Lazarow World-Hike-About

  Flora has a multitude of functions, including adding color and beauty to the world, the latter two attributes being the purpose of this blog (mostly). Despite the winter months, we noticed much growth from a number of plants. The only patently obvious impact of the season during the dormant period was the lack of green of the grasses. It was sorely missed, but instead, we noticed our focus had changed to the lakes, snow-covered mountains and the surprising-colored flowers. Heck, we survived without the green, green grass of home, Tom Jones and lush grasses of Nepal.    We also acknowledge the producers and Louis Armstrong for their words from 'What a Wonderful World'.  "I SEE TREES OF GREEN, RED ROSES, TOO." Phewa Lake and the City of Pokhara from a resort on a minor peak. Heading for a peak above Kristi Village. Flowers high above Shanti Stupa. "I SEE SKIES OF BLUE AND CLOUDS OF WHITE,"   Views below are from above Phewa Lake, at the ...

A morning that begins as such... A view at dawn of the Annapurna Range from the town of Begnas. A supplement to a former cover page (above) as it was difficult to choose only one. (Licence)   Bridging the hills and lakes with the mountains. Tree's a crowd. The show must go on...it never ceases...to amaze. It was a morning never to be forgotten...ever.

  Today, we deal with a very delicate topic because of the religious issues pertaining to cows in Hindu countries and to an extent, Buddhist regions, too. Anyone who has read our text and seen photographs will understand there's almost not a day that passes, except for the sabbath, in which we don't visit a temple. This is not for religious reasons but rather, such temples are built upon mountain peaks and form part of our hiking challenges and regimen. (It is usually a delight to reach them.) It is also not our intention to understand and explain that eating meat from cows is frowned upon by many Hindus.    However, with many Westerners and others visiting the country of Nepal (India would be an even greater example), there is a growing demand for beef. We understand while the locals are not involved in restaurants where a beef steak can be ordered (and eaten), or even purchased as a take-out, it appears that the Russians and Eastern Europeans have beefed up the resta...

A perspective of the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu from a highpoint. Jen reaches the peak of Machu Picchu Mountain (Over 2,600 feet gain from after entry to park). Smokin'? Telephoto view from peak of the Machu Picchu Mountain looking down on the Inca city. We were both sick on the day so after the climb from our village, we were pretty youngish ruins ourselves. A regular view from peak with backdrop of Huayna Picchu. The edge of the town from where we commenced at 4:30am. (Pleased we are beginning to 'mature'). Peru is much more than Machu Picchu. (As an aside, we have always perceived similarities in the country with that of Nepal.) Machu Picchu is classified a wonder of the world. As mentioned earlier of our ill health before the climb to the peak, Jen suggested recommending the 'subject' for classification as a non-Inca ruin.    Cheers,  Jenni and Jeffrey

Early days, in the safety of the jungle. From the jungle, across the lake we salute Shanti Stupa and higher up, Shiva Temple. While they have no religious significance to us, we respect their functions but really enjoy the physical challenges they present for our endurance. Beyond the mountain housing the temples mentioned above, we see the Tower on Matikhan upon the rear mountain. Truth be told, we still wonder how we reached it. Sometimes we ask ourselves 'why'.   Over many years, one of the discoveries we've made is that the harder we persevere in any endeavor, the more satisfaction we achieve. While, of course, there are failures (many), we believe the real issue is that there's always an element or degree of personal fulfillment which follows. A positive result is an obvious desire naturally. We submit that when a person undertakes a task, project or adventure with a whole-hearted effort expended (plus passion), such completion is success in-and-of itsel...