05 September 2017

Incredible Stories

So I thought about it and I DO have some incredible stories. All have been piecemealed into my almost thirty years of BIM newsletters as they happened but never accumulated in one place. As I idly mulled over my many trips I recalled numerous incredible periods.  
         My first trip to Nepal occurred very randomly, to use a popular word, in 1985. I spent almost 3 months at Gurujii’s ashram after the huge religious mela that takes place on the dry riverbed of the Ganges in the winter, pre-monsoon season. Gurujii promised me we could go travelling together as I had never seen any of India but for the ashram and New Delhi. Gurujii then began a construction project so I packed up some of my belongings and camera and took a lovely narrow-gauge steam train down to Varanasi. After photographing for a few days


I was coming back to my hotel in the back of a cycle rickshaw – from my book.
A day or so later I was in a bicycle rickshaw and as we crossed the intersection of a small muddy street I looked up and saw a signboard for Indian Airlines. I ordered the rickshaw to stop and went into the office. The clerk greeted me and I asked where they flew. He said Delhi, Lucknow, a few other places and also Kathmandu. “Kathmandu? Where is that?” I asked. “That is the capital of Nepal.” he replied. “How much does it cost to fly there?” “$73 one way.” This was beyond exotic. This was like going to another planet. I immediately pulled out a hundred dollar bill and purchased a ticket for the next day’s flight.
… On my third day in Kathmandu I wandered down a street I hadn’t been on before, Pako Road. ‘Mom’s Health Food Restaurant’ the sign said. I couldn’t believe it. It was my meal time so I went in. Corn flat breads, home made ice cream, purified water, and MUNG BEANS. This was heaven. I ordered and ordered and ordered and then went up the narrow stairway to the upstairs loft dining area to await my food. Only one other diner was in the small room, a very attractive woman. Our eyes met. I asked if I could sit at her table. We traveled together throughout Nepal, India and Kashmir over the next three months.

Where both deliberate, the love is slight:
Who ever lov’d, that lov’d not at first sight?
Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593), English dramatist, poet.

