Ramblin' Man

Back in civilization

2012-02-24T03:36:00.006-05:00

Well it's been ages since I updated this, for reasons that will soon become apparent, and I've had a bunch of people email me asking what's new, so here goes:

About two weeks back, VIN was notified that they had to vacate their premises ASAP, as the landlord needed the space back, and as a result, I was given a good amount of time off from work while the moving process went on, so three of the other volunteers and I decided to take advantage of the break and the natural beauty of Nepal by embarking on a trek about the Annapurna range of the Himalayas.

While it's an onerous task indeed to try condense the sheer extent and magnificence of such a journey in a couple of paragraphs, I shall nevertheless try my best to do so, and will shortly be uploading some photos (to both this blog and my facebook page), which will hopefully serve to fill in the gaps in my description.

Our journey began on Feb 5, at 5AM, when the four of us, along with a guide and two porters, began our travels via a rather rickety six-and-a-half hour bus ride through the Nepali countryside before arriving in the city of Pokhara-from which we would embark on the trek the following day. Even prior to entering the Himalayas, we were all pleasantly surprised by the drastic improvement in the air quality, which became noticeable once we were about 60km from Kathmandu, and which would continue to clear up as we made our ascent in the coming days.

The next day-Feb 6, we began our trek in earnest, hiking a solid eight hours through mostly arid, sloping desert terrain. Though none of us were seasoned trekkers by any means, the general consensus was that the first day was fairly easy lifting, as despite the midday heat, the environment was quite forgiving to the feet, being gradually sloping and sandy.

In retrospect, I suppose this was a good thing, as the following day was probably our most grueling day of hiking of the entire trek—a nine-hour, heavily vertical ascent up a multitude of steep cliffs. As is always the case, it also happened to involve the highest temperatures and driest conditions of the trek, so we had to stop quite regularly (at several points, nearly every 20 minutes) to rehydrate. As I had left my sun hat at home, I had to fashion a makeshift one out of a baseball cap and detachable nylon hood to keep out of the sun, a foresight that proved invaluable as the day wore on. On the bright side (no pun intended), we did see a bunch of cool sights and environments that day, including mountain goats and other types of hilly creatures, and finally made it to a more temperate tropical rainforest / jungle environment in the mid-afternoon. Needless to say, we were all relieved to finally reach the teahouse, at which we would be spending the remainder of the day and the night.

At this point, it would probably be a worthwhile digression to briefly mention the teahouse system, as lodging there was surely a memorable experience. While the more rugged types might choose to rough it outdoors while trekking through the Himalayas, the majority of people choose to stay in one of the many teahouses which are strategically positioned at various points along each of the major trekking routes. Accommodations ranged from those of a low-quality, though comfortable motel at the start to downright abysmal as we gained elevation. And I'm not even exaggerating: at the worst of the teahouses, my roommate's bed was freckled with so many stains, he (half) jested that he might wake up with some rare incommunicable disease in the morning, the paper thin walls were damp and slimy all over, the winds howled so loudly you couldn't even call it a draft, and one of the trekkers' bed collapsed in the middle of the night!

Despite all this, however, after long hours spent hiking through a multitude of difficult conditions, the teahouses were a welcome reprieve, especially as the food was mostly decent across the board (with a few notable exceptions) and since every teahouse was equipped with a warm and comfortable dining hall, which you could use to relax, read, etc. until it was time to brave the bedrooms again for the night. But, hey-you don't really hike 4000 some odd meters above sea level for the accomodations, right?

Anyway, we were fortunate that our second teahouse was comparatively decent, as we ended up being holed up there for the following day, due to unforeseen white-out blizzard conditions. It was funny because the two Australian volunteers had never seen much snow before and were marveling all about and taking pictures, while it was such a commonplace sight to me and the other trekker from New Zealand.

So anyway, the following day, once the snow subsided, we braved the wintry conditions—thigh-deep snow, bone-chilling winds and all, as we continued our elevation gain. After we finally summited one of the peaks along our way and took in the breathtaking panoramic wintry views, our descent back down the mountain promised milder weather, as we progressed back into the more heavily forested / jungle region, although the path was quite slippery as a result of the melting snow and ice. To make up for our lost day, we hiked better than ten hours that day, starting a little past eight and arriving at the teahouse around 6:30 in the evening.

