Last year I trekked into the Moroccan Sahara desert on a very trusty camel named Aszu. In the evening, my guide, Jusef, a sixth grade educated Berber nomad, surprisingly fluent in six languages, fixed me a tantalizing chicken tangine. All that it lacked was a glass of wine, unfortunately verboten for Muslims just days before Ramadan. At night we slept under the incredible desert night skies. Never before had I seen so many stars, stretching from one horizon to the other – the stars so bright and numerous, it was difficult to make out the constellations. That was Morocco, a kaleidoscope of sights, sounds, smells, and experiences. From Morocco I traveled on through much of Europe, Russia, Mongolia, China, and finally concluding my trip in Japan. This year's trip will take me to Romania, Ukraine, Georgia, Central Asia, India, Nepal, Southwest China, and Indochina. At times I hope to report back on my experiences and observations, perhaps posting a few pictures and videos that may be of interest. I've posted below a few pictures and videos from some past trips. For my blog on my travels through East Europe check out my blog at http://tallinntovarna.blogspot.com.

I’ve been asking myself lately, is there a theme to all this? Maybe not, but one thing I can say that piques my interest, is the dangerous nexus between religion and politics that engulfs the world today. In Morocco, where the King is both the head of Mosque and State, a Muslim, during Ramadan, can end up in jail for doing nothing more than drinking a glass of water under the scorching daytime heat – his crime, the thirsty Muslim broke the fast. Imams in Morocco claim that such an abhorrent act defies the teachings of God, infringes on the religious liberties of practicing Muslims, and is deserving of serious sanction. Of course, such a violation of an individual’s personal freedom could never happen in America. Or could it? As I write this, the U.S. Catholic Bishops are ferociously attacking President Obama’s Affordable Care Act for requiring institutions to provide birth control under their insurance policies. Like the Imams, the Bishops consider it not just an affront, but an existential threat, to their religious liberties. A poor woman, without the means to support a family, let alone a brutally raped woman, should not expect any sympathy from these Catholic institutions, as they, like their Muslim brothers, are scripturally bound to impose their beliefs on others. Does it matter that no one is telling Muslims that they cannot fast or Catholics that they cannot abstain from sex?

Now that I think of it, I’d like to dedicate this blog to Americans United, a terrific nonpartisan educational organization dedicated to preserving the principle of church-state separation as the only way to ensure religious freedom. Before I move on though, I’d like to share with you this political satire piece I wrote a few months ago when Senator Rick Santorum had a chance of being the Republican nominee. It pretty much sums up my take on what a large segment of the American population would like to see should their wildest dreams come true. Finally, I begin this blog with three postings from last year’s trip just to give you an idea of who I am and what you may or may not come to expect as I embark on this year's trip. If you have something nice to say, I'd love to hear from you.

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Chitwan, Nepal


Chitwan Kitchen
“The walls of our house are made of mud and brick,” Hemanta explaines. “The roof is thatched. We don’t have a bathroom or a kitchen. Our kitchen is like the one I showed you in the village, a little hardened dirt floor off to one side where my wife and mother can start a wood fire and cook our meals. Like everyone in the village, my wife washes our clothes by hand. And like the others, we have a small rice paddy, which keeps us in rice four months of the year. We have sixteen ducks and I have a bicycle, which I use to get to work. Wages are very low and prices very high — stores are mostly for tourists — villagers barter and trade to get by. We want our two kids to have more, but it’s difficult. I want another male duck so we can breed more. A male duck cost 1,000 rupees ($12.50). My wife wants a water buffalo, but a buffalo cost 60,000 rupees ($681), and that’s too much for us. In the ideal world, I’d like to buy an elephant, but they’re really expensive, four million rupees ($45,454). If the tourists come back, (that’s a big if) a good elephant can pay for itself in two years. But there’s a lot of uncertainty with our government and that’s creating problems for the tourism industry. Our Prime Minister, who’s a Moist, dissolved the parliament. The parliament had two years to write a constitution, but failed, so now we have neither a parliament nor a constitution, only a Prime Minister, and no one knows what’s going to happen next. We hope that fighting doesn’t break out again. When that happened, it was disastrous for the Park. Poachers were able to come in and kill some of our animals. The Park animals and tourism are our livelihood.”
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