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2 Backpacks 1 Love
  • Jarris Bowman
okt. 2016 – jan. 2017

2 Backpacks 1 Love

En 119-dags äventyr från Jarris Läs mer
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  • Resans start
    4 oktober 2016
    Jarris Bowman2 Backpacks 1 LoveResenär

    Yotin guest house

    4 oktober 2016, Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    After over 25 hours straight of travel time including 17 hours of flight time we arrived. Disheveled, Nauseas, full of weird seafood that the airlines kept on trying to serve us. After an a refreshing 10 hour sleep the plan is coffee and a meal onwards to koh mak. A small island off the coast of trat to a bungalow called big easy. Weather is high 20s, humid and rainy.Läs mer

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    Big Easy Resort on Koh Maak

    4 oktober 2016, Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    15 minute taxi ride from Yotin guest house in Trat followed by an hour speed boat trip that left my body humming inside and out from the two huge outboard engines that were spooling up well past 10,000 rpm, or so it felt like that. The surf was calm which resulted in only getting moderate whiplash. Also it didn't rain which was a break from the previous nights massive constant downpour. We were greeted by Paul who is the owner of our next resort called Big Easy. Not sure where the name came from other than this place is really chill. Turns out that we are the only ones here and we have the whole place to ourselves! The busy (high) season doesn't start until oct 16th so we beat the rush and paid half the price, 1500$ baht a night. Approx 55$ cad. Wow is it worth it. Massive bed and epic heated shower with complimenting hammock and porch out front to lounge.

    We have been actively engaging local Thais and attempting to communicate with them in their native tongue. They appreciate effort with smiles/laughs and have been very friendly and helpful. I love the culture here, just the fact that you bow and place your hands together in front of your chest at the same time is an amazing show of respect just to say "hello" and "thank you." The tone of my voice becomes less harsh and more harmonious with the language, less hard consonants to punctuate the lack of patience that most of us Vancouverites have developed. Patience is such a virtue and something to actively practice and build the whole life. I feel the locals here practice it much more seriously than people back home. This is one of the reasons that I love Buddhism.

    The beach here is very quiet, nothing but the sounds of waves crashing and Desert Dwellers blasting from our portable Bose speaker while we snack on wine gums that my mum gave us before we left. Bethany instantly jumped into her favourite book whilst I immediately started to hydrate as I have been profusely sweating like a small rain cloud has been following me around. This will be our home for the next 4 days until we recover from the PTSD of uprooting our life in Kitsilano while working up until our departure.    Läs mer

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    Last full day at Big Easy on Koh Mak

    7 oktober 2016, Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    "This is the first time in my life that I have ever had to put DEET on my bum!" said Bethany after she counted 3 bites in the area. Mosquitos love her and she has the bumps to prove it. Sandflies have eaten away at my ankles and feet but with little annoyance. My feet have become more hardened and inflamed from all of the ground they have directly contacted. Beth has always poked fun at me for loving socks so much saying real hippies walk barefoot and connect to the earth directly. I wonder if it's the solution to all of my clients that I have been treating with plantar fasciitis....this I will have to investigate. That being said I've not worn socks and shoes for the past few days which is a big deal for me because I love the way fresh socks feel. I'll never forget the time I wore Toms to school and everyone made fun of me because I wore them with socks on. It did look pretty silly after all but deeply repressed my love for socks at the same time. Should we be wearing shoes or is it a man made thing? If the body has been made from an infinite sea of love and space dust from the cosmos should it not be perfect and functional by itself? Does wearing shoes make things worse? Is it like walking around all day with a back brace on and never taking it off, surely the body becomes reliant on its new crutch and compensates accordingly when the crutch isn't present. These are the things I think of after 2 cups of crumby coffee and a western style breakfast(free).

    Not much to report last few days. It has been raining a lot here off and on, the tropical kind which feels like small marbles pelting you and gets you soaking wet in 5 seconds of exposure. Still hot enough to make you sweat but cool enough to only make you shower at least 4 times a day. We have adopted a sleeping schedule similar to Seinfelds parents, up early and in bed by 7pm. We have been reading, swimming, sea kayaking, running on the beach, Beth beat me at crib(again) and have been doing yoga at which she is quite amazing at.

    We have maybe seen 4 or 5 other tourists on the stretch of beach that all the resorts share so this has been a very interesting process of unwinding our minds. Most days I wake up I have a set list of things/tasks to accomplish with nattering details swirling around each one, repeating or re analyzing. A giant green "go" button I push myself into with a cup of strong coffee full of adrenaline and hunger I burn for each task to be completed and finally cooled with chugging copious amounts of water. All for the vicious cycle to start again the very next day. Finally today I woke up without a said list and was able to flop around for a while actually allowing myself to validate my day without extreme, micro minutiae details surrounding my schedule. Ahh what a relief to experience...The food has been amazing and we have been indulging in pad Thais, pad see iw, curries, sweet chili with basil chicken and the most amazing French fries. Coffee has been the sub par packaged kind but what do you expect when you're on a small island in the middle of the Gulf of Thailand.

