Laziness

Wow, total laziness on my part has kept me from posting here in over a month. I guess I need a kick in the pants. I've posted a few photos over at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/walthamphotography/ of recent hiking trips I have done around Bavaria and photos of Prague are hopefully not too far off and then it's back to work on Nepal. Sorry for the delay, it's time to get back to business.

Back to The Annapurna Circuit

The first few days on the Annapurna circuit took us threw many small little villages surrounded by growing mountains, green life and for the most part, smiling locals. Not everyone is happy to see you, and who can blame them. 70,000 hippies, gear heads, racers, trekkers and all around cheapskates tramp through their backyard every year asking to take photos of cute children and wrinkled grandparents. Hell, I wouldn't want to smile for that many trespassers in a year either.

Others look at the flashy boots and bags, compare them to their flip flops and tattered clothes and ask for a donation to the grocery bill. Then, others flash a gigantic smile and give you their address in exchange for a printed copy of the final photo.

No matter your experience, many trekkers memories of the faces they see rival those of the monstrous mountains. From old to young, snotty nosed and dirty handed to dread locked hotel owners, the locals who live on and make a living from the Annapurna Circuit are just as important as the views.

Waiter in Bhulebhule

Hamming it up for the camera

A typical workload on the trail

Shopping queue

Standing on guard

Posing

Family portrait

Here's to you

Mother and daughter

Local girls pose

Luckily, we stayed at the same hotel as local local leaders on a trek and got treated to the best meal on the trek.

Dachau

Until this week, Munich has been cold and rainy with lows of 8 every night. On one of these cold depressing days, I went to the Dachau concentration camp. The first of it's kind, it opened in 1933 and remained in operation until 1945. In 12 years of operation nearly 200,000 prisoners entered it's doors.

This is the main entrance to Dachau. The writing on the door says, "Arebit Mach Frie." Work Will Set You Free

Once you enter the compound, the main processing building which has been converted into a museum, is on the right. Inside is an incredibly detailed timeline and many artifacts from the operation of the camp.

Inmate uniform

Arm band for disinfection area

Table where prisoners were held down, and beaten.

This is a memorial depicting the prisoners and the pain they went through while in Dachau.

Disguised as a shower room, it is still unknown why the gas chamber was never used.

Port for gas.

Cremation chamber.

The grounds once housed 32 barracks.

The Jewish Memorial at Dachau

The Jewish Memorial at Dachau

The Menorah at the top of the Jewish memorial, seen from inside

Any prisoner caught trying to escape was shot on sight. Many purposely entered the trench to end the suffering they endured.

Kathmandu काठमांडौ

A city of 2000 years and 950,00 people, Kathmandu is a heady mix of old and new, west and east, and Buddhism and Hinduism. Stepping onto the street feels like entering a strange time machine. Old wooden buildings house internet cafes and outdoor shops with climbing equipment to tackle an Everest assent. Merchants patrol the streets selling flutes and Tiger Balm and Sadhus look to tourists for a handful of rupees in exchange for a blessing and a Tikka. Taxis from the 70's troll the streets honking at dizzyingly loud levels and compete with scooters and pedestrians for space on the dirt roads.

Even dogs receive Bindis

A Sadhu in Thamel Chowk looking for travelers to bless

Monkey on the streets

Kathmandu is a wonderful city of great food, great people and amazing history. Unfortunately, it is rife with pollution. There seems to be no infrastructure to deal with the most minimal of household garbage. A Nepalese man who I met on the bus had a conundrum: Is Nepal poorly developed or poorly managed?

These Tibetan women, like many locals are wearing face masks to deal with the pollution

This is one of the main rivers in Kathmandu and the water runs black. The stench of rot fills the air yet amazingly, plants manage to grow on the banks and feed cattle and pigs.

Sagamartha

Most people have to pay to go on a scenic flight over the Himalaya and keep their fingers crossed in hopes that they can see Mt. Everest. In my second post I mentioned that we flew over Sagamartha (Mt. Everest) three times. Each time we got extremely lucky and got blue skies. I posted one photo before, but here are five much better ones that I took from my seat in the plane.

The View from my seat.

Summit on the right

The view on the way back to Lhasa

The view on the way back to Lhasa

The view on the way back to Lhasa

Waltham, now in Munich

Hey everyone,

If you are still checking, I'm sorry about not posting ANYTHING for almost three months. Computer crashes, moving and being generally grumpy have gotten in the way of any creative process.

Koeun and I made it to München two weeks ago after visiting her parents and announcing our future intentions with each other.

Our first week in Munich was very Vancouveresque. Rain, all day, everyday (this is when the grumpiness took hold, not that that's a rare occurrence). Then last week showed up. Beautiful warm weather, and sun so Koeun and I made the best of it. Searching town with no absolutely no specific directions other than Starbucks or San Francisco coffee for free internet, and hiking from lake to lake, and in the mountains behind Neuschawnstein Castle.

Surfing on the Isar

Surfing on the Isar River

Schleersee (Lake Schleer)

A small church on the way to Tegernsee

On the top of any mountain top in Germany, Jesus is waiting

The View of Tegernsee (Lake Tegern)

Great views atop Tegerberg

Schloss Neuschwanstein (Neuschwanstein Castle)

Schloss Neuschwanstein (Neuschwanstein Castle)

Kathmandu

It's my third time in Kathmandu, and Koeun's second and it's every bit as hectic as I remember. En route from Seoul, we had to fly first to Hefei, then Chengdu. Stay overnight and then fly via Lhasa. Everything went smoothly, except for landing in Kathmandu. There was a lightning storm so we couldn't land and were turned around to Lhasa. I immediatley thought we were going to get a free day in Tibet, but all we got was a free sit in the plane for another four hours. The bonus of this was: I got to see Everest three different times that day.

Mt. Everest on the way to Kathmandu

Heading Out

So here I am again. Another photo blog attempting to document another attempt at moving to Europe. This time, the trip is a little more streamlined, and ever so slightly more planned.
I attempted to take the ferry from Tomakomai to a town called Mito to visit my best friend from University, Russ. Little did I know, but the on the day I chose to depart, there were no ferries running. Fortunately my first room-mate in Japan, Paddy, was back in Tomakomai. A quick text and fortunate taxi ride took me to his house.

The next day I awoke, and Paddy's father-in-law drove me to Chitose airport where I got the last seat on the early flight to Tokyo.
I wandered round Yokohama (hugely over rated city) for the day before heading out to drink with Russ and meet his wonderful new fiancé, Noriko. Time was short, so we had only one night to drink before I started to feel sick. 
When I arrived in Korea, I felt like shit. My face was beaming red and on fire. I was obviously hot since I got stopped at the heat scanners in the airport and got asked a million and one questions and had to talk to a doctor. They were worried I had H1N1 but it turned out I have a sinus infection. My ears ring all day as though I have been at a rock concert. Lots of coughing and not a whole lot of energy. Thankfully the weather came through and now I'm feeling a little better, and look a little pinker.


So, it's Wednesday morning and we are packing to head off to Kathmandu, where we will hike the Annapurna trail and then head south to The Royal Chitwan park to hopefully catch up with some one horned rhino and Bengal tigers.
here are a few photos from my previous trips to Kathmandu: