Device Name: TA
Latitude: 28.06241
Longitude: 89.68097
GPS location Date/Time: 10/08/2017 04:32:18 NDT
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Device Name: TA
Latitude: 28.06328
Longitude: 89.59039
GPS location Date/Time: 10/07/2017 06:27:58 NDT
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Device Name: TA
Latitude: 27.98775
Longitude: 89.53443
GPS location Date/Time: 10/06/2017 05:16:36 NDT
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Device Name: TA
Latitude: 27.94280
Longitude: 89.49611
GPS location Date/Time: 10/05/2017 05:57:41 NDT
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Device Name: TA
Latitude: 27.89656
Longitude: 89.45993
GPS location Date/Time: 10/04/2017 06:38:33 NDT
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Device Name: TA
Latitude: 27.78071
Longitude: 89.34217
GPS location Date/Time: 10/01/2017 07:57:06 NDT
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Device Name: TA
Latitude: 27.75682
Longitude: 89.27520
GPS location Date/Time: 09/30/2017 08:53:01 NDT
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Device Name: TA
Latitude: 27.64229
Longitude: 89.25716
GPS location Date/Time: 09/28/2017 08:38:45 NDT
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“But wait,” you doth protest. “Where is update number 13?”
It’s in the same place as aisle 13 on the Druk Airlines plane we flew in on yesterday, left out for superstitious reasons/aiming for good luck.
Our guide, Namgay Tenzin, has been teaching us about Bhutanese customs, thoughts, and Buddhism. After explaining about one Bhutanese way of doing something, he concluded, “We Bhutanese are very superstitious. So to honour that tradition, update 13 is being skipped.
After our exciting landing, at one of the most dangerous airports in the world, where only 8 pilots are certified to land, we were met by Namgay and his assistant, Titi.
We spent a little time in Paro exchanging money and looking around before heading to our accommodation. We are staying amid the red rice fields and it is stunningly beautiful. We learned that Paro wasn’t made the capital because no much agricultural land would have been lost.
Today we visited a Bhutanese icon, Taktsang Dzong or the Tiger’s Nest. It’s called the Tiger’s Nest because according to legend, Guru Rinpoche rode to the temple’s site on a tiger where he meditated for 3 years, 3 months, 3 days, 3 hours, and 3 minutes. In 1692, Tenzin Rabgye built the temple on this holy spot where it stood until 1998. It burnt in a horrible fire but has since been rebuild because it is a national treasure.
We head tomorrow for our 28 day trek to Lunana It’s going to be a tough month with 11 pass crossings, cold weather, and (hopefully not too much) snow. Our trek distances will build quickly and this trek is considered one of the hardest in the world. After a week off, it took a bit to get the cobwebs off this morning on the steep climb to Taktsang. These will likely be the last typewritten updates until October 25 or so. If the technology plays nice, there will be a map and audio update each day for you to follow along with us.
We’ll be eating lots of chilies over the next weeks as they are a staple of the Bhutanese diet as is red rice which we had for the first time at lunch today.
Tiger, Lion, Garuda, and Dragon are often spotted on the four corners of Lungta. They represent the Four Dignities or four ways of being in and thinking about the world. I’ve seen them represented here many times already and I’ll be thinking often about the teachings I received about them. One of my Buddhist names calls me Lion so I’m often found of spotting the Snow Lion, who often joyfully jumps from mountain top to mountain top, in Buddhist iconography. As I toil against gravity and hypoxia, I plan to keep the images of Tiger, Lion, Garuda, and Dragon close at hand/close at mind in assisting me in always having the support of a joyful mind-even when going uphill feels very hard (which it mostly does these days.)
Thanks in advance for thinking of us and sending us strength (of all sorts) and gods thoughts. We promise lots of pictures come October 26 or so and in the meantime, enjoy the audio updates.
Device Name: TA
Latitude: 27.43781
Longitude: 89.39534
GPS location Date/Time: 09/26/2017 08:49:23 NDT
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One of the last things Marian and I did in Ladakh was a two day tour to the Nubra Valley. This required a five hour drive up and over the Khardung La, the highest motorable all weather road in the world. The word motorable is a bit in question as the upper part of the road on both sides of the pass was barely passable, somewhat terrifying, and a downright marvel of road engineering.
It was tempting to cancel the tour after the terrifying roads we took to and fro Zanskar but we decided the experience was worth the risk. At one point, I turned to Marian and said, “This exposure therapy is working, I no longer have a flight or fight response on ever hairpin corner.” We admired those who took on the Khardung La on motorcycle or bicycle and I had fine memories of riding a bike from Lhasa to Kathmandu in 2005. We crossed 8 mountain passes on that trip.
Our driver was excellent and patched up a flat with aplomb. We used the time to gingerly peer over the edge. Marian reminded me that whether the drop was 8 metres or 800 metres, the result would be the same. I used the same strategy I use to relax my mind on flights, I blessed the driver and made the prayer that we all reach our destination safely. I’ll do the same tomorrow as we fly to Paro, Bhutan-a dangerous airport that only certain pilots are certified to land at. I hear it’s pretty exciting.
It was a lot of driving to get there but we enjoyed visiting two monasteries and watching some folks ride camels over the sand dunes near Hunder. I pondered what it meant to live in such a location separated by such a road but realized that many kinds of road or social conditions can cause that kind of isolation.
