Wednesday, Dec. 19th, 2007: Krabi, Thailand

Here I am in Krabi, Thailand which has a fairly similar culture to that of Malaysia. I only experienced the "tourist" facilities in Sabah, but not in Sarawak and Malaya. The "tourist" facilities here in Krabi are pretty good both for where to stay and touring around the area. Yesterday, I went on a 4 Island Tour and got a good look at some of the rock formations that are so famous. Took some pictures too. Actually, Krabi has both a Muslim and Buddhist culture that live peacefully together, or so it would seem. So, I say it is fairly similar to my experience in Sarawak because of the friendliness of the people. Thailand is supposed to be the land of smiles; you got me on this one, I thought it was India.

Also today, I read back through all of my previous blogs and will stick with the surmisings, speculations and opinions. I have made a number of observations re global warming, which I will now change to Climate Change. Got to finish this later.

Sunday, Dec. 8, 2007: Bangkok

Well, I arrived here and walked right into an extension of the crisis I thought I had left in Kathmandu re money. First, the Bank in Kathmandu would not accept my overseas draft deposit for a new account and kept sending it back to the bank in FL. Not so nice; and costly. I told the bank I would be in when I get back to talk to the Manager about what happened. Well, here in Bangkok, I discovered that you cannot have your Bank transfer any kind of funds unless you have an account and you cannot get an account unless you have a work permit. The only way to transfer funds was and is via Western Union, which required alot of work to get with D., who was great and got the money just as soon as it was in her account. For love of money, I do not know why NOBODY told me about this situation because I probably would not have come to Bangkok. I am not using ATM's anymore; now I use currency while traveling and ATM's when living in Kathmandu. I experienced this as a real put-off - I am just a harmless senior who wanted to visit a little of Thailand before going to Cambodia but was thrown into crisis mode until the money situation resolved itself. I, personally, am not too keen on a politics of Tourist Countries where there is, actually, some "discrimination" against the tourist who was not correctly informed.

I do not know why I am living in a world of half truths and the half of the truth that is left out is the most important part.

Anyway, tomorrow, I am off to do a little visiting down South before I go to Cambodia for Christmas and New Year's.

I am so thankful to Buddha that I am out of the cold in Kathmandu.

These are my thought for today.

Sunday, Nov. 25th, 2007: Kathmandu

Well, on the 30th, I leave for Bangkok and 3 months of the warm breezes; out of the cold. I have never been to SE Asia, in spite of the fact that I lived in Sarawak as a PCV in the 60's. I loved living in Malaysia then; I am not so sure about now. It seems that "democracy" is a play word here in Asia; it is not a "way of life". Anyway, today the Malaysian Indians demonstrated for their civil rights, which I, of course, support. As people in Malaysia should be treated with equality and there should not be these Asian vestiges of stigmatizing people into groups so that some people can "rule" while everybody else follows. When Malaysia grants all of its people, including what they call the "ethnic" groups, equality, they will be on the road to Democracy. Until then, it is a come on for the press.

Anyway, when I am in Bangkok, I am going to enjoy the beach as well as look around at the Buddhist History and also the American Peace Corps Program. I also want to try and go to Cambodia and Laos, maybe. I am not too keen on going to a Communist Country for ethical reasons. I know it is not too easy to travel in Cambodia because the roads are in bad shape; so I will have to see. I could end up on the beach the whole while. I am not compulsive in my travels at all.

Finally, I still do not have any kind of an answer why I am "cut off " from visiting with my Tibetan friends who are living in McLeodGanj. I am hoping the answer will come somehow. I have been visiting with them for a long time now and they come to expect I will be able to help them out. They seem unwilling to come to Nepal; so I guess I will have to try and see if I can see them in McLeodGanj.

The weather here in Kathmandu has turned pretty nice during the day so I can see the Langtang, Ganesh and Dorjee Himalayas from my flat. They are pretty impressive, but I would not want to live nearer to them because of the freezing nightcold.

These are my thoughts for today.

Sunday, Nov. 10th, 2007: Kathmandu

Today is Tihar, a Hindu festival of light. I sure don't see no light coming from Tihar.

