Books: Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books

by Azar Nafisi From http://www.peoplespace.net/reviewmore.asp?newsid=39

在1995 年9月里的一个周四的上午，七名穿着黑袍、戴着面纱的女生走进了德黑兰某处一幢三层小楼。小楼的对面是原来专供美国人就诊的小医院，安静、高傲地站在小楼 对面一条宽阔的死胡同里。但在伊朗革命之后，这里便成了一家面向大众的医院，于是小楼周围变得嘈杂、拥挤。在周四和周五的时候，总有许多人来看病，但他们 却带着三明治和孩子，仿佛不是来看病，而是来野餐。所以，每当这个时候，小楼里的人就可以听见屋外孩子的叫声、哭声、笑声，夹杂着母亲的斥责声。小楼的邻 居有时候会过来抱怨，说他种在前院心爱的玫瑰又被那些病人顺手掐走。有时候，一两个淘气的孩子在按了小楼的门铃之后，就一溜烟跑得无影无踪。 门铃响过之后，来给这七名女生开门的是一个名叫阿扎·纳夫兹的中年妇女。在随后的两年中每个周四的上午，无论刮风下雨，姑娘们都会准时走进小楼的会客厅， 脱下长袍，摘下面纱，披散开头发，让女人的色彩充满整个房间。 阿扎·纳夫兹刚辞去大学教授的职务，之前，她曾经被伊朗最负盛名的德黑兰大学开除，因为她不肯在学校戴面纱。纳夫兹从小就被家人送到瑞士和美国接受教育， 后来在美国俄克拉荷马大学获得英美文学博士学位。西方教育使她对女权尤其关注，但也使她无法说流利的波斯语。在美国学习期间，她就参加了左翼的伊朗学生联 合会，曾经和其他的伊朗学生一起参加抗议伊朗国王的游行。跟伊朗其他的持不同政见者一样，她阅读了关于马克思主义和其他左翼理论的著作，但她也从来没有放 弃“阅读并且喜欢那些反革命作家的作品，比T.S.艾略特、奥斯丁、普拉斯、纳博科夫和菲茨杰拉德”。

Into thin air: W之前的周末：San Jacinto

Palm Springs Skyline Trail to the Tram
Date: 2005-6-21
Distance: 10-11 miles (truth is, nobody really knows for sure)
Elevation Gain: 8400 feet
Duration: 10 hours


This was the last training hike before the Big One. The main goal obiviously was to condition my body to acclimate to the rapid elevation gain (>800 feet per mile). Also to take Superfeet out on a test drive to see if it indeed lives up to its praises.

Due to bad planning (yes, again), unbelievably congested traffic from LA to Palm Springs, and just to make things more interesting, a minor accident that involves a garden sprinkler, we didn't start the hike until 7AM, 3 hours behind our planned start time. Unlike any of the previous hikes all without exception had a relatively easy start, Skyline, from step one, unquestionably and undeniably claimed itself as the hardest trail we've ever set foot on. Like an experienced boxer sending a full-forced punch straight to a newbie's chest, we were hit with the steepness and roughness of the terrain without any cushioning period. Every step was a huge effort, more so as we progressed along the cactus-littered trail that climbs up and down several mountain ridges. It was mid-June, but the heat from the blazing sun was rlentlessly stripping away every ounce of moisture and energy we had, on a trail with no mercy of shades or trees until late afternoon after we reached alpine terrain at 6000 or 7000 feet. It is a shame to admit that I started feeling muscle pain 30 minutes into the hike, and it wasn't even a mile from the trailhead!

The trail itself was very interesting now come to think of it sitting comfortably at my desk typing away. It's nicknamed "Cactus to Cloud", meaning that during the 8600-feet ascend, you will encounter flora and fauna of the desert and the alpine, which, as it turned out, was our only method to determine how far and how high we'd gone so far. At lower elevation, we had seen all kinds of desert plants. Abundant were various cacti, Saguaro, Beavertail, Hedgehog, and Prickly Pear, dry yellow Ocotillo, Buckhorn, Yucca, Palo Verde, Spanish Bayonet with their razor-sharp pointy leaves that cut through the pants like needles as we bushwacked our way up. Three hours into the trail, the initial interest in desert plants waned to plain old frustration. All I could think was, "I wish I am not seeing these damn cacti!" or "When I go pass this hill, all the cacti will be gone and I will start seeing pine trees". Oh no, that didn't happen until 7 hours into the trail, and just like a puff of magic, all the cacti, Joshua Trees, Yucca and its cousins were gone, and our eyes welcomed the soothing sight of green pine trees and black soil.