I also realized I’m much happier walking or hiking or trekking or riding or paddling that travelling via car so I’m glad to be headed out to another 26 days of walking in Bhutan. This trip has been over a decade in the making and I’m glad to be sharing it with Marian.
Driving without guard rails on the roads was a new experience. I wondered if it made drivers more careful. Without guard rails, the great abyss was one moment of inattention away but fortunately, our driver pulled it off. In reality, how much of our life has guard rails? What are the hairpin turns? And what does it mean to go over a high pass? It was great fun in Ladakh to celebrate every pass reached by foot or car by shouting “Ki Ki So So” just as I had been taught by my Buddhist teacher, Moh.
Driving the Khardung La reminded me both to celebrate the preciousness of this human life while as the same time, being open to adventures of all sorts including the multiple direction changes of hairpin turns.
The autumnal equinox signalled not only the beginning of autumn but the end of the summer of hands. My right hand is now seven weeks post surgery and the left, 16. I’m beginning to be able to bear full weight on the left (imagine getting up from the ground and pushing off with your palm on the ground or doing a push up.) The right one is nine weeks behind that with almost full incision healing, no pillar pain, and the last vestiges of the tenosynovitis caused by the infection to clear up. I can do most tasks now with my hands but still need help with tough jar lids and the like. I even used trekking poles last week-something I haven’t done in years.
I’m grateful that I was both able to clear the infection well enough to continue with our trip and to not suffer some of the side effects that the antibiotic I was prescribed can rarely cause. I know I still have a few months of healing and strengthening left to go to truly get my hands to where I want them to be but it felt useful to celebrate the end of the summer. A summer where I didn’t do many of the the things I love to do in order to do them again/longer/without symptoms in the future. It was very sad to have to give up the climb in Mongolia to the infection but I’m still glad that both hands are now done and that we were able to have an awesome time in Ladakh.
We are in Kathmandu for two more nights and then we head to Bhutan for the very strenuous Snowman Trek. It’s been on the list for years and we’re pretty excited that it’s come to fruition. With so many weeks of the summer devoted to surgery and recovery, we weren’t able to do as much hiking and training as we would ordinarily do for climbs and treks. Fortunately for us, we’d planned a trek in Ladakh, India which provided the perfect “boot-camp”/intensive preparation we needed to get our feet/legs/minds ready for the challenges of the next month. We trekked in the Zanskar region of Ladakh and the terrain was stunning. We hadn’t looked too close at our itinerary before arriving noting only that “the first two days were downhill.” That was indeed true but the next five were very much uphill (and down) as we had to traverse six passes with a total elevation gain of almost 7000 metres and a distance of 135 or so kilometres. Two of the passes were over 5000 metres and we’re now enjoying the relative “thick” air of Kathmandu at 1300 metres. The sky was blue most days and underfoot, the trail ranged from almost highway to non existent scree fields. The views were stunning and we even saw K2 in the distance from our last pass (what a thrill!)
Different than our time in Ladakh (due to proximity to the border conflict zone), we will be able to send out audio and map updates from Bhutan so you can follow along more closely. We visited many, many monasteries in Mongolia and Ladakh and look forward to visiting dzongs and monasteries in Bhutan (and learning the different between them).
Thanks as always for coming along.
Today’s road was a marvel of human engineering and labour. Wow. We drove over two passes, through two gorges, and much of the time it felt like what I imagine driving through the Grand Canyon would feel like.
The scenery was spectacular and ever changing. The rocks diverse in both colour and erosion temperament.
The picture above captures much of the drive. Way off the deck with terrifyingly few guard rails. One wrong adjustment on the wheel, one unanticipated oncoming vehicle, one soft shoulder not noticed and the road trip would become a flight with not the best outcome.
The roads here are build by a group from the Indian Army called BRO. Border Road Organization. They post many inspirational driving messages such as “Married? Divorce speed” and “Better to be late than Mr. Late” and some even had rhymes. “Don’t be gamma in the land of lama” and “Drive with care, life has no spare.”
My favourite of the day had to be “Drive, don’t fly.” I hoped and prayed that flying wasn’t on our agenda today and it wasn’t as Stanzin, our driver, is very skilled.
We’ve got two days of driving done and one more long one to go to get to the start of our trek. Over much of the drive today, we saw workers digging the trench beside that road that will bring a fibre op line from Kargil to Leh, bringing with it much more reliable internet with it. I wanted to know more about the process of laying such a line-wondering when the fibre op will be out in the plastic channels we saw them bury and how do they put in 150 km of such a line? Over two mountain passes, through river gorges, and beside one of the most intense roads I’ve ever driven on. Anyone?
I’m looking forward to the trek and 9 days of walking through what promises to be stunning and difficult terrain. We will be crossing six or seven passes and have some distance to make.
You can’t use a sat phone in India as a civilian so you most likely won’t hear anything from until we return to Leh in 10 days…unless, of course, some internet surprisingly appears.
We visited three more monasteries today and we continue to enjoy the mindfulness that comes with such visits. Each one has a different character, vibe, and atmosphere. These visits are an important part of our Lungta Livyer journey and I’ll share more as words form that can describe the meaning(s).
