I was sent to volunteer in Africa...

My students at it again!

• Malaria
• Women empowerment
• HIV/Aids
• Child marriage
• Street kids 
• Corruption in government
• Drug abuse 

Emcompasses a small list of what my students are interested about. Their average age is mid twenties and they're all interested in tackling issues of this size. They want to volunteer at their placements and ontop of that, observe other class members who have gone into at-risk communities to do their research on community assessments to identify problems and try to find solutions for those communities.

To complete a year long course of "Emerging Leaders" program, they are to complete 2 grant proposals from the research they have done from the previous course in how to assess communities. They find the weakest links of the communities and address those issues. As part of this, I have given them the oppurtunity to also be placed in another NGO that best matches their interests and to begin working on the issues at hand.

Not one friend I know back home actively pursue the interests of these likes, of course each their own, but the idea of contributing time to make real changes in the world, especially with all the harsh crticism that's vocalized almost everyday and spewing onto Facebook.

If there's something in life worth doing, it's worth over doing.

Workshops in Tanzania

4 hours of sleep on Sunday, two nights, 3 days later with a 17 hours trip in Cairo washing my pant leg clean from horse dung, I found myself in a car screeching to a halt in the gridlock that was Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania having not slept since that Sunday. Another two days I get the full report of what I was doing.

In short, I am "to help the students find problems in the community and fix them" Said Stella, the regional director for YCI, the NGO I'm working with.

Or more indepth, I am to support Emerging Leaders (project) to link the problems identified during community mapping visits into project identification techniques and support Emerging Leaders to organize their ideas of  the problems identified in designing a project, and  discuss with them tips on project implementation, monitoring and evaluation. In more academia terms, increase the capacity of the community by strengthening their self-efficacy.

Skiing in the desert

Atlantic Ocean in the horizon

"I will take you to my world record sand dune, Ian. It's bigger than 'The Matterhorn Dune." Henrik exclaimed excitedly.

I was already huffing and puffing up the sand dune in ski boots with skis on my back. The sand found its way in the ski boots and bore two nice holes in my shins.

"Let's do it!" I cried.

I'm in Namibia looking to get my skiing fix. It just so happens I was in Swakopmund where Henrik's office is based. I couldn't tell you where I saw an ad for his place, but it was from the corner of my eye. I Googled "skiing in Namibia" and he was the first hit that pops up.

Henrik holds the world record for the fastest time skiing on sand, clocked at 92.15 km/h. Henrik worked over ten years developping his special wax formula specially suited for skiing on sand. It's hard for him to hold back his excitement when he talks about the technical aspects of skiing.

Could've suffered much more at night... Have you considered mosquito nets?

PermaNet hanging out during the day. Not in anti-mozzie mode
just quite yet!

I woke up in the middle of the night from the swelling, itching and a thousand mosquitos finding their way through the giant wide open windows to the already stuffy room in India to eat me alive. It was mosquito netting time. I didn't think it would be as bad as it was considering how the evening was so mild. But then again, I'm the kind of guy that mosquitos love, to my demise.

Thank goodness, Vestergaard Frandsen had provided me with wonderful oppurtunity to try out their mosquito nets, aptly named PermaNet. This fantastic company, in short, helps improve lives of those in vulnerable countries through supporting the UN's Millenium Development Goals. And this mosquito net is one of the big products. It helps with fighting malaria in the most hectic mosquito ridden places.

All respiratory masks suck. Except for this one

Totobobo Mask

I'm not a man to give reviews very easily, unless it was bad... or spectacularly amazing. And this one is it, amazing. I'm talking about the Totobobo Mask, of course.

After a few years of use, it was about time I had written something more significant.

My Criterias: Light, Not hot, breathes easy, and non invasive
When I was still working in South Korea, spring time was also a time for a phenomenon called "Yellow Dust". Fine particles of sand specs picks up from the Gobi desert, collects air pollution as it travels through China and then dumps it in Korea. This can also last throughout the summer. Needless to say, I got sick a lot during the spring. Finally, I had enough and decided to look for a good mask. My criteria was that 1) Was light 2) Not hot 3) Breathes really easily 4) Non-invasive

Everest Trek - Day1 5

The guides, minus 1, Won

Day 15 - Retreat to Dingbuche

After the longest approaching of our lives; 12 days hike, of which 4 days was for acclimatization, and 8 hours of actual approach to the top of Lobuche, we begin the journey downwards. For the past 5 days We lived at no less than 4,900 meters.

A solid night sleep at basecamp, we naturally wake up at 6am. As breakfast was prepared we suffer our last bit of AMS and pack our packs. We are to carry our 20kg packs all the way down to lukla where our fligt awaits us back to Kathmandu.

We were told we can lighten our loads and give our climbing gear to the porters who'll leave the gear in Lukla for us to repack. We were not going to deny that.

Shortly after, we start our first of lasts. Starting with basecamp. 2.5 hours later, we descended to 4,600 meters, the lowest altitude we've been in in over 5 days, at Dingbuche. Our AMS instantly completely over. And we feel strong with our breathing.

We remember reaching this altitude the first time suffering our first serious symptoms of AMS. Now we cheer at the fact we have reached this altitude again and getting rid of AMS.

An overwhelming sadness flooded us as we realize this is the beginning of the end. The climax of Lobuche peak is over and before s the long sad journey back down. But to new and exciting adventures back home in South Africa!

