Day 4 - Kathmandu to Pokhara

Thanks to a blockade from India, the price of gasoline has tripled and the price for most other items has doubled.  Nepal is a landlocked country with India to the south and China to the north.  Unfortunately, with Himalayas also along the northern border there is really only easy way for goods to reach Nepal - through India.  

Given the embargo people are doing anything to stay warm and cook.  Oil has been replaced by wood or anything that will burn.  The result?  Very polluted air.  Add to that just above freezing lows (with no heated hotel rooms in the city).  To get us to see as much as possible on short visit I planned for us to visit the Hindu temple on our way to the airport on our first morning in Nepal. What is best for time is not always best for morale.  

First stop of the day:  

I hesitate to post this picture; this is a family grieving at a funeral.  The priest(?) is washing the head and feet of the dead.  Near the center of the picture is a block of cement where they will build the funeral pyre.  It is a very solemn ceremony.

Meanwhile, in another part of the temple are guys dressed like this:

This is my sister's very polite yet very, "What the hell did Steve get me into?" look.

 And finally, we are off to Pokhara.

 The guard standing behind them did not appreciate our stopping for a picture.

 I think, just maybe, Miriam began to warm up to Nepal on this walk along Fewa lake with the great Fishtail mountain overlooking us in the background of this picture.  This mountain is higher than any mountain in North America... why it has no snow is a mystery to me.

Day 3 - Abu Dhabi and travel to Nepal

Day 3 started early with a trip to Abu Dhabi before catching a flight to Nepal.

The Sheikh Zayed Mosque is an amazing structure.  I wanted to take M & G inside but we didn't have time. Next up was Emirates Palace: 

Quite simply, this picture doesn't do it justice.  

Here's a giant Christmas tree inside the hotel and... and...

A gold ATM machine.

My friend Youssef was our driver for the day.

Although Dubai has more skyscrapers, Abu Dhabi has some of the most amazing architecture.  

On the flight to Nepal we were able to see the Palm Jumeirah - man-made islands.  

 Once in Nepal we were greeted by my friend Vikram.

 A toast:  Here's to travelling to the other side of the planet!

Day 2 - Christmas in the UAE

Traveling 10 time zones can be a bitch.  Day 2 is always the hardest for me so we kept the day - Christmas day - pretty calm. The term "Ain" in my home city of Al Ain means "spring" or "oasis."  Back in the day before roads Bedouins traveled across the desert to reach this oasis where water and dates basic vegetables were grown.

Miriam with the guy wearing an interesting shirt in a Muslim country...

After the Oasis we stopped by the camel market.

Miriam with a rare black camel.  So here's the story:  We were only in the camel market for a short time - 10 minutes.  A guy volunteered to be our "guide."  The Pakistani was very helpful and showed us the cool things to see very quickly.  Meanwhile an entire group of Pakistanis joined in.  All were trying to be our guide.  As we were leaving I should have given our guide a 10 dirham ($2.70) but I gave him 40 dirhams ($11).  By the time we made it back to the car a fight had broken out.  The other guys wanted a cut. In 8 years in the Emirates I have been to the camel market many times.  Normally I blow off the guys offering to be guides and there's no problem.  In this case it was just sad to see fist-fight break out over $11... on Christmas day.

Finally, we ended up at my friends' place for Christmas dinner.  Laurie (the pregnant woman in blue) and her husband Chris have been friends for years.  She's British, he's Kiwi (New Zealand) and they are planning to move to Canada in the summer.  Directly in front of me is Caleb and Maura(?).  Caleb is another Kiwi and the brother of Chris' best friend.  Maura is Russian and from the most polluted city in the world.  At Caleb's brother's wedding last summer in Wales I listened to her stories about life back home.  Just be happy you don't live there.

The great Simpson adventure - Day 1

It is a difficult sell to ask anyone to fly to the other side of the planet.  The arduous trip takes at least 24 hours - more than 16 inside one plane or another.  I was pleased Miriam & George agreed to make the trip. 