Thanks for tuning in. There are lots of pics in my Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook feeds. I’ve only used a few here tonight to make sure I can squeeze the message out through the line. 🙂
Jule from Ladakh,
We arrived yesterday and spent much of the day breathing, sipping water, and walking very slowly as the flight to 3300 metres is a big jump for acclimatization. We are both doing okay with only wee headaches and tonight we had to remind each other to slow down as we walked back to our guesthouse. We had a full day exploring the Indus River valley southeast of Leh visiting four Buddhist monasteries.
Dharma is a Sanskrit word for the Buddha’s teachings. To become a Buddhist, one takes refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. The Sangha is the community of the Buddha’s followers. In the temples in most monasteries, you will see Dharma on shelves along the sides or on the monks’ or nuns’ tables. The Dharma, often in the form of mantras or sutras is printed on thin pieces of paper. These are then flipped over as they are read or chanted. There are stiffer top and bottom covers made of wood or thick paper that contain the stack and the entire stack is wrapped in cloth for storage.
Buddhism often uses oral transmission of the Dharma from teacher to student. There are four lineages to mark how the Buddha’s first teachings were passed along from generation to generation and from region to region.
Here in Ladakh there seems to be strong connections with Tibetan lineages as well as the Dalai Lama. In all of the temple rooms we visited today, there were photographs of the Dalai Lama as well as other venerated Lamas and teachers.
I thought often of my teacher, Moh, and of my Sangha and wished they could be sharing in the wonder of seeing artifacts and relics from the 10th century on. There is also a very powerful and peaceful feeling that you experience when you enter a space where meditation and prayer have been practiced for eons. It’s hard to describe but there is a relaxed spaciousness that invokes compassion and possibility in me whenever I visit such spaces.
Tomorrow we begin the three day drive to the start of our trek. I don’t know if we will have access to an internet so please don’t worry if you don’t hear from us. We’ll be back in Leh in 12 days or so. My hand seems to have turned a corner and I’ve been off the antibiotics for three days now without any flare so I’m hoping to be over the hump.
Hope all is well with you. Jule!
Jule is used in Ladakh as hello, good bye, thank you and more.
Good night and catch ya from wherever we next find internet. Thanks for sharing the journey with us.
Later today we will be in our fourth country in four days. That might be a record for us and we knew this week was filled with transitory travel. We tried out a new hotel in KTM called the Hotel Yala Peak and not only found new accommodations but perhaps a new climbing objective.
It was fabulous to visit with Nepali friends Raj, Kumar, Dendi, Ngima, and Norkey and get ready and psyched for our adventure in Ladakh. We learned that many Sherpa folks have gone to Ladakh to work during the monsoon season here.
Just a reminder that internet access is a bit sketchy in Ladakh so you won’t hear from us with the same frequency over the next 14 days. We may be able to use a cyber cafe in Leh but the sat phone and SPOT had to stay in Kathmandu.
We will be visiting about 20 monestaries and other Buddhist sites and then completing a nine day trek back to Leh. It will be nice to sleep in s tent again soon.
Kathmandu is always an exciting tapestry for the senses weaving colour, scents, and traffic into a thrilling journey no matter where you are headed.
Off to the outskirts of Delhi today and up to Leh early tomorrow morning. It will be N abrupt climb/flight to 3700 metres so I suspect tomorrow will be a humbling kinda day. Our only job will be to breathe, drink water, and move very slowly.
Catch you from there.
We’ve slept in three countries in three nights and being here in Kathmandu feels like putting on your favourite, most comfortable pyjamas. That comfort comes after many buses and planes that transported us between Ulaanbaatar and Kathmandu via Beijing and Guangzhou.
Raj, my long time KTM friend picked us up at the airport and welcomed us with garlands of marigolds as is tradition here. The drive from the airport seemed less eventful than usual, perhaps because we pre-acclimatized to traffic and wild driving in UB. It was lovely to get spit out of the travel bardo after 26 hours into the company of Raj and Kumar.
We got settled into our accommodations and headed off to Momo Taro’s to complete our transition to Kathmandu. It’s been one of my go to places for the past decade. Not being able to choose, we each ordered a bento box and of course, a fresh lemon soda. It’s a staple beverage for us here-refreshing and oh, so tasty.
We had a busy afternoon checking things off our list. Nepali SIM card. Hair cuts. Visit with Raj. Look at maps. That kind of stuff. Evening came too quickly and we headed off for dinner and of course, had another quintessential KTM beverage, an Everest Beer, by candlelight no less.
We are only here for two nights before heading off to Leh, Ladakh in Northern India on Tuesday. Internet will be scarce up there so be sure to soak up all of our pictures and posts before we go into what is likely a 2 week radio silence.
A few folks have asked about my hand and I realize that I hadn’t said much since we were released from UB on the Friday past. I finished the last of my oral course of antibiotics today after 18 days of various infection fighting superheroes. I’ll be looking to rebuild much of my microbiota over the next while with lots of fermented foods. I’m hoping and somewhat confident that the infection is gone but the next few days will tell that. The incision is closed but in that super sensitive new baby skin/feels like it was burnt stage so I’m still a bit tentative with it. I have almost a full range of motion and I continue to work with the scar tissue stretches in kinda a deja vu. It will be five weeks post surgery on Thursday and I hope to be past the super sensitive stage and onto the super squeezie cow workouts soon. I’m really hoping to make significant progress over the next few weeks so I can declare the summer of hands I’ve at the autumn equinox.
Of course, being here today reminds of the all the times I was here before and brings to mind 2016 and having to leave here suddenly due to illness on my last Everest expedition. I’m looking forward to creating some new memories to soften the edges that remain from that time.
It’s been a very wet monsoon season here with sever flooding in some parts of the country. I almost got arrested taking this picture of these clever stepping stones today because they happened to be next to one of the US embassy compounds. Whoops.
Rotating brown outs have stopped for KTM for now and so we are enjoying 24 hour power-for the past decade, there was only enough power for folks to have access to it for 4-6 hours per day but with some new electrical projects now on-line, it means we get to have a fan to cool the air a bit tonight while we sleep-much appreciated since it’s much warmer here than in Mongolia or home. There are some new stores and restaurants and some of my favourites are still going strong.
So I’m in my pyjamas looking forward to catching up on some sleep-we lost a little in the bardo-and feeling like I’ve sleeping into my comfy travel jammies by dropping in on an old friend city and on some old friends as well. Good night.
We wanted to go for a hike. To some trees. So we did some research, found a few blog posts, and knew we needed to get near the Zaisan Memorial to get near the hike’s starting point. One blog post said catch the 7, 33 or 43. So, being the gallant adventurers we are, we packed our backpack with some water and a snack and walked to our neighbourhood bus stop. The first bus to arrive was the 7. We jumped on and were excited because it wasn’t too that crowded and Marian got a seat fairly fast.
“Oh oh,” Marian says, “The bus just turned off the road we need to be on.” We didn’t react fast enough and soon we were careening down Chinggis Khan Avenue. We could have gotten off on any stop, crossed the street, and caught the bus back but we decided to just stay on the bus to see where it went. The beauty of most bus routes is that they often come back the way they went so the only consequence of taking the wrong bus is some time sightseeing instead of getting to your destination. Turns out we had lots of sightseeing since the #7 goes all the way out to the airport-about a 17 km run. So two hours and 33 km later and after seeing some new parts of Ulaanbaatar, we returned to the hotel.
We had a pee, a coffee, and hit the blogs once more. We soon abandoned them and turn to the bus app. With Marian working Google Maps and me on the bus app, we did our best to learn to read the names of the various bus stops (the bus app use the Cyrillic alphabet so it took a bit to look through all the routes to find out which ones went to Zaisan and which ones stopped outside our hotel. Turns out the winners were routes 52 and 55.
Grabbing our bag once again, we got back on the horse and headed out to the bus stop. The 52 came shortly and we hopped on. No crowds and we easily got seats. 15 minutes later we were at the last stop on the route and trying to find our way through the urban sprawl to the hiking trail we’d read about. We started walking uphill through many concrete skeletons of developing buildings, asked a few folks (none of whom answered in English-though 2 fingered pantomimed walking worked well-and we found our way to some trees. And found a hill to climb until the thunder and lightning got too close so we retreated back down and gave thanks that the clouds decided not to burst on us. The trees were huge green, and Larch and it was great to be amongst them. We walked back to the main road and decided to visit the Golden Buddha we’d seen a few times driving by. It was a gift from the country of South Korea and a monument to peace. We’ve visited many peace memorials and monuments in our time here-and prayed for peace in our world each time.
So the lesson today, a corollary to one my Buddhist teacher taught me, is stay on the bus (or hold your seat). There is time to recover from a mistake and you might even enjoy the ride. And, just because an error was made doesn’t mean you won’t accomplish the task or goal, you might need a more creative problem-solving approach…or if all else fails, that’s what taxis are for 🙂
Device Name: TA
Latitude: 47.78851
Longitude: 102.81813
GPS location Date/Time: 08/29/2017 20:59:34 NDT
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We are having a fabulous adventure to central Mongolia. Today we started off riding camels in Elsen Tasarkhai Sand Dunes. Turns out that I like riding two humped a.k.a. Bactrian camels better than the single humped a.k.a. Dromedary. The second hump provides a lovely backrest and you are very secure between the humps.
Out in the sand dune, it was almost silent. The only sound was Marian’s camel breathing snortaly (I made that up) beside me. Birds of prey flew near by and I was enchanted.
We are sleeping in a ger, a traditional Mongolian tent used by country and nomadic folks. We visited such a family today and got to try airag, fermented horse mare milk. Both Marian and I had been afraid of what the taste might be like, but we both actually liked it.
We also visited the Erdene Zuu Monastery, the oldest one in Mongolia. Though severely damaged during the Great Purge, a time of great religious persecution, some parts were saved through by the Mongolian government. The door above is to the Temple honouring all of the Dalai Lamas.
The monastery is surrounded by a wall with 108 stupas. We finished the day with a hike to a peace monument above our ger camp. It seemed especially poignant to visit in these turbulent times.
And finally, here’s the view from the peace monument. Have a great day.
