The Sedlec Ossuary

More commonly known as the Bone Church is probably the neatest and most unique thing I've ever seen. The cliff's notes version of how it came to be: A 15th century Bohemian king sent his holy man on a holy mission. The holy man brought back sacred soil from Golgotha and sprinkled it on the cemetery near what is now the church. Soon, word of this sacred soil spread and people were dying to get in! The black death and the Hussite wars caused even more death in the region and soon thousands of bodies were buried in the cemetery. Over the years, the original church was destroyed and new one(s) were built. The bones were excavated in this process. Something had to be done with the bones so eventually a famous Italian architect was hired and his creation is what you see here:

This chandelier allegedly has at least one bone from every body that was buried here

The other great thing about visiting the bone church was that it was our first of many train journeys. Successfully negotiating this trip independently greatly empowered us and gave us the needed confidence to continue.

You can read the wikipedia version of the bone church by clicking here.

Prague

Prague is a really beautiful city. The architecture is magnificent and the public transport is extraordinarily easy to navigate, despite the fact that the signs aren't in English.

The astronomical clock

Prague Castle

Inside the museum of communism

And, the best part of Prague was meeting Marsha there. We were kicking off a 5-week tour of Europe, mostly concentrating on eastern Europe, but getting a sampling of other parts as well.

Chamonix

After Norway, I flew to Geneva, Switzerland and rode a bus to the famed French ski village of Chamonix where I stayed and skied for about 2 1/2 weeks. The place is really amazing if not a bit intimidating. Everyone who was skiing from the famed Aiguille Du Midi was outfitted with full ski-mountaineering gear, I opted out since I have no experience with such things and didn't want to spend the money on a guide to show me. Instead, I stuck to skiing on the lower part of Les Grandes Montets. It was decent skiing but the snow conditions were deteriorating. On the up side, there weren't too many people skiing so the queues for the lifts were either short or non-existent.

The Mer de glace (sea of ice)

Aiguille du midi

Aiguille du midi

Aiguille du midi

Norway

There are no two places that contrast each other more than Oslo and Delhi. For all of Delhi's chaos, Oslo had order, for Delhi's trash, Oslo had cleanliness, for Delhi's affordability Oslo was priced out of my range. Just as a comparison, in Oslo, a combo meal at McDonalds will set you back nearly $12.00. I couch-surfed Oslo the first night there. Couch Surfing can be fun, but it's definitely a trade off. You get to stay with someone for free, learn things about the place you're in from a true local, and best of all meet someone new but on the downside is that people who host couch-surfers are usually the lonely type and will make you feel obligated to listen to things you may have no interest in. If, perchance, you couch surf with someone who has common interests, this would be great, but if you don't care to spend your evening hearing about the finer points of feline health, you may be in for a long night. The person who I couch-surfed with was very kind, generous, hospitable and friendly, and I thank her for showing me around and giving me some pointers on what to do in Oslo. One of the highlights was a visit to the Fram museum. The Fram is the ship that Roald Amundsen sailed to the McMurdo sound and launched his historic journey to become the first person to reach the South Pole.

I also went to the Viking Ship museum.

And spent a few days skiing in Lillehammer
All-in-all I enjoyed Norway. I would like to go back someday and get to the northern part to hang out with the Laplanders.

The Taj Mahal

No trip to India would be complete without a visit to the Taj Mahal. But wait, back up a couple of posts: I was sick of being in India. The craziness had taken its toll on me, however, I did feel a little bit good about having learned how to play the game. The cab driver from the airport to my hotel (a few days earlier) received a tip that was larger than the cab fare. This wasn't for his superior service but rather my own celebration of learning how to play the game. India can be fun once you have it figured out. But, I really was tired of it all. On the way to the "special white man train ticket office" I was told all kinds of things about how the ticket office had closed, burnt down, under construction...everything. They do this because they would rather sell you a ticket at a higher price and get the commission. I knew better and didn't fall for it, but it gets tiresome. Anyhow, I got my train ticket for the trip to Agra and the Taj.

A musician at one of the mosques

The next morning, I got up in plenty of time to get a ride to the train station. I have a habit of leaving early for things on the off chance that something goes wrong on the way I won't be late. Today this paid off. The auto-rickshaw that I was riding in got a flat tire and one of the studs was broken off so the driver couldn't get the old tire off. He kept assuring me that it would be "just five minutes", I finally bailed on him and flagged a new ride down and got to the train station just in the nick of time.








The trains in India are just like out of the movies. People hanging out of windows and doors. Pandemonium. On the ride to Agra, I was seated next to an Indian land surveyor. It was as if I had my own personal tour guide.

Nobody can truly call themselves a traveller if they haven't used a toilet on an Indian train

On arrival to Agra, I booked a tour that would take me to the three main attractions near Agra (Fatah Pasikri (sp?), the red fort and the Taj Mahal) and have me back at the train station in time for my return trip to Delhi. It turned out to be a fast paced tour, with very little time at the attractions and a stop at the special tourist restaurant for an extremely (by Indian standards) overpriced lunch.



I'm really not motivated enough to write much more about the Taj Mahal. It's worth seeing if you ever get to that part of the world.

Delhi

There isn't one adjective that can describe Delhi. If there were, it would have to be a word that combined chaos, pandemonium and mayhem. Everything about Delhi is an assault on the senses. People, cars, rickshaws, auto-rickshaws, cows, dogs, monkeys everywhere. Vendors line the trash-filled streets and squawk and holler trying to pedal their wares. Cattle and dogs graze on the trash in the street. Horns, bells, shouts fill the air. Early in the morning, after the vendors and shoppers have gone home for a couple of hours, lip service is paid to cleaning up. The trash is swept to the middle of the street and lit on fire. The lingering odor of burning trash is always present.

Right outside my hotel room window, a Hindu women's prayer group started singing, every night, at about 10:30 and didn't stop until well after 2 in the morning. I wish I could add audio to this post...I have a recording of it.

India is something that I can't describe. One needs to experience it for themselves.

The scene right outside my hotel window

Holy Cow! It's McDonalds
but you won't find a Big Mac here
McChicken is the sandwich of choice

Srinagar

I remained jovial and high spirited during the twelve days of Murphyisms in Gulmarg. By the 13th day, I had had enough and I wanted to get out of Kashmir - out of India and on to something more "normal". The airline had lost my booking for the flight to Srinagar, it was reasonable to think that they had lost the booking for the return as well. My package included two nights lodging in Srinagar, I couldn't imagine wanting to stay more than one, in fact, if the timing had been right, I wouldn't have stayed one night. My feelings of wanting to leave were furthered by being off-loaded at a Kashmiri carpet factory and subjected to high-pressure salesmanship. The Cliff's Notes on India: Everyone is a hustler - A cab driver will tell you your hotel is booked, burned down, closed...whatever to try to convince you to stay at a hotel where he gets commission. At the train station you will be told that the ticket office is closed so that you can be sold high price tickets where someone gets a commission. In this case, our Sr. ski guide was looking for a commission from the sale of a Kashmiri carpet. I had no interest in carpets..what the hell would I do with it? Every second I spent in the carpet factory intensified my disdain for being in India.

To my surprise, the proprietor of the Butts-Clermont house boats on Dal Lake gave me the warmest welcome I have ever received. Mr. Butts is overjoyed to see tourism returning to Kashmir. The houseboats themselves are well known amongst the world's elite. Senators, ambassadors and royalty have stayed there. Even George Harrison has stayed aboard the houseboats.

The Houseboats on Dal Lake

The water heaters are wood-fired, so your shower has to be scheduled.

Wood-fired water heater

One of the men that hangs around the houseboats is Lhasa. Lhasa operates a shikara service and take tourists to the floating market and elsewhere on Dal Lake. He also took me to the phone so I could reserve a plane ticket and to a wood carving studio so I could purchase souvenirs. Lhasa is a wonderful human being.

Lhasa's shikara

on the shikara

In the morning, Tim and I took the shikara ride to the floating market. Due to the time of year, not much was happening, but it was a peaceful ride. When we got back to the houseboat, we were served a delicious breakfast. I packed my bags and realized that I was saddened to leave this tranquil setting. These people did such a wonderful job of putting me at ease I can't imagine why I ever thought Kashmir might be dangerous or sketchy. The kindness and friendliness of the Kashmiri people is wonderful.

A bridge on the lake

A fishing village

paying the rent

A fortnight in Gulmarg, Kashmir

The sheer magnitude of the avalanche which I was looking at validated my earlier fears. Four days earlier I had been skiing where this behemoth had cut its swath of destruction. It's proportions were epic. It appeared to me that the northern 1/3 of the Pir Panjal range had slid. I had arrived in Gulmarg 12 days earlier. I had been ensnared into booking a ski trip to Kashmir by the tag line "Where decent snowfall means it is measured in meters". The Gulmarg gondola also boasts being the world's highest gondola and the world's longest continuous vertical rise. All seemed like good reasons to do something unique.