They were greeted with a nice welcome cake from my Sri Lankan friend Christian.  That evening they met American friends Christine and Dan.  We went to a traditional local restaurant where Miriam decided at the last minute that it might not be a good idea to follow tradition and sit on the floor.

M & G handled the jet lag remarkably well, better than I do on most trips.  My promise is to post each day about the next day of their trip.  Trust me, it gets way more interesting.

Nepal bound!

OK... I am writing this because writing helps me think.

Here's the plan:  On December 27 we will head to Abu Dhabi early in the morning.  We will see Sheikh Zayed mosque, drive along the corniche (Gulf highway) and see the amazing archecture of Abu Dhabi.  We will arrive at the airport at noon and fly off to Kathmandu at 2PM.  We will arrive at 8 and go straight to the hotel after clearing customs.

In the morning we will have Nepali omelette (a reason to go to Nepal all by itself), head to the Hindu temple and see the funeral pyres.

Nepali omelette.

This is the Hindu temple where they wash and burn the dead (not shown).

We will then go to the airport and fly to Pokhara around 11.  In the afternoon in Pokhara we can walk around the street festival or go for the world's longest zip line.

The next day we will also have time to see the street festival and go paragliding.

I hope the weather is this clear when we are in Nepal.  Paragliding and seeing this is the most amazing thing I've ever done.

Eco-Village at night:  This was taken at midnight using a 30 second exposure.  The colors were not visible to my eyes and you can see stars at the top of the picture.

In the after noon of the 29th we will head up to Eco-village.  It's a place designed to help tourists see how to live ecologically friendly.  It's also a place where they grow many vegetables, including Dad's popcorn.  If we are feeling particularly hearty we can spend the night.

On the 30th we will fly back to Kathmandu.  In Kathmandu we will head to the Monkey temple and feed monkeys.  We will also see Durbar Square - a 900 year old(?) temple and Thamel, the touristy area of Kathmandu where we will be staying.

Feeding monkeys never gets old... which reminds me... Miriam... I need you to bring a very large bag of peanuts.  We have learned over the years that monkeys love peanuts. Oranges, bananas and cocunut are OK but they LOVE peanuts in the shell.  Bring 3 pounds.  (At least.)

This is the actual temple at the Monkey temple - it is Buddhist with the Eyes of Nepal.

On the 31st we will fly back to the UAE.  

Trip within the trip

My sister and her husband are coming at Christmas.  They will be in the Emirates long enough to have a trip within a trip.  Here are the places under consideration:

Nepal
Nepal is like a second home to me.  The people are incredibly nice.  I have made friends who have become family.  The scenery is amazing.

 In my favorite place - Pokhara - you can see the Annapurna range.  A mountain range with 8 visible peaks all higher than ANYTHING in North America.

This picture was taken at Christmas time.  It's cool but not cold by Iowa standards.

My two favorite things to do in Nepal is to paraglide and feed monkeys.  This monkey is at a major Hindu temple.  The people in the background are looking down at a river where there are several funeral pyres burning.  While there were tourists snapping pictures standing just feet away from grieving families I could never do that so you just have to trust me.

Nepal

Pro's
It's NEPAL!  I look for any excuse to come here.
The scenery is simply unmatched.  The Annapurna range is stunning.
Paragliding is a blast and I have done it enough times I know the really good pilots for Miriam and George.
There is a street festival at the end of December that is a lot of fun.
The Hindu and Buddhist temples in Kathmandu are very interesting... feeding monkeys is crazy fun.

Con's
It's December.  In seven trips I have experienced all of the seasons of Nepal and December is my least favorite.  It's not super cold - it stays above freezing - but there is no heat at night so it is c-o-l-d.

Four day itinerary:
Arrive in Kathmandu walk to the domestic terminal to hopefully catch a flight to Pokhara.
Day 2 - see the street festival, walk down from the Peace Pagoda (a beautiful view of the city and nice walk down through the jungle to Fewa Lake). Take a jeep to Eco-village.  The picture of me with the mountain in the background is taken from Eco-village.  It has an amazing view of the Annapurna mountain range.
Day 3 - Go paragliding.  Take a flight back to Kathmandu.  Take another flight to see Everest.  Walk around Thamel - the touristy area with shops.
Day 4 - Go to the Hindu temple in the morning.  See the funeral pyres.  Go to the Monkey temple (Buddhist).  Feed monkeys.  Return to hotel and fly out.