    The question of the day is what is your "swimology?"    Läs mer

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    JP Mansion (not actually that big) Krabi

    9 oktober 2016, Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Yesterday our 1 hour boat ride from koh mak was assaulted by wind and heavy rain that shredded through the small vents in the top of our boat which resulted in us getting absolutely soaked to the bone. Luckily our bags were nicely tucked away and remained dry. Once in Bangkok massive thunder and lighting shook the terminal with a torrential down pour that I've never seen before in my life. Boarding for our flight was delayed at least 2 hours and we sat on the apron in a huge line all waiting to take off into thick fog filled with lightning and turbulence. Upon takeoff the captain quickly climbed through the madness to 30 something thousand feet only to quickly descend as our flight was only about an hour long to Krabi. We tried to budget a little cheaper this next place we stayed in Krabi but we went too far off the deep end. A rather dismal, large tiled floor room with art from 1970s with a terribly loud squeaking queen bed, a not so friendly owner, shared bathroom with mystery light switches everywhere. This morning Beth was quick to rise as her neck and shoulders were so sore that it was less comfortable to just get up and out of bed. We spent the morning in a nice coffee shop around the corner plotting our time here and decided to go to the Tiger Cave Temple. We set off shortly after riding on individual taxi scooters manned by friendly locals for 100 baht each. 4$ cad. Traffic here is organized chaos for sure but nobody excessively speeds and only use the horn to let people know that they are getting close to you for awareness. Rather than back home I honk at people for being idiots all the time. Not because I get road rage but because people are idiots and don't know how to drive there.
    It was a basic (wat)temple at the entrance with lots of shops selling fruit shakes and souvenirs etc. Monkeys running around everywhere and of course lots of dogs with the occasional cat sprawled out in a unimpressed apathetic manner. The slog to the real temple involves 1237 steps straight up a small mountain. Now that doesn't sound like a lot but doing in 30 degrees Celsius and 80% humidity might make you sweat and suffer tremendously or in my case, a lot! Needless to say there weren't many local Thais doing the hike, rather they took pictures of the sign at the bottom and probably made fun of us. Mostly foreigners with an agenda for bragging rights and a drive for the next epic picture thrusted themselves along with us up this cruel endeavour. There were painted numbers along the staircases indicating how many steps you have accomplished and served as a constant reminder that you are terribly out of shape. As we broached the top it was all made worthwhile as there was a beautiful mezzanine encompassing 360 degree panoramics with free wifi! A massive 5 story golden Buddha and some other small shrines all symbolizing different aspects of Buddhism. The temple sat on a larger size mountain in the area and gave an inspiring view of the landscape. We befriended some Irish sods, gave a donation, paid respects and carried on down. Legs shaking and wobbling reached the bottom and quickly swallowed some mango/dragon fruit shakes. Made our way back to the shitty hostel where all of our stuff was for a regroup session involving long periods of standing/lying in front of our air conditioner. Once recovered set out for some food, coffee and a Thai massage. We got a 90 min Thai massage for 400$ baht each. Wow! That's like 15$ Cad and knowing what I know about biomechanics these poor women need a massage after they treated us. So we tipped well....We then headed over to the Krabi Town night market which was epic. All delicious street vendor food and trinkets of all kinds. I got some chicken and Beth got some coconut ice cream for dinner. Our next plan is to head over to Ao Nang which is not too far away and go check out the beach.    Läs mer

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    Ao Nang/Kho Phi Phi tour

    11 oktober 2016, Thailand ⋅ 🌙 27 °C

    Yesterday we departed Krabi Town via 20 min taxi ride into our next place of residence in Ao Nang. The quickest way to hail a taxi is walk around with giant backpacks on your front and backside, that paints a giant target labelled "potential sucker." The locals understand how much it sucks to lug around 70 pounds of dead weight so when they see it they come running or in this case driving. We have been booking our hostel/hotels online the night or two before and then rocking up to them the following day only going on reviews and photos so it's been a rainbow of truth depending on the establishment as far as what is promised. That extra 1 or 200 (4-8$ cad)baht can really go the extra mile. Once checking in we took the free shuttle down to the strip at Ao Nang Beach. A Mecca of tourist services. Vendors were standing outside their stores and hailing you to come for a Thai massage or eat at their restaurant, some quite aggressive as you walk down the street. The haphazard order entailed 7/11, Thai massage, restaurant, bank, restaurant, tour shop, bank, Thai massage.....you get the point. Banks truly do run the world is the point here. Part of me feels guilty when seeing such a disparity and inequality of wealth. I mean some of these locals are poor as shit but they are selling you a tour package for 100$ cad each. Most tourists here show up and make little effort to assimilate the language and culture. And because they have money and are "rich" they treat locals with an entitlement and can come across as quite ignorant. They leave a bad review online or sneer at them because they don't know English. Anyways, sorry I digress. As I was saying we walked into a Starbucks as we have been missing our soy milk lattes. So we order 2 of them, a cookie and a brownie. Somehow it cost more than the taxi ride(500 baht = 20$ cad) we had taken hours earlier! Well, it's those things we do for love that are priceless, I guess, right? We went for a nice stroll down the beach and just like every other day enjoyed a deep life talk fuelled by caffeine and sugar. We bought a couple of shirts each and found a cozy nature filled restaurant to eat. Literally the walls were alive in this place, open air concept with plants and ferns everywhere. 4 Chinese girls sitting beside us all had selfie sticks out and were taking turns photographing each other for a good 10 minutes. We had a chuckle with the server about it and carried on.
    Today we endeavoured in the tourist trap know as Ko Phi Phi. Neck jerking, disc compressing, back snapping boat ride filled with 30 or so Hong Kongers all wearing elaborate funny weird outfits. I try to practice non judgement in life but I couldn't help but chuckle a little and shake my head. We went snorkelling and bonded with some monkeys along the way, then checked out a couple of beaches. Bethany did quite well snorkelling for her first time and quickly gained confidence as it is really just flopping around face down in water. My GoPro paid for itself already with the footage I got...see for yourself :).    Läs mer

