Gary Yetter Gets His Bread II

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope yours was as, uh, interesting as mine. Let’s just say that a lot happened– for starters, my wallet, MP3 player and travel speakers were stolen, which sucked ass but made me realize how caring and important are my friends and family. I am truly fortunate to have such amazing people in my life. Noi and Tan Au Ca were able to carry my broke ass for a couple days until Pa could wire me some baht via Western Union. Thankfully, I kept my passport in our bungalow. I got drunk for the first time in over two months…that was fun dancing with a tiara on my head and later a huge Indian headress that a local Thai had crafted. I felt like Crazy Horse…Crazy Ass. Slept till 2 PM the next day, how did you do?

Christmas was nice. My friend Karen came out all the way from Motown Philly (”Boyz II Men is goin’ off, not too hard, not too soft”– you had to be into pop music in the early 90s to understand that line.) for a few weeks in the Land of Smiles. She and my companions Noi and Tan Au Ca opened our presents under a euphorb plant I found at the guesthouse. Red and green leaves made it feel just like home…except no hot buttered rum or “Rum-pum-pum-pum” (my favorite Christmas jingle). I got a book (Touching the Void), assorted pens, and a massage. We had an assortment of Thai desserts and Ritter Sport chocolate bars to keep it real. Damn, I love chocolate.

Hooked up a job in Korea. I’ll be living in Ansan City, about an hour-and-a-half from Seoul. My boss, Sun Hea Kim, is actually a friend of mine from UW. She was an exchange student and we had a class together on plant morphology. What a deal this is! Killer climbing, not far from the ski resort, awesome pay and bennies. I’ll have that pesky debt paid off in no time so long as I stick to “Thee Plan.”

I’m in Bangkok again. Been drinking a lot of fresh juices: beet, mango, strawberry, and ginger concoctions, although sometimes I change it up and trade ginger for papaya or dragonfruit. It’s really nice and makes me want to juice everyday. I’ve got one of those Juiceman juicers back in America, so’s I thinks I’ll bring it with me to the god-blessed Republic of Korea come Feburary 9th. Oh and mangosteens are in season! Do yourself a favor and try one of these amazing fruits. The Queen of England once offered anyone a fair sum of gold if they could transport a mangosteen to her in edible condition. Of course, this was long before air travel and refrigerators as we know them were available.

So I was going to train mixed martial arts at a gym in Hua Hin, Thailand, but a wrench has been thrown into my plans. I am instead flying to LA on 16 Januaray. I’ll be flying out of Seattle on 9 Feburary. I hope I can meet up with some of y’all. Until then, I am out and going to enjoy smore more of the health benefits of the mighty beet. Browse some of my recent pics if you’d like.

If you want to hear some really good hip-hop, not of the gangsta flava and not any of that mainstream candy-ass crap, check out the new album from The Coup, “Pick A Bigger Weapon.” And be thankful you’ve never had parasitic worms (I am!). Scroll down to the last two images of this post and control your urge to vomit. IF YOU HAVE A WEAK STOMACH, DO NOT SCROLL PAST THE PIC OF WAT ARUN. Peace!

Because of these gifts from God…

…I always have the urge to have this gift from God (and in Nepal they do steak proper…Believe!)

Fishtail Mountain, a view from Pokhara, Nepal

Looking down on the outskirts of Bandipur village, Nepal

Yet another gorgeous Nepali sunset

Patan’s Durbar Square, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a temple overload

My favorite temple in Patan

More of my my favorite plant growing at a museum garden

Boudnath, one of the world’s largest stupas…I wanted to see it ever since watching the excellent film “Baraka”

A sacred Hindu temple in Khatmandu…I was kindly asked to leave shortly after taking this photo– I really didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to be there

Near the same Hindu temple, I stumbled across three funeral pyres (far off in the distance). I didn’t know these were funeral services until after I got up on the bank and took a good look. Saw my first dead bodies outside of mummies and medical displays up close and personal. It was weird.

Dhaka, Bangladesh. I had a night to spend there on the way to and from Khatmandu. Dhaka is a crazy place that obviously sees very little tourism

Cheap eats in Dhaka from very friendly folks

Ah, Christmas in Chiang Mai, Thailand…Ho, ho, ho!

Our riverside bungalow in Pai, Thailand

Northern Thai countryside, 30 kilometers ride outside of Pai

A pair of orchids at the huge International Flower Festival in Chiang Mai

Corn display at the festival

Bangkok, the “Venice of Asia”

Wat Arun, my favorite temple in Bangkok

Roundworms. God damn, these are just disgusting creatures

See what I mean?

I have so many pictures and stories since I’ve left Thailand but I think it would just be too much, so I’ve really summarized what I’ve been up to.

