How to save the world? Part 1 of ?

Check this. Before I left the states, I had an idea. I have lots of ideas. I only worry about the ones that stick with me for a bit. This one stuck.

I was driving in SLC, UT. I hate driving in this city for a lot of reasons. That day I was getting onto I80 from 1300E. They're revamping the interchange and its a complete mess. Traffic was bad, it was hot, and I was in a hurry. I should have more patience, I guess, but sometimes I don't have time to have more patience :-) So I thought: They're spending hundreds of millions of dollars to build bigger freeways to funnel more people around the city. Why not spend a fraction of that money in an advertising campaign to: 1) convince people to have fewer babies; 2) make mass transportation more attractive, and; 3) shame people for driving so damn much (like me!). Wouldn't that be a more efficacious use of limited public funding? The answer, I've come to believe, is yes. But no one is going to like it.

This traffic-reduction advertising blitz sat on the back burner for a while. I had a few conversations with people about it. My dad and I got into a pretty heated discussion about its applicability towards (and my cynicism about) growth in the Eugene, OR area. And I spent a lot of time thinking about it here in Nepal. I also at this time read a book about the diamond business and how outrageously successful they were in creating a demand for a product with no particular use, where no demand previously existed. How did they do this? Advertising and marketing, pure and simple. All you need to do is create what they call a 'cultural imperative' for your product, service, idea, and it will eventually sell. Think about it. Do we really need diamonds, Coke, Pepsi, Gatorade, big cars, fancy televisions, etc? Of course the answer is no, but there are a lot of people who have a huge financial stake in making you think the answer is yes, YES, YESSS!

So I got really pessimistic about things. How can we possibly change the collective trajectory of our culture? No one who thinks about it really denies that we are on a crash course with reality in the near future. Somehow we need to convince 7 billion+ people that the way things have been for the last 10k years isnt actually working, and we need to change. Its a huge job with so many pitfalls.

But there is a way. Let's have a thought experiment. What if you could magically capture every advertising agency and marketing firm in the world and have them do whatever you said. And then what if you told them to be really really sneaky (the way they know how to be) and to create a new cultural imperative. You want them to do this slowly enough that no one in their TV-induced mental fog would recognize it, and you want them to do it very very well. Within say, a generation, you would have them phase out all current advertising and replace it with a new series of ideas and products. Instead of promoting a consumer culture, make people want a sustainable culture.

I know, its trickery. It's 'sleeping with the enemy'. It's the cheap way out. Instead of having a society of free-thinking people who all spontaneously decide that the world would be a better place if we just stopped using all that dang petroleum, we instead have a society of people who have actually been shamed and advertised out of using all that dang petroleum. Different method, but same result. Right now there is only one way to simultaneously influence the mind and wallet of every person in the world-and that way is advertising.

At least, that's what I've been thinking about here in Nepal. I hope that I'm not the only one who thinks that this might work.

Oh, the beautiful mountains!

Nepal. Here the mountains are huge. I really mean it. They're big. Everyone asks, "Are you going to Everest Base Camp?" I always answer, "No, it seems like a junk show up there." As if I know! Which I don't. Mostly I say that to cover up that it sounds intimidating, and that I feel like 'everyone' goes to Everest, which also isn't true. Most people trek the Annapurna Circuit, which I will do in a couple weeks. I guess mostly I have a thing against Everest because it seems so cliche, so 'typical'. But I digress. I also went trekking to the Langtang area and that is what this post is really about.

There are many things to write about. I could write about the ridiculous bus ride to the start of the trek at Syrabrubesi (or Syfrabubensi, or Shyabrubensi, who knows how its really spelled). I could write about how beautiful it was to hike through rhodadendron forests along a steep and rocky creek up a deep canyon. Or the change from fluvial to glacial dominated landforms. Or the HUGE thrust fault that put old crystalline gneisses on to younger metasediments that I saw on the last day. I could ramble about the people and how amazing they are, their kind eyes, high pink cheeks, and colorful clothing. The food was filling and tasty too. But most of you already know all those things-or at least they aren't hard to imagine. It's not hard for you to imagine how comical it would be to see me stuffed into the smallest seat on the bus (no joke-I checked after everyone else got off and I unraveled myself) with only inches between my face and the next seat in front of me. So what will I say about my experience along the Langtang Khola, at 3900m, only a couple miles from Tibet? It starts with a series of questions that I asked myself after reaching Kyanjin Gompa, the village at the end of the valley.