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    Hathai house in Koh Samui

    13 oktober 2016, Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Yesterday morning we woke up at 5:30 to prepare for a 6am pickup. A 3 hour bus 1 hour ferry ride to Koh Samui which was relatively pleasant. Our tummies grew more nauseous though and we both had some really wicked Gravol induced naps half watching the scorching sun rise in the sky over the lush scenery of banana and rubber trees. The sun was in full effect and the thin atmosphere here burns my opaque Caucasian skin very very easily. Typically for this time of year my body goes into fall winter mode which means it sheds any ounce of melanin leaving me ghostly white. Dad would be shaking his finger at me to reapply sunscreen more times than none. Beth's really good about reminding me and even she has to re apply frequently. We negotiated a 25 min taxi ride across the island for about 500$ baht (expensive). But the driver couldn't find our hostel so we tipped him because we felt bad. Our spot is on the outskirts of a dense bar/commercial couple of streets leading up to Lamai beach access. We found a great coffee shop in which we later came back and got a banana split for dessert and during that time ordered a scooter by delivery online to our hostel. 20 minutes later they delivered a beaten up "new" Honda PCX 150 cc with 2 helmets for maximum safety.

    This morning was nice and slow as we hopped on the scooter for a 30min ride to Namuang waterfall 2. It's supposed to be the biggest waterfall in the area (80m) and quite a sight. Unfortunately it was not so special. They have fully capitalized the natural attraction by adding ATVing, elephant riding, shooting range and some other things that we have no interest in. It was a nice hike up to the waterfall and I feel like I am getting accustomed to the humidity. The trick is to learn how to live in the "swamp" called your clothes. Profusely sweating, even Beth, who rarely sweats a bead, was soured like a wet cat in a bath. I made fun of her as such. After stopping for a refreshing fruit smoothie and some spring rolls we headed to the local cultural and fine arts centre on the island. It's a pretty amazing story of a local who's building a collection of historical statues and figures and arranged them accordingly on his property in a vast array of temples and other structures. All gods/religions were represented as the message behind them all are very similar. All are tools to generate compassion, love and good will towards others wishing long healthy prosperous lives. Truly it was a calming experience that reassured me that regardless of the vicissitudes of life that everything will be okay as nothing is permanent. The impermanence of life flows like a river and it is only the grasping of things/ideas/beliefs that determine the island of "stuff" we surround ourselves with and create. In this one particular inspiring statue of Buddha(last pic) he had his neck recemented as it was chopped off. Had lost an arm on one side and a full hand on the other. He had a scar on his face over his eyebrow too, and yet he too could smile through it all in a relentlessly undisturbed manner. Such a deep lesson in life to really smile through it all and seek laughter. Except of course for being a creature of comfort because Beth and I always have gone back to the same restaurant and coffee shops along the way as we go. Even in the massive sea of options while travelling we fall into our "routines."    Läs mer

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    Baan Bussara in Ayutthaya

    18 oktober 2016, Thailand ⋅ 🌙 31 °C

    4 days ago we left Koh Samui via ferry,bus,flight,taxi and arrived in Ayutthaya, 1 hour drive north of Bangkok. In the 15th century, King U-Thong fled Lopburi following a smallpox epidemic, and built Ayutthaya, a new capital which then extended into most of the modern day Thailand. For many centuries it served as an international centre of commencement, art, and politics with a population of about one million people by the end of the 16th century. By mid 17 century the Burmese invaded the kingdom and devastated the city. It was only today we have ventured outside to see any of the various temples and ruins as we have been run down with colds. Runny nose, light headed, grumpy(me), one ear plugged, headachy and sleep deprived. All of the intense travelling and constant moving has left us energetically depleted and left us wiping snot on everything we can touch. We took 3 days of doing as little as possible to embark on this sabbatical and recover in our nice little hotel room with the AC jacked up high. Fortunately the wifi here is solid and we have watched at least 7 movies on Netflix so it hasn't been a complete waste of time. Feeling better today: not having my nose act like a constant runny tap is nice, so we went to visit some of the wats. Flocks of other tourists everywhere and scorching sun made it a quick mission as we putted along on our scooter to about 4 or 5 places. Hundreds of dragonflies swarmed the fields of these old ruins and I like to think they were the old souls that used to live here. Being around these sacred structures build hundreds of years ago, torn by war and a flood that hit in 2011 brings me into a state of gratitude, peace....and completely drenched in sweat!Läs mer

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    Tarntorn Boutique in Chaing Mai