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka would be the warmest destination we would be considering.  The island nation is one giant tropical forest.  My sister loves plants and this place is a horticulturalist's dream.  Also, there is an elephant sanctuary where you can feed the elephants.

Sri Lanka
Pro's
A lush green tropical jungle that is amazing to see and drive through.
Feeding Elephants is fantastic (monkeys were also available on my trip but not nearly as many as in Nepal).

Con's
None, really.

Four day itinerary
Fly into Colombo - stay at a nice hotel called Galle Face.  Go swimming and relax.
Day 2 see Colombo
Day 3 - take a car up to amazing botanic gardens and to the elephant breeding ground.
Day 4 - relax at the beach and return home.

Jordan

Jordan
Pro's
It's the shortest flight - 3 hours.
Petra - The Treasury and the small canyon you walk through to get to it - is very cool.
Floating in the Dead Sea is just something you have to experience to understand.  You literally float on water.

Con's
When you return to Iowa people will not be excited to hear about Petra and floating in the Dead Sea really is a "you had to be there" experience.

Itinerary:
Day 1 - Fly into Amman and have a driver waiting to take us straight to Petra - a 4(?) hour trip.
Day 2 - See Petra, The Treasury, ancient burials... really interesting canyons.
Day 3 - Travel to Dead Sea
Day 4 - Travel to airport and fly out

Egypt

Not my picture because pics were not allowed in the Cairo museum... but seeing it up close was amazing.

Hot air balloon ride over Luxor (where the Pharaohs are buried).

Abu Simbel - this is in far southern Egypt.  The giant shrine was built to scare away the Sudanese who might consider coming down the Nile to attack.  A picture doesn't do it justice.

Egypt
Pro's
From the pyramids to King Tut's mask, to the pharoah's burial sites to Abu Simbel... Egypt is memorable at every stop.
Back in Iowa everyone will know and want to hear about the pyramids.  Never mind that the pyramids in Mexico are cooler...

Con's
Egypt is just not a great place to visit unless in a tourist group or with an Egyptian guide.  We couldn't do a tourist group because we are too limited on time.

Itinerary
To do what I would want to do in Egypt would be very hard in four days....
Day 1 - arrive and drive straight to the pyramids, see them for a few hours and head directly to the Cairo Museum to see Tut's mask.  Stay overnight in Cairo.
Day 2 - depart on first available flight to Luxor.  See the Karnak temple
Day 3 - Hot air balloon flight, see the burial sites
Day 4 - see more temples, fly back to Cairo and connect to the UAE

Unfortunately, I don't think we could make it to Abu Simbel on this trip.

Each of the four possibilities have pro's and con's.  Which sounds best to you?  If you can't decide what would you like to know to decide?

Dollar vs. Euro

Dear few friends who still read my blog:  Please understand that the following post is my ENTP need to have an interesting discussion.

In SE Asia I was traveling with my friend Lukas.  He's my German friend that helped me see the place my great-great-grandfather came from.

I was very happy to travel with him in SE Asia in late 2014.  He has been everywhere I wanted to go:  Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. Before I met up with him in Bangkok I said, "I want to see it all and we are not going by bus."  So we did a series of short trips by plane from Bangkok to Siem Reap (awesome) to Phnom Pen (disgusting) to Saigon (interesting) to Hue (quaint) to Da Nang (awesome) to Hanoi (surprisingly interesting).  I paid for his flights because he would have never made those flights; he would have gone by bus or - because he had already been there - he wouldn't have gone back to those cities.

So....  during the course of the trip I gave him money when he had not already converted it from euros.  I didn't keep track; I didn't care.  At the end of the trip he told me owed me $200.  I was like, "Ok, whatever."

A month passes.

