There was something horribly unsettling about the beautiful weather we had thus far experienced in the mountains of Taiwan. It was like finding a child’s room completely and utterly organized or our ill behaved dogs sitting when commanded, as if they had done something very bad or were about to. This was not the Taiwan that I knew from the past, the country whose atmospheric marinade permanently saturates your clothing and prunes your skin before you even set outside. During my last visit in 1999, seeds collected were 4 parts water, 2 parts misery and 1 part embryo.

So I took the first week here with a deliberate daily Thanksgiving, appropriate as it was the week of turkey fest, knowing full well that the irritable child that had unexpectedly said ‘I love you’ would soon again be acting out. The days were splendid and the views sublime. [Read more…]

It is from the intoxicated South Asian disorder of Kolkata in West Benghal, from which Rudyard Kipling once implied that if allowed time will bring you everything that a simple man needs, that I contemplate the the last six weeks in Sikkim. It is essentially the first moment during this time that I have had the opportunity to contemplate anything at all, being thunderstruck by the experiences of movement in and between the Eastern Himalaya.

Six weeks ago, somewhat less battered by road and trail, I began these experiences in Bagdogra, due north of Calcutta, reconnoitering with time-tested companions and dearest friends, Kevin Carrabine, Jennifer Macuiba (Seattle) and Dave Demers (Vancouver).  Gathered by our guide, Sailesh Pradham- whose family name is near botanical royalty in this northern Province- we had only a night’s rest in Gangtok, the captial of Sikkim, before departing early the following morning for our first trek. [Read more…]