End book excerpt That was my first trip to Nepal. I trekked alone in the Annapurna region of Central Nepal as Tanya had pre-purchased a trek and a river rafting trip. The incredible part of this trip with Tanya was going to Kashmir and then Ladakh for over a month. This was the last time Kashmir was freely open for travel before essentially being invaded by Indian troops attempting to prevent the Kashmiris from seceding from India. I always called this trip as the one where ‘away went away’. I was ready to return ‘home’ after 4 months but then we added in another almost 2 months with Kashmir and Ladakh then Delhi and I was stretched. I returned to the US a foreigner and have remained one ever since. I was homeless also. When Gurujii and I arrived at JFK airport in the spring of 1985 he asked me who was going to pick me up and where I was going to go. I just turned my palms skyward and Gurujii, realizing my mendicant state, invited me to stay with him and his then chief disciple at a ‘Temple’ they had in a crumbling, half Orthodox Jewish, half Haitian, New York suburb.
         Of my eight other trips to Nepal, at least three have had major upheavals. In 1989 the beginning of the overthrow of the monarchy took place and I was trapped in my hotel for a week before getting out and heading off to the Everest region trekking. By the end of that trek “I had been above twelve thousand feet for three weeks, had walked two hundred fifty miles and had climbed forty-thousand vertical feet.”
Returning in 1990 without major incident, I spend almost three weeks above 13,000’, a week above 16,000’.
         In 1999 I got fired from a property manager job on a thousand acre forest preserve in the San Bernardino Mountains and was given a $3000 severance. I had just returned from a month long trip to Nepal for vacation only two months before but on that trip had gotten a Hindu astrology reading in which the astrologer assured me I would be travelling a lot in the following year. I did not see how that would be possible as I was confined to my property and was at the time on my only vacation. Boy was I wrong! After moving off the property in the 3 days requested, after living there for 3 years, I was back crashing in my friend David’s basement in Laguna Beach wondering what the heck to do. I thought of the astrology reading and said to myself, “I might as well buy another ticket to Kathmandu.” So I did. I called up my little Pakistani travel agent in LA and she asked me if I wanted to leave that day as there was still time. I said no, tomorrow was good and told her I’d pick up my ticket at her office on the way to LAX. I packed in an hour for what turned out to be a six month trip. So off I flew to KTM on Thanksgiving Day 1999.
         A few days later I got an email saying my mother died. She was 86 years old and had been ailing and I had made two trips to Florida from California to visit her in the months before and after my Nepal vacation. I went up to the famous Monkey Temple in Kathmandu at the urging of my Buddhist hotel owner and lit 108 butter lamps for my mother. After hanging out in Kathmandu for a month, I thought I would travel down to India for the winter so I booked a flight to Varanasi. A day later the Indian Airlines flight 814 hijacking to Kandahar took place and Nepal, the origination of the flight, was in turmoil. I attempted to get my flight but was re-booked on another airline to New Delhi then to Varanasi, where I finally alit. There I met a German woman and we traveled together for several months including almost a month in the tropical Andaman Islands. When Karin went back to Germany, finally, after many adventures, I attempted to get back to Nepal as it was warming up and trekking season was starting. Nepal was STILL closed to international air traffic so I booked a Jeep taxi with another couple and took a 13 hour drive to Kathmandu.
         Boy, did it feel good to get back there – like home. MANY more adventures ensued with me leaving my then new Japanese girlfriend Yuki at the Bangkok airport in May after our having taken a superb 2 week trek in the Everest Region together, having a full moon evening at 16,000’ in a small Sherpa village. I arrived back in Laguna Beach after six months away, took an uninvited surprise visit to Japan where I stayed three weeks with Yuki and then went off to the hot springs in Death Valley for many weeks of camping. Boy, was that Hindu astrologer right.
         In 2001 I flew into Nepal and was just planning to get a ticket to fly into the Everest Region and I began to get a queasy feeling I had never had before. In the mornings when I would meditate I would seem to get a message that I should leave the country. Initially treating it as some irrational inner fear, I ignored the message to leave. Finally, in exasperation, I threw myself backwards on my bed after meditating saying, “OK God. If you want me to leave I will. Just guide me and I’m not going to think about it anymore.” I soon found myself down at the airline office where I changed my reservations to leave within a day or so and I returned to the US after less than two weeks away. Days after I left the Crown Prince of Nepal shot most of the Royal Family and himself and the entire country was in lockdown for MONTHS.
         There was also the time in 1989 where I attempted to marry into the Nepali Royal family as I met a widow at Gurujii’s ashram. That cost me numerous 20 and 30 hour bus trips around Nepal before I finally got to Kathmandu having been told to “leave off this business of trying to marry Chandra.” It seemed like a good idea at the time.
         And I was trapped in my hotel and tourist neighborhood of Kathmandu for a week or so with a political struggle going on another year.
         Oh, and another saga. I was back living in David’s basement in Laguna in 2007 otherwise broke and homeless when a friend I knew from Mammoth Lakes encouraged me to apply for a camp maintenance job. So off I went cleaning bathrooms and emptying garbage cans at age 65 and I was the youngest member of the staff. I had an ephinany one morning when I looked at myself in the mirror of a crumby camp bathroom with a rag in one hand and a spray bottle of Windex in the other and said to myself, “You know, I never thought it would turn out this way.” [Ivy League and prep school graduate, former senior computer network designer]
         At the end of the summer my then girlfriend from Los Angeles asked me what I was going to do and I said, “Oh, I guess I’ll go off camping in Death Valley for the winter.” She said, “Why don’t you come down to Los Angeles and camp out with me.” So I managed to fit my ‘stuff’ into her 450 sq. ft. pied-à-terre and I slowly went broke again, to the point Luanne would give me her debit card to ride my bike down to the Whole Foods several blocks away to buy kale and mung beans and some such. Then out of the blue my long term friend Jody emailed me a notice for an open casting call at a commercial acting agency in LA for the next day. I walked in, immediately connected with the agency owner before even delivering my 15 second audition, and they signed me as a commercial actor three weeks later as I wanted to wait for an astrologically auspicious moment. Two days later one of the agency directors sent me to a big audition down in Santa Monica. The day after that he called and told me I’d been ‘booked’ for the ad which turned out to be IBM’s huge showpiece commercial that started running at the Master’s golf tournament every year.
         About a week later I showed up on the set with a gaggle of other actors, all who seemed to know what they were doing, and when my turn came I stood on a line and stared directly into a camera lens the size of a pie plate. I was given a line to say, the cameras rolled, “cut!”, and the director yells at me at the top of his lungs. I had carefully researched this guy, done his horoscope and knew EXACTLY where he was coming from. I used my all-time best line for this type of situation, “Yes”, for the answers to his very rude questions such as, “Are you going to listen to me?”, “Are you going to follow my direction.”
         I finally got through the first line, and went on to the second, “Systems that allow carrots to tell truck drivers how fresh they are”, demonstrating the effect technology was having on simple businesses such as farming and food distribution. I had finally warmed up, the director concluded with a “Great”, the only one of the day from him, I turned out to be one of only a few actors chosen for the final commercial, and six weeks later I went to the mail box and pulled out 5 checks totaling $16,000. I immediately called up Laila, the little Pakistani travel agent and booked a flight to Kathmandu. I offered to pay for Luanne’s flight also but it would have required her to end her job. Here the poor girl had worked EVERY DAY as a nurse for 42 years with nothing but regular vacations and she was stuck on working until she maxed her Social Security. She calculated later she got $9 per month more than she would have. She got screwed anyway because as soon as she turned 65 a few months later her employer cut her hours and dropped her health coverage. It probably actually cost her money to go to work for that last year and a half. So, off I flew to KTM again.