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Everest Trek - Day 14

Sunrise on the way up Lobuche

Day 14 - 2nd attempt for the summit

"Wake up Didi!" Won shouted. Didi meant sister in Sherpa. He shouted at Christa.

"We're up! We're up!" Ian responded back.

Well, second attempt for the summit. Hours earlier we had as gourmet of a feast as our AMS would allow. It's funny, we'd thought we'd acclimitze faster. It's been one week already living at 4,900 meters ASL and we're still not fully acclimitized.

We head back up the same route as yesterday, but stronger. Less stops and shorter ones too. We scramble up boulders and pass sketchy roped sections and scramble some more. 

By day break, our pace has slowed significantly. That would be 4.5 hours into the hike up. We also passed the snow line and currently trudging on ice. Ian started using his ice axe as Christa gets helped up by the guide. What a gentleman he is.

"You have the biggest smile on your face" Christa said to Ian as she looked back. "And it's been such a huge smile since we've started this hike"

Looking ahead to the summit

Finally the guides stop on a sunny plateau where the sun was beating down the ice. We slapped on our boots and crampons, put on our harnesses and attached ourselves to the line that was set up. The longest rest so far on the trek up. About 30 minutes. We're at the 6 hour mark of just pure uphill hiking and scrambling. The climbing starts now.

We're attached to the main safety line by a jumar. Ice pick goes in, using the French Technique, Ian smacks up the side of the mountain. *SMACK SMACK SMACK Rest - slide jumar up* Breath for what feels like 10 minutes, sucking in oxygen through a straw. We are considered at the extreme end of lack of oxygen. At this altitude, we have 9.7% oxygen compared to 21% at sea level. That's less than half of the oxygen required to function normally.

At this point Christa has suffered as much as she could. 50 meters from the summit she decides to retreat. It's the smartest thing to do, to know your limits. Had she pushed her limit to keep going, dangerous situations may come sideswipe us blind sided. She turns to head down with her guide leaving Ian and Won to hit the summit.

Victory summit salute!

Ian sees Won run up to the top and decides he could do that too, for the last 5 meters of the climb. Worst idea ever. Oxygen never made it to the brain and his vision goes black. Comes to a split second later breathing his heart out of his throat and crawls up the rest of the 4 meters. 

Snap a few pictures, document the top, and retreat. Loaded up the ATC and started the rappell back down. End up at the plateau change into hiking boots and descended using the French Technique. 

3 hours later everyone arrives at camp. 3pm, we get to eat and pass out.

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Everest Trek - Day 8

Dingbuche "quick" hike

Day 8 - Dingbuche and more acclimitization.

A 4 hour hike that otherwise would've taken 2 hours. It seems like every time frame that's given to us we should add 1.5 to it. These porters and guides not only carry a load of stuff, but theyre also pre-acclimatized to this altitude. We made it to 4,300 meters today.

Were starting to see familiar faces on the trip as other trelkers are taking the same route. Were starting to hear stories of people getting altitude sickness. Ian got his share before pangboche, just yesterday. Christa is holding out strong. were not blasting up huge altitudes every day. Were to stay here in dingbuche for 2 days to acclimatized more.

We also finally dived into a hot showered. 450 rupees. That's about 5 dollars. It'll get more expensive as we go up. But this would be (so we think) our last real stop before heading up, so were like to shower. Well probably be doing the wipe down afterwards with next to freezing water.

We are now also in yak territory. And snow territory. And constant high winds territory. Good thing were staying in a tent tonight to Get ready for base camp at lobuche. It'll be colder and windier than here.

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Everest Trek - Day 5

Namche Bazaar. Rest for 2 days

Day 5 - Trek

We wake up, pack, eat breakfast and set out for Namche Bazaar at 8 am. It was 3 hours away. This is also the first big altitude hike. Climbing from 2,700 meters to 3,400 (appox.) We didn't know it could take 4 hours to climb 700 vertical meters.

We follow the river bends from the glacial melt up the trail. After the one bend, we were able to catch iur first glimpses of Everest. It was so far away, but it was still so big. From here on out, it was straight up hill.

We also started to experience the thinner air with heavier breathing and more rests. It took a lot more effort to hike up hill. The porters shot straight up carrying our 40kg bags. They arrived 2 hours before us while carrying our gear while we carried nothing. We've never felt so unfit in our lives.

Tea houses also completely dissappeared from our previous day. Water, snacks and civilization is starting to become more and more dispersed as villages get further away from more easily accessible roads. Were spending 2 nights in namche bazaar to acclimitize to the altitude.

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Everest Trek - Day 4

Day 4 - Let the suffering commence!

Runway on Lukla

Ian looks out the cockpit window of the twin otter plane twin proppeller plane. The runway is in full view of and covers the whole window. That usually doesn't happen when you're about to land. A huge "thunk" and jostle and the plane lands.

The flight in, you fly through the valley of the khumbu glacier melt, which comes from Everest. On one side you can see the bottom of the valley, the other, the mountain wall of some snow capped Peak.

Lukla. The worlds most dangerous runway. The biggest planes are twin engines that can fit on the run way. The runway sits on a 11 degree incline and its very short. The way the plane takes off is pretty much dive bombing down the end of the runway. We land and use the uphill incline to slowdown and stop.

