September 12, 2013, on the banks of the Bhagirathi, Gangotri, Uttarakhand, India "The river is insane," Wende texted via satellite. I was confused: She couldn't know that, at that moment, I was sitting on the bank of a raging Bhagirathi River in the hamlet of Gangotri. Sure, she of course knew I was in India, […]

September 10, 2006, Diraphuk Gompa on the Kailash Kora, Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Gentle murmurings, soft, subtle, almost lost, camouflaged by a Himalayan breeze and squawks from goraks (Tibetan ravens). I sat and watched, quietly, trying not to disturb, not to invade their sacred space. The mother and daughter prostrated repeatedly - standing, then kneeling, then […]

September 25, 2000 - Near Pethang Ringmo, Tibet Note: I began writing this post a couple days ago while, interestingly, waiting out a storm in the Colorado high country above Fairplay. I didn’t know then that there were many trekkers stuck in the Kangshung Valley. I wish them well, and safe returns, and also send […]

October 8, 2013, Jajmau, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India My eyes watered, nose ran, lungs burned. I wasn’t sick, but I sure felt like it. We’d spent the day wandering through Jajmau, a “suburb” of Kanpur - the Manchester of the East - and touring its tanneries. Lying just south of sprawling Kanpur, Jajmau is the […]