Trekking Disaster

It's been more than a week since I was scheduled to return from trekking and yet I'm only posting about it now. What gives?

Here's the short version: I contracted typhoid fever while trekking and have spent the last week recovering. Also, my computer died because that's how Murphy's law works.

And the long version...

Strange Business

Below are a few observations about how businesses function here in Kathmandu. I leave on an eleven day trek through Annapurna tomorrow so this will likely by the last substantial post for the next two weeks. Annapurna is, by all accounts, stunningly beautiful so expect some pictures and a full write-up when I get back.

Sunday Papers #6

Sundays are for realizing you haven't written a single blog post since last week's Sunday Papers. Oops... But that's OK because there is delectable tea to imbibe and much to read. Here's a promise, right from the start, that only a little of this is about the election. Right now, I just want to nothing the election...

Sunday Papers #5 (a little early this time...)

Sundays are for waking up early, scrapping a Halloween costume together and thinking about all that good internet reading that you don't have time to read now but will probably read later. I'm so torn about Halloween. On the one hand, what a great holiday. On the other hand, it's such a pain to get ready for it...Happy Halloween everyone!

Blogspot Blocked in Nepal

The Nepal Telecom Company (NTC), which is the primary ISP in Nepal seems to have blocked access to blogspot.com domains today. Apparently, they filter the internet for porn and managed to (accidentally?) block blogspot and the huffington post after blocking 60 porn sites yesterday.

Given that thousands of new porn sites are created every day (and the sheer number that already exist), you have to wonder why they even bother trying to block all of it in the first place. It's a pretty hopeless endeavor, especially for a government run company that has very limited resources.

Since most people in Nepal won't be able to access blogspot (and thus, this blog) it's hardly worth going into detail about it, but one way to easily bypass the kind of filtering is to use TOR. I tried that this morning and was able to get through to blogspot domains with no problem...

The Cuteness

Yesterday was the Parent's Day Show at OGN. The kids dressed up in all sorts of costumes and put on a show for their parents. There was lots of singing, dancing, etc. The adorable factor was off the charts...

 

Sunday Papers #4

Sundays are for waking up unusually early after having extremely vivid dreams about visiting Mexico. In Dreamexico (see what I did there...), everything is made out of lego blocks...Anyways, after a traumatic experience such as this, it's good to sit back, relax, drink some tea, and have a look at the fine bounty of links that the Internet gods have offered up to us this week. As for why the Internet gods are making offerings to us - instead of vice-versa - I cannot say...