He still doesn't have my IBAN number to send the money to my account (that's my mistake).  I finally gave it to him. He says, "I will send the euros I owe you."  The problem?  During the month the US dollar has appreciated 10% vs. the euro.  Sending me the euros means I lost 10%.

Should he send me $200 which is what I am expecting or should he send me 160 euros which is what he had in his mind when I gave him money?

A strange trip home

I never thought I'd come to the United States without coming to Iowa...

Here's the flight tracker:

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/ETD103/history/20141001/2311Z/OMAA/KJFK

I will arrive in New York on Thursday morning.  I will meet UAEU graduates and spend a couple of days with my friend Youssef.  On Sunday I will fly to Seattle on Jet Blue arriving in Seattle at Noon.  I will spend a week there flying out late Saturday night to New York and then late Sunday flying back to the UAE.

Seattle

Goal:  Obtain a Ph.D. or  D.B.A. (Doctorate of Business Administration)

Why?  I am a lowly paid instructor compared to my well-compensated colleagues - several of whom  are (cough) not great teachers.  Also, with only a Master's I am relegated to entry level classes.  Ph.D's and D.B.A.'s are referred to as "terminal" degrees for more reasons than one.  But, basically it is something I have to do if I want to retire in this field.

Observation:  Since arriving in this country I have been giving a free test that mirrors the Myers-Briggs test.  I won't bore you with all of the details but one of the categories on this test is whether a person is "judging" or "perceiving."  Judging people see the world as black or white.  They make decisions easily because they see things as right or wrong.  Perceiving people see shades of grey in everything.  They are not great at making decisions because they see good and bad in just about everything.

I am a Perceiving person teaching in a place where (almost) all of my students are Judging.

This is a window to a dissertation and research:  Is the population in the Arab world is vastly different than the western world?  If so, what are the human resources implications?

Step 1 is to become a certified Myers-Briggs examiner.

I explained this to my new Dean and said, "In seven years I have never requested or received University funds for any professional development - until now."  The only places I could find for certification at a reasonable price was in the US.

She approved paying for my flight to Seattle and the training.  Since my beloved airline Etihad doesn't fly directly to Seattle I will book two tickets:  One round trip ticket from Abu Dhabi to New York and another from New York to Seattle. It will be fun to see a group of my former students who are now studying at NYU.

And now the recurring thought I've had many times today:  OMG! OMG! I work for an employer willing to send me 8000 miles for a training session that in no way directly helps them.  Has any employer ever been willing to do anything like this in the past?  Noooo....

A Halloween to remember

So I'm not exactly a new-agey-touchy-feely guy... but I used to get premonitions that were spot-on.  They were literally visions.  I would see a scene that later would happen.  They ended in my early 20's and I long ago dismissed them as coincidences or perhaps wishful thinking.

As I was leaving the US in August I had no premonition but the overwhelming anxiety was something I just  could not rationally explain.  Sadly, the anxiety proved to be justified as settling the farm estate has become a whole lot more complicated due to crashing corn/bean prices and family infighting.  In the summer of 2004 I sat in the kitchen with Mom and Dad and gamed out all of the scenarios of dealing with the estate - what would work well, what wouldn't work, etc. - and I have to give Mom credit:  Ten years ahead of time she was able to see where the problems would lie.  I love my father dearly but he was clueless.  He was literally the Rodney King of our family - "Can't we all get along?"

Our farm land will go on sale on October 31.  The sale price could be stable or down hundreds of thousands of dollars.... talk about a scary Halloween!

Fortunately, a farm near ours will go for sale in late September.  I consider it the canary in the coal mine.  Has the fall in corn prices killed land values?  We shall see soon enough.

Anxiety

I had heard of panic attacks but never experienced one until June 1997 - Spellman had died and I lost my job in Dubuque (they closed the weather station).  I was forced to move to Norfolk, Nebraska, to remain employed.  My anxiety was constantly high for weeks and a couple of times I'd have an onset of quick shallow breathing, mania and absolute impending doom thoughts racing through my head.

