HELP FOR NEPAL: KATHMANDU'S DURBAR SQUARE AS IT WAS

Here you have my ant's eye view of Durbar Square in Kathmandu, a world heritage site as beautiful as they come. I have no idea what this looks like now and how long it will take to return. I'll share these now because I was there to be documentation of how it was before the 2015 earthquake and to give an idea of what where your donation will go. This was taken during the Dasan holidan, so there are less people than usual, but it was still overrun. I try not to take pictures of people whenever possible, so all the people you see of people sitting on temple (Stupa) steps around are the result of me trying to actively avoid them. A post on Kathmandu city proper to follow shortly.

STYLE INSPIRATION: EMMANUELLE ALT

This picture of Alt just never gets old. I look at it to get a sense of the level of organic cohesiveness I want to project in my clothes. The clothes act like skin. They comes together in this perfect harmonious balance. Ah...how I dream.

DESIGNER SEBASTIAN HERKNER

“There is a sensitivity and identity to my work that emphasizes the function, the material and the detail. I transport and interpret characteristics from various contexts of society and culture and implement them in new artifacts. This character infuses the most everyday objects with respect and personality. In this manner, seemingly contrary things can experience esteem."

- Sebastian Herkner

Sebastian Herkner was born in 1981 in Bad Mergentheim. He studied product design at the HfG Offenback am main (Offenback University of Art and Design), focusing on objects and furniture that merged varying cultural contexts, combining technology with traditional craftsmanship.

He creates the kind of furniture that would only belong in the home of my darkest fantasies, where I have dedicated my life to the accumulation of beautiful objects at the cost of liberty and sanity and live in a state of perpetual anxiety-woven bliss wedded to inevitable financial ruin.

Read more here and here.

FUN LINKS

terraced landscape, Nepal

24 Outfit Formulas for Spring

Because figuring out what to wear wastes a lot of mental and creative energy. I've figured out that this is not how I want to spend my time and I'm working on a solution.

Smart Rope

This is probably the solution to how to work out while traveling. It is also a solution to working out period. This rope is the ideal, but any old rope will do.

The 100 Best Films of the Decade

Why I Wear the Exact Same Thing to Work Everyday

See above for rationale. Mental energy! No more waste!

Artist Uses Rollerblades to Create Traditional Chinese Ink Painting

I really like Chinese brush painting. The concept is to paint with space as well as ink, so the image is constructed partly by the mind filling in gaps. It's good to know this practice isn't being lost.

How Introverts Can Network Without Changing Their Personalities

Some basic tips, because I personally hate networking and small talk. 

Distraction is a Kind of Obesity of the Mind

Take note of how many other things you do just while reading this article.

LIFE EXPLAINED IN 27 SECONDS

HEART OF HUMAN KINDNESS

Totaled car, side view

This was not the photo I had planned on posting.

Over the weekend, I was in this car which ran off the road, flipped over, and landed upright. The glass from the sunroof, back and side windows are completely smashed. That is not what I'm going to talk about.

I want to talk about the human heart. I was in the middle of a desert with no cell reception when the car flipped, smashing out the windows and throwing everything inside up in the air. The food, the water, all gone. I saw shrimp I had packed now marinating in gravel. In the end, the car was not drivable, and there was a backpack wedged under the front. It is times like these when you realize you are really and truly screwed. 

What happened then is solely the result of the innate goodness of other people. Cars driving by saw us by the side of the road disoriented and covered in dirt, and pulled over to help. I was told I might have a concussion, which made me afraid to take a nap. In short order, another driver was hailed who was going towards the nearest town, a backpack was unwedged, and we and our dirty things were put into a car and dropped off at a car rental agency. It doesn't end there.

The rental agency had no cars available. We asked why - they were all on reserve for other people, every last car - there was nothing they could do. In fact, every rental agency was out of cars. Such is life in a small town. I should just pitch my tent in the dirt. But then - human kindness!  The manager (I assume) came in, pointed at us, and said "Look at them! Just give them a car - any car, washed or not - so they can drive back!"

  

So without these people, whose names are unknown to me, I would not be here today. I would be marinating in the desert. For these wonderful people, I am forever thankful, thankful, and thankful! 

