finally, my last day was yet another short day with a gentle downhill to the large town of Dhampus.

From Dhampus it is a long steep descent to Phedi where I picked up the bus back to Pokhara. I remember my climb up these stairs from my first trip (my original introduction to hiking in Nepal) and was interested to see if they were as bad as I remember. Turns out that the intervening years did not exaggerate them in my mind and they were pretty much as long and steep as I remember.

Thats finally it for the Annapurna trek posts. I have some pictures from Kathmandu that I hope to post tomorrow. After that I plan to fly up to Lukla on Monday to do another trek to Everest Base Camp.

Hiking To ABC Part 3: The Base Camps

2008-01-04T05:48:00.000-05:00

This post picks up where the last one left off with my arrival at MBC.

Day 6 (cont): MBC

Not much to say about this day since I already covered the walk up in the last post. Here are the pictures I took at MBC that evening. The lodge I stayed in, although different from my first trip, was definitely on the same spot and I recognized the area well although it was no longer covered with snow.

Day 7: Christmas Eve at ABC

I took my time getting going in the morning since I only had a short 2 hour walk up to ABC. Last time I did this walk I remember having to walk up in the snow and it being a long slow trudge however this time it was an easy walk up the path to ABC. Being somewhat acclimatized from Tibet, and not being sick this time, also helped make this a much less strenuous hike than the first time.

Once I got up to ABC I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing at my lodge and walking around base camp. ABC was one of those places on the trip that I had thought I'd forgotten but remembered as soon as I got there. Although I have no pictures from my first trip as soon as I got up into the sanctuary the view of the surrounding ring of mountains was very familiar.

Day 8: Leaving The Sanctuary

I had originally planned to spend Christmas day at ABC but with the short walk the day before I decided to start the walk back instead. Also, although ABC wasn't as cold as I was prepared for, it did get cold early as the sun went down behind Hiunchuli around 2 PM in the afternoon. Although the next few days are just retracing my steps back to Chomrong I still managed to take a few pictures on the way back.

This is a good place to end this post. I'll continue from Himalaya Hotel tomorrow or the day after.

Hiking To ABC Part 2: Into Annapurna Sanctuary

2008-01-03T05:43:00.000-05:00

This second part of my Annapurna trek post covers the walk from Tadapani up into Annapurna Sanctuary.

Day 4: Tadapani To Chomrong

This was another very nice walk. The morning started out with a long and very steep drop through forest and terraced farmland down to the river crossing at the bottom of the next valley.

From there it was a walk back up the other side of the valley to Chomrong at 2170 meters. Chomrong was the first place on this trek where I had stayed on my first trip up to ABC in 1994.

Day 5: Chomrong To Dobhan

The next morning it was up early to cross the final major valley before heading up into Annapurna Sanctuary. From Chomrong meters it's a 350 meter drop to the river crossing, at which point you've only gained 800 meters from where the bus drops you off so almost all the climbing up to that point was for nothing. This time the climb back up the other side of the valley didn't seem so bad though.

From Sinua I continued on Bamboo (2340 meters) to Dobhan (2560 meters) where I spent the night.

Day 6: Dobhan To MBC

The walk from Dobhan up to the misnamed Machhapuchhre Base Camp (climbing Machhapuchhre is not allowed so it is not really a base camp) is a steady but mostly gentle uphill walk. The weather all day was interesting as every 30 minutes or so the clouds will blow up from the valley and completely obscure everything so it was like hiking in a heavy fog for a few minutes.

The morning was a 3 or so hour walk up to Deurali. At 3150 meters this is the last place to stop before heading up to MBC and ABC. In 1994 I dumped a bunch of gear here (I was carrying way too much that time) to lighten the load for the final climb.

Just before Deurali the trail leaves the tree line behind and from there it was another 2 1/2 hour walk up to MBC. I remember this part being difficult and rather boring last time but this time I really enjoyed the walk and the scenery.

That's probably more than enough for now. I'll continue this tomorrow with pictures from MBC and ABC.

Hiking To ABC Part 1: Up To Poon Hill

2008-01-02T01:51:00.000-05:00

The first three days of my trek involved a hike up to Ghorepani for the view from Poon Hill.

Day 1: Birethanti to Ulleri

The first day started out with an easy 2 1/2 hour walk up a valley to Tikhe Dunga.

After Tikhe Dunga, I received my reintroduction to what hiking in Nepal is all about. The trail up to Ulleri is a stone staircase that climbs 400 meters in tight switchbacks straight up the side of the valley. It turned out that this was probably the toughest 2 hours of my entire hike up to ABC.

Ulleri i perched on the side of a valley at 1960 meters and has a nice view up to Annapurna South and Hiunchuli.

Day 2: Ulleri to Ghorepani

The second day of the hike was a mostly gentle and very pleasant uphill walk to the pass (Deorali) above Ghorepani where I stayed for the night for an easy climb up to Poon Hill the next morning.