The ensuing day proved a revisit to and amplification of the previous day's conditions. While it began temperate enough, as we gained elevation, you could feel the temperature drop exponentially, and the ground became increasingly covered with snow. As we rounded one of the many narrow, windy bends along our path, there suddenly came into view an entirely snow-covered mountain / valley landscape which we were to traverse as we came ever closer to our end destination. The sights we encountered as we made our way through the terrain were truly unbelievable: remnants of past avalanches—masses of snow, rock and ice—ranging from the size of basketballs to large cars—stretched as far as the eye could see. As a matter of fact, as we were crossing one of the drifts, we heard a loud rumbling—the sound of an avalanche in the making—though fortunately on the opposite side of the range! Eventually after much ado, we had come within two and a half hours of our destination, currently at an altitude of around 3000m! However, as the daylight was waning and since the ascent would be an arduous one, we decided to postpone until the following morning.

Finally, we made our way up through the snow and ice to Machapuchare Base Camp, approximately 3800m above sea level. While we were supposed to continue on upwards to Annapurna Base Camp, another two and a half hours and 600 vertical meters away, the weather conditions, which steadily worsened as we took our lunch at MBC were not in our favor, so we ended up turning it around shortly afterwards. While that was a bit of a disappointment, the spectacular view and sense of accomplishment from our lengthy trek more than compensated for it! As it so happened, the conditions continued to worsen as we made our descent—with an all-encompassing grey fog reducing visibility to less than 100 meters in all directions and with the melting snow making the already hazardous terrain even more dangerous. Slowly but surely we made our way down to flatter, less treacherous terrain and continued back to Pokhara.

The remainder of the trip need not be mentioned in as meticulous detail as about half of it was simply retracing our steps, with the other half consisting of a new route—one that was far easier in terms of the types of terrain traveled as well through the assistance of gravity. One noteworthy point of the descent was the Hot Springs—a geo-thermally heated area of running water, which proved a refreshing surprise and one which gave me the best shower I’ve had in Nepal by far (which should say a lot about the typical shower conditions here, considering it was outdoors, after all).

Eventually, we made it back to Pokhara, where we spent a day generally relaxing prior to stomaching the jolting bus ride back to Kathmandu.

Without a doubt embarking on the trek was the best experience I’ve had here. Though it was surely tough on the body and spirit at times, it was rewarding throughout and afterwards. The fact that we had such a cohesive group proved invaluable as well, as it really would have put a damper on things were this not the case. It was truly a great feeling of achievement to have reached our destination within the allotted timeframe, especially since that meant compensating for an entire lost day, and I’m sure I’ll look back fondly on this experience for years to come.

Well anyway, that’s enough out of me for now. If you made through all that, I salute you, as that was a boatload of information. I’ll be uploading pictures to the blog and my facebook page as soon as I get a chance, so stay tuned for that. And feel free to comment on this post or email me if anything in this post struck your fancy, or simply to say hello.

Take it easy,

Jake

Rationing, shortages, and rolling blackouts (oh my!)

2012-01-27T05:52:00.004-05:00

So it’s been about a week since I last updated this, and now that the introductory information has been established, I figured it’s about time to shed a bit of light on exactly what I’m doing over here.

As I mentioned earlier, I’m working through the NGO, Volunteers Initiative Nepal, as a computer technology volunteer. Essentially my work entails assisting the organization with all components of their technological infrastructure—hardware and software—though so far, it’s mostly been Web-design / IT type stuff.

The organization has a multitude of websites apart from the home site that I mentioned in my initial post—more or less one for each of their most popular programs—and each of these needs a good overhaul to say the least. The director has explained to me that as the sites were somewhat shoddily put together in the first place and since none of the pages contain proper meta-tags and meta-descriptions (some of the most important determinants of a site’s search engine rank), the result is very little traffic to the sites, with the little traffic that does come probably being deterred by the unprofessional look of the present sites. So I’ve basically been given the task of improving both the aesthetics and technical specifications of each site.

So far I’ve started to tackle the various design and layout issues plaguing specific sites, as well as proofreading each preexisting page. Eventually I hope to progress to improving each site’s multimedia gallery, using optimization techniques to raise the pages’ respective ranks in search engine algorithms, etc. All together, this will comprise work on hundreds of individual webpages, so it’s a long and arduous process to say the least. While the actual work isn’t too difficult, there are a variety of factors, which effectively aggravate and elongate what would already be a time-consuming task in and of itself.

The first I have already touched upon in a previous post and pertains to the seemingly perpetual power shortages, or as they call dub them here “rolling blackouts”, which seem to lack both logical schedule and explanation. Supposedly, this time of year, the rivers run dry, therefore necessitating rationing of both water and electricity (as the majority of Kathmandu’s power is of hydroelectric origin). However, the common response to this that I’ve heard from both members of VIN as well as my host family is that this is little more than a lie circulated by the government (supposedly one of the most corrupt in the world), that power is not nearly as limited as government officials would have it seem, and that it’s well-known that those with the proper connections don’t suffer from this “issue”.