"Why do people go to such great lengths to spend time in the mountains? Why did I spend so much effort getting here? Why did I not spend two months in Nebraska instead?"

At first, the questions seem ridiculous. The natural beauty of the place should be enough justification. But there is equal beauty in a blooming flower, a buzzing fly, simple human existence, the crystal structure of a small garnet embedded in a metaplutonic rock along a creek (yes, I have a hand lens with me). So it must be something else.

Maybe its the chance to feel insignificant. It is so easy to feel important in our lives. Back in the states I have a job, responsibilities, bills to pay, things to do. Standing at over 12,000' elevation, sucking air like a distressed vaccum cleaner just to exist, and being at the bottom of an enormous glacial valley with peaks rising another two miles vertically above me is humbling. And that feels good. It needs no other justification-it just feels good to feel so small. Its like that feeling you get when you lay in a field at night looking up at the stars. 'Here I am,' you think, 'and I am so small and everything feels right in the universe.'

Emily and I stayed for four days at Kyanjin Gompa. We only planned on staying for two, but it was very beautiful and somehow, the place just resonated. So we did some day hikes. We got snowed on, blown around by cold winds, and exhausted by long days and cold nights. And then something else occurred to me. This experience is so different from my 'normal' everyday life. If you lived in a red house with a red room, drove a red car to your red office, and then worked all day with red blinds on the window, you would eventually become, well, redd ed-out. It would be hard to really understand what someone meant when they said 'blue.'

I know what you're thinking. Wow...I just spent 10 minutes of my precio us day for that? Seriously? Yes. You did. And I spent even more time than that writing what you read. I never said that I had reached some new conclusion about the meaning of life, the way the world works, or how to make the world a better place. But I didn't want to write a trip report either.

Hmmm....life is funny

No pictures for this one, and not that much time to write. I guess its been almost ten days since I last wrote here. Wow! The term I have been using is: Days pass like weeks and weeks pass like hours. Maybe the Doppler effect is at work here, twisting time around, compressing and expanding.

A quick Summary: Emily arrived. It was quicly obvious to the both of us that things were not right between us. It wouldn't be fair to use this blog to broadcast the personal parts of our relationship. Sufice it to say that although it would be so much easier to still be a couple while traveling, we both agree that its not possible. So we have spent the better part of the last week trying hard to navigate this new part of our lives. How do you stay good friends with the person that you just broke up with? Is it possible to travel together? It's been interesting and I think that we have done surprisingly well under the circumstances.

We stayed in Tonsai for that week, climbing and beaching during the day, hanging out with all of the amazing people that we have met here. Collectively we nicknamed it 'Summer Camp' because, well, it felt a lot like that. I have been hanging out with that same group of people for the last 3 weeks, and I am very grateful for that. But it had to end...it always does. So yesterday Vanessa left for Canada, Glen left for Sydney, Casey and Skyler were leaving for Montana, Jodi and Emily were going to head up to a National Park for a few days, Ruzi was staying put, and Maxine and I headed down to Ko Lipe. I plan on being here for a few days and then heading across the Malaysian border to do my Visa run before heading back to Tonsai to climb for another couple of weeks.

The trip down here was classically Thai. We got some sketchy directions from the guy whom we booked the travel through, but somehow still managed to get to the bus stop on time. Of course the driver just looked at our ticket, chuckled, then asked us to get on the bus. No affirmation that we were on the right bus, and no clear answer to our question, "Ko Lipe?" But, as always here, we got to the pier on time, caught the right ferry, and ended up on the right beach. But the island was full of people and there was really nowhere to stay. We ended up sleeping in a tent. Which wasn't really all that bad (except for the sore back in the morning and no sink to brush teeth), but now we have a bungalow and all is right in the world again.

And thats that...for now at least. Today is a relax and snorkel day, tomorrow a dive day, and then who knows. I have to be out of Thailand before the 24th because of my Visa, but thats about the only real constraint I have. Oh, and I only have so much money. I guess that does matter too...