For the past 20 or so days, I have been trekking through the Annapurna Conservation Area alongside (well, mostly well ahead of, haha) my Vietnamese French-Canadian friend Tan Au Ca and our guide and new friend Pasang Sherpa, marvelling at some of the most magnificient scenery on the planet. Beginning in the sub-tropical lowlands at Besisahar, we journeyed through pine and fir forests into bone-chilling high deserts, literally climaxing at the mountain pass known as Thorang La. At 5,416m (17,769 ft.), Thorung La is the highest mountain pass on Earth and colder than a witch’s tit in a brass bra. The air is very thin up there (you lose 10% oxygen for every 1000m above sea leve putting as at about 45%) and the temperature stays about -10 degrees Celsius for most of the time you are hiking and all the time you are dining or sleeping. On the coldest nights, I slept with two pair of socks, long underwear, a pair of trousers, a pair of Gore-Tex Windstopper pants, an undershirt, a yak wool sweater, a sweatshirt, my fleece-lined windbreaker, a wool scarf, gloves, and stocking hat, a wool blanket, down sleeping bag, and thick blanket over all this mess, and was still cold! Plus, the high altitude messes with your sleep– I would usually go to bed around 8 PM every night and then wake up around 2 AM, just lying there thinking but not wanting to move because of the bitter cold. Then, I’d sleep again from around 4 Am until 7, when it was time to eat breakfast (usually porridge and tea). Despite this, I always felt really full of energy for the days trekking. Fortunately, I had no problems besides some mild food poisoning on the second day. Poor Tan Au Ca suffered from bad Acute Mountain Sickness for 3 days in a row before we got over Thorung La and had some of the worst blisters I had ever seen on her little feet (note to others, break your shoes in well before you go on a long trek!). But she is tough and never gave in or asked for pity, admirable qualities indeed. Our Shangri-La was reaching the village of Tatopani on Day 14 or so. What an oasis. They have hot springs where I would soak twice a day for two hours and really awesome food too. Plus, mandarin oranges grow everywhere so you always have a healthy snack. We ended up staying for 3 days.

First of many bridge crossings

Vibrant rice terraces of green, common in the hill regions at lower elevations

We encountered faces smooth…

…and lined…

…and alien

It was an ideal time to visit as most tourists are gone now due to colder weather, so for hours sometimes I would have the trail to myself. More often than not, however, we shared the trail with traders from all over Nepal and its neighbors– people of various ethnicities– and four-legged beasts such as horses, donkeys, goats, sheep, yaks, and more. This time spent away from civilization was excellent for clearing my head of rubbish and organizing my thoughts to help me decide what I would like to do over the next couple of years (of course, these plans include more traveling). The food was good too! The typical Nepali dish, eaten twice a day every day by most, is daal baht. It’s a whole lot of rice and lentil soup, plus some potato or vegetable curry, spinach, and pickles. You mix it together and eat as you please and the best part is the cook keeps on brining you more. Ah, I ate so much, yet, I managed to lose a lot of weight. I need to get back to Thailand and feast like a king again!

Blue sheep in the high desert

Daal bhat with yak curry

Most villages have prayer wheels like this which you spin for good luck

Gangapurna Lake near Manang village

There is so much I want to write, yet I don’t want to bore you, so I think I’ll let a few of my photos illustrate my journey. I am spending a few days recovering and sightseeing in Nepal’s second city, Pokhara. It’s been veryeasy to get stuck here; the food is excellent, i’ve been having great Ayurvedic massage the last couple days from a quirky old Nepali lady, and the city is fairly relaxed and situated on a great big lake. There’s a Gurkha museum that I am dying to see!

It’s one of the Chilu Peaks with some really cool fast-moving cloud formations overhead. I was at about 4,500m when I took this picture

Here we are at the congratulatory sign of Thorung La drinking some hot tea (it didn’t stay hot for long as it was very cold and windy up there

A few days after crossing the pass and before reaching the mega-village of Jomsom

Clouded peaks as we descended into the valley

The sunrise view of Dhualagiri Range from Poon Hill

Oh, and the coolest bit of new news I have received: my parents have sold the house and are coming to visit me in Thailand! My mom will finally see her family again in the Philippines after 28 years! And I have a new nephew arriving December 15th, an undoubtedly handsome specimen named Trevor.

“I’m in love with Mary Jane/She’s my main thang/She makes me feel all right/She makes my heart sing”

Happy Holidays to you all!

The time I had in Ton Sai was some of the best I've ever spent. I came there pretty much with the goal of lead climbing French 7a (Yosemite 5.11D) and smoking a lot of Thai stick. Having ... [Continue reading this entry]

Well, I'm back again. Back to forgetting what day it is and wearing nothing but board shorts all the time. Well, sometimes I wear flip-flops to protect my delicate feet from the razor-sharp oysters looking to slice me ... [Continue reading this entry]

Okay, sorry for such a long delay, but I've been having too much fun! I'll try to take it easy for a while. We spent three days in the small town of Putignano, home of Pietro, one of my former ... [Continue reading this entry]

A little tired, but still kicking. We left Rome for Frankfurt a couple weeks ago and have been making tracks through Germany, Switzerland, and now France, cooking, camping, climbing, and taking in the sights. I found the "village" ... [Continue reading this entry]

Not long had I been makin' m' rounds through the warm azure waters of the Mediterranean Sea when I come across Him gracefully slidin' over the rocky bottom. I had done encountered a handsome specimen o' octopus, Prince of ... [Continue reading this entry]

We spent three days in the apartment of Rossella’s brother, Dario, who was back at the family casa in Trapani. Palermo offers many historical sites at which to gaze between feedings, including a couple of old theatres, grand cathedrals, ... [Continue reading this entry]

Well, the server crashed so my two previous entries are gone. We'll start fresh with Italy. Skinny is sooooo two years ago-- a plump midsection is all the rage now. And what better place to train for a bulging ... [Continue reading this entry]