Himalayan Summer

On the 26th of March I'm hittin' the road once again, this time for Nepal and the Himalayan region.

My aims there are to:

* continue my program of practical education in organic farming, natural building and local self-reliance

* deepen my investigations into economics, globalization and "development" and their effects on traditional subsistence farming cultures

* take courses in meditation, Buddhist philosophy, and Tibetan history and culture

I'll start this leg of the adventure with a course in Vipassana meditation at a center outside of Kathmandu. This is a rigorous and intense, ten-day, silent, guided meditation experience, beginning each morning at 4:30 AM, starting April 1st (no foolin'!).

I scheduled this course over my thirtieth birthday (April 7th) on purpose -- it seems like a totally intense and awesome way to begin my fourth decade of life on this planet!

After the Vipassana course I'll be super-enlightened, so I expect I'll have no trouble working my west and north across the mountains, through farming communities and monasteries, to arrive in Ladakh (northern India, western Tibet) sometime around mid-July.

During August and the first half of September I'll be living in a remote Ladakhi village, directly learning about their Tibetan culture and organic farming practices. There will be lots of hard farm work to do since this is the time of the annual barley harvest. I'll be 10,000-plus feet in elevation in the high mountainous desert, workin' long days under the hot sun in the thin air...so of course I am extremely enthusiastic for this intense experience!

Read more about my program in Ladakh from the International Society for Ecology and Culture.

So I'll be in the Himalaya all summer -- if you're in the neighborhood, look me up! I'll be the blonde dude with the yak herd...can't miss me!