Singapore & KTM

Namaste!

after two extra days in Singapore, i finally made it to Nepal. it's been a great experience so far and every minute brings something new and unexpected.

my extra two days in Singapore were actually really enjoyable. i stayed in a hostel in Little India, checked out the area more, made friends with some of the shop keepers and visited the Singapore Zoo. if you ever get a chance, go to the Singapore Zoo. it's probably the best Zoo i've ever seen with tons of great animals and instead of being behind cages, they're just far enough away they can't really get to you. they even let you handle and feed some of the animals. i fed a rhino. i doubt a zoo back in the states could get away with letting you do this kind of stuff because of the chance of getting sued if something happened. my only regret is stopping at the snakes section to see all the poisonous and ridiculous huge snakes of SE Asia.

i arrived in Kathmandu last Wednesday and have been staying with the program director,Rajesh, and his family for my culture classes and exploring the city.

the group i'm working with is called Cultural Destination Nepal,  here's a link to their website.

Rajesh and his wife, Bandana, have two amazing kids, an incredibly focused and smart girl named Prarthana and little, goofy, rambunctious, Bivor. they also have a little girl between the ages of Prarthana and Bivor that is considered family but is actually from the a little town 3-4 hrs away that is going to school near by and being cared for by the family in exchange for additional help around the house. her name is Laxmi and you can tell she's the quiet, observant and methodical one. they've welcomed me with open arms and it's been really great staying here. they're truly my family away from home. it doesn't hurt that they're amazing cooks too.

daily food intake consists of tea early, breakfast around 10, tea and a small snack around 2 and dinner after 8. breakfast and dinner is with the whole family, sitting on the floor, eating the traditional Napelese way, with our hands. there's a technique to it though and it takes me about 2x as long to eat as everyone else.

i was an early riser before i left for this trip. in NZ, i would consistently wake up before 7 and now in Nepal, it's been 5am. my only justification for it is that it gets light then and the traditional Nepali bed i'm sleeping on is rock hard. it is more comparable to sleeping on the carpeted ground.

days consist of classes on culture, language, religion, history and other aspects of Nepali life and seeing the city. learning the language has been brutal. i was a terrible Spanish student in high school for 3 years but trying to learn this new language has resurrected what little knowledge i have of Spanish for some reason. i'm constantly fighting off the urge to answer in Spanish. my Napelese name is Sundar and every time i tell someone they laugh. at least it's a good ice breaker.

around the city, we've seen Buddhist and Hindu temples, historical sights and local markets. on my day off i took a flight out to see Everest and the Himalayas and after getting back to Kathmandu, i did a hike up a local mountain. you could drive up and a lady asked how i got there. when i told her i walked she said that it's really dangerous because of the tigers and lions in the jungle that i walked through. when i told Rajesh after i got back, he laughed.

the city is insane...

• i've heard talk of over-population and seen pictures of places in Asia where it's getting out of control but what you don't get from a picture, tv or book is the magnitude and the trickle down effect of it. the population growth in Nepal the last couple years has been massive and it's really straining the city. it's the scariest global issue i've seen. if China and India are anything like this, it's bad news. unfortunately, from what i hear, both places are worse.
• the pollution is sickening. in the States, especially in Seattle, the awareness of recycling and global warming and all that stuff is mainstream. it simply doesn't exist here. every body of water, river, stream, whatever, is filthy. over-flowing with garbage and backed with the gut-churning smell of human waste. everywhere you go, garbage is on the ground, strewn everywhere and small piles in random spots. even better yet, the vast majority of the garbage is metal, plastic and rubber. i have not seen a trash can in public. i've seen one garbage truck. the only treatment for garbage i've seen them deploy is just lighting it on fire. in little forest areas and under bushes, it completely covers the ground. i don't consider myself and recycle-gestapo but everyday, when i'm out and i see it, i get more and more upset about it. it's odd to me that this place has this problem because the people are obviously so strongly tied to the land and nature but seem to be unaware of this. the only out i can think of for them is that they've got much larger social issues to deal with before recycling. the cars all billow exhaust and the city is constantly covered in a haze reminiscent of L.A. but 2x as bad.
• the streets are pure chaos. the most common forms of transportation are motorcycle, micro-bus, bus and personal car. the roads, while split in cars going one way or another, is otherwise completely open. you go from 2 bicycles, 2 motorcycles, a micro-bus and bus all side by side all the way to the opposite shoulder and then down to one car width in seconds. pedestrians have no rights. cows walk down the middle of the street and get more right of way because they're sacred and it's a 10-yr jail fine if you kill one nonreligously. there are no road markings, stop signs, stop lights, speed limits or cops. everyone communicates with honking their horn. i usually take the micro-bus to get around. it costs roughly 12 cents, regardless of how far you need to go in KTM. the micro-bus is nothing more than a large mini-van that looks like it's been in a demolition derby. there are no seat belts, people ride on the roof and inside i've seen them pack up to 20 people with folks hanging out the windows.
• dogs are everywhere. mostly street dogs and it makes me really sad to see them because they look so sick. open sores, patchy fur, limping, skin & bones. they don't have all these problems at once but many have some combination and even rabies sometimes.
• from any elevation the city looks like a never-ending pond. it goes as far as the haze surrounding the city will let you see. between all the buildings being the same color and the same height, it looks really weird.