The Kashmir region of India has only recently seen a return of tourist traffic. Violence has ebbed significantly since a cease-fire in 2003. My impression is that it has come a long way since, in 1999, Bill Clinton called Kashmir the most dangerous place on earth. The resentment of the Kashmiri people towards the occupying Indian army became apparent to me when my guide, Shabeer, corrected an Aussie snowboarder as he issued the customary Kashmiri greeting to some army troops. Shabeer told him "No, no it's namaste...namaste(a Hindi greeting)". There are many competing agendas in the region but currently peace prevails and many of the people I spoke to seem to concur that every tourist rupee spent is a vote for peace.

The airport in Srinagar reminded me of landing at King Fahd airport in Saudi Arabia at the start of Desert Shield. It was definitely a military airfield, commercial air traffic is the lowest priority. Security checks departing from Delhi were exhaustive. I found it peculiar that the more security I face, the less secure I feel. In New Zealand, for example, one hasn't got to take off their shoes to clear security. The outward appearance is almost lackadaisical compared to that in the U.S. But flying in New Zealand I feel unthreatened. From Delhi to Srinagar, however, the checks, searches, re-checks, frisking and hand-searching left me ill at ease.

On the ground in Kashmir, the first thing I noticed were guns and troops. Guns are everywhere. I was overjoyed when a young Kashmiri man greeted me by name and helped me through the bureaucracy of departing the airport and got me to the vehicle that would whisk me the 60Km to Gulmarg. As the vehicle departed the airport a light rain was falling. Further up the road, in Tangmarg, the rain surrendered to the lower temperature and higher altitude and became snow.

Three deep on a scooter on the way down..trying to beat the storm

By the time we reached Gulmarg, it was "bucketing" as the two Aussies who had booked the same package as I said. That was on Sunday. By Monday, nearly a meter of new snow had fallen at the base area. Ironically the windfall snow would prevent it's being skied on, at least from the top of the gondola. There are two reasons for this: One, the avalanche danger would be too high, and two, the snow storm had knocked out the electricity so we adjusted ourselves to the customs of people who don't live by the clock, we waited. When it became apparent that even if the power came back on it would be some time before we would be able to ride the gondola, even to mid-station, we decided to hike Monkey Hill which was the only option available to us under the circumstances. It was a tough hike for me despite the fact that a boot pack was well-established. The altitude of 8800 feet caused my lungs quite a bit of trouble on the relatively short hike. The short ski down made it all worth it. By that afternoon we were finally able to board the gondola for a ride to mid-station. We got three runs in before closing time. The weather at this point was clear and still.

Welcome indeed!

Clear up to my armpits and still snowing. The electricity went out again. By Tuesday morning there was so much snow that the roads to Gulmarg were closed and completely impassable and restoration of electricity was hopeless. Every couple of hours tons of snow would slide down the roofs or the hotel and nearby buildings. These "eave-alanches" appeared that they could be treacherous to any passers-by.

On Wednesday the snow had, at last, stopped falling. At least 2 meters had accumulated at the base area and estimates of nearly 3 meters at the top of the gondola. Even with electricity, and even with western-style avalanche control, it wouldn't be skiable today. The Aussies and I commiserated over a breakfast of eggs with no yellow color to them. Apparently chickens in India don't eat very well. The road was cleared which opened up the option for skiing to Tangmarg and being shuttled back to Gulmarg in a truck. We were happy to be out of the unlit hotel and enjoyed the day thoroughly.

Thursday morning was foggy, but power had been restored. We remained optimistic for an opening of the upper part of the gondola. We yo-yo'ed the lower section about three times, and then, magic happened. The upper section opened. We boarded with all the enthusiasm of....well...of skiers after a snow storm. The view from the top was like looking through a milkshake. Nothing was visible except for whiteness. A lack of visibility coupled with the reality of turning on my avalanche beacon while on an unfamiliar mountain allowed terror to posses me. This was real. I could die doing this, or worse end up paralyzed or something. The sudden, unfamiliar fear in me hampered my skiing. My technique was suddenly like that of a beginner. I couldn't see, I didn't know where the hell I was and, one of my bindings was not working properly. The snow was excellent, but I was not. On our third run, due to a continued lack of visibility, I fell, sideways, off of a 10 foot cornice. I can't recall ever being so scared in my life. I was sliding headfirst, downhill with no idea what was below me; rocks? cliffs? I was terrified! I managed to get my feet under me and arrest my descent. In the effort to get my skis back on, the binding which wasn't working failed to work again at the most critical moment. The ski took off straight down the hill without me. I'm sure that I cursed mildly. One of the Kashmiri guides insisted that I take his skis, he would take my one remaining ski and ski down on it while the other guides searched for my runaway ski. They found it, we all made it down, and I called it a day.

