Our two porters are college kids on break. They are from my guide Mahesh’s village, so they are known and trusted. They were shy the first day or so, but that has changed now. We’ve talked about their struggles in life, and I ask and prod, pushing the edge of what is in this culture possible to talk honestly about including their dreams and possible futures. Continue reading The Kids: Poon Hill
Having these two highly trained and skilled carvers working with us at the studio/warehouse is a dream come true for me. It is a dream I have had for over fifteen years. I have collected ideas, made drawings, and found photographs for even longer than that, hoping someday to find someone who could to bring these ideas to life. Continue reading The New Carvers at the Warehouse
Mind’s Questions: What am I doing here in Nepal trekking again? Did I forget the pain, discomfort and fear? Why would anyone do this? Continue reading Trek Again? Are You Crazy?
Trekking in the off-the-grid Himalayas in the Kingdom of Mustang was all that I’d imagined and much, much more. The land was shockingly beautiful at every turn, the people endlessly sweet, the villages simple and incredibly photogenic, and the trekking itself was often incredibly hard, testing my physical and psychological limits for hours at a time. Fortunately I had no altitude sickness, even though the higher passes at the 13,800’ level took every ounce of strength and determination I could muster. The air’s a might thin up there. Within minutes of crossing each of a multitude of passes, I was happy to hike on, as if no trial ever existed. Pain is fast forgotten in the face of such beauty, joy, and a powerful sense of accomplishment. Most of the trek was a matter of living in the present, where neither past nor future exist. It was a joy to be off the grid, free and filled with simple happiness, away from everyday life’s thoughts and obsessions. That joy grew day by day, as the world I once knew receded and the now became the all. Continue reading Overview: Mustang
The pilgrimage place, Muktinath, is a place of cleansing, a place of washing away misdeeds of the past. I do see the value of intelligence of this idea: complete the past, look at what we’ve done, possibly learn from it, and start fresh. That’s good. Continue reading Muktinath Revisited: Re-thinking My Irreverent, Politically Incorrect Diatribe