The valley heading up

We get our packs and follow Pema. This route is actually more popular than originally thought. But most people are only going as far as namche bazaar. Few make it to base camp and even less go to Lobuche.  We also meet our porters for the first time. We have two porters, one for each of our packs. They're to carry our food, tent, kitchen and more climbing equipment later on. Our packs together already total 40 kgs. Were expecting to meet up with our climbing guide and cook later on when we get closer to lobuche. What logistics to get 2 people up a peak! We eat a simple egg breakfast and start our trek!

Half way through the hike, we realize Christa'as hiking shoes decided to die on her. The soles literally ripped apart. And then even more a little further down the road. It was fixed temporarily by tying a hair band around the shoe. We jimmied it at night so hopefully we can get to our next destination to get shoes.
Ian's stomach bug loves his bum. He left in the morning realizing there is something still brewing inside. Time to call the insurance! Lets hope it works out.

We get into our first stop and stay in a tea house. There a so many tea houses along the way its ridiculous. We wouldn't have to bring anything! Along this route, its so based on trekker tourism that everything is catered toward that. We have dinner at the same place. There really isn't much option otherwise as far as food goes.

The tea house is basic, 2 beds with shared washroom. You have to pay for hot water shower and for electricity to charge your phones and what not. Luckily, we have our solar charger so we don't need it... yet.
After dinner at 8 everything shuts down and everyone goes to bed.  Its party central here! Good first day of actual hiking.

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And then there were mountains!

Looking ahead to the summit

Ok guys, here's the long awaited trek and climb! There's brief description of each day and will elaborate more in each section when there's more to read.

To-knows before reading:

• AMS = Acute Mountain Sickness, also known as altituded sickness where the body tries to compensae for lack of atmosphere and oxygen to the brain
• EBC = Everest Base Camp
• All heights are calculated in meters. Multiply by 3 (roughly) for feet.

Where: Everest Mountain Range

Destination: Lobuche Peak (6,100) via Everest Base Camp (EBC - 5,600) and Kala Pattar (5,900)

Acclimitization process: 2 days in Namche Bazaar (3,200), 2 days in DingBuche (4,700). Acclimitization hike to EBC (5,600). Day rest. Acclimitzation hike to Kala Pattar (5,900). Retreat to Lobuche Base Camp (4,900). Final height 6,100 meters at Lobuche Peak

Company: Travel Ways Nepal - Things not included were gear rentals and emergency high altitude rescue insurance.

Support team: 1 guide, 2 porters, 2 climbing guides. 2 Client total.

Number of days: 16 days on paper. 22 days total (Stuck 6 days in Lukla because of adverse weather)

Cost: ~2,000 USD

To skip right to pictures, check it here

Click the map to see what happened that day during the climb up. Not all events are documented in the map.
You may also click on the map and check out the links.
View Nepal Everest Base Camp and Lobuche Peak in a larger map

Everest Trek - Day 12

Day 12 - Kalla Pattar and back to Lobuche Base Camp

Up top of Kalla Pattar

We jerked awake at 5am and tried to shut the alarm off. Then Pema came knocking at our doora t 5:05. It was time to get up and climb Kalla Pattar. With bloodshot red eyes, we crawled out of bed. Ian went first to meet Pema. Christa was still in no good shape to tackle the mountain. At 5:30, departure time, she worked her boots on and coat on, like a boss.

We leave the safety of the hut and into the blanket of fog. We could barely see 5 meters ahead and rain began its' pitter patter. We needed to acclimitize, even Christa said so, especially after she had gotten sick before EBC. We meet some familiar faces along the way and decide to keep pace with them.

The mountain decided to give us some really mixed reviews of weather as the monsoon season was coming near. It rained and then became sunny and rained again all within a span of 3 hours hiking up and down.

The valley between Lobuche and Everest

We reach the top quite climatically as it was our highest point of the trek yet, 5,900 meters. The air is super thin and we are feeling the altitude big time now. We spend 20 minutes at the top breathing in whatever oxygen is available at that altitude and snapped a few pictures. We being our journey down. Not to Gorakshep, but all the way down to Lobuche Base Camp, where were were on Day 10. A full verticle kilometer away, which took 6 hours to climb.

As we approached Lobuche village, it began hailing. It was about 2pm at that stage and we were both exhausted. We hadn't eaten anything significant as our bodies weren't very happy with the altitude. Plus all the hiking we had gone through just earlier. We stop in a restaurant and meet our second climbing guide, Won. We were another hour or two from Lobuche Base Camp where we could actually crash and sleep.

After a grueling longest 2 hours ever, we collaspe in our tent after a small bite to eat. Pema tried to shove as much as he could down our throats. Shortly after, we were shown how to use our climbing equipment, which we are all too familiar with. Funny thing is, never showed us how to use the ice axe, which Christa could use some instructions on. In hindsight, more focus on the ice axes and less on equipment we already know how to use.

After the quick demo and orientation Pema tried to shove more food into our stomachs.

"You're climbing at 2am!" He shouted as he left the tent.

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Everest Trek - Day 11

Day 11 - Gorakshep and Everest Base Camp

Everest Base Camp

We pack only a day pack to head up to Gorakshep which is the kick off point to head to Everest Base Camp. The packing took much longer than we expected as we are tired, frustrated and sick of AMS. The day was incredibly slow going. The altitude and AMS played such a huge role in making the trek really slow. Christa felt neauseas got sick a few times. But she continued to be badass and headed the trek.

