After browsing through traveler’s posts on TT’s Asia - Indian Subcontinent forum, I found some answers to recurring questions regarding the onset of the 2006 monsoon. I will be arriving in New Delhi in the morning on June 30th. As you can see in the above sketch (source: India Meteorological Department), the monsoon is expected to hit Delhi around June 29th. It’ll be interesting;)
After I arrive, I will most likely head for Paharganj, the independent traveler’s ghetto near New Delhi train station, get a room and re-adjust to India for a day, or two. If monsoon rains will be bad, I’ll just get a train ticket straight to Shimla and start my journey from there.
For more on Indian monsoons read here:
May 30th, 2006
Posted by
Rich |
India, Preparation |
2 comments
This month, Kevin Sites has been reporting from Nepal. For those not familiar with him: He is an online journalist/blogger who has been visiting and reporting from conflict zones around the world for Yahoo.com. He was the reporter who in November 2004, as an NBC News correspondent, videotaped a U.S. Marine shooting a wounded Iraqi insurgent in a Fallujah mosque.
Go check out reports, essays, stories and videos on his ‘rich-on-multimedia’ “Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone” Yahoo website (If Nepal is not on the main page anymore, just search through Show All Hot Zones in the right sidebar or look in the Past Locations section.) I like his style of reporting. The mixture of writing, photos and videos gives a reader a ‘closer’, more humane, view of people living and surviving day-to-day in war zones around the globe. He is quite good at giving voice to people rarely asked for opinions…
PS: Starting next week, he will be reporting from another troubled area which I will be visiting soon, Kashmir in Northern India and Pakistan.
May 27th, 2006
Posted by
Rich |
Blogging, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Preparation |
no comments
The last Tuesday, I decided to load my bike and head up to Bear Mountain State Park. (See a few pictures on my Flickrmap or directly at Flickr.com) Partly, it was a test for my bike and equipment but I also wanted to do a longer training ride. I did it in two days with an overnight stay at the park. With all my side trips (and wrong turns;)) I did a little over 140 miles, averaged 11.5 mph and climbed about 8,000ft. Here is a map of the trip: NYC to Bear Mountain Adventure with cue sheets, if you decide to do it too;)
So close, yet so far…, originally uploaded by Rich.
Overall, it was a pleasant ride. First day, I enjoyed the ride around Manhattan, over the George Washington Bridge (GWB) onto the River Road in New Jersey, with its ups and downs. After reaching Nyack, I had my lunch at the quintessential cyclist stopover: ‘The Runcible Spoon’. I’m certainly not the first one to claim it: Great apple pies!!! Then, I rode next to the Hudson River, on a bike route #9, through some great dirt trails. I had to carry my bike a few times over fallen trees or push it through some ‘fist-size’ gravel sections but I still had lots of fun. And then, the long climb to the top of Bear Mountain, from zero ft to over 1,300ft in 4.5 or 5 miles. It was a bit windy up there, with a lonely deer following me and finally feasting on one of my apples;) After a few snapshots, I headed down to find a ‘wild’ campsite in the woods, near Seven Lakes Parkway, not far away from the Silver Mine Lake.
Lake Welch Beach, originally uploaded by Rich.
The next morning, I continued on the Seven Lakes Parkway heading south. I passed by some quite beautiful lakes: Tiorati, Askoti, Welch, and many others. Didn’t see many people vacationing as I was there in the middle of the week but there were plenty of workers readying the beaches, parking lots and camps for the unofficial opening of the 2006 summer season during the Memorial Day wekend (May 27-29). Once I left the woods of the Bear Mountain and Harriman State Parks behind, I passed through many small picturesque towns of Rockland county in NY and Bergen county in upper New Jersey on my way back to the city.In terms of equipment, everything went very well, no problems whatsoever. I believe that the Cannondale’s Headshock front-suspension design is quite suitable to off-road touring as it is more stable, has enough travel (80mm) and is completely protected from outside elements. Even the outboard bottom bracket (FSA MegaExo) rarely seen on today’s touring bikes is OK, as long as it is properly maintained. Wheels and tires are rock-solid too. (I already put about 1,000 miles on them). Ortlieb panniers and Tubus rear rack were well worth the expense;) Hope to do one more similar ride before I leave. ONE MONTH TO GO!!! Can’t wait;)))
May 26th, 2006
Posted by
Rich |
Cycling, Equipment, New York, Preparation |
no comments
The Everest summits are slowly piling up. People are reaching the top of Mt. Everest almost daily, thanks to a recent window of good weather.
