The other side of the mountain

THERE WAS NO GALE THAT MORNING, and the sea was far, far, away. In fact the Himalayan Pass of Nathu La is 18,380 feet above sea level, according to its board. But, apart from such factual information, whenever we discuss a project the floodgates of our minds spring open releasing a virtual storm of, often conflicting, ideas.

- HUGH AND COLLEEN GANTZER

This surge of creative Spindrift is the working capital of our writing. When we entered travel writing we thought, as many people do today, that it was nothing more than a description of going there and doing that. Then, a good, but very outspoken, a friend said, “Your descriptions are great. But any high school kid can do that. We want more from the two of you. We want to know Who? How? When? What? Why?” We took him seriously and, very assiduously, amassed credible sources of information. Today, our personal library has books on subjects ranging from art and archaeology through literature and music to zoology and zen.