on Tuesday i head for my placement location, Panauti. i'll be staying at an orphanage and teaching 4-5 English classes per day. i'll even have to write lesson plans. oof.


the days are numbered on the beard. between the heat, sanitary issues and unfriendliness of it's appearance, it's going to have to go. i'll probably run with a mustache for a couple days just for fun first though.


the internet speed here is really slow so no pictures right now. i'll try to get some up before i leave for Panauti though.

not yet, singapore

lesson learned, read over really really carefully what travel agents book for you.

my flight from NZ to Nepal via Singapore i booked through a travel agent in Wellington, NZ. while i was able to catch that she'd had me flying in and out of the wrong airports, i missed the minor detail that she had me flying out on the wrong months. she's booked me out of Singapore on July 6, not June like we talked about. it's just as much my fault as hers because i had to read over everything. i didn't realize this until i got to check-in counter this morning.

thankfully, the airline put me on their next flight to Nepal at no additional cost. the only downside is that next flight isn't for another two days.

minor bump in the road and i was relieved it's not going to cost me a bunch of money to book a new flight but i was pretty bummed to not leave.

haere rā : farewell

i'm sitting in the Auckland Airport, watching the clock slowly tick towards 11:30pm and my flight to Singapore.

after spending a week in Raglan surfing and relaxing, i spent the last two nights before my flight in Mt. Maunganui  with my parents friend's Robin & Tony Hasslet. Tony and my dad worked together on some projects for Weyerhauser before they retired. the Hasletts were kind enough to let me stay with them and even fed me while we recapped what i'd been fortunate enough to see in NZ in my two months.

i left the Mount this morning though, headed for Auckland, sold my surfboard to a construction worker who's learning how to surf and spent the rest of the afternoon getting last minute things i needed and trying to find an internet cafe to video chat with my family before i left NZ. i struck out on the internet cafe but we'll catch each other while i'm in Singapore.

the extent of my awareness of what i've experienced mentally, emotionally, life-altering-amazingly has been zero. i've tried to think about it a bit but my mind has keeps going blank. i hope it's not permanent.

the extent of my ability to comprehend what's next (Singapore and Nepal) is best described as chaos. the closest i've come to putting it into words was a 2 minute session on the drive to Auckland this morning of, "nepal....expletive.....NEPAL....EXPLETIVE!"

well, my flight is checking in so i'm going to go now. i'll post once from Singapore before i head for Nepal.

to all the folks that read this, send me emails, write me on facebook or just curse my name in general - thank you. i know i've told some you directly and others have probably heard from the grapevine but the trip has not been what i've expected and the mind has mean tricks when it's with it's inner thoughts for too long. but the end result has been nothing but positive and leaves me with the same sense of incapability to comprehend all the great things have come from it. i just want to say thanks for the support. the idea that was hatched to "get away" from everything and to "cut ties" has turned into an adventure and experience in coming home.

i hope this finds you well.

my haere ra moment with big brother thunder. he's been good. the best i could have asked for. the moment that sums up our time together came today. driving around Auckland, running errands, i got stuck on the inside of a roundabout, did 2.5 laps around it and missed the street i needed while listening to Bill Wither's "Just the Two of Us". it was beautiful. i should have kept going around until the song ended.

