Toerke

May the new year be mild to our milt and blood vessels. May we smile with our eyes and listen with our heart. May peace be the intention and compassion the driving force of all our deeds. Amen.

Clockwise around Boudha’s great stupa we walk our last Nepali walk. The iron bird grants us a high goodbye to the magical Himalayas, the true skyscrapers, the giants of Earth’s kingdom. I think I’ll sometimes miss them. We land in a concrete jungle and after a train ride from hell in an overcrowded last class, [...]

A visit to Pashupatinath is a strange experience. It’s not every day that you walk through the smoke of burning bodies. This is Nepal’s holiest place for hindus. Who dies here and is cremated here can break through the circle of rebirth. Along the river the dead of Kathmandu Valley are cremated on stone platforms. [...]

Yes, at last! For days we didn’t get further than the corner bakery, the fagstore across the road, the bars all around and the bathroom at two armlengths from our lazy bed. But today we are on the minibus heading somewhere. We have to visit something! As soon as you enter Bhaktapur, you notice: there [...]

During an evening stroll through Kathmandu’s tourist trap, aka the Hell of Thamel, one is often lured into opening the wallet for the purchase of the utterly essential tigerbalms, pashmina sjawls, opium derivates and accessories that the white man simply shouldn’t miss out on. Fortunately, one tends to build a certain immunity to the sometimes [...]

(morning) Beautiful here isn’t it. Very beautiful. Go to the village later. Yeah ok. Just hammocking a little more. Oh. Can I use the hammock later. Yeah ok. (noon) Want the hammock. Yeah. Maybe later we go to the village. Yeah. Sounds good. (evening) Should we go to the village now. Or tomorrow. Can do. [...]

Day four I’m going to have a look. I’ve been getting reports on inversion, 360, 180, S-turns and thermals. Wild stories about concentration and adventure. So I’m going to have a look. The jeep bends itself around the corners to the mountain top near Sarangkot. And there he is, my pilot to be, my superhero, [...]

And hoppa! My legs are in mid-air and all balance is lost. It’s just a split second and the next thing I know I am at the mercy of the whirling Kali Gandaki River. “Man overboard!”. I remember thinking “Kali will not get me!” and in no time the orders of the safety drill come [...]