In a sense, I was told to re-register with the FRRO and the Ministry of Home Affairs in Delhi, because there was no "stamp" of registration for my 1 Year T Visa in my Passport. The Delhi Office refused to check with the Pondicherry Office to enquire if I had been there, as instructed, to register my 1 Year T Visa. I do not know why they refused to enquire to the Pondicherry Office. Instead the Delhi Office decided to make an independant decision. The FRRO and Ministry of Home Affairs Offices did believe my story but still stamped "overstay" in my Passport. How can you believe my story and still stamp overstay? This is still a way of insinuating that I am not "really" telling the truth.

Anyway, I have talked with quite a few people about my situation with the Indian Visa Section where I am a victim of lies and misleadings, which I consider totally inappropriate. If I had been doing something wrong or if I had intentionally snubbed the Indian Visa Dept. that would be different and I would take my consequences. However, it was another Indian Visa Officer who led me astray so as to make me out a lyer. All of my friends think I should submit all of this to our Embassy for them to read so they can see what has happened to this "tourist" in India. I know that the world is rife with women, especially, getting slammed and being lead in the wrong way; for some strange reason, I did not think it would happen to me. Well, it did and I cannot come up with any reason why.

This is my update for the moment.

Oct. 24th, 2007 in Kathmandu

Well, I have been watching CNN on my TV here in Kathmandu; almost exclusively the Santa Ana Wind fires in S. California. This time, the scale of the nightmare is what makes the difference, just like with the hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico. The fires are so strong and move so fast there is little to be done but get out of the way. Of course, nobody is going to ever say that this is a beginning, a hint of things to come, but you sort of know it anyway. I remember watching fires caused by the Santa Ana winds sometime around 1996 and at that time the fires were easily kept under control - 11 years later, the story is quite a bit different. Other than this, life is moving along here in Kathmandu. I now think I am going to go away for Dec.-Jan.-Feb. and then come back and stay until July and get the Residence Visa then. I think I am going to have to do most of it myself, so I am going to give myself plenty of time. When the push comes to shove, I am usually on my own. The weather - actually the weather has been quite nice with it alnternating between cold and warm. The cold is a cold, damp penetrating kind of cold; and the warm is a mellow warm but not very strong. When the sun comes out, it is very strong. The Himalayas were in view last week for 1 afternoon. They are impressive but rarely seen here in Kathmandu. So, I guess I might go somewhere to get a better view. Then, what do I think of the coming year before the election in the USA? I don't have a clue what I think will go on; but I do have a vague feeling that it could be "the year of living dangerously".

These are my thoughts for today.

Moving On: Oct. 16, 2007

Well, the cold rain is back today, just like in the last blog, but I am really moving forward in the decision making arena. Al Gore and the IPCC are Nobel Laureates together and Al Gore has said that we are ALMOST in crisis mode re climate change. This means that things have to be done right now or stage 1` will be in place. What do I think? I have noticed that not a single Republican has praised Al on his being a Nobel Laureate. If they think this is just political, they had better get ready for the morning that they wake up with only half a bank account, for example. As for me, I think now if I get the Residency Visa, I will just stick it out for the cold weather, and maybe just go for 1 month to pick up my things in India. I only have to go to Varanasi and McLeodGanj. I have all kinds of warm clothes and a sleeping bag; my back-up copy for the digital photos all on CD; lots of books. So, I will have everything in one place and can continue fixing up a place. When he (Al Gore) announced that he considers the crisis to be
immanent, I changed my time frame for here in Kathmandu. I will stay here for 2 years and see what happens. First, it was a 5 year time span collapsed down to 2. I had a short visit with Cyndy Williams from McLeodGanj and was very surprised at some of her attitudes about things. She is a Dentist and lives in San Francisco, but she said she does not think the science behind An Inconvenient Truth is very good and really weakens the argument; I said that the argument has now been backed up by a majority of climate scientists to validate his point of view. Actually, I think the original hypothesis came from Goddard, and Al Gore made it readable for the rest of the world. In spite of all of this, I think our chances are less than 50% for winning. We have a good chance, but have no idea what will happen.

