Flightseeing of Mt. Everest

We saw Mt. Everest on our second day in Nepal. It was a great flight. 45 minutes of fantastic views.

A word about 3rd world airports. I found my leatherman in my carry on bag... after I'd been through security. My bag had gone through the magnatometer and no one was watching the screen. At the Chitwan airport there isn't a magnatometer so they open the bags and dig through them. The lady didn't open all the pockets in my day pack. I walked through the metal detector in Kathmandu with my digital camera so I set it off. A lady patted me down, but never looked in my camera case (and during the pat down she barely touched me).

Trekking in the Himalayas

Here I am in Kafleny with some of the local Thapa and Tamang kids. They don't speak much English, but it was really fun to hang out with them. We were at the same camp for 2 nights because of some Maoist trouble on the regular route. In the mornings the kids would show up and in the evenings they'd play nearby. On our last night there we taught them duck duck goose and ring around the rosy. We couldn't get them to understand Red Rover with the language barrier. We played tag Nepali style.

That was a four day trek in the middle Himalaya. Afterwards we went to Chitwan national park and rode elephants around in the jungle. We saw lots of rhinos. Now we're in the Kathmandu airport waiting for our chopper to Langtang. The power flashes on and off so I loose my internet connection periodically. Kathmandu is an interesting place. The traffic, noise, and general griminess is spectacular (not in a good way). The people on the street selling all kinds of crap are annoying. I've already snapped at a flute seller to not touch me and I slapped some guys hand when he stuck a wilty marigold in my face. Every day the power goes off for a few hours and people turn on generators so they can power the lights in their shops (and in the hotel).

Last night I ordered Kashimi Naan. I wasn't sure what it was, but I love Naan. It showed up at the table (where we were sitting around on cushions) and it was naan with cold fruit salad on top. Eek! I'm only supposed to eat hot food or I risk illness. But the fruit looked so tasty and I've been fruit deprived except for a couple oranges and bananas (since under the peel they're unpolluted). So what did I do? I ate the fruit salad and I enjoyed it very much. I was living dangerously (I've been so careful up to now). Thankfully, I didn't get sick. If I did, there are two nurses in our tour group and they came with tons of medications. I feel fairly safe. Especially since one of the nurses ate some of the fruit salad to.

There are 7 people total in my group, me and 6 others. We've got the best tour guide. He's from Nepal and I can't describe how nice it is to have a local guy wheeling and dealing and translating on our behalf. I'm going to really miss K.P. when I head off to India.

Qatar

I've made it to Doha, Qatar! Qatar airways is very nice, I recommend them. My assigned flight attendant knew me by name. I was impressed; it was a big plane. I've got 9 hours here before my flight to Kathmandu at 0445.


Oh, and my bag? It showed up an hour before I had to catch my plane. So much for doing laundry. But at least I got it. I was starting to worry.

Tracey made me the most fantastic peanut butter cup cookies for my flight. She told me to take all of them, but I only took 6. I didn't think I'd be able to eat them all. Ha! They were entirely consumed before I made it out of the US! Thanks Tracey, they were very good.

Denali

My whirlwind trip up North was great. I got to meet a bunch of people, and not only were they all incredibly nice, but they got me really excited about Toklat. Not like I needed a bunch of help with that... And even after meeting me, they still want me to work there (I just don't know when).

I went for a walk near Headquarters. The weather was nice and warm. And sunny, although it was snowing off and on so we couldn't fly over Toklat.

Now I'm hanging around waiting for the airline to call and tell me they're delivering my bag. Yep, it was delayed. Apparently, the nincompoops have managed to find it, which I should be grateful for. But I would kind of like my bag, you know, yesterday. I'd like to finish packing for my flight tonight. And on the above mentioned hike I got a little sweaty so I would like to maybe wash my clothes BEFORE I pack them. Perhaps I'm too demanding. Lets hope my next flight is a little less interesting.

I'll blog all about my trip to Nepal and India when I get back.

Trekking in Nepal

Whilst trekking in Nepal I'm going to hang (with adhesive cow dung) these posters. The poster shows how girls are unknowingly sold into brothels. The first picture shows the guy with shoes and cool sunglasses. He's telling the parents that he can get their daughter a great job in the city and she'll send money home so they can have neat things to. She leaves with him in the second picture, away from her small village for the first time in her life. He tells her she's going to marry someone rich or work in a restaurant or get a job making carpets. All are better futures than she had imagined for herself before. There's a picture of the border crossing and she's introduced to a woman to travel with her. The last picture is where she finds out what's really happened; she's been sold to a brothel.

The woman who gave me the posters works with Maiti Nepal , an organization that runs a rehabilitation center and hospice in Kathmandu. She told me that I might run into parents of daughters who've disappeared. She said her first time in Nepal they were at a village to raise awareness of the problem and three parents asked for help. She told me it would be very helpful if I took pictures of the parents and collected information on the daughter (and a picture if they have one). Often, when a girl is rescued, she doesn't know where she came from and her dialect only narrows it down so far. With pictures, some girl might recognize her parents. Who knows if it will work or not, but it might. So it's worth a shot. If I can be in the right place, at the right time, there's no telling what could happen.