    23 oktober 2016, Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    2 days ago We sprung for a luxurious bus trip to Chiang Mai from Ayutthaya, equipped with our own attendant fussing over us giving us a myriad of endless sugar engulfed snacks and drinks (included). Well worth it too as it took over 9 begrudging hours. So that day was a complete write off. We checked into a nice hotel outside the old city gate and the next day pampered ourselves by going to a spa then renting a scooter. Beth got a better therapist than me as mine was quite apathetic which was unfortunate. Everyone assumes she is Thai here and speaks to her directly in their native tongue. The city here is quite buzzing and has a great vibe, although the traffic is mad! Cars relatively maintain car rules for the most part but if you're on a scooter, anything goes. People are lane splitting and zig zagging everywhere like crazy and they aren't shoulder checking at all so we decided to limit our riding to some degree. We found an epic open air gym to drop in at for 2.50$ each and have settled in for the week at our place as our week long Thai Massage School starts on Monday. Today we ventured into the jungle and visited an elephant family and group of mahouts that take care of them. These elephants and mahouts have been living together for 3 generations so there are only verbal commands given with no harsh pick axe used as disciplinary measures. We fed them, went for a ride on them, took a bath with them in a river and gave them a little scrub too with a brush. Massive animals with such kind eyes and snouts. Had an amazing experience holding space with such a creature standing over you. And there you are holding a banana like an idiot with a smile.Läs mer

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    Spirit Houses

    26 oktober 2016, Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Anyone who has been to Thailand has seen at one point these small houses (shrines) with miniature figures inside. All varying sizes and colours with incense lit, sweets, flowers, candles, drinks and food left out in front of them. Well after carefully observation I noticed that each person with land/property has a spirit house. It is a dedicated structure usually placed in an auspicious spot usually in the corner of a lot, advised by a local monk/priest to honour the guardians of the land. It is a place to tune into the present moment and pay respect to the Mother Earth. The spirit house becomes a focal point to cultivate a harmonious relationship with nature; offerings are made in exchange for abundance, protection and creative potential. The house is intended to provide a shelter for spirits of the land that could cause problems for the people if not appeased. The ancient tradition of making daily offerings, praying, bowing has been passed through generations and is still widely practiced today. As Buddhism came to Southeast Asia it developed side by side with the ancient spirit religion (Animism). And to this day many of the animistic beliefs/practices remain intertwined with Buddhist rights and rituals such as this. Anyone who's read this please feel free to comment/like or communicate with me :)Läs mer

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    Thai Massage Course Level 1

    29 oktober 2016, Thailand ⋅ 🌙 23 °C

    This week has been very long and interesting. Thai massage level 1 course now completed! Bethany and I were the only ones in this weeks class as they run them every Monday to Friday. So we both had lots and lots of practice on each other and then on our instructor Jang. She was very helpful and excellent at correcting us as we went along. A typical Thai massage runs 2 hours long and I'm pretty sure I punished my knees into a grade 1 ACL tear from all of the kneeling. We were honoured to attend a once a year teacher appreciation ceremony that we chanted ancient Pali verses and bowed to the teachers and all of life's teachers as (symbolized in this altar) as well as given flowers to place on an altar to show respect. Contrary to western style massage, traditional Thai massage does not primarily work with the physical body but rather with the energy body of man. Its background can be traced back to India with an Ayurvedic understanding that "wind" or "chi" has invisible lines that flow through the body. If there is a blockage along the lines somewhere an ailment is presented in the according like fashion. We covered the full body as well as some cool stretching techniques all working on a large mat on the floor with different pillows to flop you around as needed. When I was getting treated by Beth I would slowly drift off to sleep but then a short time would pass and I would have to wake up and then work so it became difficult for me. Also Beth had some tummy troubles but is on the mend these past couple of days. The pharmacies here are very helpful and can pretty much get you anything you need. Now that the serious part of the trip is over we are off to Pai to party out! And by partying out I mean sitting by a pool complaining about the wifi and having a competition to see who gets dehydrated first.Läs mer

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    Pai Vieng Fah resort in Pai

    30 oktober 2016, Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Yesterday we set afoot a 150km or so journey north to Pai. I felt confident enough to rent a bigger bike for the trip as I have been putting around on a 110 cc scooter all week. We got a Honda CB500X with a luggage option behind the rear seat for snack storage and some clothes. What an amazing road trip with over 700 turns twisting back and forth with tight hairpin turns that come out of no where and no posted speed limit. Lush jungle scenery filled our eyes as we left the city, then we were ensconced in pristine rainforest air. Such purity is was therapeutic for us as walking in the city you get snorted on with gross exhaust by taxis and tuk tuks as they pass. I quickly bonded with the machine adjusting all of the controls with a more refined fashion more and more as we travelled. Shifting up and down gears, using front and rear brake all change the centre of gravity of the machine and when you have a passenger onboard any small change gets exasperated because of the added weight. Luckily Beth's calm warm touch and willing trust allowed me to work through any mild turbulence to maximize rider comfort for the most part.....well nobody got sick I mean. Riding a motorcycle is very meditative for me: all senses are heightened with your wholebody moulding to the machine and becoming one with the fiery dragon of Rpms. There is no thinking of yesterday or tomorrow, no regrets, no "what ifs" and no doubts. When you approach an unknown corner with the love of your life strapped to your back you do everything to set your self up for maximum success. Choosing the right lane position to take and line to accelerate through, appropriate gear/rpms so the machine can respond quickly by speeding up or slowing down if needed, looking through the turn while being cognizant of the road directly in front of you, being aware of the situation and always having an emergency option if something was to jump out in front of you or having anything unsuspecting happen such as mechanical failure etc. This is why I love riding motorcycles so much. It is the best life metaphor one can experience. Let's face it, riding a motorcycle is dangerous, but so is life. We set ourselves up the best we can with our knowledge and information that we have and head into a blind turn of life. Life can end at any moment and I think it's important to acknowledge that every day in order to appreciate it more and more. We take all these steps to live the best life and be healthy and assess risk etc. But it could all be over In a blink of an eye so the message here is be grateful, live life full of love, be aware and equanimous, as this too shall pass. All of this passed through my mind as all of a sudden we rode into a cloud filled rainstorm with raindrops that felt like paint balls pelting me. It quickly passed though and luckily Beth didn't get so wet because the big pylon named Jarris took the brunt of it. Pai is a very small town with mostly foreigners shuffling about on scooters and flip flops but a really cool place. It sits nestled in a valley with rolling hills and mountains surrounding us on all sides. Weather is cooler here and we don't actually need the AC on at night.Läs mer