The gondola, in all its glory

Friday and Saturday were perfect blue-sky days. I felt like I had the mountain all to myself. For the most part, I did. There were less than 25 people skiing. Seems like a constant threat of war and the world's most unreliable gondola keep 'em away. We made fresh tracks all day, both days. I have never skied runs like this in my life. This must be what heli-skiing is like. My legs were burning, and at 13,000+ feet, my lungs weren't that happy either, but the smile on my face and the feeling of exhilaration overruled the legs and lungs. It was all worth it. Sunday would prove to be the last of my days on the gondola. Power outages, another three-day snow storm, the brobdingnagian 'lanche and mechanical problems would keep me skiing to Tangmarg or not skiing at all for the remainder of my stay in Gulmarg.

Marble floors and ski boots don't work so well together...introducing the world's first "no fall" restroom

Elsewhere in Kashmir rainfall had caused a mudslide which closed the highway from Jammu to Srinagar. Jammu is where all the food comes from. The closure lasted nearly the entire time I was in Kashmir. The restaurant was already out of mutton the first day I was there. Near the end of my stay, after being told by the hotel staff that there were no eggs, I joked to Tim (one of the Aussies) that we must have eaten all the chickens. That evening, when I ordered a chicken dish...well, you can figure out what I was told. The electricity was out more than it was on. My accomodation was, in essence, a rodent-infested freeze-box and the only thing reliable about the gondola was that it would be closed at 3:15 PM sharp. It was running less than 40% of when it should have been. In addition to the standard skiing hazards and obstacles, Gulmarg has concertina wire, downed electrical wire, rabid dogs and poo-slinging monkeys.

Poo-slinger!

The phones don't work. There is an internet connection, but it relies on electricity and a phone line...oh, and the space bar on the computer is broken. There's just no end to the hilarity that can be found in such an environment. I will always remember Kashmir with great fondness and look forward to returning.

the last few weeks

The last few weeks have been a hoot! Here's a little recap of what we've been up to:
Feb 14:
bad weather delayed our flight out of McMurdo until...I don't remember, it was late. I think we finally arrived at our hotel in Christchurch (CHC) at 4 AM.
2/15:
got up at 7. got a few things ready to mail home, ate breakfast, booked a flight to Wellington. Caught a ride to the post office and picked up mail and shipped stuff home. Wandered around downtown CHC for a while. Went back to the motel, had a power nap. Went to Lytlleton for a beer and a sunset, back to the hotel where we slept very well
2/16:
flew to Wellington. Caught the bus..we were supposed to get off at the train station and catch a cab from there to the Indian embassy...missed our stop...rode the bus back, got off at the train station, hailed a cab asked to go to the embassy and were told by the cabbie that it was just up the hill, so we walked it. Got to the embassy at 1:05 or so..noticed that the sign said open "9:00 - 1:00" I was super bummed, it was Friday and now I would have to wait until Monday...we went up the elevator anyhow only to find a closed door, the feeling of despair only got worse. Marsha went to the door and pushed on it. It opened! Behind the door we saw a little Indian lady behind a cardboard sign that said "Closed", ignoring it, I asked her if I could apply for a visa. She said yes, gave me the application and told me to go eat something, fill it out, and bring it back. I was..uh...the opposite of despair. Later that day, we met George, who we would be staying with while in Wellington. He was a janitor on the ice in 04/05. He has a great place on top of Mount Victoria. We went with him that evening to experience a movie in luxury. We bought the first class seats for "The Last King of Scotland" The chairs were luxurious...that's the way to see a movie!

2/17, 2/18, 2/19 we explored around Wellington. Saw Te Papa (or something) museum..I wasn't in the right frame of mind for museuming, but while we were there, we met Dave, who worked there. He told us about some neat things to do on the north island. He told us about Taupo, Rotorua and the thing he really sold me on was the hot salt water baths near Mount Monganui (sp?), He made these pools sound like an absolute paradise. I was convinced, we were going to go. We spent a fair bit of time in the tourist information center (i-site) looking for something to do. We looked through brochures for a goodly amount of time before deciding on a segway tour. Then we spent more time waiting in line to book it, only to find out that they don't run on mondays..we were opposed to going through the decision making process again so we left with our brochures in hand. One of them was for the wellington cable car. It sounded interesting so we opted to go check it out. We got there and found out that a round trip ticket was only $4.50...we were in! We looked at where the cable car went, but we could only see to the top of a hill about 100 yards away, we waited in anticipation until it finally got to the end of the line. We boarded and then rode to the top of that hill we couldn't see past...and got out. That was it, a 100 yard cable car ride to a botanical garden. We wandered around the garden for a bit. Eventually meeting a toothpaste-sandwich, see god now crazy lady. She told us about the conspiracies that the pharmaceutical companies are involved in. Marsha admired her hat, she swapped hats with Marsha. We made up an excuse to leave and ran the hell away.