one for the road at the airport

haere ra, New Zealand. i'll see you again someday.

tick tock

there's less than a week before i leave NZ now. June 3, my flight leaves for Nepal, with an extended layover in Singapore along the way.

i've been in Raglan for four or five days now. the idea was to get here, surf, relax, think/recap and get ready for the next place. i've been able to do all of that except think/recap. i should have known it'd be impossible to wrap my mind around what i've been through in NZ. it's been good though and it's coming to an end in a very fitting way...

the surf has been garbage but getting better. the currents at the beach have been really really strong and bad weather has been mucking up the surface of the water. subsequently, the same is true of my surf skills. i am now fully aware that i am not, and will likely never be, even a decent surfer without very consistent work at and unfortunately that would me a relocation from Seattle. sadly, i won't be able to rely on my surf skills for income when i get back home like i had hoped. my best days here have been surfing the beach break for awhile, then driving out to the point break and watching, reading and eating.

speaking of reading. down goes another book. this one was "The World According to Garp." it was written by the same guy, John Irving, that wrote the last book i read, "A Prayer for Owen Meany". it was another great read and again, i cruised through it too quickly. i was trying to decide to read Garp or another book i had picked up along the way one night, sat down with Garp to read the first couple pages to get a feel for it and ended up punching out 100 pages after dinner. i've already informed family and friends back home that while i've enjoyed this, this is simply unreasonable to keep up when i get back and that they can expect my ESPN loyalty to remain intact. i just picked up the next book though, "Freedom" by Jonathan Franzen. fortunately, it's been graced by Oprah and her cult book club. thank God because i've always looked to Oprah to as an adjudicator of enlightening literary material for somebody that has quit their job to travel abroad. and that's right, i just used the word "adjudicator" in a sentence. anybody want to play Scrabble when i get home? that was really snobby, there are plenty of really good books on that list of hers. just know that it's not my source for finding a good book please.

that's the stack of books to come. hostels and their book exchanges have been the best find because i can take a book in that i thought is miserable to read and walk out with something great. 1 for 1, that's their only rule. i once exchanged Charles Dickens for a book by comedian Sarah Silverman and was really happy to rid myself of Dickens. that should speak volumes about the quality of material i've been reading. if you have any suggestions for a book, send them my way please because my reading list is empty.

the return of the Swedes
you read that right, my hitch hiker friends, Vera and Lotta, made it out to Raglan and they even brought friends. last we parted, we were on the South Island, i was headed back north and they were going to hang out in this hippy town, Takaka, for a little bit before doing the same. we spoke hopefully about meeting up in Raglan before they leave for Hong Kong on their way back to Sweden on the May 31 and i head for Singapore and Nepal on June 3. it actually worked out though and it was really good to see them again. they coaxed a German guy, Felix, they met a couple weeks ago into coming out here too. Felix's claim to fame is he grew in the town in Germany where Werther's Orginal was invented. Felix is staying at a hostel in town where he met another guy, Manuel from Germany (Manuel, that's a very German name), that i had met surfing my first day in Raglan on my return trip here. so there was five us; Vera, Lotta, Felix, Manuel and me. all of us were using Raglan as a last stop on the way to Auckland and leaving NZ by June 11. the highlights consisted of dinner and drinks most nights. the last blow out night, we had met for a drink and talked up enough momentum over the idea that this might be out last big night out in NZ that we rushed over to the liquor store before it closed and then headed for my van to drink for a bit before going to the bar. that's right, bar. singular. Raglan is small and only has one bar that stays open late, the Yot Club. it feels like the basement of somebody's house (probably is too) and always has a live band (usually Reggae) and/or DJ on weekend nights. nonetheless, here are the other highlights from the night...

