RSS

The Elephant Cloud

Namaste

The Elephant Cloud header image 4

Entries Tagged as 'Asia'

Voted off the island

May 28th, 2008 by · No Comments · Asia, Thailand

A gentle tide and waveless beaches. Perfect: a handful of days on warm, sunny Thai beaches with bowls of green curry, fresh coconut shakes, and the occasional beer Chang.   No tours, schedules, or agendas. Just a gentle jungle breeze on the beach.  But the time has come, I’ve been voted off the Island. I’m heading home.

[Read more →]

Chitwan National Park

May 24th, 2008 by · No Comments · Asia, Nepal

I came to see the rhinos and we trekked thru grasslands and jungle forest to find them. In the grasses, which are higher than me at this time of year, the guide said we’d notice movement of large animals by the rustling. Yet it was the still grass of animals lying in wait that concerned […]

[Read more →]

I really, really want to see a rhino

May 23rd, 2008 by · No Comments · Asia, Nepal

Ten bucks for the tourist bus, luxury non-stop with air con. Or, maybe, no aircon. And maybe just one stop: to kick us off. The students were pissed. Three months ago the government promised them books, pens, and paper. Three months later, they still had none and it was the week before exams. So they […]

[Read more →]

Celebrity

May 21st, 2008 by · No Comments · Asia, Nepal

Peter Habelar was the first man to summit Everest without oxygen. He did it with legendary climber, Reinhold Messner, and the night before our first attempt to fly home, we showed him how to play pool. He’s a much better mountaineer. The next morning, after everyone else flew out of Lukla, we sat in an […]

[Read more →]

Popcorn at fourteen thousand feet

May 21st, 2008 by · No Comments · Asia, Nepal

Getting down is the hardest part and we were aggressive. So much so, we broke our Sherpa and had to pay him double that day. On the second descent day we nursed our ailments from the previous day’s twelve hour hike with dal baat and chang (the rice wine). We drank a lot of chang […]

[Read more →]