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    Boomelicious Breakfast and Coffee House

    1 november 2016, Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    We had a nice relaxing day yesterday did some sight seeing around Pai. Found an amazing breakfast and coffee place to peruse our next chapter online and make some plans. The food here is amazing and suits our tummies well. We stopped by a bookstore and I purchased a neat little card/coin trick book to try and impress Beth with some sleight of hand action. Today we ride back to Chaing Mai to tackle some admin and prep for our flight to Kathmandu tomorrow morning.Läs mer

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    Andes house in Kathmandu, Nepal

    3 november 2016, Nepal ⋅ 🌙 15 °C

    Woke up quick this yesterday at 4:40am to rummage around and finalize packing and check out from Tarntong Boutique in Chiang Mai. We took a taxi to the airport departing through Bangkok to Kathmandu. Arrived after 1pm and were completely overwhelmed with the amount of paperwork we had to accomplish. Luckily we read ahead online to see what it would be like and it was a bit of a gong show. So we were given two immigration forms to fill out on the flight, then filled out another smaller yet identical form to fill out again once arrived. Then went to a passport scanning machine which basically formalized the exact information electronically, then we went and stood in a line like confused idiots just like the rest of the foreigners with no visa with all of the paperwork plus some passport photos (that were no use to anyone after all). The line was to only pay for the visa corresponding to the amount of time you wish to stay. 30 days cost 40$ usd. Little conversation was spoken as the guys working were all business ripping paper and frantically writing scribbles on allegedly important forms (really just writing a receipt). Then we went to another line with our portfolios and chuckled as we watched other foreigners who were more confused than us stumble through everything without directions or advice from anyone. Lastly the immigration officer just scanned my passport again and made sure I looked like my picture and waved me through. Also this was all in a terminal that looked like it was built in the 70s and had not been upgraded at all.
    Onward to the sea of taxi drivers all jousting for position and gesturing to come with them. We put up a fight negotiating before we found a really nice local who was very friendly and more laid back. I thought Thais were friendly, wow this gentleman was one of the kindest, most optimistic souls I have ever met. (Next to Bethany) After a nice lift to our hostel we checked in and went for a walk. I've been lugging around 12 pounds of laundry so we dropped that off at a small shop down the road from us and we met another amazing couple. They invited us in and fed us hot black tea with sugar and we had a wonderful time visiting with them. They run a school/home for orphaned kids and ended up showing us a lot as they pulled out a laptop from the 90s and clicked away on their facebook account sharing many stories.
    The streets here are soooo narrow and cars and scooters just honk politely as they whizz by less than 4 inches away. We are staying in backpacker central and it's the busy season here so all the shops are eagerly awaiting anyone half interested. The trick is to walk with a purpose and not make eye contact. A slow meanderer looking around will get heckled and approached more. I am overwhelmed but I love it.
    Today we visited the great Boudha Stupa which is a world heritage site and also the largest and most significant Buddhist monuments in the world. Wow!    Läs mer

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    Boudhanath Coffe Shop, KTM, Nepal

    4 november 2016, Nepal ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    Kathmandu Nepal, wow what an explosion of intrusive gong shows. Even the simplest of tasks turn into hour long adventures from trying to find an actual bank not just a random crumby ATM on the side of the street to taking a taxi ride 2km across town. I would not survive here as a taxi driver. Take 1 lane in Vancouver then jam small compact cars, scooters and pedestrians heading in opposite directions all going straight at each other, then take the road make it a dust filled gulch made of loose gravel and chunks of cement haphazardly with holes everywhere. Multiply the horns of everyone honking simultaneously to politely inform everyone else to move out of the way and then take us. A couple of spoiled first worlders choking on the dust and sneezing like idiots with our sterilized water bottles in hand carrying our probiotics in one hand and clean toilet paper in the other. I may be embellishing. There is rubble everywhere surrounded by dirt and sand in every crevasse. Its either left over remnants of building post earthquake in 2015 or materials for new developments. Either way it's everywhere. The people here are amazingly kind yet walk around with a neutral face sometimes cold but without a trace of malice. We have gotten into some bad traffic situations in taxis that compared to back home would have erupted into fists being thrown around with the use of foul language. However, here everyone just honks, barely misses hitting(sometimes actually hits) each other and moves on. Both of us receive a lot of attention from the locals. Mostly staring at Beth for a long time, then me. Something that I've gotten used to over the past 4 years we have been together. Beth ignores it all the same, she's great like that, she's so wise with her selective naivety. She throttled me around this morning just after 5am to head up to the monkey temple to watch the sunrise. This privilege is taken very serious by the locals and they chant, pray, and sing daily as a ceremonious way of life. Other younger locals were stretching and doing push-ups amidst a massive tribe of monkeys screeching around looking for food climbing up and down the 300 something steps to the temple. The Buddha taught only to believe something to be true once you've experienced it yourself. Then and only then it is truth. But until then question everything. We all base our lives on our belief system and faith. Sometimes even blind faith because of something we have read, learned, or experienced. I believe life demands us to be constantly challenging our belief systems pragmatically in order to be a better person everyday. Why accept things as face value and wallow around in our safe bubbles of routine and comfort. That's not the life I want to live. If you're not challenging yourself in some way you become stagnant, and plateaus gradually turn into downward spirals eventually. Bethany has helped me realize this over the years as she inadvertently inspires me to constantly impress her.
    Temperature here is mid 20s sunny getting cold at night with about 40% humidity kind of like back home. Today is our last day in Kathmandu and tomorrow we are taking a bus to Pokhara for some epic adventures!    Läs mer