Device Name: TA
Latitude: 47.18155
Longitude: 102.79173
GPS location Date/Time: 08/28/2017 09:41:55 NDT
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Device Name: TA
Latitude: 47.32679
Longitude: 103.77480
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This morning I remarked to Marian, that along with Lojong Slogans, other pithy sayings had been introduced to me and some stick and others don’t. I can’t remember who or where I was introduced to the saying, “This or something better,” but I’ve found it helpful sometimes when dealing with uncertainty or disappointment. Though I can’t exactly say (yet) that five extra days in Ulaanbaatar is/was better than climbing on a gorgeous glacier to a country high peak, I can say that it has provided a more gentle and relaxed entry into our travels as Lungta Livyers. The summer was quite frantic in finishing up my teaching responsibilities, growing our garden, packing up the house, and trying to get out on training hikes. It whirled by and I often lamented missing the present moment of the summer in preparation for the fall’s adventures. We made our initial plans over Christmas break and 8 months later, I’d wondered if they still made sense as I was craving some down time.
Another of those pithy sayings that comes to mind is “Be careful what you wish for.” I wasn’t wishing for this downtime in any shape or form but I can see the benefits as we’ve spent the past three days walking the streets of UB. We racked up nearly 50 km wondering from museum to monastery to lunch to park to dinner. We’ve gone where we’ve been lead by both the map and the game of Ingress. Taking it slow. Stopping often. Watching the world of UB unfold around us. We seen children driving electric cars wound Liberty Square. This morning we allowed the vibration of monks chanting settle our wild horse minds. We’ve eaten meals from eight different cultures and have been trying to understand the weave of history, culture, and spirituality that has formed this place into what it is today.
The forced pause in UB has delivered a much deeper and richer visit to this city. I’ve enjoyed that. Of course, I wish it wasn’t at a cost of the climb but I can see the value of slow travel. Being in a place longer with time to stop and watch families play together at the National Amusement Park. Being in place with time to walk. Through neighbourhoods and grocery stores. To actually read all the words on the displays in museums. To be in the place and not just consume it. This is the something better and our following adventures will be much richer for it too.
We’re headed off into central Mongolia tomorrow and I’m not sure how cell coverage/internet will be so don’t be alarmed if we get a bit quiet over the next four days. We’re back Wednesday evening with many more stories to tell.
The doctor took a quick look and said, “You’re all good.”
I in disbelief said, “Really? Please take a close look.”
He looked at both the wrist and incision and said it looks fine that likely only inflammation remains.
I said, “Are you sure? Canada was very worried about a deep space infection.”
He then showed me the CBC and CRP values and said, “You are fine.” The culture came back negative for aerobic bacteria so we are winning.
He said that since the upward movement of redness had been halted quickly that he was confident that the choice of antibiotic was ok and so I’m on the same one orally for the next ten days. He wants me to keep using antibiotic ointment on the incision-there is just a small gap left to close (it’s actually about 5 days ahead of the left one was in healing on the same day i.e day 21 post surgery).
I said, “Canada was worried I could lose my hand.”
He said, “It’s going to be OK.”
I said, “What signs should I worry about or when should make me return? Like if goes back up my arm again?”
He said, “It’s not going to go back up your arm. Go have a great visit to Mongolia and then came back and visit Mongolia another time.”
So…very unexpectedly, it was option 3) and we’re cleared to go out and see more than Ulaanbaatar. We’ll have one more day here and then we are headed out for a four day adventure in Central Mongolia and then plan to continue with our travels. I will, of course, be watching the remaining wrist redness border like a Mongolian eagle, watching for any sign of unwellness or fever, etc…and seek out additional care if needed but for now we’ve been freed from the bardo and I spent the day feeling much lighter and hopeful.
Today we visited a museum of puzzles and traditional Mongolian games and followed that up with a visit to the large park at the south of the city. It was fabulous to be outside and enjoying the sunshine (though with lots of sunscreen and a hat since the antibiotic I am on can make me more sensitive to the sun). We took a spin around the park on a double bike that could make a fine adventure mobile one day.
Thanks for all your well wishes and support-they mean a lot to us!
One of the joys of travel is that it immediately returns you to kindergarten or toddlerhood. Stripped of the comfort cloak of shared language, everyday tasks take on enormous challenge and adventure, requiring intense observational skills, pointing, and willingness to be humbled constantly. Being In a new city with a new language to us, with a new alphabet to us, makes ordering lunch, catching the bus, and even crossing the street a new experience. It’s this stripping of confidence and competence that I so enjoy in travel. We celebrate each success, each new skill, each new meal. We see so much more than everyday in the first days of attending Mongolian kindergarten. Our eyes and hearts and souls are more open that often and we are invited to rethink everything we think we know.
Another joy of travel is the groundless bardo that often begins when we enter the aluminum tubes with wings that act as time machines and turn us back from adulthood with full vocabularies and ability to express ourselves to bumbling youngsters who grow leaps and bounds each day. The bardo that place between here and there, home and away, life and death, here and now. A place as well can invite reflection and anticipation and hopes and dreams or withdrawal and disappointment and nightmares.
Marian and I have been in the bardo for the past three days. We’ve been unable to plan or hope or know. Our only option has been to enjoy the now, the here, the micro adventures of Ulaanbataar. Instead of flying on Tuesday with our team to Western Mongolia to climb Mongolia’s highest peak, I was hooked up to an IV receiving antibiotics for a persistent hand/wrist infection. The long flight somehow unleashed some nasty bugs on Hand #2 interrupting what was otherwise, a stellar recovery. I immediately started oral antibiotics upon arrival and the initial response was excellent. By day four, I thought all was well and we were packed and ready to head west. The afternoon before we were headed out, I noticed some pain in my wrist and a small red spot. My crack home med team had warned me to watch for anything south of the initial infection and I was immediately filled with dread.
