Well! I have made it to Rewalsar, which is a little town tucked away in the southern Himalayan mountains, near the border between India and Tibet. It’s known mainly as a pilgrimage site for Hindus, Buddhists, and Sikhs, and also for a prominent Tibetan lama who lives and teaches in the caves above Rewalsar.
Rewalsar isn’t [...]
Well. Today has been sort of amusing.
One of the cool (and maddening) things about traveling is that you never know what to expect. Sometimes you get a great experience, sometimes you get a rotten one, and sometimes you get an experience SO rotten it’s great. Today, what I got was a brilliant scam tour of [...]
Well! I have just had my first bona fide proposition. A shopkeeper in the bazaar sold me a shawl at undoubtedly inflated prices, talked me into going over to his place “for two minutes” to see something, and then tried to seduce me. It was all quite amusing. I’m even almost not insulted.
(I have [...]
Just arrived in Delhi last night, after a moderately tedious set of misadventures at the airport (delayed flight, invalid ticket, etc.). Haven’t really poked around the city yet–just got up and am searching for food, breakfast, etc., and trying to get a “feel” for the city. Mostly all I’ve noticed so far is that when [...]
(Apologies in advance for the volume of emails, today and tomorrow–I’m trying to get the Akha trip written up before I leave for India, and I’ve only got a day and a half. I’m going to try getting the Akha photos up on the website, too–probably tomorrow.) ———————————- Sometime in the afternoon, I asked how [...]
Well. I now have the world’s best drop spindle. Laceweight, perfectly balanced, gorgeously decorated, spins forever–oh yes, and solid silver. 97%, a bit higher than sterling.
I arrived at the silversmith’s in the early morning, along with Asaw, my new guide. (Chatree, my guide from the previous day, was off with another tour group that [...]
Well. I have now eaten dog.
It was sort of inevitable, really; I walked into the village in the middle of a ceremonial…no, wait, I’d better tell the story in sequence.
I got to the silversmith’s late this morning because I lost some electronics and spent the morning searching for it. We haggled for awhile, discussing lessons [...]
Well, it turns out I didn’t go to Akha Hill House, after all…which is a good thing, since I’ve since been told that it’s a notorious drug hangout. I freely confess to a vivid curiosity about opium growth/production, but since I’m not even slightly interested in trying the stuff, I’m just as happy to skip [...]
Just arrived in Chiang Rai, and will probably spend the next day or so writing up the last couple days of rafting trip…which were highly amusing. First, however, I’m taking care of the necessities of life: hot shower, laundry, ATM, hair conditioner, foot massage, gay bar, and email, not necessarily in that order. (If you [...]
Well, I’m back in Luang Namtha after a 1-day trip to Muang Sing, a town right next to the Chinese border. Luang Namtha is fabulously interesting and scenic, and I really wish I could go exploring, but I am pretty much wiped out after a couple long bus rides, so I have (very reluctantly) decided [...]