The views from Ghorepani Deorali itself were absolutely stunning, with two 8000+ meter peaks (Annapurna 1 and Dhaulagiri) and a good part of their ranges in view. I got in early and spent 3 or 4 hours on the terrace of my lodge trying to read but kept continuously distracted by the view and probably finished less than 5 pages in my book.

Day 3: Sunrise at Poon Hill

The next morning I got an early start for the 45 minute climb up to Poon Hill (3210 meters) for sunrise. Poon Hill is supposed to be one of the best views in the area and I can believe. I think these are some of the best pictures I took the whole trek.

Day 3 (cont): Ghorepani to Tadapani

When I set out I had originally expected to spend the day relaxing in Ghorepani but was enjoying the hiking so much that I continued on instead. By this time I had made the decision to do the full Annapurna Base Camp trek so it was off to Tadapani, a town on a high pass about midway between Ghorepani and Chomrong, where I would pick up the trail up to the Annapura Sanctuary and ABC.

This day and the following were probably my two favorite days of hiking the whole trip. The morning was a mostly gentle walk up above the tree line to a pass that had views that were at least the equal of those from Poon Hill.

Then, the afternoon was a steep hike down through a dramatic gorge and valley followed by a climb up a ridge to Tadapani.

Tadapani is quite a bit closer to the sanctuary and again had spectacular views of the now much closer Annapurna South and Machhapuchhre.

That's it for this post. I'll post the next part in a day or two. I'm headed back to Kathmandu tomorrow and I'm not sure if I'll get to the next part tomorrow afternoon after I get in.

Back From ABC

2007-12-31T05:12:00.000-05:00

I enjoyed the hiking so much I hiked up to Annapurna Base Camp, and in much less time than I was expecting. This was my second time to ABC but things have changed so much that almost everything was new to me this time.

I have almost 1000 photos from the trek to sort through so expect a few posts over the next couple days. For now here are two photos until I have time to tackle the rest of the pile.

In the first picture, the mountains are (from left to right), Annapurna 1, Annapurna South, Hiunchuli, and Machhapuchare. In the second shot Annapurna south is directly behind me and the mountain over my right shoulder is Hiunchuli which gives a bit of an idea how far I'd come from the first picture.

Trailhead

2007-12-17T06:02:00.000-05:00

I finally left Pokara to get started on my trek today and, what do you know, the town at the trailhead has internet access. I'm actually staying a couple kilometers up the trail in Birethanti which is close enough that I had a chance to wander back down the hill. I think this town (Naya Pul) is where I finished my Annapurna Sanctuary trek last time however I don't really remember for certain.

Anyway, since I have a chance here are a couple pictures from today. Anyone who is sick of Machhapuchhre pictures can skip the first one.

This will probably be my last post until I return from the trek which could be anywhere from 1 to 3 weeks depending on how much I enjoy the hiking.

More From Pokhara

2007-12-15T07:10:00.000-05:00

Here are a few more pictures from Pokhara before I head out.

Pokhara

2007-12-14T00:54:00.000-05:00

I finally managed to drag myself out of Kathmandu and came to Pokhara on Wednesday.

These first two pictures are from a stop at a small town on the road between Kathmandu and Pokhara.

And here are a few shots I took this morning around Pokhara.

In a day or two I am going to head out for a short (6-7 day) trek up to Poon hill. If I am really enjoying myself I may make it a longer one while I'm at it.

Small Temples Around Kathmandu

2007-12-10T03:51:00.000-05:00

Here are a few shots of some small temples around central Kathmandu.

This Blog Has Gotten Lame

2007-12-08T07:10:00.000-05:00

Once again I apologize for how lame this blog has become since I came to Nepal. I haven't taken a whole lot of pictures because I haven't been off doing much sightseeing.

Earlier this week I went on a two day whitewater rafting trip (what better way could there be to recover from being ill). The river was too rough to take my camera but I took a few pictures from the land. All in all it was a great trip. The rapids were not the toughest I've ever done (at this time of year they were mostly high class III), but they were non-stop for the roughly 5 hours we spent on the river each day.

Then yesterday and today I wandered down to Durbar square and did a bit of sightseeing. These pictures are all from yesterday - I'll post more tomorrow.

I should have more pictures over the next few days, however Monday or Tuesday I am heading up to Pokhara where I will do a short (5-7 day) trek and I doubt I'll have Internet access during the trek.

Catch-up: Tibet To Nepal

2007-12-04T02:24:00.000-05:00

I've finally shaken off whatever vicious little bug was lodged in my gut. With the exception of a little weakness from three days with barely any food I'm almost completely recovered so its time to get caught up.

First up is a final HDR shot from Tibet, featuring Everest and some prayer flags (my two favorite Tibet subjects). I had some other HDRs but they didn't come out as well I don't want to overdo it by posting too many.

Moving on, these next couple shots are from Zhangmu on the Tibet side of the border.

I'd wanted to do a Tibet wrap up, but I really don't have as much to say as I did after Mongolia. Although I loved Tibet nothing really leaps out at me. I do have one thing to say though (and pardon my french). The Chinese government can go f itself for what it has done to the Tibetan people and culture. Particularly its continuing sinofication policy that has resulted in most cities, including Lhasa, now having a "Tibetan quarter" in an otherwise Han Chinese majority city.