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    Hotel Tara in Pokhara

    5 november 2016, Nepal ⋅ 🌙 15 °C

    A Bumpy, jostling, thrashing, 30km/hour crawl in a bus filled with locals was embarked on today from Kathmandu to Pokhara. On a map it's only 200kms however it took an Expedited time of 8 hours. The landscape changed dramatically to a lustrous 360 degree panorama of epic mountains, plants trees and fields from a giant dust filled bowl named Kathmandu. In the backdrop the Gigantic Himalayans sat calling us in an inspiring way. Wow I felt so small looking at them. Such an amazing country and the weather has been gorgeous out too! We found some good coffee and food and set out for a stroll. Very productive day ahahaLäs mer

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    World Peace Pagoda, Pokhara, Nepal

    6 november 2016, Nepal ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    This morning after a nice coffee we hired a young man to whisk us across the lake in a canoe to hike up a small hill to a world peace pagoda that is world famously known. We were able to capture some amazing shots of Pokhara and the lakeside district is where all of the tourists from all over visit. This is also the most expensive city in Nepal where we have easily spent 15-20$ cad on dinner for both of us(which is a lot). We decided to hike down the other side and ended up meeting a really nice taxi driver who is going to take us up another mountain tomorrow morning for sunrise view over the himalayans. I made Beth proud today as she is always encouraging to be more of a hippy, so I bought a couple pairs of hippy pants to match the ones she loves wearing all of the time. I saw a funny sign in front of a washroom that read " men to the left because women are always right." But we all know that it's not about who's right, right?Läs mer

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    Still in Pokhara.....

    13 november 2016, Nepal ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    We spent another early morning in a taxi up a small hill in Pokhara called Sarangkot. It is where all of the paragliders take off from every day with between 200-300 flights daily all around 30 min long for about 100$ cad. We really wanted to go and do it because it gives a great birds eye view and looks like a lot of fun but thanks to Bethany being very pragmatic and smart we chose not to go. After doing some research and reading some blogs we found out that it's actually very dangerous. Not because of the winds or elements of nature but because of other idiots. The problem is that trainees doing solo pilot train take off in the same small area as professional tandem pilots so it becomes a huge mishmash of skill levels in a relatively small space. It is very easy to get tangled and collide so write that adventure off. Over the years it has become more and more busy as the tourists line up to do it so the pressure to do more flights and worry about safety measures become skewed. So for now all you get is to enjoy some pictures of the sun......and Beth Photosynthesizing :)Läs mer

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    Chitwan national park

    16 november 2016, Nepal ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    What an amazing opportunity to get out of the city and go on some jungle adventures. We took a 6-7 hour soul crushing bus ride over the worst road I've ever been on in my life. The roads here aren't roads, they are composed of randomly sized rocks placed haphazardly with rubble and other random leftover carnage from the landslides caused by the earthquake in 2015. Pitted and rudded potholes bigger than the wheels of busses are scattered throughout the 100 something km journey in copious amounts. The best thing to do is Medicate up, engage the core and submit to it like drinking tequila. It burns along the way but afterwards you feel euphoric.....and very grateful for everything we have back home. For me this experience here in Chitwan National Park was a collision of heart and mind. The right and left sides of my brain firing fully in order to make the next power move decision and be at peace with it once made. "The paradox of life" is something Joel used to say to me and I heard him saying it a few times to me these past few days. I remember asking him more than a few times what it meant and then googling it after too still being confused. Ahaha. Now I think I know what he meant. The resulting brain collision resulted in me getting a stress cold and probably getting Beth sick too however the experience was a little enlightening.