Life in Thailand continued....

Well, I found a new place to stay. Same resort, The Andaman, but a nicer, larger place with fewer wildlife features. I like it.

The last few days have been a blur. I have been climbing a lot, hanging out on the beach a lot on my days off, and just enjoying the slow pace of life here. Well, I guess that's not quite right. Before I left I thought that it would be slow and langorous here, with whole days spent in a sun-drenched bliss-like state. That hasnt happened yet. I am actually very very busy! I have been climbing with three different sets of people and it is a little taxing to be juggling all the socializing. I know. Imagine that! But its true. It has been so truly wonderful for that to be the case. The Canadians I have been climbing with forbid me to take rest days that werent on their schedule. As did the Americans and the Germans. They are all such great people!



I have been climbing well for me here. I have been able to onsight 11a, and get 11b with only a little more work than that. I projected on a 12a a couple days ago and it worked the crap out of me! I have a long way to go before I can get a redpoint, but it seems do-able. As long as I take adequate rest. I have been climbing too hard I think and my forearms have tweaked a little. I will have to back off a bit if I am to continue here.

Yesterday was a rest day. I spent the whole morning reading 'Angle of Repose' by Wallace Stegner. A classic book about the West-I love it. In the afternoon I met the two Canadians and we (and a bunch of others) took off to a couple nearby islands to snorkel. The lighting was not so good, but there was a whole ton of sea creatures, including a barracuda, sea crete, and a reef shark. We had dinner at sunset on a remote island, then after it got dark went swimming in the ocean. It had all these phosphorescent little critters in it! Every time you disturbed the water it would light up all around you. It was like swirling your hands through the Milky Way! If you flicked the water with your hands you could send a 'fireball' of light from your fingertips. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life and I didn't want to get out of the water!

Then this morning I got up early and a few of us climbed Humanality (6b+). Its a 5-pitch sport climb right up off the beach and it was so fantastic. The climbing was mostly straightforward, but with a crazy stalactite move near the top. I felt so good because I didn't get super scared like normal with all the exposure (we were prehaps 150m off the beach). Most of these pictures are from this climb. I partnered with Jodi (Canadian), and because you need two ropes to rappell, we convinced Rusche (German) and her friend Mathew (French) to be a second party on the climb. It took about 3 hours for all 4 of us to finish, and when we were done we werent sure whether to eat breakfast or have a beer! We ate breakfast, but the beer was a close second!

After that I swam a bit, showered, then hung out on the beach waiting for Emily to arrive. She showed up after being in transit for about 40 hours. It was so good to see her again! SHe's definately tired and needs a couple days to acclimate and rest, as anyone would after coming halfway around the world into a completely opposite climate.

I'll write more in a couple days.

I wrote this a couple days ago:

Just one of those days,
When your life passes before your eyes,
Just one of those days,
When the past and the future collide,
Just one of those days.

The rat and I

"How did you sleep last night?" It was Vanessa, the Canadian woman that I had been climbing with the last couple of days.
"Terribly!" I replied with a chuckle. "I'm going to have to move out of that bungalow."
"Why?" The obvious question from Jodi, the other Canadian.
'The rat," I said quickly, "the rat won." They understood.

Three nights ago I woke up because I heard some rustling. There are a lot of noises in my bungalow and I thought it was just some random creature and promtply fell back asleep. The rustling returned. From its tone I could tell it was some kind of plastic bag. But there was something else. Still, it was late (or early) and I wanted to sleep more than I wanted to know what was going on. It wasn't happening right next to me and so I didn't care enough. But then it woke me up again and then I had to know. What the hell was going on?

I flicked on my headlamp and shone ites brilliant white-blue beam around the inside of the bungalow. Near the 'door' to the bathroom I saw my toilet paper laying on the floor. I had left it about 2 meters away from the door when I went to bed. I heard the rustling again and watch somewhat astounded as the string of paper was being pulled into a hole in the wall! WTF?! I got up and shone the light into the crack and staring back at me with beady yellow eyes and pale twitching whiskars was a rat. The rat. It looked at me and then began pulling on the TP again. It had convienently left the role outside of his hole and was unrolling it as he pulled. What a brilliant little creature. But wait, that's my TP and he cant have it. So I ripped off the last sheet, threw the role up high where he couldn't get it and went back to bed. I thought that would stop him.