This hike also made me realize the importance of self-reliance, more specifically, the need of a good GPS. Surprisingly, for such a popular route, it does not have any mark other than the death-warning sign at the 2-mile point. We had no idea how far we had gone and how much further it was to the summit. This posed as more of a psychological threat than that of a physical one. For example, one cannot freely drink up water and other fluid, nor can one eat as much as the growling stomach commands in fear that water and food would run out before the summit, and a rescue services would have to be called for. The only way to go was to conserve. Eat and drink just enough to quench the flaming throat and calm the stomach, and with great faith keep on moving one foot in front of the other. Hikers before us tied white ribbons, shoelaces, and pieces of cloth under rocks to serve as trail marks. I grew so grateful to them as every time just when I was about to give up and torturing myself with the idea "Are we lost?" a piece of white will pop into my eyes, and I was once again reassured that we were on the right track. I have never before understood so deeply the importance of a good sense of direction, and if not that, good mark on a trail in the wild. Along the trail, when I saw a while ribbon had fallen off the tree branches, I'd stop and tie it back on the branch for hikers after us.

Needlessly to say, the gratifying satisfaction when we reached the Tram was overwhelming… People stepped out of the Tram station stared at us. We must've looked like hell. Everybody was wearing bright color T-shirts, clad in sunscreen, men in khaki shorts, and women in skirts and heeled shoes. We enjoyed a free ride down. Even though I had hiked up here step by step, from 200 feet to 8500 feet in 10 long hours, it took us 15 minutes to get down.

Into thin air: 2.5 miles to Whitney Summit

明年我是一定要再爬Whitney的，而且要在雪没化的时候从chute上去,然后glissade下来,一定要！！

爬Whitney之前的一个周末我去送朋友参加婚礼顺便登了一下San Jacinto。 昨天看国内和台湾的网站才明白原来hiking是翻译成”健行”(hmm... maybe they meant trekking?) 这是我登过的第二难爬得山. 这条谓为Cactus to Cloud的路奇陡，十英里内上升8400英尺，而且路况很差，很多地方都没有trail, 导致我们迷路无数次，完全是靠之前的好心人一路上在小树，仙人掌，和石头上留下白色的布条作为路标，我们才没有在水和食物run out之前，两眼昏黑倒在一堆仙人掌上。我们并没有登顶，爬到tram的地方（长度：10-11 miles）就累得快瘫下了。其实那个时候我们就知道这个速度很成问题，可是离去W只有一个星期了，所以只能希望自己能超常发挥。

有道是“好了伤疤忘了疼”。爬San Jacinto最大的好处就是让我对W充满了信心。再次说明我们的经验不足。如果没有雪，W不会比San Jacinto难，但是爬雪山和“健行”就完全是whole two different ball games. 话虽如此，从W trailhead一直到Trail Camp的确比较适应，只要不经常停下来休息――此处要大力感谢BTF的一路鼓励，感觉已经进入了状况，如果trail camp之后没有雪，估计这个速度我们能登顶。当然这种假设都是没有意义的，the mountain doesn’t change for anyone’s sake. 　

离开trail camp之后问题就来了。刚开始不知道怎么系crampons， 系上了向上走几步就觉得靴子被向里夹，然后靴子crampon彻底脱离，这样来来回回好几趟，才明白该怎么系才系得牢，其间浪费不少时间。 我记得等我系好了之后，Leo也已经变成一个小黑点了。从trail camp走到trail crest山脚的一段还比较好走，到山脚的时候基本上已经习惯了戴crampons走路。抬头往上一看，通往trail crest的倾斜陡峭的山上有蚂蚁似的几个小黑点在慢慢移动，当时就有点发怵。不过Kam一直走在前面，我和Leo, Richard他们离得更远，只能跟上。上坡没几步就明显地感到体力不足了，虽然尽量踩着脚印走，但是地面上有很多 knee-deep的suncups, 就算穿着crampons也很容易踩进去，导致我经常有上两步下滑一步的无力感。以前听别人说过，爬山就是要维持一个pace，可以慢但是不能停而且一定要控制呼吸，在平地上我还勉强能够做到，一到这雪山上面我就完全放弃了。每走五到十步，就觉得不能呼吸，心砰砰砰的乱跳一气。这时我就非得停下来，张大嘴喘着气，才感觉好一点。在这样的速度可想而知我不久以后就被远远的落在后面。