• playing card games, trying to understand the three different accents
• after the bar closed, a local Maori kid saying to his friends, "i'm going to go talk to the hairy guy." and then walking over and sitting down next to me and giving me $3 to go get a beard trimmer. i had a bit of fun back at him and we ended up having a real good laugh between the two of us. it would probably have been a bad idea to give him much lip, his night had consisted of playing in a semi-pro rugby game and going to the bar after. i knew better than to say anything too stupid, he was huge.
• me pitching Lotta over the 8ft fence into the courtyard of the bar where she was able to coax the bartender that was left to close to let the five of us back in for a couple more drinks, on the house.

since that night, the Swedes and Manuel have left for Auckland and home though so it's been pretty quiet. when i make it out to Europe though, i've already promised a trip to Sweden to see them.

that's about it, here are some pictures from the last couple days

party in the van. my camera takes terrible pictures in my van. that's Felix and Vera though.

quiet day at the soccer field, seagulls on the goal post.

i drove out to the point break one morning to watch, the swell was supposed to be huge. this guy came running out of the water at 8:30, threw on his helmet, tossed the board in his hand-made scooter-surfboard rack and sped off in a big rush. a guy standing next to me said he had to be at work at 9.

here's a good article on the town/village i'll be spending most of my time in Nepal in, Panauti, if you want to read about it. coincidentally, there is a Nepalese restaurant in Raglan. i'm going for lunch tomorrow and hopefully i can find some good conversation with the owners about Nepal.

the far north

it fell way down on the priority list of places to see and things to do and i regret that now, having seen it, because the Far North region of NZ is pretty awesome. what constitutes the Far North region is everything north of Auckland.

from my guide book and talking to people, both local and visiting, it didn't get a whole lot of hoopla but i guess that's why it surprised me with how nice it was, low expectations. it was like going to a concert where you don't know or care who the opening band is but you're really excited about the main performance only you end up walking away being really excited about the opening band and a little disappointed with the main act. it's all about expectations.

anyway, i drove up the east coast to Whangarei, through the Bay of Islands, out to Cape Reinga, down 90 mile beach and back through Auckland to Raglan.

i went to check out Abbey Caves. its a series of caves with glow worms and stuff. there are a couple other places like it in NZ but most are only accessed by guiding companies. this one was open to the public. i walked out to check them out. there was nobody else out there. no signs talking about the caves. nothing but a sign pointing the general direction of the caves. i walked but to one and i couldn't do it. i couldn't go down this cave by myself with nobody else out there. small space in the dark freak me out.

Whangarei Heads. it's a nice hike up to the top. the trail leads to a little flat spot/look out between the smaller heads to left of the big guy. when i got to the look out though i saw a little path that looped around one of the heads towards the big one. i checked it out and found a decent climbing route up to the top of the big head.

view from the lookout

view from the big guy after a climb

lunch spot

a different hike than the heads but another great view from the top of St. Paul's Rock, north of Whangarei Heads.

Cape Reinga, the northern point of NZ

Los Angeles - 5703 nautical miles
Vancouver - 6059 nautical miles

in little bay off to the right (east) of the lighthouse, you could see the sea swell roll in from the east and north and make these big combo waves, some huge, some practiacally 90 degree angles. i wonder what it'd be like to surf a on a wave with a 90 degree angle in it. i can barely surf one with no angle so i'm not going to try.

90 mile beach. they're pretty literal with the name i think. you  can drive on it. they've even got speed limit signs (100km/hr) and cops sometimes. it a huge exposed beach on the west of the northern spit of the Far North region.