These are my thoughts for today.

Dec-Jan-Feb: What to do?

Well, I am still not decided what to do for Dec-Jan-Feb, 2007 when it is so cold here in Kathmandu. Now, for the past week it has been hot and sunny; what a change from the cold steady rain that came before the hot. None of people that I talk to seem to have much of an opinion on the weather and there is very little in the newspapers. So, ever since I decided to get some education on Global Warming here in Kathmandu, I have been able to do nothing. In addition, the Internet with video sound is almost non-existant here. This is not so good either because the videos are the best way to show something or to talk about an issue and everybody knows that if you video/sound is not working very well, then the security of the system ain't so good either. Nobody is coming to the rescue of Kathmandu either. So, here we sit waiting in all of this ignorance.

It seems like Hillary Clinton is going to be the Democratic choice, which I fully support. Her videos can't ve viewed here in Kathmandu, so I figure it must be pretty bad. Is it so bad that I should consider going to where it is good? How to find where it is good? if it is not good here in Thamel. Does this poor Internet security have any kind of a larger picture? If Al Gore is the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, then it will really be shitty not to be able to get any good internet. All of this remains to be seen. If he is the Laureate, does this mean he cannot be a part of the next Democratic administration? I sure hope he is or he shares it with somebody; this will give a lot of good support to Global Warming/Climate Change. I was talking to friend and we decided that if India, China and the USA do not reduce CO2 emissions in the very near future, we are in for a real rough ride. Three bad boys.

So, these are some of my thoughts for today.

Decision Time - Sept.27th, 2007

Well, I started making the resolution yesterday that I have to make a decision about what I am going to do for the relative long term. This would be the next 9 months or into next spring. I have 3 different ideas in my head. 1) to go to India at the end of November and finally go back to Varanasi to see Bijay and the Bhole Das' and pick up my bag with heavy winter clothes in it. This is should bring back here and put in the flat. 2) to go to Thailand and Sarawak, where I was as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Because I am now studying Buddhism, I thought this would be a good idea and I could maybe visit Cambodia too. 3) get the Residence Visa for 1 year and stay here for the cold months of Dec-Jan-Feb. just to see how bad it really gets and if Global Warming is affecting winter temperatures. Now today, I still can't see to come to some kind of decision on this although going to Varanasi/Sarnath and seeing Bijay is the most favoured because it is the least expensive. Next, of course, comes going to Thailand and visiting Sarawak and Cambodia, which could be fairly costly. I think I am down to these two choices because after these days of steady cold rain has not been the best. Actually, I have been in the mountains since April when I left Auroville for McLeodGanj. It was fairly "cool" there too. It was in this fated places that I had quite a bit of money stolen which has put me off for the moment. The money that was taken was to be for Tenzin and Lobsang, two monks of Tibetan Buddhism. Of course, today with what is going on, I feel pretty uneasy about this whole incident. I think it is the cavalier attitude that I had to deal with that put me off the most; it is very different here in Kathmandu. There, people can't seem to get a handle on "reality" and all they do is fool around with the "Westerner". This is not the monks, of course, but some of the others. Because McLeodGanj is the "homeland" of the Exile Tibetan community, these attitudes run a little thin sometimes. Back to being in the mountains. After McLeodGanj, I came to Kathmandu where I have made the decision about getting a flat. So, for the last 8 months I have been out of the hot, sweaty weather. Does this mean that Global Warming concerns are finally taking over my consciousness? This would be good because I don't want to be one those people who puts off accepting what this is. I know it might seem absurd to "plan" for this, which is probably one of the biggest reasons people don't know how to get a handle on this issue. How to plan for a catastrophic event if you are just one person? Here, in Kathmandu, it does not seem like anything is being done. I think if some NGO's formed, they would get a good response; but nothing so far. I, myself, have been thinking about the glacial melt, glacial lakes, rain, and weather change. So, this is why I can't seem to make a decision about what to do for the 3 very cold months.

These are my thoughts for today.

Rain and Kathmandu - Sept. 25,2007

Well, back to this blog for awhile. It has been raining, effectively, since I got here in July. Everybody says it is the monsoon this year; but I think some of Global Warming involved as well. For the latest spell of rain, it starts in the night. If it is still raining in the morning, it might rain for most of the day. If the rain stops some time during the night, then it maybe will not rain during the day. There has been no traditional monsoon here this year at all. This is an aberrational monsoon with a lot more rain than was expected. As for myself, I guess rain and water are still following me around. It seems that where I go, some rain goes too. In Florida, it was not fun to have to walk to work and have to avoid the heavy summer rains. Most of the time, it would start raining while I was on the bus to work. Now, that I am a retiree, living here in Kathmandu; I don't care when it rains. So, it has been raining every day since I got here in July. Mind you last year and the 3 years previous, on my visits to Kahtmandu, it did not rain at all. So water is good, yes? Not when it floods like it is doing in the tarai, where both Indians and Nepalese are being affected. The flooded area are extremely dangerous with snakes swimming around everywere.

So, my guests never did arrive; they are still out at Bhoudinath at the NGO. I think they thought I did not have enough cooking things in the kitchen for their tastes, so they decided to stay where they are. I don't think they much like Thamel either, whick is much more hurried than Bhoudinath. I am still here from when I arrived on July 9th, 2007. This is amazing to me that I never seem to get very far from Kathmandu. This is my fourth visit here and I made the
monumental decision to take out a flat and furnish it with my own stuff. I did this so I could feel more grounded than the travel life style of the last four years. Now I don't know what to think of the global backpack train. Is it doing any good? The packers are leaving a lot of money in the various countries; but a lot of cultural dislocation too. Here in Nepal, cultural dislocation is a very serious phenomenon, like Globabl Warming. So Kathmandu gets it on two counts - cultural dislocation and global warming. In the midst of all of this is the Maoist uprising which aims at controlling the "tourist revenue". Nepal now depends on this so I think it would do the Maoist a whole lot of good it they would get with a program of actually building a better Nepal and not all of the very destructive crap they are into now. The papers talk a lot about what is going on in the villages; but not the Maoist leadership at all. They have never paid any kind of restitution to the Gov't or the affected people or villages.

Well, this is it for today. These are my thoughts for the moment.

Nepal and Global Warming/Climate Change

Well, now I have a flat in Kathmandu, just outside of Thamel. I came here from India for the Visa but have decided to stay, maybe up to 5 years. I got an email that said we might be approaching God only knows what. So, of course, Nepal, wrapped here in the Himalayas are going to be affected, but you would not know it from the prevailing attitudes. Most of the people walking around the streets here, both Nepalese and "tourist" seem mostly intent on the affairs of that day; there is no talk of what might be coming down the pike. Of course, the Nepalese have blessed themselves into thinking that nothing is going to happen to them because no glacier affected river runs through Kathmandu. However, there are lots of other places that could be affected from glacial run-off. I do not think that is going to be the big issue here. I think it is going to be rain. I hope it is just water rain and not something else. Nobody is really talking about it.

Other than this, the political situation has devolved back to what it was about a year ago because the Maoists do not want the voting for the Constituent Assembly to go ahead as planned because the polls say they might lose. This, of course, is totally unacceptable to them because they have delluded themselves into thinking everybody likes a Maoist. I don't.

I am going to have friends coming over on the 22nd to stay for maybe up to a month. Joan and G are friends from way back in Delhi before I went to McLeodGanj before coming to Nepal in July. Joan and G are Tibetan Buddhists and do a lot of hiking in the mountains. We have talked about a trek to Muchtinath depending on the cold. I am interested in the trekking, but it is not the primary thing to me. I always like to make friends as a way of understanding something. This certainly helps in Nepal. G, however, is a Tibetan and, as I have been working with the Exile community for a long time, we seem to get along pretty good. Joan has been a Buddhist for a long time and actually spent many years in the nunnery. She reminds me of how I was when I first went to India in the 1970's. I fell under the influence of some of the Hindu trips in the Bangalore area and came away from the experience totally confused. It was my first experience of living around people who created whatever reality they want for the moment on a daily. Very confusing to me until I realized maybe it was an experience of impermanence.

Got to stop for now. These are my thoughts for today.

So, Taboo or not to Taboo

One thing about working in the taboo area is that the host country nationals are really motivated to do the job. I also feel that the degree of success depends almost entirely on the input from the host country nationals. If their input is strong, the likelihood that their impact is going to stick is quite high; if their input is ambiguous, their impact is likely to be mixed. This means that the work to change the taboo area can easily be reversed, especially after the volunteer is gone. This probably happens the most in social chanage areas. People want to be recognized as having embraced our modern time; but it is usually by the standards set by the host country national. I am going to stop for the moment and will pick it up tomorrow,

Reminesces of the Peace Corps

OK, I am going to try and do this again because the first one this morning got lost. I am going to try to contrast and compare my two (2) experniences with the Peace Corps. The first experience was in Sarawak and at the beginning of Peace Corps. The experience was mind boggling because everybody was enthused and up-beat. The second experience was in Kingston, Jamaica. The Peace Corps was now an established and respected Agency; the volunteers were still enthused, but it was a different kind. My two (2) experiences were quite different also. I guess in the the initial stages when there is still a lot of experimenting going on, the volunteer feels more a part of it; in the later on phases, like mine inKingston, volunteers tended to be a lot more laid back, less enthused and thinking they were trained and skilled enough to do a good job. They say from beginning to the end, the Peace Corps wants to recruit the same kind of "volunteer" over and over again. I am not at all sure this can be done. In Jamaica, people were more friendly with one and another and had socials on the week-end. In Sarawak, the living room of the house was always filled with Standard 12 students from all over Sibu and we would visit all of the time. I was not so friendly with other volunteers as I was with my friends from Sarawak; in Jamaica, this was turned around as I was more friendly with Jamaicans than with fellow volunteers. In both experiences, I was plenty experienced and worked comfortably with the host country nationals. One difference was in Jamaica, I worked in a taboo area; but I worked in taboo areas in Sarawak too. Maybe host country nationals were beginning to see that a volunteer will work in any designated area, and most are not put off by a "culturally sensitive" designation. This is not true for all countries. A consequence of working in two(2)differently designated areas will impact each volunteer differently. This working in "taboo" areas does, to a certain degree, create different volunteer expierences. If placed in one of the areas, I, myself, think it is wise to inform at least one from the immediate family.

Me and the Peace Corps (con't-p2)

There are so many little mysteries associated with Sarawak, especially; but also Kingston. For example, I have not heard nor has anybody else heard from the two volunteers that I roomed with the first year in Sibu, Barbara and Gretchen. These two were the very first volunteers in Sibu, the Administrative headquarters in the Third Division of Sarawak. This meant that the schools were multi-cultural with Chinese, Iban, Malay, Kayan, Punan and one or two European. On the other hand, in Jamaica, at the University Hospital of the West Indies, the patients were almost all Jamaicans. I am not going to attempt to define what is a Jamaican because there is a lot of inter-mingling already. For me, the PCV, my multi-cultural worlds did seem to get along quite well, but as soon as I was gone, I read that there was not that much change in Sarawak and I have no idea about Jamaica. Both experiences were amazing; but I had them before I became the global traveller that I am now. I think one of the challenging aspects of the world that I have and still do live in, is the spirit of globalization. For me, I hope the individualization will survive, in spite of the global markets tendancy to go for the cheapest price and not the best goods. I think it is better to go for the best goods because, in this way, quality is assured; when
you go for the cheapest price there are no underlying values to prop this world up.

These are my thoughts for today.

Me and the Peace Corps

I am going to try a little retrospect on my two different experiences with the Peace Corps. I was a PCV in Sarawak, Malaysia from 1964-66 and in Kingston, Jamaica from 1989-1991. I worked in entirely different areas. The first time in Sarawak, I was with the Dept. of Education as a Primary English Medium Scheme Supervisor; the second time in Jamaica, was with the Health Department in Kingston and I was in the Medical Social Work Deptartment. Both times, the professional level of the experiences was really good and I felt like I was earning my badge of acceptance in both areas. This is and was very improtant to me because I was in a car accident in Florida when I was 16 in Sarasota, Fl. and actually suffered severe trauma to the head. On and off, even up to now at 65, I am reminded of the trauma and how it has affected my life. The Peace Corps takes in lots of "damaged and wounded" people and lets them work on trying again. For an American Agency, they are most unusual. Anyway back to Sarawak and Kingston, the most outstanding memories and imprints are, of course, the social get togethers when we would discuss how things are going "at the Office"; and then we would really have a good time. The first time, in Sarawak, I was really a novice about educational teaching strategies, but not in working with the teachers. I did a lot of one-on-one demonstrating various things to do. I did not permit physical punishment in the classroom and, as far as I know, Peace Corps supported this value. In Kingston, I was a trained professional MSW and had the great priviledge of working in some ground breaking areas that had to do with cultural taboos and self image. I worked with Jamaican counterparts who refined their intervention skills. Of course, what you do as your assignmet is very important to the Host Country because it fills positions that might go unfilled because of no funds or no trained person. However, it might not be the heart and spirit of the Peace Corps experience. For me, my memory bank recalls the relationships with the Host Country nationals, the Peace Corps staff, the other volunteers, the other Agencies, etc. In the new world that we live in where much has collapsed down to a global village, there is a reasonable amount cultural clash as well as inter-mingling. In this world, there are no terrorists? I would have no idea; but the presence of guns is negligable.

This is just the beginning of this retrospect.

These are my thoughts for today.

Me and the flat in Kathmandu

Well, the last time I was talking about the chaos around Nepalese and Indians. I have just recently had an experience with the Landlord and some of his family that seems " out of context". I am here on a "tourist visa", so it seems appropriate that I be treated like a tourist. Well, not so in my case. In India, I was treated in an untouristy fashion; and now it is starting here in Kathmandu. The Nepalese that I am in contact with, outside of a circle of friends, are not honest about rentals, for example. I have no idea what this means other than they are trying to create some kind of conflict where none was before. This is a strange thing to do to a tourist. Maybe there is some blackmarket things going on that everybody is trying to cover up. When I read the Editorial page, you get the impression that Nepalese are playing by the international rules set down by the UN; but this is not the case. They are playing by their owns rules.

Anyway, maybe they are trying to create a bad spirit at my flat, which seeoms a strange thing to do to any elderly person. I have had some experience with bad spirits and they have not been pleasant ones at all. Furthermore, I have made a decision, that only friends and co-workers will be allowed in the flat; nobody else is welcomed by me.

So, these are my thoughts for today.

Saturday, Aug. 25, 2007: More of me and the flat

Tomorrow I move into my new flat here in Kathmandu. This is the first time since I left Florida in 2004, May 4th to be exact, that I am stopping and living in a place for awhile. If things work out, maybe I will be here for a long time. So far, my trip to Nepal this year has been completely different than any of the previous trips. For starters, I am quite busy all day long. Now I have quite a bit to do on the Internet; and then, there is the visiting with friends and talking over things.

Anyway, my flat is in a real nice neighborhood where, hopefully, there will be less chaos around me. The chaos that is engulfing India and Nepal is really strange. In India, it is packed up everything from trains, buses to hotels; in Nepal it is lots of people still trying to "pretend" about life and politics so they don't have to deal with the Maoist situation in a conflict resolution type of way. It still seems to me that the Maoists are only into intimadation and demands as a way of getting what they want. There are lots of talks, but little negotiating. As a "foreigner" here, I do not understand why they do not bring some kind closure to this issue seeing as how all parties to the conflict have promised the UN that they would keep to their word.

Anyway, tomorrow I am going to move over to the flat and get the last few things for my new home.

So, these are my thoughts for today.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007: me and the flat

Last Saturday, I found a nice flat near the Blue Horizon Hotel. I have been looking for about 6 weeks with not any luck, so I feel pretty good about my find. I am on the top floor with a view to the mountains. Everybody says, that in the winter, I will be able to see the Himalayas. This is great because most of the tourists who come to this place is too see the Himalayas. This is my 4th visit and I have never even had so much as a glimpse of the mountains. They are shrouded in clouds most of the time and should be called "Hidden Mountains".

My flat has a outdoor balcony and a separate Guest room with attached bath; not that this will get any of my friends here to see me, but, at least, I am prepared. The coming days for India and Nepal could be shaky because the Chinese road to Mt. Everest is almost finished. Now the mountain will be bathed in trash, to put it mildly. Apparently the trekkers are environmentalists only so far as their own personal pleasures go; they are not, generally speaking, eco- whatever with their eyes on the cleanliness of the trails, paths and trekking routes. On a regular basis, tons of trash are taken off of Mt. Everest. There are some that say when the road goes all the way to the Base Camp, it will spell the end to the eco-Everest movement. The numbers of visitors alone, will trash up the moutain.

I am glad I am not a part of the political vaguaries of Nepal either because the future could be fairly unstable.
If all the mountain trekkers go to China, Nepal Trekking will dry up and the trekkers will disappear. They are of a breed that does see or care about the "locals" all around them. So now we shall see.

Got to run; just when I am getting started too.
These are my beginning thoughts for today.

Tuesday, August 14th, 2007: friend from CGH in Auroville

Today I ran into a friend from the Center Guest House in Auroville. Catalin is here in Kathmandu getting his Indian Visa. Last summer we both were at the Center Guest House at the same time and had some good conversations about Europe. Today when I asked him about his opinion about the cash crunch in the Global Market, he did not offer any. Obviously, it is going to be a difficult situation for both the Euro and the Dollar because of Dollar shortage. Too many $'s being spent on Iraq and the Olympics; the net result being that the whole world will be cash short for one year. I also told him about my unpleasant experience in Delhi with the Exit Visa Officer. In fact, we talked about it at length so I was sure I had told him, word for word, what had transpired in Delhi. He said that "Border" Officers will always have this power over a person like myself; it is theirs to say "yes" or "no"; nothing about what is right or wrong, just yes or no. I, of course, had always felt that Indians could be fair minded about matters like this, but I am in the process of possibly changing my mindset about this whole thing. Maybe, Indians are too caught up in their own trip to care about the rest of us. This makes them very questionable personnages, indeed. Anyway, my friend said to "think it over good" before I come to my own conclusion about this. I know that I experienced the last exiting days as strange and out of context with the rest of my last 3 years travelling around India.

These are my thoughts for today.

Sunday, the 5th of August, 2007

Some more thoughts on leaving India, 2007

I guess the most disturbing one is the fact that all of the progress, learning and fun with the friends in McLeodGanj is on hold for the moment. I can't but wonder if this does not have something to do the Chinese Olympics; as we all know, Tibet does not exist. So, I will be telling all of my friends that I will not be back until after the Olympics. For me, Tibetans do exist and they are Tibet; so to actually conjur up and believe that you can exterminate something like this is absurd. So, from now until the end of the Olympics, it could be pretty crazy in McLeodGanj as, while the Indian Gov't is perfectly happy to help the refugees, the Indian people in McLeodGanj are not. Himalchal Pradesh is still pretty much of a "frontier" region and the Himalchalees like the situation that exists only the T-money, but not for anything else. If the Exiles were to leave, the whole place would pretty much dry up and shut down.

As for my own situation, I have left all of my back-up copy of the digital pictures that I have been taking with Chaitan in McLeodGanj. I am going to have to get them to Kathmandu somehow. I consider these pics to be a part of my "spiritual learning"; and for the Visa Dept. to have interferred in this way to be a breach of my practices and an attempt to stop what I am doing. So, even in India, the quintessential "spiritual" teacher; for me, I have had a baffling, screwed up, dark and dangerous trip. I sure do not know why because this is a personal matter; but not for me.

These are my thoughts for the moment.

Aug. 2, 2007: Update on Leaving India

I don't want to belabor the points, but, in my own self defense I feel like I should make some further statements.

I read the India Travel Advisory from the State Deptartment that I had on my email. In there, the Embassy makes it very clear that a violation of the Visa regulation(s) is a serious matter that can result in jailing and deportation. This is all the more important that I kept insisting to the Indian Visa Officer that the Pondicherry Officer had mislead me and that I had not overstayed my visa "intentionally". I feel I had a right to expect fair treatment by the Exiting Visa Officer. I do not feel that they cared not at all for what I would have to go through.

Most of all, I was low on money because I had had a large theft in McLeodGang and so I was strictly budgeted until I got to Kathmandu. I told the Visa Officer this and was told it was not
their concern; it was mine. I have no objection to punishment if the party is guilty of some willful wrongdoing; I do have objection to punishment if the person is telling the truth and is innocent of any willful wrongdoing, which was my case. Before I could exit India I had to go the Ministry of Home Affairs and the FRRO and document the story, which I did. I was believed at both Agencies and so got the Exit Visa; but was stamped "overstay" in my Passport. I am guilty of ignorant overstay because of wrong advice by another Visa Officer; I am not guilty of willful "overstay".

I write this especially for the Embassy because I have no idea what they may have been told, but I am not certain it would be the truth.

What I have printed here is the truth.

Should I speculate that this is some kind of "gotcha" for other things that I may be involved in?

These are my thoughts for the moment.

Auust 1, 2007: Kathmandu

Well, I have been in Nepal now 3 weeks and I have been fairly busy. I went out to Bhoudinath for a week, but came back because of construction noise at the Monastery across the street from the Guest House I was staying in. I did get a chance to spend an afternoon with Shireen from Delhi and she seemed in good spirits. We spent some time together in Delhi going to the Ministry of Home Affairs and the FRRO for Exit Visa permission. In my case, it was a situation where the Visa Officer in Pondicherry decided to give me wrong or inaccurate advice and so I had to spend a week and a lot of money in Delhi getting the leave permit. The Indian Visa Officer chose to not check with Pondicherry to see if I was telling the truth. For Shireen, the story is much more complicated and she had still not been given the X-Visa: 5 Years for Foreigner married to Indian National. What she also got was the Exit permit on an overstay of Visa. I guess the best thing to do is go and register on any Visa over 6 months and don't ask any questions. because you will not get a straight story.

Now, I am in Kathmandu and going to stay here for awhile; after this is Thailand and SE Asia. First, I would like to settle down here, but not very easy because Nepalese only like Westerners who are tourists, they don't like Westerners who are people who are living here. I have a number of friends who are also doing this; and. on one level or another, having perception problems about Nepal.

There is August, September October and then the cold. I do not like the cold, so I guess I will have to come back in March to do the settling in. Maybe I will try and get a Residence Visa then to.

I have also spent quite a lot of time with some unfinished Peace Corps business on the last application that I made. Because of difficulties with the Washington Desk Officer and a very expensive medical clearance, I dropped my application. I submitted a statement to the Advocacy Committee about it. So, that business is finished and I definitely recomment that medical clearance be modified for only the essentials.

So, these are the outstanding thoughts for today.

Friend from Auroville

Well, yesterday I ran into a friend from Auroville who is just about to finish her "newcomer" phase.
For those who do not know, Auroville is an international community just outside of Pondicherry in Tamil Nadu. It was started in 1970 or thereabouts by the Mother and Shri Aurobindo. The population is international with about 50% Indians and 50% the rest of the world. The intention of the community is a place for people who want to live in peace and harmony, a very badly needed ethic.

My friend is from Germany and is fairly convinced that Auroville is going to stay pretty much the way that it is now, famous for the architecture but not so famous for peace and harmony. This, by the way, is probably the only place in India where a "foreigner" can stay and be relaxed about their own value system.

I myself have visited this place 4 times and stayed at the Center Guest House and Atithi Griha. The CGH is good value for the money and I usually make my reservation a year in advance.
This is place is pretty well known for travellers getting together to talk about their travels and their feelings and experiences. Travel in India has changed a whole lot just in the last couple of
years and it is not the fun paradise that it used to be. I have not travelled in China for a comparison of the other Asian Giant. However anybody wanting to travel in India needs to be aware of the population pressures that have almost completely changed the "travelling" landscape here. Whereas is used to be fairly enjoyable to take a bus around the various states, this may not be true anymore.