Regardless of the cause for the “shortage”, it nevertheless exists and greatly hinders my work, as with the power goes the Internet access. Clearly this would be frustrating for any sort of work in this day and age, but especially so for IT. It’s not uncommon for me to be finishing up editing a section of a site, only to have the Internet connection drop for an arbitrary period of time ranging from 5 minutes to a couple of hours, thereby resulting in the loss of all my work.

What has also been causing my work to lag is the absence of VIN’s trained IT professional, whom I’m supposed to replace in the short term. While I do have a decent background in tech and programming, I’ve never before been engaged in large-scale web design projects, and as a result have to look up a good amount of things online. Additionally, the backend interface that I can use to edit in lieu of coding is a bit unwieldy and has taken some time to get adjusted to. All of this is further exacerbated by the limited Internet access I just finished writing about and the two problems when taken together cause something that might take a half an hour in the U.S. to take the lion’s share of an afternoon here.

I guess I’ll have to add “stable internet connection” to my ever-increasing list of things not to take for granted back home (a list which also includes sidewalks, crosswalks, signaling drivers, clean running water of variable temperatures, working toilets, and probably a host of other things), eh?

PS: Thanks to a power shortage, I had plenty of time on my hands to compose this offline.

PPS: Also, I greatly appreciate the feedback I’ve received from many of you regarding this blog and am in the process of writing replies. I’ve had to resort to composing messages in Word and then sending them out whenever the Internet seems to be working, so they'll come, but ever so slowly.

First Week

2012-01-18T04:21:00.002-05:00

Well it’s been a couple of days since my last post, and now that the program orientation’s over with, I have a bit more time on my hands and I figured I’d compose an update. So here goes:

I arrived at the Kathmandu airport around noon on Jan 14 and even prior to landing, I got the sense that this was going to be unlike any other place I’ve been before. Looking out the plane window as we neared the city, you saw vast expanses of mountain ranges all around—all of which are subdivisions of the Himalayas—the taller ranges covered in snow and the smaller peaks visibly traversed by dirt paths and every now and again, a house or two. Once I was cleared through customs and had retrieved my baggage, I finally stepped onto Nepali soil and received quite a surprise.

Unlike in the US and most Western countries, where airports are heavily monitored, relatively orderly places, the scene was about as far from that as imaginable. As I exited, I saw mobs of onlookers, as at a parade, waiting behind metal gates, and once I passed through them, in a span of about 10 minutes I was accosted by at least 20 different people who were trying to solicit me a taxicab. I was also amazed at how dusty and polluted the air and ground was around the city—to such an extent, as I later learned, that it is advisable to wear a facemask when walking on streets shared with other vehicles. I finally received a ride to the hotel at which I would stay during orientation—one that consisted of countless hairpin turns along narrow streets and several near collisions with other vehicles, pedestrians, and motorbikes (which seem to be all the rage in the city).

So by that time, I was pretty taken aback by all that happened since my arrival, but as events unfolded, it would appear that the worst was certainly over. Pretty soon after, I met the three other volunteers starting the program with me as well as several of the directors from the NGO, all of whom seemed very nice and friendly. Later on, we took a brief walking tour of the Thamel district of Kathmandu—one of the main hubs for restaurants and interesting shops and had some dinner at a restaurant specializing in Nepali cuisine. The meal—called Dhal Bhat—consisted of a smorgasbord of rice, lentil soup, curried vegetables, yogurt, and pickle, all of which you could mix together as you saw fit—and was quite tasty indeed. I guess it’s rather fortunate that it was to my liking, as it seems to be a staple of meals here, as I would later find out.

The next day we had to wake up bright and early and find our way over to the VIN office—roughly a 20 minute walk from where we were staying. There we had a full day of orientation, consisting of a formal introduction to the mission and history of the organization, cultural tips and faux-pas, language lessons, etc. They also served us a nice lunch of curried vegetables, this soft flatbread similar to Indian Chapati, some pastry which kind of tasted like a Churro, and honeyed tea. Eventually I’m going to try to take a picture of one of the meals as they’re pretty interesting, but it’s hard to do that without seeming rude…Later on, the other volunteers and I further explored the Thamel district, tried our hand at bargaining with shopkeepers (a common practice in Nepal), and got dinner.

During the second day of orientation, we each learned the specifics of our volunteering. Out of the six day workweek (Sunday – Friday), I’ll be teaching computer classes at a primary school on the outskirts of the city for four of the days and helping out with IT-related things at the VIN office for the other two. We also ate a small lunch of a noodle soup with a fried egg in it, which was quite tasty and toured some historic sights, among them a Buddhist stupa.

