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What can be more extreme than riding an earthquake? Riding the aftermath of it! Yesterday morning I started out on a great adventure. I thought that it would be fun to get out of the tent and out of the compound in Muzaffarabad and see why we are really here.

So we took a 1 hour drive up the Neelum Valley to Kahoori, a village that has very few physical structures standing. The ride up there was amazing and extreme. Much of the road had been destroyed in the October 8th earthquakes and so was carved out of the size of the mountain. Most of the road was barely wide enough for two cars to pass let alone a bus. The rest was one lane.

Imagine hanging on the side of a steep mountain on loose gravel with a large bus heading straight toward you and not at a slow speed. This was normal conditions on this road.

Continue reading The Extreme Sport – Doing the Ground Work

Last night was my first night back at Muzaffarabad and at about 3:04 AM (5:04 PM Eastern Time) another quake was delivered right to my bed side (sure do not have to search for these earthquakes around here). Well, these shakes are getting common and so I just enjoyed the brief ride (again like someone gently shaking the bed), rolled over checking my watch and then rolled the other way and went back to sleep. Sorry I was not the first to get the news out and have waited so long but as soon as I got up, my day became very busy and very interesting.

I am so tired tonight so I am going to bed. Stay tuned to hear about my day in “The Extreme Sport”

Well, all is still well here. The earthquake seemed to have done little damage but I have found very little official information. However, a co-worker in Muzaffarabad said they watched rocks fall down the mountains.

As for more information from here, what would you like to hear about? There is a lot I could write but I want to be sure my readers are interested. Send me a note and let me know and I will see if I can write about it.

BTW, I am learning to cook Daal – Masoor and rice (the rice is the easy part). It is smelling good.

Late breaking news!

An earthquake just hit Pakistan again at about 1:00 pm local time Christmas Day (for US readers this would be 3:00 am ET, just about the time Santa and momma stopped kissin’ by the tree). Locals say it was probably just over 6.0.

Though this is the second one since I have been here, this one I was totally awake and alert for. Felt like a large train engine going by as you stand by the tracks but the only sound be rolling thunder.

We have a tent full of Cubans and one girl squealed and ran out. The other giggled a little at her and told her that a tent was quite safe since it can withstand some pretty strong shaking.

Also has one aftershock already at about 1:09. Every one is calling all around checking to see if family and friends are safe.

Well, wanted to be one of the first international news sources to release the news!

Welcome to my Balakot “Crib” (A small crude cottage or room. Slang: One’s home.). It is about time to give you a tour of the place that I have been staying at for the past few days.

Sorry it will be a quick one but as the saying goes: “a picture is work a thousand words”.

Once we turn off the main highway, we go down a into a ravine and then back up to enter our camp. The camp houses several NGOs including the Red Crecent (AKA Red Cross) and the UN World Health Organization (W.H.O.) . There is also a small tent village at one end and then a large military camp at the other (right over our back fence).

Driveway up to our tent. The dish can be just seen in center above cloth fence.
Continue reading Balakot Internet Café and My “Crib”