I wished it away. I tried to ignore it. But by the time we got back to the city late that afternoon, I knew something was on the go. I knew I couldn’t ethically continue onto such a remote climb without getting checked out by a doctor. We quickly rushed around and got seen at the ER at the newest hospital in UB. The doc confirmed my suspicions and suggested that I change antibiotics and see a surgeon in the morning for a second opinion. I was worried both about my health, but also about the impact on the team if I decided to go with them and the infection got worse and I had to be evacuated, it could ruin everyone’s experience.
Marian and I had a sleepless night considering our options since we’d had three very different opinions from three different sources: go, don’t go, maybe go. Like the classic ditch/highway Buddhist analogy we try to find the middle way. We opted for down the middle and hoped to get clearance to go with a last minute dash to the airport. It wasn’t to be. Initially the surgeon said I had to go home to Canada then he offered the IV antibiotic route as a way to salvage our trip. We thought about it and decided to give his plan a chance and so we’ve been in the bardo since then.
I had my third treatment of IV antibiotics this morning and we meet with the surgeon in the morning-there are three possible outcomes: 1) He sends me back to Canada for surgical drainage of the area :-(, 2) He suggests two more days of IV antibiotics and then a re-check or 3) He is pleased with the treatment and transitions me back to oral antibiotics and we try to get out of UB for a few days before meeting back up with the group in a week. We are, of course, hoping for option 3) but will settle for option 2). Option 1) will be crushing on so many levels. It was such a disappointment to have to make the adult (opposite of kindergarten) decision to stay back from the climb as we’d been planning for this climb since 2013 that I hope we don’t have to face scrapping all of our fall plans to return to St. John’s for a second surgery.
But as my Oma always said, “What comes, comes.” I can’t undo the decision to have Hand #2 fixed. I can’t undo a long flight from Toronto to Beijing. I can’t undo any of it. I can only try to find the small moments of joy and adventure in learning to take the bus, order hot pot soup, or recognize some pattens in Cyrillic letters that mean something. I can lean on my one of my favourite Lojong slogans, “whichever of the two occurs, be patient.” I can visit museums, eat dumplings, and try to sleep amid the fears of loss of health and loss of adventure. I can’t believe I’m sitting in yet another hotel room writing yet another “climb interrupted” missive. But I am. And that’s okay. Probably the greatest gift of all this is keeping it all in perspective, deepening my practice of compassion, and embracing the multiplicities of bardo kindergarten.
Device Name: TA
Latitude: 47.70772
Longitude: 105.91526
GPS location Date/Time: 08/21/2017 02:32:36 NDT
Message: Lungta Livyers: TA & Marian are adventuring amid prayer flags. Check the map to see where they are hanging out
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Howdy from Mongolia,
Our days have been very full here thus far so this is my first chance to drop you a line. We’ve been enjoying visiting many sights around Ulaanbaatar and getting a tiny sense of the place.
We have one more day here in “UB” and then we will spend much of Tuesday traveling out to Western Mongolia where we will be climbing.
I developed an infection in hand #2 that peaked just as we arrived here in UB after 2 days of travel. I’m pleased to report that the antibiotics are doing a great job and I’m once again on the mend.
We visited a mediation centre today near Turtle Rock and saw these very fancy prayer flags. Prayer flags are also called “Lungta” or Wind Horse. You can see a windhorse in the middle of the prayer flag above. The prayers on prayer flags are released when the winds blow the flags to and fro.
During the two months, Marian and I will be Lungta Livyers. We will be living (and adventuring) amid the high elevation, prayer flag adorned, nations of Mongolia, India, Nepal, and Bhutan and we hope you’ll come along to share what we see, feel, and learn.
I’ll post to the website as often as I can, do some SPOT posts, some audio updates, and will post lots of pictures to Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Time to hit the hay as part of my healing plan, I’ve been trying to get lots of sleep and to eat lots of protein (which is no trouble here in Mongolia as there is meat at every meal in piles almost as big as the 44 metre Chinggis Khan statue we saw today.
Device Name: TA
Latitude: 47.92680
Longitude: 107.42848
GPS location Date/Time: 08/20/2017 01:22:32 NDT
Message: Lungta Livyers: TA & Marian are adventuring amid prayer flags. Check the map to see where they are hanging out
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We arrived safely in Beijing and are now visiting the Great Wall and the Forbidden City before flying to Mongolia tonight. We are thrilled to be here and seeing sights we’ve heard about all of our lives.
Thanks for joining us.
I usually mark each summer by the expedition or expeditions that happened that summer. Last summer was the “Polar Bear” expedition to northern Labrador. The summer before was the “Will the plane ever land?” expedition to the Kanairiktok River in Labrador. 2014 was sea kayaking in Bonavista Bay and trying to rescue a navigational buoy. This has been the summer of hand(s). Truthfully, it’s been a year of hands. A bit more than a year of hands. About eight years or so of hands. With intense focus on my left hand this summer thus far, and about to be right handed focus for the month of August…it truly has been and will continue to be a summer of hands.