我就这么深一脚浅一脚得继续往上爬着，不知爬了多久，估计那时已经过三点了，因为下山的人越来越多了。迎面走下来一个老头，穿着一件绿色parka上面写着US Forestry (??)的字，他用冰斧开路不一会走到我面前停下来，说，我觉得你应该往回走了。我当时虽然累，但是还不想放弃，因为看上去我离trail crest就只有半小时的距离了---后来证明起码还有一个小时。我说我的同伴们都在上面，我要跟上他们。老头很郁闷，说你看起来非常疲劳，应该趁现在还有体力的时候马上调转。我敷衍了他几句准备继续爬。他很生气地说，it really bothers me when people don’t take me seriously,然后说这个trail他走了N次了，下山比上山更危险，很多事故都是下山的时候体力不足造成的云云。他接着以非常condescending的口气说，你带了冰斧了吗？你知道什么叫self arrest吗？Ft, 我 还真的不知道，我被他说得有点害怕，就转过头往下看了一眼，这一看就把我仅有的斗志和勇气看没了，当时就觉得头晕目眩，手脚发软。赶紧走了几步到旁边的一 块大石头上坐下吃了点东西。但是这块石头的位置是朝下的，所以坐稳了以后会面对山下，我越看越发觉得恶心，就只能扭着脖子吃东西，大家想象一下是什么样子 吧。其间我一边喊Kam叫他不要再爬了，他回话说让我等他下来。我只能继续扭着脖子手脚冰凉得等着，后来实在受不了了就自己开始往下走了。

下山其实证明比我想象的和比那老头吓唬我的简单的多，关键是不要紧张得手忙脚乱, 停或减速的时候要大力将heels dig into the snow。我把trekking pole缩短了当作ice axe控制速度, 反正是连滚带爬的下来了，到后来竟然还体会到了在游乐场玩滑梯的乐趣. 下来之后便有点后悔,觉得当初还有体力的时候不该停下来 ,应该继续往上到trail crest. 唉，经验不足就是这样，别人说是什么就是什么了。

装备上，水和食物都带得比较足，因为天气原因并不觉得渴，3升的水都没有喝完，filter也没有用武之地。衣服里外三层都带了，但是裤子只穿了一条防水的单裤，没有任何insulation。临走的时候考虑过是不是要穿ski pants最后觉得厚重就没有带，事实证明是严重的失误。从trail crest 上glissade (如果我那样毫无控制的像坐滑梯一样往下滑能叫glissade的话)，整个下肢都冻得剧痛，到后来毫无知觉， 又因为不知道怎么下滑，所以耽搁了很久，真正是苦不堪言。

下一阶段努力的目标：

• 继续锻炼身体，也许天气凉快一点的时候开始trail running，没条件的话跑楼梯也行
• 认真读一下the freedom of the hills。我觉whitney trail是一个非常strenuous的hike，但是有雪至少下山的时候好玩多了，要不然在八月的高温下一步一步的走下97 switchbacks得多无聊啊。

Rants and Raves: Osprey in Vietnam

Osprey Atmos 50 Backpack

For months I have my eyes set on this lean beauty, even more so now after the Whitney trip during which my Kelty Arrowhead 2500 constantly cut through the flesh in my left shoulder during the 17 hour hike. The problem with the Kelty bag as I finally realized through excruciating pain is that it's shaped like a regular backpack for school with a wider bottom. Although it's got excellent hip belt and sternum belt, the weight sinks to the bottom of the bag. Not to mention the backpack, when empty, weighs a whopping 4 pounds and 5 oz (!!) With the three liter water bladder, well, let's just say I would have been happier to fork over $100 more to spare me from the gnawing pain on my shoulder. This Osprey bag, while roomier with an additional 1300 cu., weighs only 2 pounds and 13 oz. More importantly, when loaded, weight stacks on top of each other instead of sitting at the bottom. Twenty pounds in Arrowhead is still twenty pounds in the Atmos, but it should definitely feel less with its cylindrical shape bearing more resemblance of a long, lean bow on one's back. Too bad, none of the local REI or Adventure 16 carries this in store.

I read an interesting article in the Backpacker magazine about the booming backpack industry in Vietnam. It turns out, Osprey, together with Dana Design, EMS, REI, Ar'teryx, and many others, moved their operations offshore by the end of the 90's to lower production cost. Osprey packs are now co-designed by its founder Mike Pfotenhauer and the 28-year-old émigré named Le Nhu Quynh. The packs are then manufactured in the very factory in which the designs are completed by more young émigrés from the Mekong Delta and other rural areas of Vietnam. According to the author, "There is a lot of Vietnamese creativity going into packs these days, " says Pfotenhauer. Quite ironically, Vietnamese people in general have just about zero appreciation for the adventurous life style many of the westerners embrace when they haul these bags up and down rugged terrain and ice caps. The apparent aversion to the concept of "wilderness" can trace back to the Vietnam War, when Agent Orange was sprayed on much of the forest and numerous landmines were planted, which killed 100,000 people AFTER the war. To camp is to revisit the horror of the memory that during the war, thousands of refugees were forced to live in tents after their own village was bombed and destroyed.

This is one of those things I just have difficulty to come to terms to, to really put it in some kind of explanation and move on. I can see the maturing backpack industry in Vietnam as the scheme to have benefited both the Vietnamese people and save a great brand. Yet it is so obvious that one man's joy can, in another context and experience, be the mountainous sorrow of another.