2/20
I have been trying to not be so anal about writing down confirmation numbers and things like that. After this day, I'm going back to writing that stuff down. We went to the airport to pick up our rental car. I had rented a car from National, but didn't see their desk. I looked in the phone book to try to figure out where they were. Turns out, they're the same as Europcar...who did have a desk. I walked up to the desk to announce that I was there to pick up my car. They didn't see my name on the list and asked for my confirmation number, which of course, I didn't have. I asked if there were any way I could use there computer to check my email and get it from there. This would be impossible I was told. I asked if there was anywhere in the airport that I could use a computer, again I was told no. I had the number for the company I had used to make the reservation, so I went to the pay phone and called them. They were totally useless and my frustration level skyrocketed. Marsha had been milling about, and somehow found out that there were, indeed, public computers on the second floor. We promptly went upstairs and found them. We also found out that the cards that you need to purchase to be able to use the computers were all sold out. Finally, I left the luggage and Marsha in the airport, caught a bus downtown, checked my email and came back with a confirmation number from,....AVIS..that's right, I had remembered the wrong rental company. Anyhow, we got the car and hit the road. In the town of Featherstown, there is a fell locomotive display, we stopped and checked it out. A fell locomotive uses a second steam piston to drive a horizontally mounted set of wheels that grip a horizontal rail to help pull it up hills. Neat stuff. George told us about an area called the pinnacles, about 2 hours from Wellington, so we went that way hoping to find a quaint place to call home for the night. We were dissapointed. Our map showed a couple of little towns further down the road, so we decided to go have a look around. in the town of Ngawi we saw the most impressive assortment of antique bulldozers.





They use them to put their boats in the water. We tried to find a room at the only "motel" in town, but the people who run it were out so we decided we would backtrack to someplace where we had seen lodging. We stopped by the tractor collection again to take some pictures. While there we talked to a couple who said they'd been at the seal colony. We were intrigued, so we went back to the seal colony.






It was really neat to see seals moving. We found a B & B (more of a homestay) in Featherstown. It was run by an older couple, Judy & Neel, and boasted a "Kiwi style breakfast" They had a cat named georgie. Neel called georgie an asshole, I don't remember why, but it was funny at the time. We got some excellent sleep and woke up to find out that a Kiwi style breakfast is apparently cereal and fruit. I think I know why they can't beat Australia in rugby. Nancies.

2/21
Drove to a town called Patea. It's pronounced like Philadelphia or something...everytime we would tell someone that we had stayed in..well, pronounce it like it looks, and they'd look at us like we were growing a 2nd evil head or something and correct us with..well, Philadelphia. The friggin' Maori alphabet only has about 15 letters and I'm supposed to know how the hell to pronounce everything. Anyhow, Philadelphia has some spectacular black sand beaches and cliffs. The beach was all but deserted. We caught a sunset there. Also, there is an old freezing works, which is Kiwi for meat packing plant. It's huge, but in complete shambles, the story is that the support timbers have been stolen from the buildings so they have all collapsed, but nobody has cleaned the sight up because it has asbestos and would be too costly. Wood thieves are sentenced to lung cancer in New Zealand. I like it! We stayed the night in a camper trailer which Marsha really liked, but I'm not going to be one to say she has bad taste so...the camper was great.

2/22
Long drive through beautiful rainforest on a narrow, winding road. The speed limit in NZ is 100. Everywhere, even on narrow winding roads. We got to Taupo, which sits on a beautiful caldera lake. The clarity of the water in the lake was stunning. We saw Huka Falls which is very beautiful. The water there is turquoise.

2/23 & 24
We went to Rotorua which is part Yellowstone (thermal features) and part South Dakota (tourist attractions). We went sprint car racing, lugeing (alpine slide) and best of all Zorbing (get insided a big ball full of water and roll down hill, kind of like being inside a washing machine) We stayed in a magnificent old hotel with a wonderful view and a kooky lady running it. We also drove to Mount Monganui (remember our 'friend' dave, from the wellington museum) to go to the salt water baths. Turns out, it is some indoor, pay to go thing. My Wyoming readers....think star plunge in Thermopolis. Not what I was expecting, alas it didn't turn out to be a total bust though, we went for a sunset hike up the mountain and a pitch black walk back down. It was quite beautiful.