    We found a great place to stay that provided tours and treks in Nepals only national park and saw some really neat wildlife. Last year this park was poach free apparently however the years of hunting and mans need to control everything and capitalize is very clear here. In the mid 1900s before this was a park hunting was rampid until the rhino population was almost completely depleted. Elephants have been completely dominated in Nepal. There was a breeding centre here in which we did not visit but I asked our guide on the jungle trek some questions about it and the answers I received were very disheartening. Newborn elephants are immediately trained and broken in, male elephants are then shipped off to one of the many army posts. 2 elephants a guard post with about 45 posts around the park. The tusks are sawed off when they become a threat. Female elephants remain in captivity forever basically even though they do go on daily walks into the jungle they chain them up the rest of the time.    Läs mer

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    Mumbai, india

    23 november 2016, Indien ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    The adventure continues to Mumbai, India where the recent demonetization has caused some serious turmoil for most of the country as the economy is 85% cash based and hundreds of millions of people don't even have bank accounts. Line ups were everywhere outside of banks and post offices as people are scrambling to exchange the now useless "old" 500 and 1000 rupee note. I could feel the tension instantly even in the airport terminal where we waited over an hour and a half just to exchange a small amount of money for ourselves. It's not a good time to travel to India so we kept it short and sweet. Our journey from Kathmandu to Mumbai connected through New Delhi and was filled with hours of standing in long leg-panging lines. We were told completely conflicting information by 4 different Indian officials regarding where to go all followed by a head waggle which is used to insinuate a myriad of different inferences. I had a full conversation with a woman in security and all she used to communicate was her head and eyes. It was quite adorable and very understandable. We arrived around 9pm at night and it took an hour and a half for our taxi driver to maneuver down a 3 lane highway (that people drove like there were 5 lanes) for a distance totalling only 30 kilometres. India wasn't as dirty and smelly as I had thought. Although in some areas the smells almost knocked me off my feet. There is extreme poverty right next to massive high rises, and business districts intertwined with shops, tuk tuks filling every free square inch of road space. People have stared a lot at us but are deeply in love with American pop culture and Hollywood so we had a couple people ask to get pictures with us. We both agreed that getting used to Nepal first helped us not be overwhelmed by millions of people and the constant nattering of honks and head waggles. We found a cosy shared apartment using Airbnb and met some amazing British Indians. We then blew a breaker in their home, then locked a door that we weren't supposed to (which resulted in calling a locksmith... face palm). We spent a day getting oriented and then a full day at the Global Vipassana Pagoda which was just a short ferry ride away in Gorai. We used Uber a couple of times as well which was a little more expensive but also quite cool. The food was quite delicious and we didn't get sick as I learned my lesson in Nepal about eating salads. India will be a country to come back to one day.Läs mer

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    The Global Vipassana Pagoda, Mumbai

    23 november 2016, Indien ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    The Global Vipassana Pagoda deserves its own blog post because it has meant so much to me in my life as I have attended four 10 day Vipassana courses in the past (all entirely free of charge, supported by donation only) and plan on attending annual retreats yearly with my wife. The life path I have chosen to this day is built off the experience and wisdom that I have acquired with Vipassana. Also I have learned how to be a better partner to the love of my life. (Basically I kill all the scary bugs around her and keep her well fed, with tea and chocolate for afterwards....well slightly more than that lol). This non sectarian, non religious, universal technique provides an opportunity to practice good morality, mind mastery and acquire wisdom through the scientific pragmatic observation of the relationship between the mental structure and the physical structure that makes up this impermanent mass of atoms named Jarris, all understanding the impermanent nature that this too shall pass. We signed up for a 1 day course and were able to sit and meditate inside the main Pagoda for 4 one hour sits with short breaks (including a yummy free lunch) in between. We were the only foreigners but were welcomed as all walks of life are. The dome is built with Basalt, sandstone, and marble, and was completed relatively recently in 2008 with more construction being added around the main dome. It is the biggest pillar-less stone dome structure in the world taking 3.87 million man days to complete with 2.5 million tonnes of stone used. It is almost as high as a 30 story building and can fit up to 8000 meditators at once!
    The pagoda is to serve as a monument of peace and harmony. The Global Vipassana Pagoda has been built out of gratitude to the Buddha, his teaching and the community of monks practicing his teaching. Its traditional Burmese design is an expression of gratitude towards the country of Myanmar for preserving the practice of Vipassana. The shape of the pagoda is a copy of the Shwedagon Pagoda (Golden Pagoda) in Yangon, Myanmar. It was built combining ancient Indian and modern technology to enable it to last for a thousand years.    Läs mer

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    Ubud and Sanur Beach, Bali

    26 november 2016, Indonesien ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    Promptly leaving India we arrived in Bali in which we pre booked an (Airbnb) 2 story house for a week. Small things like cooking for yourself are very comforting and a little cheaper here and there. We decided to enroll in a 3.5 week immersion class of Ashtanga yoga (the hardest kind) as Beth says this school is internationally known and well respected. I dislike yoga because I am terrible at it, my body does not agree with the ever so slow movement isometrically contracting whilst deep control and awareness of the breath. I get frustrated with myself very quickly and then instantly cause myself increased suffering through bad thoughts and sweat. As I am learning, everyone feels the same way about it and that's why some people love it.....and that's the point! Mastering your body and mind and self control makes the rest of your life easier just like another form of "swimology". As my wise grandfather says "results are directly related to input" so slacking will result in even more difficulty sooner or later. Thanks grandpa I was thinking of you :) !! I know that for me to continually grow outwards into my aversions in life will result in nothing but numerous positive benefits. However, on the morning of day 2, I already begrudgingly sulked to Beth and said I am uncertain on how long I will last ahaha. Today we headed to the beach to soaked up some sunshine and flop around in the water.Läs mer

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    Jalan Hanoman street, Ubud