For reasons I can't quite explain I am close to feeling this again.  My chest feels like it is going to explode and I am on the verge of tears almost all day.  So what's so wrong?  Actually, not much.  My house is cleaned out and my friend Ollie is going to bring in contractors to fix it up and make it a real rental.  Financially I'm OK.  I can't explain my anxiety but it is very real.  It is bordering on debilitating.  In 12 hours I will be boarding a plane to Nepal.  I hope Nepal works its magic.

Student evaluations

Fall 2013 was probably the best semester I've ever had as a teacher.  I genuinely loved my classes and well... I don't know if they loved me but the numbers were excellent and here are the comments.

The good:

• Good job Steve
• He is kind and helpful
• I like this class , its very good and nice
• Thank you for making the process of learning as simple as it should be.. your examples are super simple to understand and it makes understanding the subject really easy and fun.
• i enjoyed the course

The really good:

• He is an amazing teacher and he's really passionate about what he does and his class is the only class that i never ever get bored in, and i was hoping i can be in his supply chain class next semester but there was maybe three classes and i couldnt register so i was hoping maybe the university could open another section or increase the number students in his classes because he is wonderfull at teaching.
• THE MOST ENJOYABLE COURSE!!! The class that no one wishes to end, this doctor knows well how to keep students with him and let them feel excited while explaining... The best thing he does is giving us LOTS of examples that happen in our lives which makes it easier for us to get the point...
•  Best Best Best tutor ! gives very good examples which helps us understand material really well. Love going to his class.
• THE MOST ENJOYABLE COURSE!!! The class that no one wishes to end, this doctor knows well how to keep students with him and let them feel excited while explaining... The best thing he does is giving us LOTS of examples that happen in our lives which makes it easier for us to get the point...
• Thank you for making the process of learning as simple as it should be.. your examples are super simple to understand and it makes understanding the subject really easy and fun.
• Now if somebody asked me about supply chain I won't answer a short answer but I can bring a live example too and catch the other person attention.

The stuff big heads are made of:

• The best teacher that I ever had , amaziiiing teacher
• Dr.steve is the best
• Best professor
• awesome instructor

Likely to make me insufferable:

• Steven Kranz is THE GREATEST instructor of all times!
• Thanks for hiring him in our university ,, he is awesome ...
• THE BEST TEACHER EVER I HAD

I am so lucky to be able to be a teacher...

Spooky, blogger, spooky

The post below is three years old.  Why it appeared two days ago is beyond me.

YEARS

onder if some people view years as "good" or "bad" like I do.

1977 - good, don't remember why, but good
1983 - my brother died.
1987 - a very mixed year 1st half great, 2nd half bad (My final semester of HS was great while transition to college was bad by epic standards.)
1993 & 1994 - Just bad and let's leave it at that.
1995 - Good, started weather job.
1996 - Maybe the best year of my life.  Nothing particularly exciting happened, but just a great year.
1997 - Spellman died and I moved to Nebraska.  If there is hell on earth I was living it.
1999 - Lost my job in weather, dealt with mental illness in someone close to me and slowly felt my body shutting down.
2002 - Ended up in an emergency room with they symptoms of a heart attack (at the age of 33).  Fortunately, it was the end of a long road of having no thyroid hormone in my body.
2003 - Good, new job teaching that I really loved.
2005-2008 - all a blur as I sank into a pretty deep depression and I'm amazed that I still have any friends given that era.
2009 - Great, but feeling guilt.  Can a person really get paid so much for doing so little work?  I ended up writing 1154 blog posts that year mainly because I felt I MUST keep busy doing something, work was too easy.
2011 - After 40+ years on this planet I've never had a year quite like this one:  A year with extraordinary highs and extraordinary lows.  The first high was an amazing job offer followed by my current employer trying to keep me.  Then in May I started dreaming of Mom's death.  The dreams were every night and I had the most prolonged sleepless period of my life.  I had week after week with no more than 3 hours per night.  When I came home in early August and saw how great she was doing I felt incredible relief.  Sadly, the nightmare turned to reality two weeks later.