2/25
Went to Napier with surfing in mind. Surf shops weren't easily accesible so I blew it off. We found a neat old building to stay in. We rented bikes and went for a beachside ride. Marsha had a blast!

2/26

We found out that NZ must not have ordinances preventing the remodeling of a building at 6AM. Ya, really, right across from where we were staying a construction crew started at 6 in the morning with full on sledge hammers and skil saws banging and whirring. Didn't fell like sleeping in anyhow. Drove to Paraparaumu, I think it's pronounced like Philadelphia...I dunno, I give up. On the way there, we made a toilet stop in Dannevirke. They have high tech, singing toilets. It was the craziest thing. You go inside, push a button labled "lock door" and then a voice comes on to say "You have 10 minutes" then some canned music "what the world needs now, is love, sweet love" crazy. So, when you're done, and you push the button to open the door, the toilet flushes. Those crazy Kiwis.

2/27
went to the embassy in wellington, got my visa, dropped off the rental car and got on the interislander ferry for a three hour ride across the cook strait and through the Marlborough sound to Picton. Picked up a car and drove to westport.

2/28 - 3/1
Stayed at the Hairy Lemon in Greymouth, ate Kiwi BBQ...it was cheap and filling, can't say much more for it. Went to Hokitika which is touted as a destination for some reason or another....I couldn't see much appeal. We went to Hokitika Gorge and I did find it appealing. More beautiful turquoise colored water through a gorge with a swinging bridge.







3/2
drove back to CHC
3/3
the day that never ended, after getting on an airplane at 2:30, flying an hour to Aukland, then waiting around till 7:30 then getting on an 11 hour flight to L.A., because of the int'l date line, it's only 10:00 on the morning of the 3rd. There were several int'l flights in at the same time with only one baggage carousel. Pandemonium would be an understatement. This was my reintroduction to being back in the states. After all that, Marsha and I said goodbye and I got on yet another plane to Las Vegas. In Vegas, I visited with my buddy Troy and me his family. He had to go home so I went out. Some guy started flipping me shit about my shaggy beard...calling me Jesus. We struck up a conversation. His name was Dustin and he was in Vegas with his friends Marshall and Ricky celebrating Ricky's 21st birthday. They invited me to hang out with them so I did..until 4 AM when I finally had to get some sleep.

3/4
flew to Riverton, visited with my uncle, cousin and grandmother.
3/5,6
drove to Jackson, saw my kids, skied
3/7
drove to Denver and wrote all this stuff. Man I'm tired. Sorry about the lack of proper grammar/spelling/capitilization, etc. My editor is out for the week. I left alot out, but you're probably tired of reading it anyhow.

Tomorrow I leave for Gulmarg. I'm stoked.

link

this guy has time...I don't...that is all. I'll update before August (maybe)

At the end of the world's longest logistical chain..

...that's a phrase from my resume. In the context that I use it in, it sounds very impressive, but the truth of the matter is, it can also be very comical.

Every year a re-supply vessel brings all the supplies down that will be needed during the next year's science season. Food, construction materials, machinery, parts, science equipment, liquor...basically everything that one can imagine. Due to the beauracracy of getting items down here, it takes approximately two years from the time an item is ordered until it actually gets here. During that two years, the order is heavily scrutinized and tough questions are asked which establish whether the item is actually needed, can the item be substituted, is there already something on station that could be used instead...The idea is a sound one and the procurement process is designed to maximize your tax dollars. Sounds great right? Well...in some cases it isn't great. Someone's job is to ensure there is enough bedding on station to support the approximately 1100 people that the station can hold. This person apparently decided to order new comforters. Through the process of scrutinization, a less expensive alternative was found to the comforters that were ordered, so they were purchased and shipped instead.....so after two years a container full of comforters finally arrived and was promptly put back on the ship to be sent back. Why do you suppose they won't work? Because they are 'dry clean only', and we haven't got any one-hour martinizers.

Napkins were ordered from New Zealand, but they don't fit our USA napkin dispensers

Nasty old mattresses were replaced with new ones, but they were 'single' mattresses and the bed frames on station are 'twin' so they slide around while you're trying to sleep....the comedy of errors goes on an on.

