Entries from 'Asia'
Istanbul (not Constantinople — or Lygos, Byzantium, Augusta Antonina…)
Istanbul is one of those world cities members of the English-speaking population typically can’t visit without breaking into song. And I don’t mean just any song, but one possessing such a solid foothold in pop culture that it’s inextricably intertwined with that city. Examples that come to mind include Ella Fitzgerald’s “I love Paris,” Frank…
Burning nipples, papier-mâché Moses and the baptism site of Christ
What do burning nipples and a visit to the baptism site of Jesus have in common? For me, the two experiences were separated by only a few miles. From our hotel in Madaba, Jordan, we drove our rental car west to explore and have a swim in the Dead Sea, completing our journey from the…
When the mule pushed me off the mountain
It was our last day on the Everest Base Camp trek, just a few hours hike outside Lukla, when the mule pushed me off the mountain. I remember Ray LaMontagne’s song, “Beg, Steal or Borrow” was playing on my iPod at the time because it was hearing the lyrics again, after the crashing and crunching…
Into thick air
Day 10 – April 7, 2013 – Pheriche to Namche Bazaar Hiking from Pheriche back to Namche Bazaar proved a grueling task – almost 8 hours of path pounding, including an uphill section that took about 45 minutes to climb. The sky was hazy, the trail ahead fuzzily obscured. It seemed every ridge we rounded…
Kala Patthar: The coldest we’ve ever been
Day 9 – April 6, 2013 – Gorak Shep to Kala Patthar to Pheriche Climbing Kala Patthar, by Him: “Lakpa?” I called into the dark room of bunk beds where several Sherpa guides were sleeping in what seemed to be a giant pile — completely understandable given the below 0 temperatures. The hour was nightmarish, just…
An avalanche at Everest Base Camp
Day 8 – April 5, 2013 – Lobuche to Gorak Shep to Everest Base Camp “Hotel” is a generous word to describe Sagarmatha National Park Hotel, a ramshackle collection of plywood boards resembling a child’s self-constructed tree house. The ceiling of our room sagged like the cloth ceiling of a decades-old minivan taxi, and the…
From extreme ironing to blow-up dolls
Day 7 – April 4, 2013 – Dingboche to Lobuche After spending two nights making multiple trips to a bathroom exposed to the frigid night air of Dingboche, we packed our backpacks once more to move on. We left Hotel Family about 8:15 a.m., heading west over the hill we climbed the day before to…