And there are also many other things which Carlos did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.
        

To recap, 30% of my trips to Nepal have been tumultuously unexpected and adventure-filled AND I totally missed the 2015 earthquake and the aftermath from which many never returned at all and seven US citizens died. My main takeaway – STAY FLEXIBLE.

28 June 2017

Sun Protection

I have a few tips for sun protection as remedies for skin damage can be costly.
1.   I always wear a large hat – currently http://www.sunprotectionzone.com/sun-protective-hats.aspx
3.   OR if I’m driving and wearing a short sleeve polo shirt, then sun protection sleeves - https://www.outdoorresearch.com/us/en/gear/gloves/sun-protection/c/or-gear-gloves-sun-protection

My girlfriend Bonnie just finished an ‘episode’ of skin cancer and other skin problems caused by sun exposure. She had melanoma on the upper back of her RIGHT triceps. The dermatologist told her this is where women frequently get skin cancer from riding in cars in the passenger seat. Men frequently get them on the upper triceps of the LEFT arm. Just the co-pays for this treatment were many hundreds of $$$ as was the radiation treatment on her upper lip.

Despite my extensive sun exposure at high altitude I have escaped undamaged, so far. I attribute some of that to the aloe vera and PABA lotion I have been using for 40+ years - https://www.amazon.com/Mill-Creek-Botanicals-Moisturizing-Lotion/dp/B000Q3YIX6


Near Mt Everest 1989

I got Nivea skin cream, threw away about 1/3 the jar and added a bunch of zinc oxide from a store in India, mixed it all up and applied it. Most sun protection products can be carcinogens. The sun hits them and they are chemically changed. The white stuff, zinc and titanium oxide, reflect the sun.


30 May 2017

What’s in My Bag, 2017


My travel bag that goes with me whenever I go on a trip.

Patagonia Chacabuco Backpack 32L – Large enough for a 17” laptop and others too. A movable office for me. Always enough space at the bottom for ‘just one more’ item. Usual Patagonia super-quality, would never break like other bags. Lotta guys can get away with smaller, Bay area-ish bags – not me. I need to be able to live out of my bag for a day or two sometimes.

Lenovo T61 laptop [maybe 6 years old or more]  with 14” screen, upgraded with 16 GB memory AND a 512 GB SSD harddrive. Very fast and reliable and the BEST keyboard.

Lihit Pencil case – perfect to organize my small items

         and inside
        


         Perfect for underlining WITH STRAIGHT LINES. Cork back keeps ruler away from paper for using pen ink without smudging.

Since 1761. Wallet set of 4 nib pens in black. Pigmented Ink is acid-free and archival. Smudge-proof - water resistant when dry. Perfect for sketched journals cartooning- sketching- and fine ink drawing.

Clairefontaine Wirebound Book 4.25X6.75 Ruled I go through these periodically, depending on my activity level. All my useful information is in here like passwords, super important stuff, etc. Ideal for travel - I just chronically write pretty much everything in here. I wish I had my old notebooks as reminders of what I was up to. My current one has been in use for about 15 years, so my activity level is down some. This 11 cm x 17 cm size fits nicely into the breast packet of my current travel and hiking shirts that I wear daily here in Florida.

The smooth, high quality paper of these notebooks is perfect for writing and does not bleed thru. I use the larger Clairefontaine notebooks for journaling.

Schmidt Capless Rollerball Pen, Stainless Steel – This rollerball slips into the wire spirals of the Clairefontaine notebook. The only drawback is the ink smudges if it gets wet. They used to do a lovely titanium version which I still have.

Jandd ditty bags – The best for organizing small items. The next step up from plastic freezer bags. In my small one are my two passports, copies of my birth certificate so if I ever get to Ecuador I can apply for dual [duel] citizenship, bags and stuff I use for $100s and sheaves of rupees, binder clips.
Note these ditty bags are made in mesh also. Ideal for cosmetics. Larger sizes are great for books and large papers. Jandd, in general, is a great resource, especially some sale items.