Pics from Pole

The South Pole

South Pole Station

The only way out is north

Since man has been coming to Antarctica, the ultimate destination has always been the south pole. Early explorers endured the most extreme hardships. Some lost everything along the way. They endured frost-bite, unbearably cold temperatures, some of the fiercest winds on the planet. My hardship, the crust on my sandwich was a tad bit hard. I probably won't go down in history books for my efforts in conquering stale sandwiches, but I am at the South Pole. When I first started thinking about coming to Antarctica, I fantasized about getting an opportunity to visit “Pole” as it's called by the locals. It was unreasonable to think that I would get to come my first season, but the opportunity arose this season and I jumped at the chance. I only found out a few days ago that I would be coming, I had to tie up some loose ends before departing McMurdo so I really didn't have too much time to get excited about the whole affair. I first started to feel the excitement the night before I came. I woke at about 3A.M and wasn't able to go back to sleep due to the excitement. The flight down was an uneventful 3 hours on a ski-equipped C-130. On the way down, I took an opportunity to look out the window. I was reminded the vastness of this continent. It's amazing how easy it is to forget about the rest of the continent when you're at McMurdo. The feeling I got when I stepped off the plane at Pole was on of exhilaration. I feel extremely honored and privileged to be in this otherworldly place. I received a very warm welcome from the operations manager here. I spent the rest of the day settling into my room and trying to learn my way around the 60,000 sq. foot elevated station.

I intend on getting some pics posted on the blog over the course of the next few days. Until then, here are some tidbits of information:

The current station was completed during the 2005/2006 austral summer.

Conservation is for real here. All water comes from melting snow, which burns a great deal of fuel (at about $16/gallon by the time it gets here). Only 2 showers, lasting 2 minutes each are allowed.

T-shirt design

I couldn't bear the fact that my life is so empty that my "Happy New Year" post was STILL the most recent post clear up until the middle of January. That is akin to leaving the Christmas lights up until Valentine's day. In light of that, I felt obligated to post something..anything so here it is. In November I designed a T-shirt for my work center. I was pretty proud of my wit. I took orders from the guys at work and placed the order. They turned out really good and I was amazed at the satisfaction derived from seeing something that I had designed being worn by residents of the community. Here are some pics of the design.

Happy New Year!!!

I hope everyone is having a happy New Year. I know I am. The start of a new year always causes one to think about what they did during the previous year and what they wish to accomplish in the next. My New Years celebration was supposed to be themed around having fun with karma. You see, I have a friend who is particularly fussy about her coffee. It's cute and funny and it gives me a chance to overlook my own peculiarities and make fun of hers. Her, and her boyfriend, were to be working the coffee house for New Year's Eve. The coffee house actually serves more wine and liquor than anything else, but it is "The Coffee House" so, one should expect there to be coffee there. Now, especially on a busy night, coffee drinks (specifically espresso) take a long time to make. Add to that the tendency for people to assert their individuality by ordering a complicated coffee drink and I can have some compassion for somebody who may not want to be bothered with making coffee when it is much quicker to pour a glass of wine. But, since my friend tends to be picky I fantasized about the karmic humour that would be had by ordering copious amounts of coffee on New Year's Eve. The couple decided to have a little fun and post faux newspaper articles about how e.coli had been discovered in the coffee machine and that coffee wouldn't be available on NYE, all the reasonable people who are lacking in sticks up their asses thought it was funny. But that one guy in management who, apparently does have a stick up his ass, failed to find the humour and had all the signs removed and had my friends relieved of their duties as coffee house bar tenders. Yes, things have been so mellow this year that stupid shit like this makes major headlines. Unbelievable.

On another note, I have done some reflecting about the past year. Marsha and I have had an absolutely great year. We've travelled 3 continents, surfed in Mexico, visited no less than 3 world-heritage sites, visited ancient ruins, witnessed the beginning of a revolution and been to Antarctica - TWICE! I've skied in 2 countries, toured 13 (or so) western states with my kids and I've just done some amazing things. I am very grateful for the freedom that I have to be able to do all this stuff. Here's to another amazing year!

Destination Gulmarg

I'm calling it the Global ody-ski for world peace, it's a bit of self-aggrandizement surrounding my vacation plans. But, here's the plan: I will depart the ice sometime on or about 14 February and spend a couple of weeks kicking around in New Zealand. I need enough time there to process an Indian Visa. Marsha and I will be together for this leg of the journey. Our plans are pretty open but I want to give surfing another shot and want to tour around a bit with her. I'll leave on March 3rd for the U.S. I'll only be passing through the states very briefly. I'll make a quick stopover in Vegas to see a friend whom I haven't seen in years and am eager to catch up with. From there to Riverton, WY where I'll pick up my skis and my Suburban, drive to Jackson, see the boys and then drive to Denver from where I'll depart for Kashmir on March 8th. My trip will take me from Denver to D.C. to Munich to Delhi where I'll spend a night then on to Srinigar, the capital city of Kashmir. From there, it's land transportation to Gulmarg the site of a single gondola that has a vertical rise of 1330 metres (~4300 vert. feet!) that's a greater vertical rise than anything in North America! The gondola, in its 2nd year of full operations, only sees about 50 skiers/day. To say that I am excited about this trip is a bit understated. Currently, I have a hotel booked there for 2 weeks but my plane ticket is one-way and I have no obligations to be anywhere else. Ahhh...the benefits of being homeless. So, I'm not sure where I'll be going after Kashmir, but Chamonix (in France) is high on my list. Skiing in Transylvania has an appeal due to its low cost, or possibly St. Anton, Zermatt....the list goes on. I'll just follow the snow. When the skiing peters out, I plan on meeting Marsha somewhere in Europe to tour around a bit, especially eastern Europe. From there I plan on flying directly to Buenos Aires and on to Barlioche in Patagonia for some Austral-skiing before returning to work....either back to Antarctica or somewhere else. Anyhow, that's it. I would enjoy seeing you along the way.