    3 december 2016, Indonesien ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    So far Ubud has been an interesting experience with a somewhat of a normal routine helping reduce the inflammation of constantly travelling and adjusting to new things. Mornings filled with Ashtanga yoga, afternoon adventures and excursions. The roads here are very well maintained compared to Nepal and Thailand so a 115cc scooter has been our Lamborghini of transport. Random traffic jams caused for no reason, random torrential rain storms almost daily, no speed limits, all with a wonderful humidity sitting around 70-80%. This style of Yoga I can tell you very succinctly expresses every little muscle imbalance, weakness and lack of flexibility you might have. My spine is much happier with the trunk rotations done with so many postures and now I can experientially confirm that custom orthotics are just a band aid type solution with any imbalances whether intrinsic or extrinsic muscles of the legs and or feet. Without them my balance is similar to an abandoned new born baby kitten. Which by the way we ended up adopting one for a few weeks. We had been out running errands and had pulled over to escape another afternoon downpour of rain drops the size of bricks under an abandoned building. There were some other locals there and we gravely acknowledged the egregious situation. Hearing a very strong shrieking meow from under one of the others' scooter, we looked and found a small kitten screaming for its life. Beth attempted some kind palpation but was met with strong fear, so declined. Hours later that day we discussed the situation again and decided to try to help somehow. We went to the market and purchased the necessary supplies(Beth knew what to get, I just bought some chocolate), took it to the vet a few times now and will take care of her until we leave. We have a local family here that will care for it afterwards.Läs mer

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    Clear Cafe, Ubud

    7 december 2016, Indonesien ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    "Do sharks complain about Monday? No. they're up early, biting stuff, chasing shit, being scary - reminding everyone they're a freaking shark." Please excuse the cursing but this little quib I read gave me laughter and a strong determination to not go into things half steppingly. Sometimes Beth will suggest to do stuff that I don't really want to do but I don't have any good excuse not to do, so I rattle along nattering away in my head about how I should have said something but now it was too late(like a month long yoga immersion course). But the effects that Ashtanga has on my body outweigh my internal resistance. Every time I practice the series a huge list of faces (mostly my clients) flicker through my mind of who would all massively benefit from this daily practice. In the East yoga is prescribed as actual cures to diseases and certain conditions. In the West corporations have turned it into a fad in which people all wearing 100$ + pairs of leggings ignorantly huddle into a room and sing OMM together with their hands clasped together over their hearts and once finishing the opening mantra go back to being mean to each other. I have learned a lot in life by people watching and observing consciousness on all levels. For example some of my friends who are so hellbent on buying a house right now, saying it's the perfect time to get into the market as a first time buyer. I'm no expert but being housepoor doesn't make sense to me, but to each their own. We stick ourselves into these modes or levels of thinking and nothing can deter such strong affirmations, not even logic or reason. I then examine myself to see where and how I fit in and maybe that's why I'm so awkward. Beth gets me though and she truly is my best friend through and through. I'm so lucky to have met her and have her in my life and this blog post is a sneak up sonnet to the love of my life. She is the most upbeat, consistently optimistic person I have ever met and she makes me want to be a better person every day. I am truly grateful to her and eternally smitten. Love you Bethany.Läs mer

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    Dompak House, Ubud

    13 december 2016, Indonesien ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    This past week there has been a regular torrential down pour of rain that starts anytime in the afternoon and runs pretty much up until night time. We have settled in to our pet friendly hostel room and I've somehow become equanimous with the smell of cat poop. Even though it's in kitty litter this little kitten is an absolute shit storm. Like a giant never ending toothpaste bottle that's being slowly squeezed, the poop river runs deep. Luckily Beth's cordially volunteered for the admin involving the cat but I find myself fussing over her here and there as well. The Ashtanga sequence is befriending me more and more and I am truly enjoying sharing this with Beth and working within my own shallow limits of mobility. The plasticity of the body over time is a remarkable thing. Over time everything you do or don't do creates a functional boundary and quality of movement. Certain muscles disengage, become lazy, over compensate and become hyper toned, thus creating who you are today. So many of my clients have asked me why is their body like that and how is it creating pain, looking for a quick fix with treatment. So from now on my answer is just to do Ashtanga and you will figure it out yourself along the way.
    There are plenty of other beginners in the class so I don't feel behind or noob sensitive. We have done some day trips here and there but have spent most of the time chilling and planning the next couple of months as next week we move on to New Zealand. The Balinese "island" lifestyle is quite infectious which means that the high point of the day is drinking a cup of our favourite butter coffee or coconut latte with cashew nut milk. I know right, I have turned into a coffee snob ahaha.
    In certain areas of Bali there are literally more temples (over 20,000) than people so wherever you go you will pass by numerous statues and structures peppered in between shops and schools. Most of the heavily regarded tourist attractions are governed by a mobs of locals all standing at the entrances demanding entrance fees and payment for the alleged "guides." Apparently in some areas including the Besakih temple the locals have been very aggressive to foreigners who show up and don't want to pay and the situation has gotten pretty uncomfortable so the foreigners left. Even at some beaches the locals walk up and down interrupting you demanding that you go to their shop, in which we laugh off politely. So we have steered clear of those areas and we are both ready to move on. I am getting tired of fending off the taxi drivers who constantly hound me wherever I go as it has begun to wear on me. I think these are all symptoms of being somewhere for too long, but on the plus side it has engendered a hunger to go out and explore again.    Läs mer

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