I have been closely following the Everest Peace Project expedition which approached the mountain from the north side in Tibet. I have met Lance Trumbull shortly in Kathmandu in December ‘02. While trekking in India in summer ‘02, he conceived the idea of climbing the Everest with a diverse group of mountaineers representing major faiths of the world. When I heard about the project then I thought it was ‘a bit’ over-ambitious. But after four years of planning, bringing people and sponsors onboard, and initial troubles (the project was postponed a few times), he persevered and finally succeeded on May 18th, ‘06 when 10 members of his team summitted the Everest. Congrats to all of you guys. You deserve it!!!
Read more about it here:
There is a short summit video on the above website. Watch it, it’s cool;)Also, Jamie McGuinness, who I know from my previous Himalayan escapades, summitted the Everest for the second time (He was the climbing director of the team). So, now guys get you ‘asses’ off the mountain safely and enjoy your success;)
May 20th, 2006
Posted by
Rich |
Nepal, Tibet, Trekking |
3 comments
As you probably know by now, Nepal has changed its status from a Hindu kingdom to a secular state. The Parliament has ruled on May 18th, 2006 that the House of Representatives is the supreme governing body of Nepal and not the king. So there goes the last Hindu monarchy. No more ‘His Majesty’ and ‘Royal’ designations in signs anywhere. In the past few days, people were quite happily scratching the words out, or simply repainting them. The final political status of Nepal will be decided in the constituent assembly, be it a republic or a ceremonial monarchy.
For more day-to-day reporting and latest developments from Nepal, visit the UWB (United We Blog! for a Democratic Nepal) blog:
I’m not a big fan of monarchies, royalties, kings or queens. I despise the idea that someone has hereditary right to rule over people, without any achievement of his/her own. So, I’m quite happy for Nepalis to throw away the ‘abusive’ king’s rule. I’m hopeful the changes will bring equality and more self-determination to all ethnic groups too. Plus, it’s about time for Nepal to rise above from being among the world’s poorest countries. There are plenty of resources: the country has always been a magnet for tourism and there are immense opportunities for hydro-power generation, just to name the obvious ones.And even though there are still many obstacles ahead (i.e. Maoists are the ‘big’ one), I’m definitely more optimistic about Nepal’s future now then I was just a few months ago. I’ll see you in Nepal in November ‘06;)
May 20th, 2006
Posted by
Rich |
Nepal |
no comments
Our Tibetan ‘dining’ tent, originally uploaded by Rich.
This is what I call trekking with style: our dining tent made in Tibetan style. We were sitting on carpets enjoying our soups and that was only the first entree;) This was taken at a high-altitude pasture at Nyimaling which is a stop on a popular Markha Valley trek.
For more, go visit my finally uploaded photo sets from my 2003 Ladakh trek in my Flickr Galleries And don’t forget, you can also check out the photos on my Flickrmap page, as they are all geotagged. To zoom in, click and draw a rectangle around a selected area;)
May 17th, 2006
Posted by
Rich |
India, Trekking |
no comments
A few days ago I have signed up with Google AdSense. So today, I have added some of their ads to my blog. I did it mainly to improve on my blog’s user-friendliness rather than to become a ‘millionaire’ through pushing ads;))) BTW, given the current Google payouts, I should consider myself lucky if I’ll be richer a couple of dollars after my return from Asia, if at all…I only added a few simple (read visually “non-intrusive”) AdSense products to my sidebar. On top of the sidebar, I now have a Google bar, which makes it easier to search my blog, or the Web. On the bottom, I put a box with text-based ad-links (hopefully related to context of my blog) and two referrals: one to Firefox browser (which I personally love and endorse to all my friends) and the other one to Google AdSense (in case you want try it yourself)…
Let me know, if you find the ads too distracting from enjoying the blog.
UPDATE (May 17, 06): Google ads are out!!! Since I have listed them on my blog they never showed any relevant ads. Thank you Google, but no. Instead, I have put up Amazon referral book listing containing latest travel books. (I might even customize it later to list on books about Himalayas and its countries only)…
May 12th, 2006
Posted by
Rich |
Blogging |
no comments