When we climb a big mountain, we have to move supplies up the mountain in waves or carries. We can’t usually move it all in one shot because of the volume and weight and we need to acclimatize to high altitudes so we usually make moves up the mountain more than once. The first carry is hard because you don’t know what the route will be like or what the route will demand of you in terms of effort or risk management. It’s usually a tough go because you aren’t acclimatized yet and you have to focus on route-finding. You make the carry, drop the load, and then head back down to your previous camp. The second (and third sometimes) carry is always harder mentally because you know what’s coming and how hard it was to do the first time. I always dread the second carry. But most often, it turns out to not seem so hard even though you are more tired because there are markers along the way. You know the route. You know how much further. You know you can do it.
So here I am, almost back to two good hands, about to go back down to one hand and dreading the second carry. I never thought I would be doing my second hand surgery this summer but I realized fairly soon, that having one “good” hand doesn’t help me on long paddling expeditions. I had a pretty hard go last summer that it made me want to consider finally (after eight years) to have the surgery I needed to make life better. That I was losing the battle managing my hands without it…so I decided to go ahead with my left hand. That was ten weeks ago and it’s been a tough climb but a good climb and the views have been spectacular and goodness knows, I’ve spent a lot of time staring at my left hand. The view changes each day and I’m pleased to say that it’s healing well and I’ve got all my strength back and can too 95% of what I want to do including paddling and hockey 🙂
So, with a deep breath and a commitment to do it all over again, I plunge back into the healing process on Thursday with the long term goal of an intense paddling expedition next summer making this, the summer of hands, worth going through for all the other summer expeditions this one will foster in the future…and indeed, we’re quickly closing in on this summer’s expedition which doesn’t involve a boat, canoe, or kayak but does involve camels, yurts, and a five peaked massif…and hopefully a country high point…all fodder for attending to the massive to do list between now and Thursday with two hands and one handed after that for about 3 days and then once again, activity as tolerated, hand exercises several times, lots of scar massage, and lots of mental strength to do the carry all over again-hopefully with the same great results, good views, and interesting times staring at my right hand for the next ten weeks 🙂 Send some encouragement for the second climb my way and I promise to take you on a grand adventure to the lands where Lungta fly in a few weeks time. More on that soon…I have to get back to Squeezie Cow…my favourite squishy hand grip exerciser and pull off a few more reps!
Using the linear planer is intense. I’ve adopted the role of board puller which means I’m face and eyes into the sawdust. I think I like it because it reminds me of skiing across Greenland or Sweden when we faced a blizzard. The sawdust from the planer whirls around just like snow. I also like taking all the sawdust for the team. It gets everywhere no matter how well I seal my clothing. I figure best to have only one of the team itching and plucking sawdust from every nook and cranny of their clothing. The linear planer enables us to make all the boards for a particular purpose the same thickness. Today we learned to use a jig in the planar to make two bevels on each board to create overlap ( a half-lap) on the planks on the sides of the dory.
You can see in the picture above, I’ve left a trail in the sawdust as I walked backwards from the planer. You can also see the bevel that the planer is cutting into the edge of the board. If you look closely, you can also see a finished yellow and green dory in the boat yard behind me. The boatbuilding shed just got a new concrete floor (note the lovely grey surface below my sawdust trail) and as a result, all the of the dories in progress had to spend the week outside. Next week, they’ll move back indoors for their finishing touches.
We also learned to cut the same bevel with a hand plane. Jerome, above, is demonstrating this for us. Once the long bevel was in place, we had to introduce another bevel right at the end of the plank bringing the leading edge to a tight feather. As you can see from many of the photos I’ve posted this week, boatbuilding requires full contact with the wood and with the boat that is taking shape from the wood. We wear the wood, shape the wood, cut the wood, smooth the wood, glue the wood, bend the wood, and fasten the wood into place. I’ve always loved working with wood-the smell, the feel, the lines so this week has been a thrilling learning experience.
Today progress was steady. We bevelled the first port garboard and then used it as a template for the starboard one. We installed both of them and then learned how to prepare the four planks that go over the garboards. We also scarfed two boards to enable them to be lengthened in order to be the top planks in our dory. They needed to set overnight so we will bevel and install them tomorrow. Our planing skills are getting better and better each day.
This is our dory at the close of building today. You can see the garboards and the first layer of planks installed. Taking the rectangular plank and wrapping it around the side of the boat was magical and a bit of a workout as we had to push hard to get it to attach at the counter and stem.
The lines and symmetry and mathematics of the dory are amazing to learn and see in action. The dory’s simplicity coupled with its functionality has made it a popular design in many parts of the world. We can’t believe that tomorrow is the last day of our workshop-the week has passed in the pass of a plane over a plank. Tomorrow we will finish as much as we can but there will be some leftover for Jerome and the two boatbuilding apprentices to complete as the summer goes on.
Happy Summer Solstice everyone!
Day three of boatbuilding school at the Wooden Boat Museum of Newfoundland and Labrador has come to an end and we’ve learned many more skills, ideas, and vocabulary today. We’ve focused on finding centre from almost minute one of the course. While drawing the template on the boards that would form the bottom of our dory, the first thing we did was draw a centre line. When we made the frames, each was marked at the centre. Today as we moved the dory onto the rack where we would pull the rocker into the bottom, the first thing we checked was that the boat’s centre line was under the plumb bob. Finding the boat’s centre has been central to almost each task of boatbuilding. Extrapolating that out to life, finding our own centre is likely as integral and perhaps, as challenging sometimes. Our instructor, Jerome, has many ways of adjusting the boatbuilding process on the fly–making a change here, or a change over there, moving the line, taking a plane to an angle that’s not quite right.