sunrise at 90 mile beach

a couple notes/stories

• pictures i wished i would have stopped to get:
• somebody's mailbox that was a microwave. it was a nice microwave too.
• a huge, mangy, intense looking motorhome with the word "DIVORCT" spray painted across the back, about 6 ft high.
• a sign for Pullman Rd. (Pullman is the town I went to college in). i could practically taste the busche light when i saw the sign.
• i wished i would have planned the Far North a bit better so i could go out for a night on "The Rock" in the Bay of Islands. it's like a floating hostel with a bar and tons of activities. there's bar stuff like a pool table and they let you go kayaking, you fish for your dinner and a bunch of other fun stuff. a couple of friends back home have done it. it's in the shoulder/off-season now though so the next cruise wasn't for another week+. next time.
• 90 Mile Beach
• it's completely deserted, except for the cars driving by.
• i stayed a night out there because the weather was good and the surf looked really good. i have a couple rules on surfing though:
1. no surfing during feeding time (i.e. dawn and dusk)
2. no surfing where you haven't been before and there aren't any people out. there's probably a reason nobody is out there and you haven't heard of it.
• i talked to some locals fishing to see if there were rip-currents or anything and they said, as far as they knew, it was good and the sharks that were out there were only 3-4 ft (they caught them sometimes). so i broke a surfing rule. i surfed an unknown beach without anybody else out there. i have this surfing guide book that lists all the places in NZ and it wasn't listed in there either. does that mean i discovered this spot? that means i get to name it right? i'm taking suggestions.
• after walking out to Cape Reinga and the lighthouse, i started driving back, wasn't more than 1/2 mile from the parking lot and passed a big road construction site. i had passed it on the way out. it was about a mile long with all sorts of machinery and guys working. well, when i drove back through, all the guys were huddled around a truck off to the side of the road, talking about some plans it looked like. there were no other cars around. i noticed one of the guys look at me, look at the road a bit and then say something to the group. then all the guys turned around, checked out the road too and stared at me some more as i cruised past. i checked my speed, everything looked good. i got a mile past the construction site, trying to figure out what happened back there and realized i was driving on the wrong side of the road. that's the first time it's happened since i've been here. i was even watching a movie a couple days ago and it showed a car driving down the right hand side of the road and my first reaction was, "that looks weird". then i said, "oh god, i'm going to have to fix that when i get home." i think being out at the lighthouse, seeing all those signs pointing to places so much closer to home, thinking about the trip and all, i think my mind was still at home when i drove away.

i'm in Raglan again now. i'm planning to stay here, surf, relax, think/recap and get ready to for Singapore and Nepal.

i mentioned i got a hair cut a little while ago. partly because it was getting really annoying and partly because the picture of me with the seal pups generated a couple good comments on facebook. i've mentioned how ridiculous i look. i've fielded many requests to for a picture too. before i post it, let me say, i've noticed people are more friendly and less inclined to ask where i'm from since i've gotten the haircut. maybe that means i look like a local. maybe that means i just don't look like a smelly-hippy-global-traveler so much anymore (apologies if you are a hippy-global-traveller but not smelly). maybe they're just sympathetic that i look so stupid.

without further adieu...

no?

alright, fine.

that's pretty much how i feel posting this...

but i'll be nicer. that's a good beard though huh? imagine 4 more months, i won't even need to wear a shirt.

i hope this finds you well.

Gizzy comes out to play

Gizzy is what the locals call the main surf spot in Gisborne. they say it like i should know that's what it means. the day after i got back from the drive around the east cape, the same day that my board was supposed to be ready at 3pm and i was going to head to Auckland for the rugby game, Gizzy woke up. it had been quiet the whole time i'd been there and the only proof i had that this was a big time surf spot were the pictures on the walls around town...

this is the perfect example of what Gizzy is capable of

it wasn't nearly that big, but it was big enough for me. i was planning on just hanging around town, relaxing for the day until the board was ready but since the surf came up, i rented a board and spent the day in the water. like any time you take a board out for the first time, it was a little rough and i had problems just standing up and getting going in the right direction but it was fun to get out again.

gizzy

picked up the board afterwards, everything looks good. haven't gotten out on it yet, but hopefully in the next day or so. the toe feels pretty good too.

that night i left for Auckland. i drove halfway to Auckland and stayed in Mt. Manganui the first night and the next day drove the rest of the way to Auckland. the highlight of the drive was dinner in Mt. Manganui. mexican food is very uncommon in NZ. the flavors and spices must not be a taste NZers care for. i've seen one restaurant so far, Sombreros, in Queenstown and it looked pretty sketchy. which is a shame because i think mexican food might be my favorite and i didn't even realize it until this trip started. absence makes the heart grow fonder right? i found a place in Mt. Manganui that was really good though, Mundo Mexicano. it was down this dark alley and i was pretty suspicious walking down there but it opened up to this really nice little place. it felt like i was sitting in somebody's home. it was such a find, i splurged a bit and got a big dinner and drinks.

sunset at Opotiki beach on the drive up to Mt. Manganui

entry to the alley

headed to Auckland for the rugby game, Blues vs. Stormers at Eden Park in Auckland. the Blues are from Auckland and the best team in NZ. the Stormers are best team in South Africa. they both play in the Super15 league, made up of teams from NZ, Australia and South Africa. i think it's the top pro-league in the world, not sure though. the Blues are currently #2 and the Stormers are #3 in the league.

the Blues jumped out to a big, early lead by half and i thought it was going to be a blowout but the Stormers came back and won the game on a controversial score with less than a minute left in the game. Check out the highlights.