Avalanches could be heard popping off everywhere as we walked down the Khumbu Glacial Valley. Fallen rocks and boulders litter the top of the glacier and from where we were hiking, it seemed as if it was another trail.

We reach closer to the Khumbu ice fall and catch the first glimpse of EBC. From a distance, we could see small, tiny collection of yellow dots on the ice. Upon closer inpsection, those were all tents of the expedition teams. It's located at the bottom of the Khumbu ice fall and the beginning of the glacier, logically. Imagine Everest was a waterfall with a river, the eddy after the waterfall is where the base camp is situated. Except this is all ice and it moves no where as fast as water. Let alone flowing. But it does move. Very slow.

Christa collasped in her bed with neausea as AMS kicks in, when we got to Gorakshep. We don't know why, but Ian still felt strong and AMS hasn't really affected him. He continued up toward EBC with Pema and snapped a few photos.

From Lobuche to Gorakshep took 6 hours. From Gorakshep to EBC and back, took 4 more hours.

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Everest Trek - Day 10

Day 10 - Lobuche base camp and storm

Beginning of a storm at Lobuche Base Camp

Not the worst storm ever. But being at 4,900 meters make it seem a lot more real when thunder is going off beside you. The winds are starting to pickup.

That and last night we heard avalanches popping off from everywhere.

The temperatures hover around freezing now. Basecamp is setup with a tent for washroom and kitchen among the sleeping tents. The washroom is a hole dug into the ground. Once you're done,you shove a bit of dirt to cover it.

Tomorrow, Everest base camp. (Imagine the climbers on Everest right now. Probably around camp 2 and 3, aka half way up.)

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Everest Trek - Day 13

Heading up Lobuche, 2nd attempt

Day 13 - Push for the summit

"Wake up Didi!" Won shouted. Didi meant sister in Sherpa. He shouted at Christa.

"We're up! We're up!" Ian responded back.

It got real the second time the alarm went off a
nd our guides smacking and banging our tent. Christa cursed her AMS and Ian tore out of his sleeping bag... and then cursed his AMS.

We were both exhausted from lack of sleep, hiking all day the previous day and can't stomach much food the whole time. Hot food was placed infront of us. Copious amounts. There was no way we could've eaten any of that. Christa downed her hot chocolate but left most the food. It was still hard to eat. Ian munched a bit more oats but couldn't finish everything.

Boots were laboriously put on and tied. Headlamps, check. Layers, check. Harnesses, check. AMS, check.

We started trudging through the depths of the night with a very narrow focus of light beam. The rocks slipped under our feet and gave way. 3 steps up, 2 steps down. Ian looks forward to the bigger boulders and ice sheets on the mountain. The going will go faster that way.

Heavy set breathing kicked in immediately. The AMS and fatigue was already pressing down. We had barely began. First rest stop seemed miles away. Then the rests became more frequent.

"We're retreating" Christa turned to Ian. "I"m far too exhausted for this climb. We haven't slept or eaten in the past 3 days."

And with that the team retreats to get some real energy for the actual climb.

We had climbed for 2 hours. Took another hour and half to retreat. We collapse in the tent as the sun peaked out of the sky.

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Everest Trek - Day 7

Makes you feel so humble at Dingbuche

Day 7 - Out of namche and onwards!

"1 more hour" Buba, one if the porters said. He said 1 hour an hour ago. We must be going really slow. Were at 3,900 meters and struggling through the clouds that have completely sucked any joy of being in the mountains. Each step is becoming more laboured. At 3,300 meters, the atmosphere provides 13% of oxygen, where as sea level is 21%. We've really reached above that level now.

The day started with a caravan of trekkers from namche. It was a beautiful clear morning and Mt. Everest was in full view. Days start out clear, but by mid day intimidating clouds would roll in. As the day wore on, we climbed higher and the clouds moved in and the temperatures sunked. We've reached about the Alpine level where trees are turning to brushes and snow covered peaks are now a common view.  We are constantly surrounded by 7,000 meter peaks with huge glacial formations on them. Yet we are still marching in dusty trampled roads.

The general rule of thumb when trekked in altitude is to not go higher than 600 meters a day, for optimal acclimitzation. We stopped 600 meters higher than our previous altitude and Ian can feel it. A night rest and then onwards to Dingbuche where well need 2 days of rest for acclimitization.

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Everest Trek - Day 9

Mt Everest Memorial

Day 9 - AMS and learning from it.

On the rest day in Dingbuche, Ian went for a bike for acclimitization while Christa rested her blistered feet. Ian climbed too high too fast and came back down with the worse AMS (acute mountain sickness) he's felt yet.

Usually rest, liquids and food helped. But this time it didn't. And its already been a day at this altitude. Hopefully the night will prove useful to help acclimtise. If not, its time to take some medication for AMS, diamox.

The porters have left for lobuche basecamp, 5 hours away. They carried the tents, the kitchen. And food. Very heavy stuff. We will do that trek tomorrow. They will come back for out packs in the morning. Very strong boys.

Previously, just remembered (see what altitude does?) we had passed the memorial for all the people who died on Everest.

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Everest Trek - Day 1

Thamel, Kathmandu, Nepal

DAY 1

Not that we’re in love with Thamel, but that’s where everything happens in Kathmandu. And it’s a pretty cool area.