The next night I was again awoken by more rummaging. This time I knew what was going on. I heard the rat tousling through my bag of chalk bricks. TP, I imagine, makes for a good nest. But what does it want with my chalk? Did he think he was going to redpoint a 5.14 climb with chalk? Undoubtedly the rat is a much better climber than I and would definately think using chalk was cheating. At 2AM I couldn't be bothered with trying to figure out what the deal was. I found my small Wilderness medicine review pamphlet and tossed it in the general direction. I heard scampering and felt like I had won the battle for the night. Ha!

About an hour later I woke up to a horendous smell. I grew up on a farm and know what small farms smell like. I even grew up in aroom that had a lot of mice in the walls and let me tell you that a dead one stinks for a long time. But I wasn't prepared for this! I tossed and turned and finally went back to sleep. But then it happened again. I thought it was my pillow molding in the humid environment for a bit. But that wasn't it either. I finally realized what was happening. That rat. The rat. Was peeing on me! Yes, you heard it. It pissed on me from the ceiling. No joke.

So I learned my lesson. Do not throw things at the rat. It will get mad. I felt like we had reached an understanding, the rat and I. I felt like I could still live there and we could have some kind of balance. Maybe I would leave it some TP everynight as an offering of peace. Maybe leave my garbage a little more accesible. But then I forgot about that when I work up to more scratching and rustling. I located the spot in the wall and banged on it with my shoe a couple times. A blissfull sleep.

After my peaceful night of sleep last night, I woke up and felt like showering. I usually shower in the evening, but had stayed up late playing cribbage with some friends. There's about 2 hours around dusk where its impossible to take your clothes off because of the numbers of mosies around. Anyways, I got up, went in to the bathroom and turned on the water. I looked around for my soap. Where was it? The bathroom is quite small and it was no where to be found. I started getting worried. I looked for another minute but I knew that hope was lost. The rat ate it. He clearly knew how to get me. Maybe he felt that the peeing episode was a little harsh and wanted to tone back. God help me if I had thrown somethig at him last night! I'm sure that he would have taken the soap, then peed on me! As it is I had to admit defeat. I cannot keep living with such a cunning animal-I am no match for it. I ate breakfast and started looking for a new place to stay.

Climbing in Thailand

On my boat ride over to Ao Nang where I am writing this blog (the internet is much cheaper here) I had one of those amazing feelings where I realized just how lucky I am to be in such a beautiful and friendly place! It was very peaceful.

I have been climbing a lot in the last few days. I met a German couple who arrived the same day I did and did not have a rope. So we climbed the next day at a couple crags to the south (Muay Thai and 1,2,3 walls) and it was so fabulous! We hoped on a couple of 6a's (5.10a) and up to 6b+ (5.11). I got spanked on the 5.11, but it was so much fun and required some very unique stemming and even head jams! We grabbed a late lunch and then headed over to Phra Nang beach. I have never seen a more beautiful beach in all my life, even in pictures. The view out over the turquoise water was nice in itself, but the real treat was the huge overhanging cliff above the beach painted with beautiful streaks of red, brown, blues, and off-white limestone, with enormous (200' long) stalactites! WOW! Although the scenery was grand, and the climbing was ridiculously fun, the best part was meeting all sorts of different people. Frank and Bea (the german couple) introduced me to several other germans in the area, and I met some very nice people from Norway too. Everyone here, and I mean everyone is so friendly! It would be no problem to just walk up to a group at a crag and climb with them. I also met a guy who went to the U of O and had taken a Rock Climbing class from the same instructor that I took my first class from a couple years later. It is a small world at times....