On the final day of orientation, we received some additional language lessons and tips and ultimately went off tour our individual host families in the late afternoon. My family consists of a set of grandparents and their five or six granddaughters (I’ve been here for a day and still am meeting new ones, hence the uncertainty), all of whom seem lovely, and they live in a multilevel house not too far from VIN.

The latter part of the afternoon was spent socializing with many of them over tea and I was impressed at their proficiency in English, given that it’s not their native language, and that English and Nepali are very different phonetically. I also broke out the US map puzzle I had brought along with me to show the family where I’m from and spent a good hour with some of the younger granddaughters going over the puzzle. One of the young girls then quizzed me from her “general knowledge” book, which included the typical facts such as largest continent, nation capitals, etc. but also some more obscure ones such as the fastest running bird (apparently it’s the ostrich). We then had a dinner similar to Dhal Bhat (this time with curried chicken and zucchini) and the day was pretty much over. I had to get to bed much earlier than I am accustomed to as they have early morning tea around 7AM followed by a hearty breakfast around 9. I also begin my work today, so I wanted to be well rested.

Well that about does it for now…I figure that’s a good recap of all that’s noteworthy up until I start work and I’ll post it as soon as I get Internet access back at the VIN office. I’ll write another entry in a couple days once I’ve settled into work. I also have been taking a good amount of pictures, which I plan to upload as soon as I have some free time and am near a wifi hotspot. I’ll probably upload them to facebook, as I already have a good amount of them, but maybe I’ll post the highlights to here, as well.

Until next time, peace.

Jake

Blog Created

2012-01-11T11:54:00.003-05:00

Hey all-

I finally got my act together and created a blog, which I will update periodically during my upcoming trip to Nepal, roughly spanning January 14 - March 10.

Background

For those unfamiliar with who I am and what I'm planning on doing there, I am a current junior at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH majoring in Economics with a minor in Computer Graphics and Digital Arts. Back during fall term 2011 when I began brainstorming things to do during my winter term away from campus, I knew I wanted to participate in something that integrated my academic concentrations, while at the same time broadening my cultural horizons. Additionally, having partaken in a variety of service activities in high school, and having benefited immensely from them, I decided to seek out organization that sought to address the technological disparities which often exist in underdeveloped communities. After a bit of research, I happened upon the Nepali-based NGO, Volunteers Initiative Nepal and determined that participating in their computer technology development program would be a perfect way to achieve these goals. I then petitioned for funding from Dartmouth's Institute for Security, Technology, and Society (ISTS) / Neukom Institute and received a generous grant which covered the costs of the program fees, airfare, etc.

About the Organization and Program

VIN is one of the most active NGO’s within the country of Nepal and through the assistance of volunteers from around the world, it seeks to empower the most marginalized communities within the country through programs geared towards areas as diverse as early childhood development, computer technology, community health, and women’s empowerment.

Specifically, the program I will be participating in (computer technology) will entail the modernization of both computer hardware and software techniques for the promotion of increased technological literacy and security.

My responsibilities in terms of the hardware end will include installation, maintenance, and upkeep / troubleshooting of computer systems to ensure that local agencies have the most modern technological infrastructure available.

Additionally, I will be responsible for instruction in the basics of information technology and various software packages to community groups of all demographics, including elementary school-aged children, high school-aged teenagers, and adults. Due to the increased prevalence of social media within the past couple years, a significant portion of my instruction will pertain to how to best use the various tools available (wikis, social networking sites, etc.) to promote groups and organizations within local communities, to increase awareness of the issues hindering development within Nepal, and to generally facilitate communication within an increasingly global world.

As a component of both projects in which I will be engaged, concerns pertaining to security and privacy within a modern technological framework will be addressed as needed. These could range from assistance in the installation of secure encrypted networks to informing about the benefits of antivirus software, etc.

That's all for now...

Well that about wraps it up for now. I leave tomorrow at 10PM from NY - JFK airport and will be flying to Nepal via Qatar -- scheduled to arrive on Jan. 14 at 11:45 AM in the local time zone (11 hours ahead of EST).

As far as this blog is concerned, I plan on posting updates at least once a week, and more frequently as things unfold. I promise future posts will be both more concise and interesting; I just figured that it would be a good idea to provide a detailed summary of the organization and the program in which I will be participating so that anyone who's interested will be able to have a good sense of exactly what I'll be doing over there.

For further information, or if anything particularly struck your fancy, please consult the following links and / or feel free to contact me.

Until next time,

Jake

Links

VIN website:

http://www.volunteeringnepal.org/

Computer Technology program description:

http://www.volunteeringnepal.org/programmedetails.php?pid=19&page=Computer%20Technology

Institute for Security, Technology, and Society (ISTS) website:

http://www.ists.dartmouth.edu/

Neukom Institute website:

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~neukom/