After my day in Zhangmu I got up in the morning, had a quick breakfast, and headed across the border to Nepal. Turns out I should have gotten moving faster as the trip to Kathmandu ended up taking much longer than I'd anticipated, especially because traffic in Kathmandu at rush hour is a nightmare now. All in all I enjoyed it though because I was so thrilled to be back in the first country I travelled in back in 1994. The first bus ride, from the border town of Kodari down to Barabise was the best part as I finally got a chance to ride on the roof of a local bus, something I wanted to do but missed out on last time. It ended up being the most comfortable bus ride I've ever taken in all my travels as the roof was loaded with big bundles of something soft (clothing maybe) that made for very cushy seating.

I haven't taken any pictures since I've been in Kathmandu so there's nothing to show after the bus ride down. I plan to get out and have a look around tomorrow so there should be plenty coming in the next day or so though.

Ugh.

2007-12-01T07:10:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the lack of posts from Kathmandu, but the last two days I've been floored by the same thing that I remember oh-so-fondly from my last time here. Whatever it is it's kind of like "Delhi Belly" only a couple of orders of magnitude worse and with a nice fever thrown in for added fun.

Anyway, posting to resume whenever possible.

Leaving Tibet.

2007-11-27T05:12:00.000-05:00

I'm in Zhangmu, the town on the Tibet side of the border with Nepal. Turns out I was unable to find any Internet access for the whole five days of my trip from Lhasa so I've been unable to post since I left. Rather than my usual multi-post catchup I'm doing the whole thing in one big post. There are 38 pictures in this monster and it was tough whittling it down that far so bear with me.

Day I: A Lake, Some Mountains, And Some Mud.

The first day was a long drive from Lhasa to Gyantse. The highlight was Yamdrak Tso, a large lake (shaped something like a scorpion) midway between Lhasa and Gyantse.

Late in the day our driver managed to get the Land cruiser stuck trying to cross a river while detouring around some construction. It took almost 3 hours to get the car unstuck of which the first 2 were mostly random flailing about from the driver and others who came to watch/help.

Day 2: Several Monasteries And A Fort

We had several hours to look around Gyantse on the morning of the second day before leaving for Shigatse. This turned out not to be enough time to see everything though so I didn't have a chance to explore everything I would have liked to see.

After leaving Gyantse it was only a few hours drive to Shigatse. The scenery was probably the plainest of any day on the drive. We arrived with plenty of time to explore the Tashilhunpo monastery, although Shigatse was another town that could have used another solid day of exploring.

Day 3: Sakye Monastery, And A Big Bump On The Horizon

The main stop on day three involved a detour to see Sakye monastery. Sakye was interesting and quite different from other monasteries I'd visited in Tibet as it is built like a fort and on flat ground rather than spread along the side or top of a ridge.

After Sakye we countinued on the Shegar. On the way we caught our first glimpse of Everest. Most pictures I've seen of Everest are from the Nepal side where it is almost lost in other big mountains so I was quite surpried at how it loomed over everthing else from the Tibet side.

Day 4: The Granddaddy Of All Rocks.

The fourth day revolved around the highlight of the whole trip, Qomalangma (or Everest to you and me). In the morning we drove up to Rongphu monastery where we were to spend the night a few miles below Everest base camp. The afternoon was a long hike up to EBC and back to Rongphu monastery (much better than driving, although we did catch a lift part of the way up). Everest has been on my list of things to see for longer than I can remember and I was impressed (awed, overwhelmed) to say the least. To cap off the day a few of us sat outside and froze while watching the sunlight slowly creep up the peak.

Day 5: Falling Off The Roof Of The World

Yesteray we got up early and left Rongphu at 4950 meters for the drive down to the Zhangmu at 2300 meters on the Nepal border. The whole day was simply spectacular as we had to drive right through the Himalaya range to get to the border and were in view of 7 and 8 thousand meter peaks the whole way. The end of the day was spent driving down the side of a stunning valley as we left the Tibetan plateau. Unfortunately much of this last part was in the dark due to construction and slow trucks (we will not speak of the traffic jam coming into Zhangmu last night).

The rest of my group left for Nepal this morning but I decided to stay in Zhangmu for an extra day just to have one last day in Tibet (although Zhangmu feels nothing like the rest of Tibet - there are tall green things growing here for one thing).

Tomorrow morning I'm off to Nepal so my next post will be from Khathmandu. I'll try to do a wrap-up post on Tibet, hopefully with a few HDRs if any of them come out, when I get there.

Last Lhasa

2007-11-21T05:27:00.000-05:00

My plans have firmed up so I'm leaving tomorrow for a five day trip to the Nepal border with 6 other people. We'll be stopping a number of places including the Everest base camp on the way. In the meantime, here a few final pictures from Lhasa. Sorry for the lack of updates the last couple days but there hasn't been much new for me to see in Lhasa.

I should have Internet access at least once or twice between here and the Nepal border. I'll try to post when I have the chance.