Of course, this is all subject to change :)

Have a great day!

Couple of random notes...

Myself and the guys I work with took a trip to Cape Evans a few weeks ago. It was a great trip out of town as well as a good bonding experience. This time, I drove the newest, most reliable piece of equipment, that's the "Elephant Man" on the right. We also took 3 Pisten Bullys and 2 Tucker snow cats. We were out until almost 1 A.M. We saw seals and toured an historic hut that was built in the early 1900's by one of the first expeditions.




Havin' a BLAST. Yesterday, I witnessed the launch of this season's most impressive baloon payload. It's called BLAST - an acronym for Balloon Borne, Large apeture, Submillimeter Telescope. In a nutshell, its job is to detect star-forming regions.

Why come to Antarctica...?

Recently, some observations from friends of mine who were here under the auspices of the National Science Foundation have been causing me to think. The rhetorical question was asked "Why would you be here if you're confined to town?" To answer that, first, nobody is really confined to town. Even the people who work in the dining facility get out every once in a while. The larger answer though, is that we're here for the experience. Just like you are. My experience won't be less rich because I didn't spend time in a field camp. My experience will be richer though because you have.

What I'm trying to get at is that your success depends on my success and I am emotionally invested in your project before you even hit the ice. Do you think your transportation just happens? Do you think your gear just arrives? Do you think your meals magically appear? To do whatever it is that you came here to do, you need transportation, quarters, food, gear and various other stuff. We make it happen. Maybe you haven't noticed, but there isn't an auto parts store nearby. You probably have noticed that the equipment you are driving around in is used. During a great part of the austral summer, it doesn't seem too cold at McMurdo, but try holding onto a hunk of metal that is 30 degrees farenheit. Believe me, it's cold! Knowing that I have overcome adversity, knowing that I have had to make do without fills me with a sense of pride.

Yes, we envy you. We want to get out and experience Antarctica but please don't pity me for not spending my time here exclusively in a field camp. I take a great deal of pride knowing that I, in the face of great adversity, have contributed to the furtherance of human knowledge. Phrases like "I can't do that without parts" have been replaced by "I'll think of another way to do the job". Thanks to the kitchen staff, the housing staff, logistics, fuels, waste, IT, firehouse, cargo, ATO and all the other departments, without whom I couldn't do my job and without whom my entire experience in Antarctica might not be as rich.

May contain peanuts...

So what's up with everyone's food allergies? I made some crack the other day about seeing signs for "gluten-free" this and that and got a very stern response from a bystander about how people have allergies. There are peanut allergies. You can't send latex balloons to school because of latex allergies. I have a cousin who has a soy allergy - damn good thing she's not lactose intolerant as well. I think that the pussification of America may have gone beyond being politically correct and may now encompass every facet of our being. And on that, what's up with workplace "sensitivity" type training. I'm told that if my actions, words or pictures that I view offend someone in my workplace then I must change my behavior. I have three words for someone who finds my stuff offensive: "Deal with it you moronic, worthless piece of spineless trash"

So....everyone who comes to Antarctica signs an offer letter that states their wages. It is also made very clear to anyone wanting to work here that they will be expected to work 54 hours per week. If you can't be happy working for that amount of pay and for those hours, then don't sign up - simple! Also, there was a question asked at today's "all hands meeting" about televisions and why there isn't a television in every dorm room. Seriously, did you come here to watch fucking tv?


I had a bit of an emotional meltdown a few weeks ago. Some tough questions came up, and in the end, I am a better person and know more about myself for confronting those questions. As a result of this I now know that, as I get closer to my 40th birthday, that my big aspiration in life is to be a ski bum. That's it, I'm not going to be the one to cure cancer or solve world hunger or promote world peace. I simply want to ski.

O.K. enough of my drivel. Have a good one!