Eden Park stadium

here's what i noticed about the game, fans, etc..

1. the stadium is really nice but not big. Eden Park is the biggest and best stadium in NZ. it holds 50,000. it's hard to find it though because it's tucked in this neighborhood and doesn't dominate the skyline like arenas and stadiums do in the States. trying to find the place, i was a block away and still couldn't see it. you see stadiums in the US that are absolutely massive and i think that's a reflection of a lot of elements coming into play in our culture.
2. fans are extremely civil. nobody threw bottles at the other team, no loud and obscene outcries to the refs and players, there weren't even any bare-chested obese guys dancing! everyone was generally pretty quiet and nice and even complimentary of the other team when they made spectacular plays. it was really refreshing to be in such a positive sports environment. make no mistake, plenty of alcohol was consumed before and during the game (they sell 6-packs in the stadium) but generally everyone was really nice. it was even more reflective in the way children acted. despite the outcome of the game, i heard kids saying really positive and nice things about the game afterwards. it was weird.
3. the male/female ratio is really off. i'd guess it was probably pushing 90% men at the game. i had heard that rugby was so popular in NZ that everyone stays current on the sport, even women are interested and discuss it but the demographic at the stadium doesn't reflect that.

after auckland, i drove out to Piha, west of Auckland by 35km to check out a surf spot that was dead flat and then headed north. i'll do a separate post for the Far North shortly.

time to kill

i took the surfboard into the repair shop on Monday and they said it would to take 2.5 days and $80 to fix. that's not as bad as i expected. i still think the toe is broken but it's not that bad. as one friend suggested, i should cut it off and turn it into a necklace.

instead of hanging around Gisborne waiting for the board, i went for a drive around the East Cape. i drove clockwise from Gisborne (Gisborne to Opitiki to East Cape Lighthouse to Gisborne).

here's a map of it. i drove the the yellow line from Gisborne to Opitiki, stayed the night and then drove all the way around back to Gisborne today.

before i left i also stopped in and got the ears lowered. and by lowered i mean buzzed. i'd been thinking about it for awhile now but the the ruckus on facebook over a recent picture was the straw that broke the camels back. the result? i look more ridiculous than i did before. it might not be that bad if i had normal facial hair but this bushy beard makes me look really intense and a little scary. hopefully it'll get better when it grows out a bit. no good pictures of it yet though. that's the nice thing about doing this trip by yourself when you do something stupid like shave your head, nobody knows what i looks like back home if you don't want them to.

i told the barber that cut my hair that i was going to drive around the east cape. he told me to be careful out there because the people aren't very friendly to campers. sure enough, on the drive around the cape i had two people run me off the road. the roads are narrow and there aren't a whole lot of cars out besides campers and local trucks. the trucks would see me coming and intentionally cross the center line and play chicken with me. i just pulled as far off the road as possible and stopped. fun times.

anyway, here are the pictures.

Ohiwa beach outside Optiki

the bay behind Ohiwa beach

looking down ohiwa beach to Opitiki

church by the ocean along the drive to the east cape

all the way out in this super isolated area, 20km down a gravel road and at the base of the hill of the lighthouse there is a giant field of corn. everything's been picked, by HAND. that's why all the stalks are still up i'm guessing.

island off the lighthouse

looking south from the east cape

cow's by the ocean. i took this on the way back but i should have stopped on the way out because they were actually out laying on the beach then. it's was definitely a bizzare sight to see cows on the beach.

my grade school teachers would be proud and my high school English teachers would be stunned to hear that i've just finished my 4th or 5th book of the trip. that's more than i read all through high school and most of college. this last one was "A Prayer for Owen Meany" by John Irving. it's the book that they based the movie, Simon Birch, off of. it was really good. way better than the movie. read it if you get a chance.

after i pick up the board tomorrow, i'm headed to Auckland because i've got tickets to the rugby game on Friday night, Blues vs. Stormers, the #2 and #3 teams in the league. should be fun.