Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Final notes on Leh - Part 1

Journal excerpt:
Delhi, India - August 15, 2007 (morning)

Flew in from Leh tod
ay. Airport scenario was as follows...

Took a taxi at 5:30am (driver arrived at 5:20) from the Oriental Guest House in Changspa to the Leh airport. Driving into the Leh airport is like driving into the heart of an extremely secure military base - with more security than I've seen at any airport (including Heathrow).

As we drive into the airport proper, there is a strong military & police presence everywhere. I pay my smiling taxi driver 150 rupees and gather the luggage. While shuffling through the sliding doors, I am greeted by 4 police officers and a walk-through metal detector.

I set my luggage to the side, walk through, assume the usual “T” position and am then frisked (frisk #1). From there, preceded to wait in a queue where we were instructed to put our handbag & check-in luggage items onto a conveyor belt which fed into a large x-ray machine. Several army officers proceed to walk through the front door and they too are privy to the frisk - much to my surprise. A policeman signals us into a second entry where I show my ticket & passport and get frisked again (frisk #2).

I then gather my luggage and check in at the Jet Airways kiosk. Immediately recognize one of Dechen’s co-wor
kers - the guy who was at the Jet Airways office in Leh when I purchased my ticket (5875 rupees). He smiles. I smile. We shake each other’s hands and he offers me some potato chips that he’s eating. I decline, loading my check-in items onto the scale. He hands me a boarding pass.

I join yet another queue along with several army officers. Something catches my eye while in the line. On the wall there is a list of those who are free from this thorough frisk-a-thon – one of the people on that list, besides the garden variety of Indian government officials, is the Dalai Lama. All hand baggage is put through a second x-ray contraption.

A police officer asks for my
boarding pass and we all get frisked again (frisk #3)... This time the police officer runs a metal detector over all passengers. The metal detector looks like it’s vintage surplus early 50’s Soviet gear. As I attempt to gather my carry-on bag (which contains all of my electronic gear including a laptop, hard drives and various AV gear), I find an agent inspecting its contents. I let them know that it's my bag and smile, which they clearly seem to appreciate.

The airport lounge is packed with Indian army officers and dozens of French tourists. A police officer signals me to join another queue to board the airplane shuttle, but not before another search. This time we are frisked (frisk #4) by an airline employee who then runs (another) metal detector over each passenger before boarding the shuttle.

The shuttle doors continuously fly open all the way across the tarmac due in part to the zig-zag driving. I use my booted foot to keep the shuttle doors closed as much as possible with mixed results (to the delighted amusement of my fellow passengers). We finally get to the plane after a rather indirect & confusing route. I'm the first off the bus and am greeted by the same guy at the check-in counter. He smiles sincerely while shaking my hand enthusiastically as I climb the flight of stairs to the Boeing.

Walking into the cabin, I see the pretty stewardess who constantly referred to me by my name on the original flight to Leh. She bids me a "very good morning" and asks how I am - still remembering my name and pronouncing it correctly. Impressive. About the time I reach my seat & pop on the noise-canceling headphones, the Xanax kicks in. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, happy flight to Delhi...


Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Visual Supplementation

I've joined the masses and created a "You Tube" channel...



...enjoy!

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Joolay

Journal excerpts:
Jammu & Kashmir - August 13, 2007
"Joolay!" Ponsok's father Pasang proudly proclaims every morning when I see him. This is a typical greeting in Ladakhi (a variation on the Tibetan language - same written text, different speaking). He's an amiable guy and we have been having these amazing conversations over tea after dinner. He built the place that I am staying at by hand with the help of his brother Yeshe in 1982. Yeshe now appears to spend his days with his prayer wheel spinning from dawn to dusk with an occasional nap in between.

Usual breakfast early today – fresh fruit, muesli and yoghurt with honey, a glass of Kashmiri apple juice and tea. I saw His Holiness The Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, and his caravan of security drive from his retreat near the Shey gompa, to the lecture he’s giving in the Norbu Valley early this am. Leh was drenched in prayer flags - the locals were ecstatic and His Holiness smiled & waved as his car slowly proceeded towards the highway. He looked great. The road to Norbu Valley is completely blocked off (several miles along a squiggly wiggly military highway which goes over the world’s highest pass - 18,600 feet). Once his lectures begin, there will be no entry to the entire valley and the highway will be closed. All of the monks from Thiksey Monastery were deeply excited for the chance to be in his presence and attend these teachings.

Been hiking the Himalaya plateau with some mates - Karl (Australia), Erik (Sweden) and David (Britain). David got extremely ill due to altitude sickness, so we had to take him to the hospital. His breathing was irregular, so they put him on oxygen. I gave him a plethora of aspirin to consume to thin his blood which seemed to help (as well as convince him that he wasn't having a coronary, which caused him to start panicking). Apart from the oxygen supplement, the medics couldn't find any reason why he shouldn't be adapting to the altitude since he has been here for nearly 2 weeks.

Erik seems to think that David's symptoms are psychosomatic. I think it's a combination of that & lethargy. Lethargy in this climate is a death nail - you stay still & the altitude will get you. Remaining active increases oxygen flow to the blood and dramatically increases the speed of one's adaptation to the environment. I speak with Ponsok and arrange for David to catch a Jet Airways flight back to Delhi the following morning.

Jammu & Kashmir - August 14, 2007
We all helped David pack last night & I saw him off to the airport at 5am this morning. Erik left at 6am and went on to Manali by road. Karl & I continue to hike the mountains around the Indus River - he's as game as I am, so we hike well past sunset. As we stop to admire the shifting colors in the Indus Valley as the sun sets, the sound of the mosque echoes everywhere. Surreal it is and makes me wish that I was recording this soundscape. No Pro Tools digital plug-in can replicate this complex echo and reverb that stirs the valley.

We hear packs of wild dogs everywhere but cannot see them since it's completely dark now. I howl back at them, which draws them closer. They follow us rather timidly, but that doesn't curtail my attempts at trying to communicate. I continue my dog speak. Learned years ago that wild dogs are part of the Himalayan experience - nearly all nomads have them & if you are going to trek, you are likely to encounter this, so best be friendly & intrepid.

My time in Jammu & Kashmir is rapidly coming to a close. I need to catch a flight to Delhi tomorrow & another flight to Mumbai a few days after that & yet another flight Chengdu, China a few days after that. Yes, it's as exhausting as it sounds...

Monday, November 12, 2007

Censored N' Blocked




2 months in mainland China will find you unblogged & unFlickr'd (the latter has a work-around). Although I managed to find a plug-in to make Flickr work, blogs were still completely unaccessible, which regretfully forced me to pull up the stakes on the blogging activity. Pity, because I had a thing or two to share... Being back in the land of the free (and the incredible ever-shrinking dollar bill), the thrill of blogging is once again a reality.