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11April 2004

Twenty sounded dead until I worked a couple. Then it was bedlam. One of
biggest pileups I've ever seen. Maybe it just sounded that big, because
this rig doesn't have a CW filter. Worked until I was tired and needed to
get some sleep, but by that time it not possible to make good time.

I have some photos on a floppy to send you. Satish's brother, Guerish,
9N2AA paid me a visit yesterday afternoon. Nice man. He is inactive
because of antenna restrictions. I'm not sure if that from local ordinances
or just because of his Qth not being suitable.

Never had an eighty meter antenna, but I don't think it would have don't
much good. It was hard enought to work 40.

This isn't my final log, but I leave in the morning and dont want to start
the trip back home all worn out.

Jim

10 April 2004

I just got an email from Yeshey saying he was very happy to hear that I
arrived back safely in Nepal. I thought that Tibet was safer than here.
FRom the looks of the situation here, I can see why people would try to
overthrow the goverment. The whole place looks like a slum.

I don't see any difference here in regard to rioting. I see nothing unusual
going back and forth in a taxi.

Getting home sounds better all the time. The language barrier is more and
more frustrating. A lot worse here in Kathmandu. I had to change back to
the hotel I started with today because I couldn't get any resutls at the
restaurant in the hotel near Satish's huse.

Worked about 260 stations yesterday, 20 and 40 meters. None of my
scheduleshave worked here so far. The noise level here is very high since
I'm operating from a high density area.

Got to get a few winks and get back to Satish's place to run the pileups
again.

Jim

10 April 2004

Arrived back in Nepal about noon. I am at Satish's home and have made a few
qso's on 20 cw.

73 and 88,

Jim

09 April 2004

While is fresh in my mind, I thought it appropriate to fill you in on what
Tibet is like now compared to what must have been for Robert Ford and Reg
Fox. If you have his email, Don, would you please forward this to Rich
Eckman. He has read Ford's book and we discussed it several times.

It is a busy, low slung city of about 320,000 people, an apparently even
mixture of Tibetans and Chinese. The number of tourists from the West is
much less than I have ever seen in all of my travels and the number of
Americans even smaller. The Potala is the predominant feature, so I had my
guide take me there the first day. It may have been better judgement to
have left that for the last day when I had become aclimated to the altitude.
I had cortizone shots in both knees before leaving home, which helped a
lot, but climbing and descending steps are very tiring. There aren't many
things to do here that are not mostly up and down. That was also true in
Bhutan.

I have just now realized the similarity of the words TOURIST and TERRORIST
when spoken by a person whose third or fourth language is pidgeon Endlish.
The security checks at airports is even more thorough than Europe....two
body searches for one boarding.

It is bone dry here, even though my guide said they had rain here only two
weeks ago. The main crop here is wheat, barley next, but not much rice. I
guess it is not possible for paddy to exist here for long.

The airport is some distance from town, about an hour and a half drive. The
highway is much better than I expected, two concrete lanes, with lots of
guards rails.

That's probably due to having recent experience with the narrow roads in
Bhutan with almost no guard rails at all. Passing was possible there, but
it was with only four wheels on the road and two of them had better be
yours. The pedestrians were numerous and quite unafraid of being hit.
Yeshey said that you have to hit one once in a while. He was a lot of fun
to be with.

I didn't see any of the countryside exept for the drive here from the
airport, so I can't really say what living here is like for the Tibetans. I
see a strong resemblance between their facial features and complexions and
those of the S. American Indians and, to a lesser degree, the N. American
Indians. I guess that is partly due to the high altitudes they and their
ancesters have lived in.

I'm running out of gas tonight. I have a 5:30 wakeup call tomorrow and the
plane ride to Kathmandu. It will be another busy and interesting day.

One request. If any of you see 9N7PR spotted on the DX cluster, would you
please call Linda, so she will know I am back in Kathmandu.

73 and 88,

09 April 2004

Just being here in Lhasa is the culmination of years of dreaming and a few
days of taking as much as possible while guarding against altitude effects.
So far, so good, on both counts.

Sorry for the lack of photos lately. This computer recognizes my camera
when I plug it in to the USB port, but that's as far as I can get. The
staff at the business center at the hotel and my guide say it can't work,
which I have to accept. I may be able to send some more from 9N1AA's place
tomorrow.

If things go well, I should be on from Kathmandu tomorrow afternoon local
time. That's early Saturday morning . I have to pick up the gear I left
with the travel agency when I get there, check in to my hotel then taxi
over to the shack.

The only things I've seen in Kathmandu are what I saw on the taxi rides
across town. Hopefully, I won't have to do that again, my new hotel being
close to Satish's house. I may try to do a little sight seeing while there
this time. It all depends on the band conditions. I've never had a ride on
an elephant.