In the evening I met a couple of younger travelers (19 and 20) from Atlanta and climbed with them all day yesterday. Rachael has been here for a month and took her friend Jon and I to all of her favorite spots. We climbed mostly hard 10's and a couple low 11's, but the moves on these climbs were so spectacular! On one climb I was hugging a tufa for about 20' as I shimied up! Most of the climbs are overhanging and this one was no excpetion-it really messed with my head! It's so fun to be climbing right next to people who are putting up really hard routes-13's are NBD on the beach here. At least for some people....who are genetic freaks.... :-)

The time here so far has been awesome. Typically, I get up whenever I wake up (usually around 7:30), toss my stuff in my large man-bag, and head down for some breakfast. Tea, and either mango sticky rice, an omlette, or some pancakes fills me up and then its off to climb for the day. Lunch is usually 'street-vendor' style and can be rice and bbq kabob, or some kind of noodle dish. Then its off to the beach and a little swimming. Up to the bungalow for a quick shower and some reading, then a nice dinner, and then I'm so ready to just pass out. Its fascinating how little you do here and still get so tired!

I took today off from climbing so that I dont over-climb and headed over to Ao Nang. I need to grab a beach towel, a pair of loose-fitting man-capris for climbing and lounging, a couple shirts, some snacks, and to write this blog. I'll probably crash out on the beach here for a bit too because it is also very nice. Emily will be here in 10 days and I am getting very excited for that. There are very few people (maybe none) who share our very strange sense of humor. That is most apparent when all my jokes (that I find pretty damn funny) fall on a flat audience with most other people. Oh well. Once she's here we'll have a few months of traveling together and sharing funny stories so I guess I can wait a few more days...

Arrival in Tonsai, aka Taxis, Trains, Buses

Well, here I am, typing on a computer within view of the Andaman sea, surrounded by towering cliffs of beautiful pocketed limestone, wearing nothing but a pair of shorts. I can hardly believe it's true! But it wasn't that easy. I had some friends who just flew down here and now I see why...its kind of a pain in the ass to get here!

I knew that I was going to be in Thailand for about 6 weeks, and you only get 30 days on a transit Visa. So I was led to believe that all I had to do was go down to the Immigration office, pay $15 and be on my way. So after I had a nice, relaxing, two hour Thai massage (that only cost $10!) I hoped in a Taxi with all of my bags and immediately was on the edge of my seat driving through the terrible trafic! 30 minutes later I was standing in line at the Thai Immigration office where the nice uniformed man told me that I was out of luck, but have a great day. So I saddled up with my 50lbs of gear (ropes and quickdraws are NOT lightweight items designed for backpacking with!) and walked the two miles to the US Embassy. I didn't know it was two miles at the time...the map I had didn't have a scale. Who the hell makes maps without scales! I guess things like that bristle a geologist. Anyways, after arriving I was quickly asked to leave by a guard who barely spoke english. Feeling miffed I sat down across the street and realized I was right next to the US consulate office. I headed inside only to be told that they take off the last friday of every month and I should come back monday. Well, that was out of the question because my train ticket said I was leaving for Krabi that afternoon.

So, after having spent the better part of a day, all I wanted to do was get to the train station, find some food, and rest for a bit. It was another mile or so to the subway station which took me directly to Hualumphong train station. I was booked on a 12 hour sleeper train to Surat Thani, and then a bus to Krabi. Thankfully there was air conditioning! The train was, of course, about 2 hours late, which turned out not to matter anyways. The ride was manageable, and I think I slept a reasonable amount to boot. We arrived in Surat Thani at 7AM where I then had to catch two different buses to get to Krabi. Once there I headed down town amidst the bustle, found some delicious Pad Thai at a street vendor, and tried to understand how I was going to get to Tonsai Beach.

Tonsai and Railay East and West are separated from the rest of the world by tall limestone cliffs. The only way to get there is by longtail boat from Ao Nang. I read that the easiest way to get to Ao Nang was on a Sawangthaw (a taxi made by putting seats in the bed of a pickup) and that they would find me. Sure enough it only took 5 minutes after lunch for one to find me and then another 30 minutes to get to Ao Nang. Getting a boat from there was super easy and then, bam, I arrived on a beautiful beach. Its pretty hard to believe that I'm here. I've been planning this for long enough that it just feels unreal to be here. But I AM here and now comes the task of finding people to climb with until Emily arrives in a week and a half. Stay tuned for more adventures!