We left Hasera with bittersweet good byes. Mito’s awesome food and Govinda’s uplifting spirit will be sorely missed. We head with Sujan, our volunteer coordinator who placed us there, to the taxi waiting for us that takes us back to Thamel.

We all meet up with our guide, Pema, who we’ll see everyday for the next 19 days. We say our farewells to Sujan and a big hello to the fanciest hotel we’ve stayed in this entire trip! We have beds with clean sheets. I mean, not clean and have a few stains; these were white! Actually, white! We have a shower head! 2 weeks of pouring buckets of water over you to shower is an experience, but certain luxuries are welcoming return. Hot water! Ian finally had a clean shave. Inclusive breakfast! Pleather chairs! Relatively speaking, “western” standards we grew up with at home. But load-shedding, was still there. Pema has arranged for us Zen Holiday to stay in.

(Load shedding: When certain parts of the city shuts down electricity for a certain time for other parts of the city to have power)

This begins Day 1 of our himalayan experience. Not a bad start.

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4x4 and camping in back country Ontario

Sunset on the lake. Mirrors!

So its been a few weeks since the last post. We stopped at volunteering at Nepal right? Don't worry, I'll have the Nepal trek up soon. It's a big one. And I'd like to have everything in order for that.

In the mean time, I came back to Ontario and headed out last weekend to do some 4x4 off trailing to find a camp spot in the back country. Azure production swung this piece quickly together from the footage we took. 

We went with our pup through some rivers (which the water was far too low for), mosquito filled bush whacking (because we missed the actual portage route), and took the 4x4 through (when we realized we could drive into the lake and haul our gear out instead of back tracking upstream through the rapids)

Well, enjoy!

Universal Religion: Psy trance party in Nepal at the beginning of the Annapurna circuit

The key to getting into most music festivals!

“We’re the security for the trance party. Would you like to see our I.D?” Ram asked us. Usually, we’re asked to present I.D. This was a good rescue.

We were 7 hours away from host farm, Hasera, for one night to catch the end of this party, Universal Religion. One of the worlds highest altitude parties, this year was held in Bandipur, an area where most people jump start to their Annapurna circuit trek.

We were caught with a 1,500 (17 USD, very expensive in local economy) Nepali rupee taxi ride up the mountain from a city called Dumre to Bandipur after night has settle into the mountains. The road was a windy 7km uphill. Half way up, the taxi croaked on us. The driver lifted the hood and started fidgeting with the engine pulling out god-knows-what from who-knows-where in the engine block. The engine would not start. Other cars passed by roaring up the bend. More failed monkey mechanics and the driver calls someone.

Hasera – Living on a rural farm in Nepal

Christa working the plants

“Yololo!” Govinda shouted. Best word ever you’ll hear on the farm, because that meant “Food is ready!” Mito, Govinda’s wife, prepared possibly the best food ever. After a semi-relaxed morning of work, we get pretty much the rest of the day off. Or we could choose to do more work if we wanted to.

We were volunteering at Hasera Permaculture farm. We went through a company called Volunterring to Learn. Rolling hills with huge mountains in the distance surrounded the farm. But their gigantic size makes it seems like we could reach a hand out and touch the top of one of the snow capped peaks. In just over a week, we’ll be working our way up one of those peaks. But for now, we were busy digging up onions, garlic, and feeding chickens and petting the cows.

Birth Place of Buddha to the Kathmandu Valley - sacrifices and host families

The birth site of Buddha in Lumbini

Lumbini. Not so shortly after we crossed the border, we settled in a quiet town where Buddha has been proven to be born in. Nothing spectacular. A few temples all very dedicated to Buddha from each Buddhist country in the world. We saw China, Korea and Nepal before we decided it was too hot to bike around anymore. Here it was still 40 degrees. Not what we bargained for, weather-wise.

We retreat back into our room play in the shower, aka wash our clothes. It was about time we had fresh clean clothes again. All hand wash, courtesy of the hotel shower. Just don't tell them. Shhh... We head to Kathmandu 2 nights later.

Walking across borders. End of India and the beginning of Nepal!

On the train ride reading up on Nepal

Varanasi was a scorching 42 degrees and it showed no signs of relief until the odd hours in the morning. We decided it was enough and took the 8am train (when the heat was still somewhat bearable) to go to Nepal. This isn't as un-common as we originally thought. A lot of people do this trip. From Varanasi, we took a 4 hour train to Gorakphur. We were lucky to find an express train that stopped only twice, otherwise it would've been a 6 hour trip.

From Gorakphur, we found a bus that went to Sunauli. It wasn't hard. When we got off the train from Gorakphur, touters were coming up to us "You going to Nepal? Take our bus!" The bus stand, though, was right infront of the train station and it wasn't necessary to listen to touters. We asked a few people which bus went to Sunauli and they directed us in the right direction.  There were touters though, trying to get us to their private company buses that cost 1,000 Rupees. About 12 dollars. But instead, we found a bus for 80 Rupees. Just over 1 dollar. This bus though, really isn't that nice. We put our luggage on the roof and were literally crammed in the back corner of the bus. Leg space is non-existent. You literally sit up 90 degrees to give some room for your knees. And the Indians will just keep piling on the people and shove you futher into the corner of the bus. We were on that bus for 3 hours in the baking heat of 40 degrees of the day. Longest 3 hour bus journey of our lives. Fun!

Varanasi, holy burning Ghats!