Not too tight, not too loose. That’s what my Buddhist teacher often said about meditation practice and life. Today when I was screwing the garboard to the boat (the garboard is the first plank fastened to the side and bottom of the boat and set the lines for all remaining planks), Jerome reminded me to attach the screw, not too tight, not too loose. The miraculous space between not too tight and not too loose is both microscopic and infinite. It’s a moving target. A moment. An illumination. Enlightenment. It is also fleeting. We find it. We lose it. Our centre. Found and lost moment by moment. Lifetime by lifetime.
One of the things that the first Buddhist teachers noticed when they arrived in the West is that we tend, without training, to be very hard on ourselves. We speak to ourselves so harshly, hold ourselves to impossible standards, and fail to treat ourselves with the compassion we so readily offer others. Sometimes I find my students so afraid to try something for fear of making a mistake. I don’t they they fear what I might say, they fear what they will call themselves. One of the greatest lessons that Buddhism has taught me is self-compassion. To put down the stick. To only speak kindly to myself. I manage that most of the time but occasionally slip up and pick up the stick. Fortunately, with both practice and practices, I drop it as soon as I realize I am carrying it.
Jerome has been modelling this to us as we learn boatbuilding. He’s super patient, encourages us to try new skills even when we fear we might ruin something, reminds us that no one is to blame if something is askew and that anything in the boat can be mended, adjusted, fixed, re-cut, battoned, glued, spiled, planed, or knocked gently into place. Building a boat is about successive approximations, learning to use your eye as one basis for judgment, using templates another, and learning to use a variety of traditional and modern tools. Sounds like a fine way to move through life as well.
It’s been great sharing this week of boatbuilding with two of my dear friends. From past projects, we’ve brought a familiarity of how each other works, exists, and things we are good at in the world. Mike is awesome at scribing and understanding in 3-D. Marian brings an eye to detail and a Macgyver can-do spirit. Me-I bring the spirit of adventure and curiosity and weaving all kinds of things together. Together with Jerome and Nicholas (his summer boatbuilding apprentice), we’ve formed a wonderful and engaged boatbuilding team. We laugh. We cuss. We measure. We measure again. We cut. Sometimes badly. Sometimes right on. Today as we fastened the ribbands, Jerome and Marian held them in place, Nicholas pre-drilled, I drilled the counter-sink, and then Mike drove the screw. Like clockwork. 14 times. Boatbuilding has lots of repetition. Lots of opportunities for practice. Lots of ways to learn from one another. Lots of ways to mess up and then fix it. When I became a Buddhist, I took refuge in the Buddha, his teachings (the Dharma), and in the community of his followers called the Sangha. Learning new skills usually requires both individual practice and a community to learn in. I’m grateful for the great team I’m learning with this week.
The ribbands, the narrow band of wood at the top of the frames, allowed us to see the total shape of our dory for the first time. They will also give some strength to and help hold the frames in place while we attach the planks tomorrow that will enclose the boat. Seeing this support for the boat come into place, I was reminded of how important support is. We have our frame, our mission, our goals, and our dreams. We have our centre. But sometimes we lose it. Sometimes we need to be surrounded with love and care until we can get our planks on. Once our planks are on and our seams caulked, we can float. Hopefully. Upright. But not always. In the sea between not too tight and not too loose.
Marian, Michael, and I are spending this week at the Wooden Boat Museum of Newfoundland and Labrador in Winterton learning how to build a Grandy Dory (pictured above). I’ve been trying to get to a workshop here for a few years but this year, the pieces of my/out schedule came together. I’ve wanted to come attend a workshop with the idea of perhaps incorporating boat building (and then boat rowing) into an outdoor recreation course I would develop. It’s so great to finally be here and I’m enjoying being a student.
We are learning both hand and electric tool usage in boat boating. I’ve been so thankful to my dad as well as Mr. Walton, my junior high industrial arts teacher, this week as they gave me such a strong start with tool usage. Jerome Canning is our instructor and the workshop is elevating both our woodworking skills as well as introducing us to the many steps/aspects of building a dory from layout to cutting to fastening to finishing.
Today we learned to plane as we worked on both the stem and the counter (main beams at bow and stern). Our boatbuilding/nautical vocabulary is building each day as well. I’m pleased to report than my hand is recovered enough that I can do most tasks (and yes, I am listening to it and stopping if anything is tender. It’s taken longer than expected to get the incision to close but movement, stretching, and sensation are all going well).
I found myself quite taken by the shaving from the plane-enjoying the curls that fell to the floor as well as being able to see the tree rings so clearly in the shavings. It’s been a good mental workout as well as we’ve had to visualize the boat in 3-D while working on bevels and angles. Last night I spent some time researching Grand Canyon and McKenzie Dories. I’m thinking it could be very rewarding to build a downriver dory and take it on a big expedition.
Today we finished with the stem (long piece of wood at the front of the picture) and the counter (thing that looks like a bird tail) at the stern…it’s exciting to start to have the boat take shape. Tomorrow we will attach the frames we worked on today and will use a press to give the dory some rocker…stay tuned!
TA Loeffler's Adventures that Move 