WRINKLED, RIPPED UP, AND LIVED IN IS BETTER THAN NEW

Shoes from Garance Dore via this post

My shoes are my friends. Of course, the shoes above are not my shoes, because mine are in a worse state and she has better floors. 

Part of the minimalist thought process is to value what you have. There are articles of clothing that I have worn for years. I trust them, I know how they will stretch. I know what will happen when I have worn them for an entire 24 hours, and then the next day when I am too lazy to put together another outfit. Because I don't want to expend valuable mental energy thinking about what to wear anymore. Or because I want to adopt a European lifestyle - whichever rationale sounds more sophisticated. 

Have you ever gone into a dressing room to realize that what you're already wearing is better than the shiny new thing you're trying on? It makes no sense.

There's a certain anxiety I carry with me when shopping, because I have realized that new clothes, particularly new shoes, will f*** you. They will ride up, they will make you look like sausage, they will pinch. There is never a convenient time for any of these things to happen. The clothes you have, the ones waiting faithfully in your closet, they are like friends. You have broken them in properly. They are trained. They will treat you well. 

Every time I think about some new purchase, I think about it in terms of friendship. Do I already have a good friend that I can rely upon - then I should refrain. However, if there is a gap, a death in the family, then there will be a transition period that cannot be rushed, where I will have to carefully sort and vet this newcomer. As I would any new relationship.

MAKING CHOICES

At first glance, this seems to be a nice saying, set against a calming background. But the more I think about it, the more it grates. There is a minor nuclear war taking place inside the left hemisphere of my brain. It is slowly breaking down and sub-analyzing on subatomic levels the choices I have made in the course of my life, and trying to determine if these were "good" or "bad." No one can sit in judgment of you, better than you. By the way, this is a destructive practice. I am in no way advocating that anyone do this if you can help it. The past is called the past because it has passed.

Then I came across this poster, and it seemed to reduce the inherent power that choices have into something pretty and quaint. There was a Daily Show segment where John Oliver asked a man what the statistical probability was of an event happening, and the man said 50%. When Oliver asked the man to explain his reasoning, the man said, the event would either happen or it wouldn't, so the statistical probability was 50%. Oliver may have mentioned then that the man did not understand statistical analysis. It is this kind of over-simplification that will occasionally grate on me like sandpaper on soft parts.

I've been thinking about choices lately, and the power they have in shaping you into the person you become. When you filter out judgment, you can see a pattern. You can see identify the choices which were truly significant and see how they changed you. What I've noticed over time, is that I've become more aware of my recent choices. Before, I was running on instinct, a gut feeling, this "felt right" whereas the other "felt wrong." Or I "felt nothing" and just sat around. I couldn't put my reasoning into words; it felt somewhat like that part of childhood before you became verbal, and your two choices were to cry/scream or save your tantrum for later.

What's changed is that my choices now are active and conscious. There are many changes I've implemented within the past 5 years, and each change has had a ripple effect.  I decided a little over a year ago, that I was going to spend more time outdoors, every weekend if possible (and since I live in California during a drought, this is entirely possible), and the results have been startling. I've traveled to countries it would never have occurred to me to visit previously. My imagination never stretched that far. You meet new people, and they put ideas into your head. You see the world with new eyes, with wider and strangely younger eyes, because the world has become a new place, a strange place, filled with the potential for adventure. Suddenly, you look into a mirror, and you have changed, and this new person is someone you etched out in your mind and then shaped into the person you have become.

LET'S TALK NEPAL

It was a mention made offhand that started it. An Australian girl traveling alone through Peru said she didn't handle altitude very well, she'd already been to Everest base camp and that was even higher than this. Where was Everest base camp? In Nepal. Did I want to go?

I never made it to base camp. Everyone who goes to Nepal goes to base camp, about thirty thousand people descend every year from all over the world to this one part of the country, and they never go anywhere else. Base camp, or so I've heard, is an ugly place. The trees have been razed to make warm showers for travelers. There's litter everywhere. Plastic doesn't decay. Once you drop it on the ground, it will remain there forever. Instead, I would go on a trip titled Lower Everest Trek. This trip would begin at the house of a local family, and would continue by foot across areas almost entirely untouched. The land would be lush and fertile and you would only see other people now and again carrying up to 70 pounds in a basket, using a strap that wrapped around the basket and braced against the forehead. Infrastructure would be non-existent. Local people, when you saw them, would be happy to see you. I don't have pictures of these people, mostly because I think it's rude. There you are, carrying 70 pounds on your way home to the village, and here is a complete stranger taking your picture to take home and show their friends.  