View of the ghats from our hotel roof

It only took 14 hours on a train straight. We took a sleeper train, which provides beds. But it certainly doesn’t provide the quietness of a good nights sleep. We pull into some obscure train station at 7 in the morning and transfer trains and kept going until 11:30.

We get into Varanasi with 40 degree weather waiting for us. The rickshaw goes only to a certain part of the city and then we walked the rest of the way in. Varanasi is a very holy city with the Ganges running through it. In fact, Indians abroad order specially water from the Ganges for their different celebrations. Along the banks of the the Ganges are hundreds of Ghats (stairs leading to the water for whatever purpose, bathing, washing clothes, or what have you.)

The iconic images of India

Taj Mahal

You’ve seen it in pictures. You know it by name. And you know the country just by looking at this building. The Taj Mahal. And it was about time we finally saw it. This is pretty much the only reason to come to Agra. That and it’s lesser known things, like the fort and gardens.

Ian didn’t expect himself to be incredibly excited. After all, it’s just another monument. It was also reaching 40 degrees at the heat of the day. Not the funnest time to go wandering by any means. And to top it off, the crowds have dispersed, as it is low season, but by jove! if they’re still isn’t a huge line up to go through security.

Jaisalmer – Deserts, forts, and camel safaris

Jaislamer's desert ruins

The air force streaked across the sky more and more often the closer we approached Jaisalmer. Military bases litter the eastern side of the city, the direction in which we were coming from. Pakistan is on the west side of the city by a few hundred kilometers. But that’s close enough to have the military presence for a quick response in case Pakistan decides to strike.

We were warned about the very aggressive touts that were in Jaisalmer. And forewarned we were. To the point where we booked a pick up from the hotel, which turned out to be a good idea. As the bus pulled into the bus stop aka, side of the road, the rickshaws appear from thin air along with their drivers. I didn’t know rickshaw drivers were even on the bus until Neil was stopped by one before he had a chance to even get off.

Jodhpur. Recovery and hours of ziplining!

Looking back at the city to the fort

An agonizing 5 hour train ride from Jaipur proved to be disastrous, for our stomachs anyways. It was hot, stuffy, and the stomach provided no relief from the heat or discomfort. The sleeper trains that were seemingly comfortable for 15 minutes was very uncomfortable within 1 minute. We had 5 hours to go.

We get into our guesthouse in Jodhpur, eventually, and literally just exploded. Literally. We tagged team the toilet and beat the crap out of it. Or more accurately the crap was beaten out of us. Our friend from across the hall and up one floor could hear us. It was fantastic. We started our anti-biotics when we got into the guest house. We were smart enough to pick them up before we left Korea. Finally using them.

Jaipur. Holi and explosive toilets.

Fort for the Pink City

We flew into Jaipur from Goa 2 days before Holi. We came specifically to Jaipur to see an elephant festival on the eve of Holi. Spirits were high. A succesful booking of a flight into Jaipur, with a transfer in Bangalore, refreshed our wallets with ATM money from home and got into our hotel with no problems.

"The elephant festival is cancelled" says the hotel manager. That was the first thing about it we hear since entering Jaipur. The government cancelled it because of the animal cruelty. BOOOOO!!! We reconfirmed with searching for news on the internet. Sure enough, it was cancelled. Fair enough too, poor elephants. They're regarded as a holy animal but the ones that are "working" under the care of the owner, we don't really know how well they're being treated. Some of them are healthy (looking) and some of them are so sad looking.

Goa – need we say more?... Maybe...

Goa's Palolem beach at night

Goa, the holy mecca of Goa Psychedelic Trance music. The origin of it all. A small little state that was hill locked and inaccessible by land for the longest time was a Portuguese colony. Evidence of colonial rule is very evident through every corner and bend as we scootered around.

We stumble in at 4:30 in the morning. We love stumbling in when everything is closed because we like to get screwed in places to sleep. We stumble out of a sleeper bus. Max, our wonderful German friend that we’ve been leap frogging back and forth with already had our accommodation all sorted out for us. We trudge along a beach and shortly arrive in these simple wooden huts. We crash for the night and then wake up to see the beach front.

Monkey gods and boulders

Hampi

Boulders in Hampi

As much climbing as we’ve done, nothing prepared us for the limitless amount of boulders that Hampi provided. The bus ride in from Hospet (the closest big town to Hampi) provided us with a view with the extent of boulder problems that sniffed out.

We get off the bus and tried to find our way to a pre-booked hostel called “Goan Corner”. The first few rickshaw drivers we met explained to us that “The Goan Corner is demolished” – Seriously? Demolished? It was hard to believe. In our Lonely Planet guide book, they explained that rickshaw drivers would say something like that and take you to a “better and cheaper hostel” for you and they get a commission for it.

We shrug it off and truck our way to the ferry to take us across the river where the Goan Corner supposedly was. We march around a huge rice paddy field to find at the end of the rainbow and found *drum roll* the Goan Corner.

Running away from the heat

Ooty Hill Stations

Tea plantations in Ooty

We retreated back into Tamil-Nadu, the first province we entered in the beginning of our India chapter. We retreated to higher grounds, running from the hell fire that’s scorching the plains before the humidity comes to bake it into a sauna. At 3,000 meters, the night air drops to a very comfortable 19 degrees. An inviting change after suffocating 34 degree nights at the bottom of the mountain.