I like the part of Moroni, chapter 10 that says "And now I speak unto all the ends of the earth-- that if the day cometh that the power and gifts of God shall be done away among you, it shall be because of unbelief. And wo be unto the children of men if this be the case; for there shall be none that doeth good among you, no not one. For if there be one among you that doeth good, he shall work by the power and gifts of God."

If there is any good that I can do, it will take God's help to do it. I just have to have the faith that my little bit can accomplish something.

Cookie Puss, a New England phenomenon

Tracey and Bear tried to describe to me the ancient legend of the Cookie Puss ice cream cake. Tracey told of childhood birthdays when all she wanted was a Cookie Puss. Bear told of old commercials that featured a dancing Cookie Puss. But I didn't know what I had missed all these years until tonight. Tracey found a Cookie Puss store and brought one in. Bear, Bob, Tracey and I devoured most of the Cookie Puss. When I left there was only a small section between the eyes and the ice cream cone nose left.
Here I am with my kill. You can see part of an eye and various other pieces of the unfortunate creature. Cookie Pusses are messy to eat, but so tasty!



Later, I ran a mile and a half and did some rounds with the bench press and other random torture devices. I had to do something after eating all that ice cream!

The Holy Grail of NPS jobs

According to Shannon, I am now as cool, if not cooler, than Indiana Jones. Thanks Shan.

Sunday I'm flying to Fairbanks and then heading to Denali to meet the Park Superintendent and the Chief Ranger and to be officially offered the most amazing job EVER.

My buddy Greg, who's at FLETC now, agreed to be a reference for me. I was just talking to him on the phone. He told me how he answered the last question, "What else can you tell me about Liz?"

"I don't want her to go." Greg said he likes having me on his shift and he doesn't want me to leave. That's a high compliment and I am so happy that I was able to earn it. I'll miss my buddies here. I'll miss the hard charging law enforcers that I work with. I'll miss the competition. I'll miss the camaraderie. I've been really lucky to work with some amazing guys and I'll miss them more than anything else here in Boston.

On Wednesday I'll get back to Boston and Thursday I head to Nepal. I'm all packed, but depending on the weather up north I may have to unpack to get my warm layers. I'll take my camera, of course, and try to post something before I head to Asia.

Black 47

All these things I have to do, but I spent my weekend in a frenzy of non-trip related activity. Saturday evening, I went to Cambridge to see "Black 47" a New York Irish band that was a favorite of mine in high school. I figured Aidan Kennedy, who introduced me to their music, would never forgive me if I didn't go see them when they were playing so close. It was a good show (although I should have done the uncool thing and taken earplugs. Afterwards I thought I'd never hear again). I was especially excited to see the Uillean pipes in action. Obviously, they're not as amazing as the Great Highland Bagpipe (my Bagpipe of choice), but they're still bagpipes and I'm a big fan of all kinds of those. I could have done without the lead guitar since I think that's where most of the racket came from. The trombone and sax guys were neat (the trombonist also played the Irish whistle). Those two with the piper would've made a nice concert minus the hearing loss.

Random things

I gave platelets again today despite an earlier post where I mentioned I would never give them again. But it wasn't as bad this time. I still had the tingling lips, but it wasn't as uncomfortable as I remember.

This time I got a TV all to myself and I was watching some British version of cops. I was jealous because the officer had that plate recognition software and he was driving around and his computer picked up a stolen car. Without him having to do anything. Sweet! So he confirmed it and followed the car. The car pulled onto the sidewalk to park and to my utter astonishment the officer pulled up beside the STOLEN car and rolled his window down to talk to the driver. Then he got out and told the driver, who was still seated, that his car is stolen and did he realize that? "It is?" was the brilliant answer. The driver was then arrested.

Now, I realize that when I watch the American "COPS" I see my fellow officers employ some tactics that I wouldn't necessarily employ. Sometimes they do things that make me wonder what academy they went to that taught that. So I'm not picking on the British guy because I'm baffled by American cops to. I know the Brits don't have the number of guns that we do here. Obviously, he doesn't concern himself with the same things I do. I just can't imagine doing police work in the UK. I can't imagine ever feeling OK about driving right up to a known stolen car and talking to the guy while I'm seated in my car. I don't do that with anybody!

Aside from that excitement, my platelet donation was uneventful. I'd ridden my bike down there in the rain so my butt was all wet. I rode back in some kind of hail/sleet combo. In the process of riding back I somehow broke my gear shifter. A piece of it fell off in my hand which makes me wonder if it isn't time for a new bike.

I spoke with the Special Agent (it sure would be handy if we'd given him a nickname) about the possibility of me getting hired at Denali. He said it would be alright and that I shouldn't worry about anything. Linc might have to go to SWAT school by himself, but he'd be OK. I feel a lot better with everything out in the open. I should have done that originally because I'm terrible at keeping a secret anyway. I just didn't know how well I'd do in the hiring process and I didn't want to rile things up if it all came to nothing. Despite Bear's assurance that Denali would be dumb not to hire me, I had no idea how things were going to play out.

It looks like it's down to me and a "couple" others. I got a call from the guy at Denali last night. He wanted to warn me that he's calling my supervisor. I gave McLovin the heads up. He seemed happy for me, but he's wondering who on earth he can get to take my shift if I end up leaving. No one wants 3rd shift. If I go, that's one thing I won't feel bad about leaving behind.