Altitude was not a problem. I took altitude medication when I went to Peru, and never acclimated properly. When I tried not taking the medication, I got nauseating headaches and went back on. In Nepal I didn't take anything, which sounds insane. There were the usual effects -  higher altitude usually meant more pressure on the kidneys and the almost incessant need to pee. The world become your toilet. It also means slower digestion, and difficulty digesting proteins. I tried to stick to eating mostly carbohydrates the higher I went. But what was different on this trip, was that the elevation was gradual. Every day we walked, and every night I slept at a consistently higher elevation so my body was able to acclimate naturally. The highest I went was 13,000 feet. From that vantage point, I saw the peaks in the first photo. Their names: Gauri Shankar (a sacred mountain that no one is allowed to climb), Karyalung, Khatang, Numbur, Everest, Lhotse, Amadablam, Makalu, Buruntse. My spelling may not be entirely correct. 

View from the Cheese Factory

While I was researching for guides - this was not the kind of trip I would feel comfortable just "winging it" on my own, living on luck and a prayer - I was surprised by the lack of information available. When I got to Kathmandu, I could understand why. There were next to no Americans. There were Europeans (Germans mainly), Australians, Indians and Chinese (these being the two neighboring countries). It could have been because the country only recently opened for business. Nepal had immersed in civil war from 1996 - 2006. In 2006, the country became a republic. During the war, the government devoted all its resources to fighting the Maoists, and forgot about its people. While I was there, the country was still putting itself back together. We rode part of the way in a jeep across dirt roads. The next day, it rained and the roads washed away. So the country is still finding its way.

Mani Wall

Above is a Mani Wall, which is a Buddhist structure built along the roadside. As you see, you cannot separate Nepal from Buddhism. The two are intertwined. If I talked about Nepal and casually omitted any mention of Buddhism, I might as well have just hiked the Appalachian trail.  

My biggest fear on this trip, was not the physical exertion, the country conditions, or accidentally drinking exotic e. coli and getting diarrhea. It was potentially handing over money to a fraudulent or inept travel agency. In that sense, I was very lucky. I wanted to work with a smaller travel agency, and I wanted a local guide, and both these needs were met. The trip was very well organized, my guide provided food for me in the middle of nowhere, three meals every day, and I did not get sick. In fact, I ate very well. 

Travel Agency:

Himalayan High Treks This agency is based in the US and has offices in San Francisco. I took the Nepal: Lower Everest trip. The agency will help you prepare everything you need. The Nepal trip is listed as moderate, so you can pick the level you are most comfortable with. 

Three Jewels Adventures: Our guide for the Nepal trip, Amber Tamang, also owns his own travel agency based in Nepal and can offer more extensive and personalized trips.  I trust Amber, and I also trust his staff. I always felt safe as a female in the middle of wilderness. 

Third Eye Travel: I worked with Sonam and Usha to book my Airline tickets to Kathmandu, Nepal. Airline tickets were my biggest expense, and I wanted to get a deal on a nicer airline, such as Cathay Pacific, because flight would take a long time, a layover was inevitable, and I don't believe in unnecessary suffering.  

I will talk a little about Kathmandu in another post. 

ON YOUR LIFE CHOICES

I'm talking about these people who've ended up in one life instead of another and they are just so disappointed...They've done what's expected of them. They want to do something different but it's impossible now, there's a mortgage, kids, whatever, they're trapped. Dan's like that...

But I don't think he even realizes it...High functioning sleepwalkers, essentially. 

People like him think work is supposed to be drudgery punctuated by very occasional moments of happiness, but when I say happiness, I mostly mean distraction. 

Say you go into the break room...and a couple of people you like are there, say someone's telling a funny story, you laugh a little, you feel included...you go back to your desk with an afterglow, but then by four of five o'clock the day's just turned back into another day, and you go on like that, looking forward to five o'clock and then the weekend, and then your two to three weeks of paid vacation time, day in day out, and that's what happens to your life.

That's what passes for a life...That's what passes for happiness for most people. Guys like Dan, they're like sleepwalkers...and nothing ever jolts them awake.

- From Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel