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This log runs through October 5, 2003 September 18, 2003 in Springfield, Maryland CLICK HERE to view the Maryland photo gallery, including pictures of Pioneer being hauled from the water. When the storm is over we’ll head via the Gypsy Wagon toward Yuma, where it’ll be stored when we fly to Nepal on October 5. After arrangements are made there, we’ll be off overland to the roof of the world, Tibet -- crossing a 16,900 foot pass along the way. September 19, 2003 in Springfield, Virginia September 21, 2003 just west of Nashville westbound Right now we’re in the Gypsy Wagon, driving down Interstate 40 in Tennessee. We’ll reach western Oklahoma tonight. It’s a long way from the Chesapeake to Yuma, Arizona (2,500) miles, but only a small portion of the 12,700 mile trip to Kathmandu, Nepal. September 23, 2003 in Yuma, Arizona We’re tired. Our drive from Springfield, Maryland to Yuma took three days averaging almost 900 miles per day. By the way, what the heck it is with gasoline prices in this country? As we crossed the country, best available prices ranged from $1.35 to $1.99 per gallon. Some of that is legit, we presume, but we also smell price gouging. Readers of this site know of our ongoing concern about the situation in Burma. We just received news of additional secret missions into Burma to help minority villagers who suffer at the hands of the Burmese Army. We just received new details of the latest missions. We are especially excited about the prospects of traveling from Nepal into Tibet. We don’t know who this Tibetan man is, but we’d sure like to meet him. September 27, 2003 in Yuma, Arizona We have always tried to be totally honest in relating our travels, and thus we do admit some concern. Unless conditions change, we will still travel to Kathmandu October 8, although we may curtail travel to some of the outlying areas we had planned to visit. We’ll check out the situation carefully once we’re there. Meanwhile, here is a portion of a news report from today’s newspaper in Kathmandu. “KATHMANDU, Sept 26 - Although the much-awaited Hindu festival Dashain formally begins tomorrow, most of the people are not in a festive mood. The reason - they have witnessed gruesome killings of their kith and kin, which has spread terror in their hearts. The children affected and terrorised by violence unanimously urged the Maoists to respect their right to life and education, at an interaction programme today. Ram Hari Karki, a 10th grader, urged the Maoists to immediately stop the killing spree and sit for the peace negotiation. "The best alternative is talks. At least there should be no violence during Dashain and Tihar festivals," Karki said. Children are the most affected group of the Maoist insurgency. According to Sarad Sharma, president of Bal Bikash Samaj, a society that works for the welfare of children, over 200 children have lost their lives. He claimed that over 25,000 children have lost their parents and thousands have been displaced. The insurgency has further led to the closure of hundreds of schools in remote areas curtailing the children’s right to education.” We’ll post first hand reports when we get there. Nepal is also having problems with animals -- BIG animals. Here is a report by Nepalnews.com. Megh Narayan Chaudhary, former vice-chairman of the VDC, said a group of 26 tuskers entered the area via Kusum and demolished 25 houses and damaged standing crops and sugarcane plantation in about 50 bighas of land. One of the elephants, however, died after it broke into a house and consumed locally brewed alcohol four days ago on the banks of Bahura Khola at Satbariya VDC-9. Officials at the District Forest Office said that they have not been able to perform the post-mortem of the tusker, as other elephants have not yet deserted the dead member.” So we’ll watch out for drunk elephants too. The Thai elephant in this photo didn’t seem too worked up when we rode him. We think he loved and admired us. Meanwhile, we went to Mexico today to load up on various drugs we’ll need in Asia (all legal ones, of course!). September 29, 2003 in Yuma, Arizona It’s hard to believe that even though we drove 2,600 miles to Yuma from Virginia, that was only 20 percent of the total journey on to Nepal. When we depart on Sunday, we’ll have 10,000 miles to go! We’re preparing new photo galleries for Nepal and Tibet, and can’t wait to begin posting great shots! October 1, 2003 in Yuma October 2, 2003 in Yuma What MAY be difficult to adapt to (in addition to the 17,000 foot altitudes on the overland trip from Kathmandu to Lhasa, Tibet) will be the temperature extremes. What’s really amazing is Becky’s packing ability. She has collected everything we’re likely to need during seven months of travel on both the roof of the world and through Indochina’s steamy jungles. We have made financial and tax arrangements to cover a wide range of obligations during that period. All this clothing, a mountain of documents, a maze of computer and camera equipment, a medical kit that’s ready for anything, and far too many other things to itemize are fitted into carry-on bags and luggage that can’t exceed 44 lbs per person. Anyone need help planning a trip? We have been traveling continuously almost four years (nearly 170,000 miles) and between us have visited 70 countries and principalities (list), but we have to admit: this coming adventure will be the most challenging, and most rewarding yet. (Expedition statistics to date). Note to friends: if you want to join us for a while, contact us via mail[at]twogypsies[dot]com or through the Thamel Hotel in Kathmandu through early December. Bt the way, we are officially more miffed than ever with AT&T. On top of all their many other billing policies designed to squeeze a few more dollars out of their customers, they’ve just discovered one more. No longer can cell phone customers cancel service on the day of their choice. If you cancel service on, say, the second day of your billing cycle, you have to pay for the entire rest of the month whether you need your phone or not. Nice going, AT&T. We didn’t think it possible, but you’ve found yet another way of screwing your customers. October 5, 2003 in Los Angeles, California Including the distance we drove from Solomons, Maryland, where we left Pioneer (photo above), the total trip to Kathmandu will be 12,780 miles. Because of required routing, this is more than the distance half way around the world. In Kathmandu we’ll check into the Hotel Thamel, where the management has been very helpful in responding to our endless series of questions via e-mail. Then we’ll begin a series of Japanese Encephalitis immunization shots. They would have been $160 each in Washington, DC, but are $35 each in Nepal. We’ll also be hiring a guide and preparing join a small group of other people for a five day drive over the Himalaya mountain range to Lhasa, the capitol of Tibet. Once there, we hope to talk the Chinese officials into letting us stay a couple of extra weeks beyond the terms of our visa. The gravel road from Kathmandu to Lhasa reaches an altitude of 16,900 feet. This does cause us some concern. After all, we never even flew our Cessna that high. But we have high altitude sickness medication and have prepared in every way possible for this challenging trip. Even though we have been traveling continuously for nearly four years, and between us have visited 68 nations and principalities in our lives, and even though by the time we get to Kathmandu October 8 we will have covered nearly 180,000 miles in the current expedition alone (see Statistics), we consider our coming explorations in Nepal, Tibet, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and SE China our most interesting and challenging. Most of our travels will be via whatever means of transportation is available. We will be carrying about 120 lbs of possessions, including enough camera and computer gear to produce many thousands of extremely high quality photos and movies. Preparation for this trip has been difficult. The financial, legal, logistical and physical challenges are daunting. Having no home other than our sailboat, it is difficult keeping everything important in our lives with us, or safely and conveniently stored in a number of places throughout the USA. Medically we are protected against every disease known to exist in SE Asia, and we will be careful about what we eat -- more importantly, we’ll avoid mosquitos at all costs. The area around the Kwai River Hospital, where we often volunteer our assistance (see our Thailand Photo Galleries and our log entries on the jungle hospital), experience the world’s most medically resistant strains of mosquito-borne Malaria. TB is also a very prominent threat. We have a very complete medical kit and, if worst comes to worst, we carry a platinum American Express card that, if we become seriously injured or sick, will provide a free medical airlift to an appropriate facility, no matter how far away it may be. That will be a comfort in Tibet. We have many friends and family members who have been supportive of our adventures, assisting in so many ways that we doubt our Expedition would be possible without them. When we reach some special place in the shadow of Mount Everest, we will plant traditional Prayer Flags for each and every one of of the people dear to us. To friends and strangers who have contacted us to wish good luck in our coming travels, your support is greatly appreciated. Our adventures continue because we share burning lifelong desires to seek out the world’s nooks and crannies, and to come to know and understand people and cultures vastly different from our own. This site, which has now reached 187 pages and 32 photo galleries, continues because of our desire to encourage people who might not otherwise travel to begin their own adventures, trips that can lead down the path to a most important destination, Perspective. This will be our final entry before boarding China Airlines flight 007. Our next posting will be in the following log titled Nepal, just as soon as we can work out the technical challenges in connecting to the Internet from the roof of the world. Thank you sincerely for following our travels. We will do everything possible to make our coming updates worth your time. Temp end. |
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Yesterday, on the burning sands near sea level here in Yuma, our thermometer registered 111 degrees! The photo on the right was taken in the heart of the Himalayan range between Nepal and Tibet, 10,000 miles from where we are now. That’s where we’re heading. We’ve been seeking the world’s extremes, and we’re about to find them!
Our only home, Sailing Vessel Pioneer, is in storage, insured, and prepared for storms on the Chesapeake. Our families have a variety of means to track us down, even through we don’t know where we’ll be.