Monkey Temple, Kathmandu
My favourite spot in the polluted city is Swayambhunath. I love watching these guys.
… an ancient religious complex atop a hill … It is also known as the Monkey Temple as there are holy monkeys living in parts of the temple …
It’s so ancient that legend tells that the Buddha himself taught here.
Though a Buddhist stupa and monastery, there are just as many Hindu pilgrims.
Each morning most visitors are making religious devotion, the rest are exercising. Only a few Western tourists arrive by dawn.
The early morning light filtered by polluted skies is ideal for photos.
see the rest of my pics from this visit to the Monkey Temple
last meal in Kathmandu
Egg masala dosa, garlic naan and coffee.
The vegetarian restaurant at Pilgrim’s Book House. If you’re into trekking, climbing or spirituality, this is one of the best bookstores in the world.
I picked up a classic, Nepal Himalaya by H.W. Tilman (1952). Some reading to supplement my audio books. I’ll need it during my acclimatization days at altitude.
why 12 different electrical plugs worldwide?
This post for people who travel internationally. …
Gizmodo posted the best explanation I’ve ever seen.
Giz Explains: Why Every Country Has a Different F#$%ing Plug
… Is There Any Hope for the Future?
No. I talked to Gabriela Ehrlich, head of communications for the International Electrotechnical Commission, which is still doing its thing over in Switzerland, and the outlook isn’t great. “There are standards, and there is a plug that has been designed. The problem is, really, everyone’s invested in their own system. It’s difficult to get away from that.” …
Strangely, the article doesn’t address solutions.
Here’s what I’m using.
This adaptor “works” in about 150 countries. Sold by Fujifilm, it’s the main one available (greatly overpriced) in airports right now. Spend the extra couple of bucks for the one with a USB port if you frequently charge an iPod or other USB device.
In North America, I always carry one of these 3 prong to 2 prong adapters on my laptop cord. It’s amazing how many times it’s saved me in older buildings that only have 2 prong outlets.
Slightly dangerous, I understand you can no longer buy these in Canada. But God Bless the U.S.A., you can still get them there.
dental tourism in Nepal
I’ve been hanging out in polluted Kathmandu taking care of a number of errands: plane tickets, gear, internet … and waiting on a dentist appointment.
I’d had a crown come loose and wanted to get it fixed before my upcoming trek.
I posted the details on my hiking blog – dental tourism for hikers
To re-cement a crown, replace a filling and cosmetically fix a small chip … CAD$57. Excellent work. Up-to-date facilities. The doctor speaks perfect English.
… So, if your dentist in Mexico or Eastern Europe is getting too expensive, consider the Nepal alternative.
What I like best about dental tourism is that appointments do not feel as rushed as they do in Canada, the dentist hopping bed-to-bed trying to be 4% more efficient in billing.
The worst thing about dental tourism is that you likely have no recourse if something goes wrong.
Durbar Square, Kathmandu
I tried to play the gallant world savvy traveler, inviting 2 young Canadian tourists to ride from the airport to Thamel with me. I’d show them the ropes in chaotic Nepal.
I needn’t have worried. One of the girls had been volunteering in India for the past 10 months. She was far more capable of managing the chaos than I.
Here are some pics from historic Durbar Square.
Feeding the sacred cows …
Pidgeons and dogs are not sacred. But they get far more of the offerings than the cows.
more Kathmandu photos
Nepal cabinet meeting on Mt Everest
November 11th.
How are they going to get up there?
FLY.
Dumb, dumb idea. This will never work.
The meeting will be held later this month, just ahead of December’s Copenhagen climate change summit, at a base camp on the world’s highest mountain.
The Himalayan glaciers – known as the world’s third ice-cap – feed some of the region’s greatest rivers, including the Ganges, the Yamuna and the Brahmaputra. They also irrigate farmland in Tibet, Nepal, Bangladesh and India. …
Nepal’s ministers will now follow the lead of ministers in the Maldives who staged a cabinet meeting under water to highlight the risk of the tropical islands being submerged by rising sea levels. They will meet later this month at a base camp at 5,300 metres where mountaineers begin their final ascent of Everest. …
Update: Nepali cabinet meeting at base camp of Mt. Qomolangma uncertain
The future of news is entrepreneurial
There’s a brilliant guy named Jeff Jarvis with a blog called Buzz Machine.
Rockin’ reads it religiously.
I find it bloody dense. Wordy. Few graphics or photos. A video once-in-a-while if you’re lucky.
But one dense Buzz Machine post is dead on, something explained better than I’ve heard before:
The future of news is entrepreneurial:
The future of news is not institutional… The news of tomorrow has yet to be built…. The structure – the ecosystem – of news will not be dominated by a few corporations but likely will be made up of networks of many startups performing specialized functions …
That statement also holds many implications for sectors of the economy and society: investment (put money into the new, not the old)… public policy (don’t protect and preserve the incumbents but nurture the startups by creating a fertile and level playing field)… education (how do we train journalists when everyone can do journalism? – how do we train everyone?)… marketing (advertising won’t be one-stop shopping anymore and that means it may support news less)… PR (influence will be no longer be concentrated)…
He writes this, I think, as a response to the idiotic proposals that governments should support your local paper with tax dollars.
Are you telling me the Calgary Herald is too big to fail? … It’s not.
There’s a cheesy sounding news service called Demand Media, founded 2006. It’s already the single largest contributor to YouTube.
Also founded 2006, but better, is a company called Examiner.com. My friend Blythe Lawrence went to work for them. She’s a trained journalist. Check out Blythe’s “blog” – Gymnastics Examiner. It’s as good as any of the old media in my business.
Jeff Jarvis is associated with another new (2007) media company called Daylife.
Looks like all 3 of these companies are going to survive. Dozens more will be founded. Some will flounder.
All 3 are radically different business models. In all 3 most of the people producing the content are paid very little.
Those are all “news” sites. More likely to survive longterm are speciality sites. I frequently read Matador Travel, for example. It’s an online travel magazine and social network. I’m more likely to check Matador for travel, or the Gadling travel blog, than look at travel pieces in a news site like DayLife. Matador and Gadling specialize in travel.
A friend of mine Kraig Becker went to work for Gadling recently. He’s getting paid something, and really enjoying posting for them. I’m totally happy with the quality of Kraig’s writing. And scan each and every one because I like his perspective on adventure travel.
We don’t know yet how we will get our news 2 years from now. It’s being fought out in the market place of ideas right now.
Perhaps they’ll even find a way to monetize news. To pay the people that produce it in micropayments. … My guess is that very few journalists will be well paid in future, however.
Certainly I won’t be subscribing to the Calgary Herald dead tree edition, ever again.
==== UPDATE:
I heard Jeff Jarvis on Leo Laporte’s new audiocast, This Week in Google.
Jarvis is a genius. Much better in audio than in text, IMHO.
His book, however, What Would Google Do? is high on my “to listen to soon” list.
Kathmandu – first photos
Slept 12hrs. Arose at dawn to explore the streets of Thamel.
I’m pleased to report that Kathmandu has not been “ruined”. It’s exactly as crazy, loud and chaotic as when I was last here, 1998. Hindu ladies are up early at neighbourhood shrines. Litter is swept into piles … but only to make eating garbage more convenient for the dozens of sickly looking stray dogs.
Holy cow. What a memorable place.
I took a Buddhist from Mexico, who arrived on the same flight, to storied Kathmandu Guest House for morning coffee. (He had chai.)
Wonderful cafes, books stores, trekking gear shops. The smell of incense. I’m happy.
related – my last post from N.E.P.A.L. (Never Ending Peace And Love) in 1998
