All Entries in the "Nepal" Category
Going Up…AGAIN
Tiger Balm Tales Vol 18
Going Up…AGAIN
We had been on the trail now for 18 days. We no longer had that rookie look in our eyes. We were no longer surprised by cold showers, the same menu, donkeys squeezing by us on the trail. We were old timers. We had 4 days on [...]
Danger! Curves Ahead
Tiger Balm Tales Vol. 17
Danger! Curves Ahead
How do you define a road? It’s all relative – right? I had long ago left behind my vision of what a road should be once I started long term travel in places like Kenya Mongolia, Laos, and Vietnam. Shoulders are for sissies and horns are [...]
Carbo Loading – Annapurna Circuit
Tiger Balm Tales Vol 16
Carbo Loading
Whoever said carbs aren’t good for you never hiked in Nepal. When hiking for 2 weeks, carbs become your ally. This is probably the one time when you can get away with eating carbs at every meal, so my best advice is – enjoy the hell out of [...]
A River Runs Thru It – Annapurna Circuit
Tiger Balm Tales Vol. 15
A River Runs Thru It
The sign read Welcome to Marpha! Delightful Apple Capital of Nepal. I wondered if Johnny Appleseed was the mayor of this little town along the Annapurna Circuit. Aside from the Thorung La Pass, Marpha seemed to be the highlight of [...]
Motorized Travel – Annapurna Circuit
Tiger Balm Tales vol. 14
Motorized Travel
It was as if a huge weight had been lifted from our brains. For the first time since we started hiking the Annapurna circuit – I was free of worry and it was a beautiful feeling. It’s amazing how much anxiety the Thorung La pass can cause internally [...]
The Longest Day – Annapurna Circuit
Tiger Balm Tales vol. 13
The Longest Day
KLOMP, KLOMP, KLOMP
The sounds of hiking boots on wooden floor echoed outside my door. I poked my nose out of my warm sleeping bag cocoon, breathed in the cold air, and let it out only to see my hot breath evaporate into the darkness.
I’m aware those footseps are [...]
Beware of Falling Rocks
Tiger Balm Tales vol. 12
Beware of Falling Rocks
All I heard was Bishnu yell “Runnnnn!” My heart raced and I felt as if I were moving in s-l-o-w m-o-t-i-o-n. I sort of knew why I was running, but the gravity of the situation was fuzzy to me; it felt as if my mind were working [...]
A Mouse in My House
Tiger Balm Tales vol. 11
Day 10 – A Mouse in My House
After 10 days of decreasing temperatures and increasing wind my body is rebelling. My lips have become as dry as the Gobi Desert , my nasal passages feel like hard booger craters have invaded it, and my hands are so dry they look [...]
No Room at the Inns – Annapurna Circuit
Tiger Balm Tales Vol. 10
Day 9 - No Room at the Inns…
By some miracle I woke up on Day 9 with a small trace of a headache, aches, and pains of the day before. Apparently 24 hours of sleep and antibiotics were just what the doctor ordered. I woke up feeling about 80% well; [...]
Paralyzed on the Annapurna Circuit
Tiger Balm Tales vol. 9
Paralyzed
What started as a slight headache the night before had manifested into my complete paralysis the next morning. My head was throbbing, but worse than that, my body had felt like it had gone through a medieval bone crusher in the middle of the night. Every movement I made [...]
On the 7th day, we rested – Annapurna Circuit
Tiger Balm Tales – Vol. 8
And on the 7th day, we rested.
I woke up in Manang; I didn’t have to roll up my sleeping bag, repack my backpack, tend to my blisters, or put on my dingy hiking clothes. No, this morning we rested. I lay in my bed listening to the [...]
Annapurna Circuit 360
Many days while trekking I was overwhelmed by the beauty and sounds around me. I wished that everyone could see and experience what I was seeing. Here are some of my panoramic videos along the trail towards Manang (Days 4, 5, and 6). I think you’ll quickly see and hear why this trek in Nepal [...]
Changing Rhythms on the Annapurna Circuit
Tiger Balm Tales Vol. 7
Day 4-5-6
A routine is formed. Get up at 6:30AM. Pack up everything by 7:00AM. Eat breakfast. Begin to hike from 7:30AM to 4 or 5 PM. Unpack and change out of sweaty clothes. Choose dinner from the same menu as the night before (even though [...]
Porters of the Annapurna Circuit
Porters in Nepal don’t use any fancy equipment to carry their large loads. You see them wearing hand me down clothing and shoes from trekkers past. Flipflops and shoes that don’t fit; but it doesn’t matter because everything is appreciated here. I bet Converse never designed their canvas sneakers to trek to [...]
Road Work Ahead
Tiger Balm Tales Vol. 6
Day 2 & 3 Bahundanda to Dharapani
What is it about growing older that changes us? Not only do our feet get bigger, but we tend to also develop more irrational fears. I’ve been aware of it for some time now; my growing fear of heights. As each year goes by I [...]
Breathe Through Your Mouth
If blogs were scratch and sniff…you’d really be in trouble with this post. I found myself chanting the mantra, “Breathe through your mouth, not through your nose.” – while completely naked.
Oh, sorry, I got ahead of myself; let me go back to the beginning.
Photo(s) of the Week – Dec. 11 2009
I chose some pictures this week from my recent trip back to Puma Nepal. One of my favorites is of this woman and young boy because I took a similar picture of them exactly one year earlier. There are some subtle differences, but what I found astonishing is that these two seemed attached at the [...]