Ooty is the highest hill station in India and one of the most popular. Hill station started with the British trying to find a way to escape the killing heat of the South Indian summers and found that the high mountains provided ample relieve. As already a retreat for the rich, this area is re-known as a tourist area, however, surprisingly not completely destroyed by tourism yet. (thank goodness)

As a British safe haven, it also doubles as their tea plantations. And over the years, this area transformed into a tea plantation capital of South India, only next to Darjeeling in the North.

Forts, Martial arts and dances

Fort Kochin

Kelari Payattu

Arriving in the heat of the afternoon the bus drops us off and we pick up a rickshaw driver to our guest house. Fort Kochin is filled with guest houses. A ferry ride away is Ernakulam where most people are dropped for the train station and bus. Fort Kochin, though, is where you want to be. It buries deep nasty secrets of old European feuds and battles over Indian grounds, including Jewish, Portuguese and Dutch settlements. Most of the fort now are just remnants of a conflicted past, but kept alive with names like “Bastion street” or “Rampart street” – inviting discussion of 16th European fort and city planning.

The Eastern Venice

Alleypey – Mar 8


Not-so-deeply buried in the backwaters of Kerala we dig ourselves out of the Ashram refreshed from Darshan and a short spiritual awakening. We head into the town of Alleypey to find the inlet to the famous backwaters of Kerala. “Eastern Venice” as it’s often referred to as sits lower than sea level. Fresh and salt water mixes through the canals and through its estuaries. They provide romantic get-a-ways with house boats where your hire a personal chef, driver, and porter to satisfy all your luxurious needs. Yes, rich people needs. Which we apparently are now.

Getting stuck in Varkala with Bollywood casting calls, cheap buffets and free food.

Varkala Feb 27 - March

Nightly seafood markets

Wow, what a much needed getting stuck. We had originally planned to stay here for 4 days , but then shortened it to 2 because of the whole Kovallam situation. 2 nights became a "maybe 1 or 2 more nights" because we had lots of much needed catching up to do with our life that we left behind in Korea. Our contract has officially finished and so we must tie up all the loose ends. And our moving boxes that we sent to different countries have arrived or showing up soon.

For the most part it was sunny, hot, days of laying on the beach and eating water melon. For the other small parts it was freaking about the boxes that were shipped home.

Varkala's intoxicating beaches

Chasing beaches and innocuous trance music

Sunrise in Kanyakumari

So nothing from the previous post actually made it through. Dare I say, it all fell apart the moment we got off the bus. First and foremost, our time estimation was completely wrong. We entered, once again at 3 in the morning to some unknown city called Kanyakumari. We’re trying to wake up as were being ushered into a hotel that is ridiculously too expensive. A huge flag warning should've gone off when another tourist ran back shouting "No thank you, that's too expensive for me!"

We took our chances slash we were zombie-fied following our guide. Originally it was going for 2000 rupees, at least. That's about 40 usd a night. Nowhere in India charges that much for a mid range hotel. After much deliberation and Ian hesitating, the manager gave in for 600, about 12usd.

Madurai to Kanyakumari: Late night entrances and ghetto mobiles

Madurai to Kanyakumari: Feb 23 - 27

Beautiful intricate carvings of Southern Temples

In hindsight our journey to Madurai was one of our most comfortable and smoothest yet. It was still the beginning of our journey so we were still hesitant to tackle the estranged Indian public transport system. We opted for an AC bus with reclining seats as we did have a 9 hour journey ahead of us and it seemed like the best thing to do.We had a bit of a confusing transfer to another bus in the middle of the night, clinging onto our belonging heading toward a bus that was pointed out to us, praying that we have not just been scammed and that the bus would indeed accept us and take us to our next destination. We got in!

A sudden awakening at 3am by the bus driver mumbling “Madurai, Madurai” with the accompanying head wobble indicated that we had reached our destination. We get dropped off at the bus terminal, grab the closest tuk tuk and mosey into the late night dead streets of Madurai. The tuk tuk driver tells us that there aren’t many hotels open at that time of night and takes us to a hotel that he recommends to be “open and cheap”. With the first offer of 600 rupees (12usd) with stained sheets and water hose for shower head, dingy dirty hole in the wall hotel we kindly decline, thank him for his help and walk into the dimly lit streets. I must admit, we did both feel a bit sketched, especially after the tuk driver advised us not too. Very soon we spiked the interest of nearby lurking touts and eagerly they starting banging on various hotel’s tressil doors until one finally opened. (Seriously, they’re up at 4am looking for tourists!? That’s a bit sketch) We ended up settling for 750(14usd)room with fresh sheets, no hot water (its ok, it was 26 at night) and 3 beds at  "Hotel Surapi", along one of the budget hotel streets of Town Hall rd.

Puducherry - Old French colonies and hippie communes

Pondicherry, 21st - 23rd February.

Remnants of old French colonies

First things first. Cheaper than Mamallapuram, "backpackistan." We stayed in a heritage house based off French Colonial era with high ceilings, wooden pillars, antique furniture, wooden staircase and roof patio (where we enjoyed our breakfasts in style). And we paid just as much for our room here as we did in Malla. Real luxury! We had free wifi, a large comfy bed in a stained class window room and got a full breakfast of toast, eggs, coffee/tea/ fruit juice and what have you, for less than 3 usd.

