Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays are getting close so let me put in this ’shamelss’ plug. You guys have seen some ads on my website. I tried to keep it to minimum and in unobtrusive places. The blog is personal in nature and has a limited appeal to really create too much traffic. My expectations to make any money were pretty much anything above ZERO;) It was more of a learning experience that I’m planning to leverage once I get back;) Although I have received a few PAYPAL donations in exchange for a few postcards mailed. Thanks guys… You know who you are;)
In any case, for sakes of full disclosure if you see links throughout my posts that take you directly to Amazon.com, it is because they are linked by me and if you click on them (or the big Amazon.com banner at the bottom of this page, too), visit the Amazon.com website and buy anything there I get a small commission.
The price you end up paying won’t affected at all. Unlike the Google’s Adsense, the Amazon.com Associates program pays only for actual sales, not ‘views’…So, if you had any plans to get anything, and I mean anything (it doesn’t need to be a product that I link to), from Amazon.com for the upcoming holidays, just go ahead and CLICK HERE
or on any of my music, book or computer links throughout my text;) I hope my articles are either useful in providing some information or at least inspirational in some way to encourage you to make similar trip;)
Thanks for reading and have a great holidays wherever you find yourself. And to myself, Happy Birthday, which is coming up on Nov. 20th;)
November 17th, 2006
Posted by
Rich |
Blogging |
no comments
So where do I cycle from Thamel in Kathmandu? As my Annapurna trekking have changed, I will jump on the Pritvi highway, connecting Kathmandu and Pokhara and cycle to the still ‘Royal’ Chitwan National Park to enjoy some jungle experience, tigers, elephants and the likes;) Then, it’ll be nice ride through flat plains of Terai to the Nepal/India border near Sunauli. But before crossing into Incredible India, I want to stop for a day in Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha.Once in India, it’ll be a dash to Varanasi. I might stop in Sarnath, another famous Buddhist pilgrimage site as it was the place where Buddha spoke about his teachings for the first time. It is only 10-15 kms from Varanasi. While circumambulating Mt. Kailash, I have decided to finish my trip in Varanasi, rather than cycling to Delhi back. As a place for many Hindu pilgrims to come to live out the last days of their lives, it is a fitting place to end my cycling part in the place also known as ‘City of the Dead’…
After that it’ll be only an overnight train to Delhi, storing my stuff in one of the many Paharganj hotels and catch a train (or a plane) to Goa and enjoy some beach time (OK, a bit of partying and reading good books, too) before landing back in, as always, bitterly cold December New York City…
These are my plans for the last 30 days of my travels. But they can always change. That’s the beauty of Vagabonding;)
November 17th, 2006
Posted by
Rich |
India, Nepal |
one comment
Sorry for lack of travel related updates:( This really is a bit of a rambling post, kind of laying it out what has been on my mind in recent days, or mental cleaning, if you will;) My lazy days in Kathmandu are coming slowly but surely to an end. As great as Thamel has been to me, it’s time to move on… I realized more than anywhere else during my trip that I’m quite missing NYC hectic lifestyle even though there is plenty of chaos here in Kathmandu, just of a different kind;)It’s due to two reasons mainly: Firstly, the cycling part of my trip has been really accomplished - getting through Tibet on a bike;) After that I realized my commitment has been slowly waning away. In the next few days I will be leaving the Himalayas behind. What’s left is just an easy, and I’m sure pretty enjoyable, fun ride through ‘little’ hills of Nepal and lowlands of Northern India to Varanasi. Luckily they are lot cooler than in July/August when I was in India for the last time…
Second, I’ve been spending too much time browsing online here which brought me back up in a loop of what’s going on in the world. I’m just too much of a news junkie. You can get The Economist (IMHO the best weekly there is), TIME, Newsweek, plus a decent assortment of dailies from U.S. and Europe in Kathmandu in addition to online news… Morevover, I’m a tech geek. Just to catch up with my favorite blogs takes an eternity;) Some of my web projects that have been put on hold while I have been on the road are crowding my mind again and I’m full of great, at least I think so, ideas. I feel like screaming: Where’s my laptop now???
I have finally decided to join the Mac camp all the way. I was pondering a switch to Apple but postponed it many times. There is no waiting anymore;) Macbook
will be my companion when on the road again. Somehow, I feel it’ll be South American continent as my next destination of my “Vagabonding” series… Biking or hitching, or both, perfecting my broken Spanish…
Plus, I missed my music too but it was easy to get some of it back in Kathmandu. I have a few spare 1GB CF cards that I loaded with my favorite music in local shops. To rip them with music costs 60 rupees per CD only, less than one buck;) Cheaper than buying CDs. BTW, I only put music on it that I own back home, so no copyright violations committed here;) In case you want to know what I’m listening to, here it is: Buddha Bar,
a few U2 albums, Coldplay,Leonard Cohen,
the Doors and some Tibetan music…I know pretty old-fashioned stuff;)
I also picked up a few good books to keep me company: Eric Hobsbawm’s “The Age of Extremes”,
Bruce Chatwin’s “What Am I Doing Here”and Peter Hopkirk’s “Quest for Kim”.The last two are among my favorite travel writers. The first one is a well-written history of the 20th century. I picked it up as an exchange of my excellent but not needed Trailblazer’s “Trekking in the Annapurna Region”
and sofar it turned out to be pretty good reading…
November 17th, 2006
Posted by
Rich |
Nepal |
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