Patagonia Men's Houdini® Jacket – I don’t go anywhere without this! I’ve been using these and the predecessor, the Dragonfly, since they first came out about 1992 and cost $150, which I did not have but scrounged up as the jacket was so useful. My current Houdini saved my life the first time I wore it. I had it in my pocket when I cycled up Tioga Pass on the backside of Yosemite, a 5000’ elevation gain in about 12 miles. Five miles into the climb it began to hail and rain. I stopped and put my Houdini on as the temperature dropped 30 or more degrees. I resumed pedaling uphill in the hail and rain. Cars were pulled to the turnoffs as the visibility was so low but as the drivers saw me pedaling uphill they got their cameras and ran and photographed and videoed me as I went by. I made it all the way to the top of the grade by Ellery Lake then turned and whizzed downhill, saved from hypothermia by my brand new Houdini. At the bottom of the grade at the Whoa Nellie Deli it was in the 80’s again.
I once walked for about 7 miles in a snowstorm in the Himalayas carrying a large 40 lb. backpack with only a Houdini as my outer layer. With appropriate under layers I’d wear a Houdini as my outer layer up to 20,000’.
I carry this with me on every hike here in Florida, even in the warmest weather. Who knows when it might rain or you might have to spend the night out in the bush, or you walk into the market all sweated up and the A/C is set to 72. Houdini time.

Apple iPad Pro 9.7-inch – with the keyboard. Actually, I don’t have one of these YET, but want one. Microsoft has released Office for free on tablets with a smaller than 10” screen, so it’s possible to create, read, and edit Word documents and Excel spreadsheets. Uses the iPencil.

13 March 2017

My Lyme disease experience

Thanks for the suggestion I write of my Lyme experience. I had a very bad, virulent case of Lyme disease in 1987 that was caught fairly early, maybe 9 months after the tick bite. I was given a course of heavy penicillin shots daily for 10 days and fully recovered.

A little more detail. I was bitten on Shelter Island, NY when I went for a hike while attending a church camp. I had no idea I had been bitten and it took me 2-3 years after to finally find the bite – in inside of my ear. Eight months after the bite I had a high fever for a week and in the months after that began to develop soreness in my joints – elbows, shoulders and knees. A psychic I communicated with regularly told me I had Lyme disease. I went to a Reiki practitioner who worked on me and all the soreness went away except for my right leg which immediately swelled up to double normal size.

I attempted to get a Lyme disease test from several doctors in the NY-NJ area, telling them I had been diagnosed with Lyme disease by my psychic and was refused with several telling me there was no Lyme disease there, the lower Hudson River Valley of New York and northern New Jersey. As many now know this area has the highest prevalence of Lyme of any area in the US, or probably the world. One doctor who refused me a Lyme test made me go down to NYC and get a sonogram for a blood clot. Idiotic. One doctor did relent and said that just to humor me he would add a Lyme test to the many others he ordered for me.

The doctor called me and told me I had the highest Lyme titer the lab had ever seen and I should undertake a course of antibiotics. I thought about it for 3 weeks or longer with the doctor calling me regularly and work colleagues dropping newspaper articles about Lyme on my desk. I told him I had no money so he ordered me a set of 10 pre-filled mega-dose syringes filled with penicillin and told me I could pick them up at a pharmacy and to find someone to give me a shot every day. By this time my leg had gone stiff and I had to use a cuff cane in order to walk.

It was quite interesting creating people who would give me daily shots. I began to get better right away but had a lot of residual swelling in my right leg that lasted for at least 3 months afterward and I had some paralysis in my calf. Interestingly, my guru from India came for his regular summer visit about that time and he severely injured his leg tripping. But my own leg went back to normal at that exact time and I always attributed this to Gurujii taking on my illness and working it out in his own body.

In 1989 I moved to California and in the first year or so hooked up with a group that had a sort of renegade medicine man from Taos area doing real Native American sweat lodges. I did one and noticed that even more residual paralysis left my leg. I never think about my Lyme experience anymore but have concluded that if I had not moved to California I would be dead or bedridden as I am outdoors all the time hiking.

I also note I was cured from a VERY bad case of polio by experimental heat treatment in 1956. I am reluctant to say to much more specifically due to liability reasons but I know a lot about the disease process and I have had to recover from at least 3 bad ones. From The Plague by Camus - “Who taught you all this, doctor?" The reply came promptly: "Suffering.”