Food in Pondi is at half the cost than in Malla. And there are loads of little gems of restaurants to be found where we got an extra-ordinary amount of food for what otherwise would've been a meagre meal in Mamallapuram. Food so far in south India has been incredibly savoury. No dish has disappointed and everything has been so incredibly yummy!

Backpack-istan

So, we started by flying into Chennai and heading straight for Mallahapuram, or otherwise known as backpakistan. Malla is a small, slow paced port town that seems to run on tourism. The little town consists of a few streets notorious for budget hotels and restaurants serving delicious local and foreign cuisines, specializing in freshly caught seafood. When dining at any of the street or sea view restaurants, watching other travelers wondering by while you wait for your meal, it becomes inevitably clear why this town is known as "backpakistan." The city itself used to be huge port that enabled trade with many parts of the world, including china, Persia, Rome, and other nations, but the main attraction in Mallahapuram is the Archaeological site that surrounds the outskirts of the little town. It consists of amazing monolithic carvings of temples and sculptures carved out of a single piece of rock (apparently the second biggest of its kind in the world with the first being in Cambodia). Here you also find Krishnas butter ball (a big circular boulder seemingly balancing on a slanted slab.) It is said that the British thought the positioning of the boulder was dangerous and tried to move it with 10 elephants, but still it didn't budge.There is also a magnificent temple at the shore(aptly named the shore temple) that really is a spectacular site to behold at either sunrise or sunset.

This is my Canada - Top 10's

Blogger roulette!

Packed already to go!

Started with Pamela from Spunkygirl Monologues, we're supposed to tag 3 people in our blogs showing some great places to visit in Canada. I was tagged by Claudia from Travelling Moms. Guess Ian will be writing about Canada!

Here we go!

First, find a friend, and start checking off the list at the bottom. I took my best friend, Damian, and did a bicycle tour in the maritimes. We flew to St.Johns Newfoundland and pedaled our little legs all the way to Ville de Quebec. Just a little over 2,100 km covered in a month.

D day

Flying out!

And so it begins, "the journey" after years in Korea. With a few bucks in hand, we dash out the door trying to throw 3 years worth of life into 3 corners of the world. Its easily the most stressful morning in a long time. It also takes the record of most money spent in less than 5 hours; but it was all worth it. A fit on the streets, last minute packing, last minute check in and awesome re-packing skills in the security cloak room later, we head on our plane in premium class with full reclinable chairs. We are currently enjoying our copius amount of leg space and looking forward to a full flat bed in the premium class for 6 hours. Taking full advantage. We have a drink to celebrate the end of one chapter and the beginning of the next of our lives.

We now head off into the depths to feed our long lost addiction, aptly named "the travel bug." Looking down into the ocean of dimly lit city lights, the stars congregate screwing up the horizon banishing the earth beneath us.

Soon, well land in kuala lumpur, with 30 degree heat blasting at us from our comfort of 5 degree weather in seoul.

Goodbye Korea, hello the rest of the world! Time for the fun to begin...

Dress to kill - in winter

Coming back from the depths of the cold

Having grown up in Canada, it seemed like common sense to figure out how to dress for winter. A lot of layers and coats. But not only until I started doing a lot more winter activities with friends and really thinking about how to stay warm did I actually "learn" of a "correct" way to dress for winter.

Meeting people from everywhere else in the world has made me realize even more how little we know about how to survive the blasting cold - afterall, Canada is notorious for being cold. In Korea, the winter of 2012 - 2013 has been the coldest in a long time, reaching to the depths of -20 Celsius, temperatures this Canadian boy is no stranger to. Seeing people that look like the Michelin man all  bundled up and still cold has inclined me to share with you a few tricks I picked up on how to dress for winter.

Sections are broken down into:
1) Layers
2) Materials
3) Application (how to apply layering to day-to-day activities)
4) Body Physiology in Cold Weather.

The worst thing about travelling...

... Saying farewell. And so that was it. Our farewell dinner. We held it at Little India Seoul, because of our lovely friend, Shalla; owner and proprieter. Our friends hogged over half of the restaurant, and Shalla hooked us up with a buffet for all of us.

Post dinner good byes started becoming messy *womp womp* through the night. The last stragglers with us managed to pop into a venue while we decided to hit home, and the other half moseyed on their way into the dark abyss.

A chill night, hopping into the cab, we decided to call it earlier than usual (3am, haar har).

We would like to say a HUGE thank you for everyone who came out. You don't even know how much it means to us for us to see you guys. This farewell is definetly a bittersweet one with unknown plans to see all of you "somewhere, sometime in the future." And even though we will try and see you guys in the future, it might be a long time from now.

Our trip itinerary - in a nutshell

Decor inside Everest, a favourite restaurant in Seoul.

It seems we have completely overlooked telling you guys where we're actually going and when. We gave an idea but not accurate stuff. We're not entirely sure how it'll pan out either, but that's the awesome part of travelling, right?!

Since our departure is neigh, we should probably fill you guys in on our progress and what we're hoping to accomplish. Here it is as nutshelled as possible:

INDIA - February 18 to April 15
First off, our departure is February 18. We're flying into Chennai, India. A little bit South, near the cape on the East side to the Bay of Bengal. From there, we're going to wrap around the cape and head into Kerala state, where the backwaters are and have some fun in the hill stations too. Shooting up North from there, we're planning to layback in Goa for about a week. Scuba dive, party, and general "Goa" stuff... we're heading to Mumbai after.