Welcome to Qatar: A Momument to Capitalism

As-Salamu Alaykum from Doha, Qatar. I still have another four hours to wait before my flight for Kathmandu is scheduled to leave. For those of you that don't know, Qatar is a small emirate nestled in the Persian Gulf that is rolling drunk on petroleum. Like Bahrain and the U.A.E., Qatar has used its tremendous energy wealth to create a modern, westernized, and wholly capitalist oasis of sorts amongst the rolling sand dunes of the Arabian peninsula. Behind the facade of skyscrapers, five star hotels, palm tree shaped islands, and per-capita GDP figures which eclipse those of Monaco and Lichtenstein is one of the largest human trafficking operations in the modern world. Anyway, the Doha International Airport would be largely unremarkable were it not for the Mecca to shit that is the Duty Free Qatar shopping mall. $400 bottles of scotch, hundred foot-long walls of nothing but cologne, netbooks, ipads, candy, cigars, DVDs, a Porsche, a Mercedes Benz, and more! Here's to Johnny Walker Blue Label and Toblerone!

I Am Dumb

My flight leaves in two hours and I have realized as I often do, that I am dumb. Rather than pack a jacket or sweatshirt in my carry on, as my mom suggested I do, I decided not to. Well, while sitting here in Dulles International Airport I got cold. Given that I have $40 which is about to become useless I figured I'd go buy a tourist sweatshirt that says "Washington D.C." So I did just that. But I really don't like the sweatshirt I bought. Why I do these things I don't know. I have a solution though. When I get to Kathmandu I'm going to find a nice, deserving street urchin and bequeath this 80% cotton/20% polyester blend to that far more deserving soul.
-The Frequency is Courage,
Doug B.

Pre-Adventure Jitters

Well then, in about eight hours I should be on a transatlantic flight bound for Doha, Qatar, the first leg in a day long journey which should find me in Kathmandu, Nepal by the end of the month of August. Before I arrive in the Himalayan foothills in which Kathmandu is nestled, I have two pressing concerns: learn the Tibetan Alphabet and write a paper. Both easier said than done. I have decided that somehow, I will accomplish each whilst at a cruising altitude of 30,000ft. Here's to procrastination. Since I got back home from my summer in another strange and foreign land, the Midwest, I have been involved in a long sequence of activities which I guess is what you might call my pre-adventure ritual. This ritual has taken the form of a number of arduous hikes on and off the Billy Goat Trail, DVR-ing and watching every show that I could find searching for "Nepal", "Tibet", "Bhutan", "Buddha", Buddhism", "Himalayas", "China", watching two BBC nature documentaries on Tibet and the River Ganges, and re-watching the finale of Avatar: The Last Airbender some six times by my last count. The final element of this ritual has been to hang up a new strand of Tibetan prayer flags for a safe journey, a safe return, and so that I may direct my time and experiences while abroad towards the benefit of all sentient beings. Well that's it for now. Goodbye USA, well meet again another day.

The Frequency is Courage (I'll explain what that means in a future blogpost)
- Doug B.