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Date:
April 7, 2003
One of the less notable things I have accomplished on my trip is having
seen more cattle than almost anyone alive. This isnęt a joke about
being from Wisconsin. Cattle, dead and alive, are everywhere. Selling
beef and milk is the livelihood of many people. Forests have been
reduced to grasslands for fodder and the grasslands reduced to deserts.
I was hoping that India would be an exception because cattle, or cows
as I like to call them, are holy creatures. But there are hundreds of
cows wandering the cities, clogging the roads and leaving cow pies and
flies in their wake. Not only are cows reproducing helter-skelter in
the hills, tribal people breed cows for the small amount of milk, 16
liters a day per lactating cow. Cows and trucks are two things I never
want to see again. So, one of the reasons I was very relieved to arrive
in Nepal is because the only cows Ięve seen in the cities are on the
menu, though it is illegal to slaughter cattle so they are sent to the
butchers in India. I have been doing my part to save the planet by
eating as many water buffalo as possible. Debbie reckons I ate a skinny
one already.
Debbie and I have parted ways. She wanted to do a trek around
Annapurna, a really big mountain and I said, –What? You want me to
walk? Are you crazy?” We had an amicable parting. I can best summarize
our relationship by something Debbie once said, –How do you unboil an
egg?” As my fans know, I ask too many unanswerable questions and,
generally, drive myself and my friends mad. Debbie had a knack for
knocking me flat. I will miss her calm, grounding presence. Good luck,
Debbie.
P.S. Debbie, after many hours of pondering this new dilemma, I think if
you take the egg out of the pot of boiling water and let it cool this
would be unboiling an egg. Or mash it up and make a deviled egg. Or, go
back in time stop and yourself from boiling the egg. Or....
Anyway, the tourist area in Kathmandu, the Thamel, is a bubble of
modern civilization unmatched since Bangalore. Fifty years ago, Nepal's
borders were closed to foriegners. The first climbers to enter the
country had a hard time even finding specific mountains because few
maps or roads existed. Now, Kathmandu is a climbing and hiking mecca.
There are so many maps, books and posters of Everest that I wonder why
anyone bothers. Of course, we are surrounded by rings of poverty,
pollution and over-farmed and over-grazed lands. But in the center with
my water buffalo dumplings, hot shower, whisky, etc. it is easy to
forget about the rest of the world.
Tomorrow, I leave for an expedition to Lhasa, Tibet (China) with a side
trip to Mt. Everest base camp on the Chinese side of the border. Even
the old-timers say this will be really tough with freezing temperatures
and scarce food. I am excited to see Everest. The slopes should be full
of climbers acclimatizing themselves for an attempt to summit in the
next few weeks. It is the 50th anniversary since the first summit by
Hillary. Not only is Everest the tallest mountain in the world, it also
has the longest continuous ascent by road in the world up to base camp
at 5020 meters. Most mountain climbers drive or fly to base camp and
then climb to the summit at 8848 meters, only 3828 meters. In other
words, I will climb 1192 meters higher than almost all mountain
climbers.
I have spent a Nepali fortune on supplies: food, clothing, shoes,
watch, books, permits, visas, airfare, more money then in all of India.
It better snow!
After a few attempts, I got my first glimpse of the Himalayas atop a
lookout tower. A man pointed to the peak. I saw 2000-3000 meter
mountains and clouds disappearing into a band of clouds along the
horizon but nothing special. "Look in the clouds," he said. Above the
horizon line of mountains and the same color as the powder-blue clouds,
a pyramid of ice emerged with a rooster tail of vapor. I've seen and
bicycled throught dozens of mountain ranges including the Rockies and
the Andes and all I can say is the Himalayas are amazing and gigantic.
I am tired of trying to write cohesive emails, so here are couple more
notes for the record:
Why do all the compasses in a drawer point in different directions?
I am continuing to follow the Silk Road, the overland trade route
between Europe and Asia.
I was eating lunch near where Debbie noticed that some people were waiting
for the bus with a corpse tied in a blanket. In Nepal, it costs
money to put your luggage on top of the bus so people fill the bus
with their luggage and the people sit on top. So I wondered, are
they going to have to buy an extra ticket or check the corpse as
luggage?
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