A couple of weeks ago my Dean came to me with a job proposal that would not be much more work and would pay more.  Yesterday we came to an agreement on the pay.  Umm. I don't know what to say.  My pay raises this year are the equivalent of two minimum wage workers working 40 hours per week.  I get a nice title, "Director" and an unbelievable office - 1500(?) square feet that I share with a co-wo

Can I interest you in a conspiracy theory, subjugation, and Amway?

I am an extrovert.  We extroverts get energy from meeting and getting to know new people.  Last night, however, made me rethink my beliefs.  I was meeting with a Nepali who is a friend of a friend.  Since I love Nepal and almost every Nepali I meet I was very happy to meet him.

Over the course of the evening we hit the trifecta of bad topics:

1. He asked about 9-11.  I knew where this was going... I had no idea how strong the conspiracy theory runs until I came here.  I gave up trying to have the discussion years ago.  I have no energy to argue with these people because there is literally no point.  
2. Caste.  He informed me that within the Hindu system he is in the highest caste.  (And for that reason he can't marry the woman he loves... or something like that... but I didn't really care because I find the caste system abhorrent.  Telling me you are in the highest caste is like telling me how many slaves you own; I just can't be happy for you.)  
3. And it ended with a request that I check into a pyramid scheme very similar to Amway (in that, yes, it is a pyramid but at least they do sell real products.)

FML.  I am still an extrovert and happy to meet new people and long ago I had accept that I'll have nights like this one.

David Frum

David Frum is a conservative former speechwriter for George W. Bush.  Over the years I've come to appreciate his input (even though I often don't agree with it).  That's why I added a link to the side of this blog about a month ago - it makes it easier for to access his work.

If you expect sanity to return to the Republican party anytime soon you should read his blog, starting with his most recent post.

Lucky guys follow up

In the post below I wrote about Mansour (the Emirati wearing the robe in the picture below) getting a fantastic internship at Boeing in Seattle and Youssef (the Moroccan who will have his entire Master's degree at NYU paid for by the Emirati government).

I showed this picture to my classes as a way to promote the Supply Chain major.  Basically, "See these very successful Supply Chain majors!"
\
Today Mansour said he was famous.  Many students have told him they saw this picture in my classes.

Did any of them say, "How did you get an internship at Boeing?  What is majoring in Supply Chain like?"

Nope.

All they asked him was, "What does it take to get an A in Steve's class?"

He just laughed it off and said, "I don't know."

I WISH Mansour had said, "Don't ask me: In my first class with Steve I got a C+."

This is a perfect example of the short-sighted thinking that is common here.  A grade in one class has virtually zero impact on life.  Achieving a scholarship to NYU or an internship at Boeing?  That's life changing. As Spellman always said, "Don't focus on the small battles.  The goal is to win the war."  Here, life is nothing but the small battles.

Lucky guys

Meet Mansour and Yousef:

This is a pic from last spring at Emirates Palace...  In the past two weeks Mansour secured an internship at Boeing in Seattle for the spring.  This country is investing a lot of money into the aerospace industry.  Long story short:  This well-paid internship could lead to a fantastic career.

Last night Youseff found out he's been accepted to NYU.  The Emirati government will pay his tuition, room & board, give him two round-trip tickets per year, and about $500 per month to live on.  Talk about a sweet deal!

I hope to visit them (and Iowa) during spring break.

Knock, knock, knock?

I don't know who was there.

At 5AM I awoke to three loud knocks.  I thought maybe it was part of a dream.  Three knocks came again.  I yelled, "Who is it?"  As I started to climb again I heard three knocks again. Not accustomed to visitors at this time of the morning I stumbled out of bed to the front door yelling, "Just a minute!"

At the front door nobody was there.

Needless to say, there was no going back to sleep.

******
Unrelated, the spookiest thing that has happened in my apartment fortunately occurred in broad daylight:  A couple of years ago I was getting ready to head into work.  As I was walking towards the front door it opened.  Nobody was there.  I said to no one in particular, "If I weren't in a hurry to get to work this would really freak me out."  I'm happy that's never happened again.

Skydiving in Dubai

My friend Chris went skydiving today:

They also created a pretty impressive video that I unfortunately can't share on the blog because of privacy blocks.  Too bad for them; it would be great advertising.