Nepali Trek
This is for my friends and family to communicate and follow me on this great adventure of mine! It is also a way for all of you to communicate with each other also so post away!!!!!!!!Made it back but broke and little reverse culture shock for fun
So I woke up in Bangkok with -13.12 in my bank account after some sort of deposit reading problem with my bank. Yeah so no Tattoo…….I know I bummed too. But that was not the worst part. I still had to make it to the airport with 18 hours to burn in Bangkok. So I talked a Tuk Tuk driver to buy me lunch and he took me to his home and I ate with him and his wife and then he drove me to the airport for free. I have his bank account # so when I get my first paycheck I am going to send him $40…….he really did not have to do that for free. He did it cause he is a good guy. It was pretty cool hangin with him.
I made it back to Montana 1 1/2 weeks ago and last week I got a full time job on a ranch outside Columbus. It’s good too because I seriously spent everything I had…….but I feel like that’s the way to do it. I mean really go out in style. My plans from here are up in the air. I am hoping to get into College for my Master’s degree. Still waiting on acceptance. Until then I am just working mon-sat hopefully as many 10 hour days as I can. I have 4 weddings to go to and have already attended one. I went to one of my best friends wedding from high school here in Columbus. It was really nice and I loved how informal and comfortable it was. She looked beautiful and very happy!!! The house looked great.
It’s definitely a little wierd coming back home. Things are not as laid back and easy going and i am definitely back into a individualistic society. I came from a place where English was spoken around me I would say 20% of the time and if it was spoken it was pretty broken and I had to return conversation very slowly and clearly to get anything across or speak the 20% of Nepalese I learned. It’s nice though being back and I have a lot of respect for the American $ and the opportunities I have sitting at my doorstep just waiting for me to embrace. I want to do everything I can to obtain them. The only reason I have these things is because I was born a US citizen. People from 3rd world countries would die to come here for the chance to make a life for themselves without severe struggling. Not to mention a clean place with order and structure built into it by laws that are actually enforced. I will not take this chance gift of being able to live here for granted.
O.k. that’s about all. I do not see myself keeping this updated but will definitely start a new blog on the next trip!!! Maybe after my Master’s degree?? South America or Africa sounds really nice.
Thanks to everyone that followed me………it gave me a reason to document this wonderful journey of mine!!!
Thank you to all of my Nepalese friends that took me in as there own and showed me a wonderful time!!!!!!
Camen
Ko Phangan
So I finished diving in Koh Tao and it was really really cool. Manta rays, all sorts of fish to many to name. It’s awesome down there. I can see how people that I talked to just quit there whole life to come live on an island as a scuba instructor, dive master etc. It’s gotta be the best job in the world. If I had more time and money I would have stayed in Koh Tao for another month doing advanced courses, search and rescue and certified to go deeper. Another time?! I am now certified to dive to 18m anywhere in the world. I dove with a German guy who was really cool and the instructor Mark was a bad ass. I really want to get my own equipment to be able to do it on my own one of these days. Not to many oceans in MT but Mexico is not that far. After I went to the island of Ko Phangan and met and Irish guy on the speed boat going across. His name was Keith and he was a cool mo fo!! Awesome guy!! We all got a room and I ended not sleeping in the room we got one night. One night was on the beach and the next I just did not go to sleep?! We also hung out with a bunch of Canadians staying there and a couple of French guys. We had fun. So there were probably 10,000 people at this beach party and it was the craziest thing ever. It was insane. I danced my drawers off!! Absolutely gorgeous women everywhere!!! I got on a boat yesterday morning at 8:30 and got to Bangkok around 9 p.m. Got up today to go get a tattoo and saw that all my money had disappeared…….I have my card on me but somehow someone has control of my account? It’s really, really wierd. I am about to call the bank when they open…….I cannot figure it out I have had it on me the whole time. Someone had to got the # somehow and put it on fake plastic. The guy that shut my card off told me people are doing that. It had to have been some sly dude??? So I shut my card off and a tuk tuk driver that was driving me around today bought me lunch and is going to give me a free ride to the airport because today I went to a bunch of his sponsor stores so he could get free gas and whiskey. So he kind of owes me even though I did not have anything better to do. I was going to go to the disco and party till about 5 a.m. then jump on the plane but instead I am just hanging out at the travel agency where my bags are????
Thailand kicks ass and is really beautiful. I am definitely throwing my bachelor party in Ko Phangan at the Full Moon it is definitely something to see and a crazy, crazy time!!! Dad you are in for one hell of a bachelor party if I ever do get married that is!?
So it’s the end and it’s really sad. I could travel and do this forever. It’ll be really great to get home though and get myself one them jobs that pays a little something.
I pushed it pretty hard during the last 10 months……….it’s gone by way to fast. It’s gotta end though. So that’s it………MT here I come!!!!!!!!!!
See you soon!!!!!!!!!!
Camen
Diving and Full Moon Party
I start diving tommorrow and am really anxious to get under the water and see what it is like……up till now other training and videos. The instructor Mike seems like a really cool guy. Last night hung out with my Canadian friend Rajiv I met here at the resort so we have been kickin on the island checkin out the sights. I think I got him talked into going with me on the 7th there to a party in Copenyang….it’s and island about 1 1/2 hours south on speed boat from here so when I finish the last 2 dives on the 6th I am headed over in the afternoon and the next day is the full moon party. It starts during sunset and lasts till 8 in the morning. It’s thrown every full moon. I was told not to miss it so I changed my boat and bus tickets so will reach Bangkok the night of the 8th and then to Pataya for the 9th. In high season during the full moon party there are close to 30,000 people that show up for it. It’s low season now and 7-10,000 are expected. A lot of fire, DJ’s and booze!!!! It’ll be a fun time! Gonna start pre gamin it early!!
If I find time will definitely jump back on and write how the dives are going!!!
Camen
God, what a feeling!!!
OK, so 2 days ago I went to Bhota kosi on the Tibetan boarder and screamed and kicked my ass off jumping from 500 ft. I did it twice. I had to they had a deal for only $20 for a thing called a canyon swing if no has heard of it. I was a happy liberating scream…..honestly was not that scared until I stepped out on the edge and looked down………..then holy shit. You fall for 8 full seconds strapped to a harness and rope….looks like thick thick climbing rope. When you fall you are going 150km/hr!!! So I did that first and was not expecting that kind of thrill!!!!!! Oh man what a rush!! I thought yeah I will swing around for awhile but you straight drop for 8 seconds……phooooo man it was awesome!!!!!!!! It’s the tallest canyon swing and second highest bungy in the world……….sooooooo worth it.
After that I did the bungy jump and just jumped as far as I could suspended in air then dropping straight down to the rocks and river below for 4 seconds then springing back up and falling again……….man I am addicted and cannot wait to go again. I have dvd’s of the both jumps I bought from the company…….I’ll show you when I get home!!
I am in a half developed country now and I feel really relaxed. Theres road signs, subway and stop lights. Above that I am seeing a lot of popped collars and gelled hair……it’s getting closer to the U.S.!!!
I am in Bangkok. Today I me and Pepsi hung out. Really his name is Pepsi…..will not be forgetting that name. It’s a 18 yr. old Thai kid I met and he was kind enoug to show me around. Real cool kid. The food hear is really good. It’s about 30 C and really humid. In about an hour and a half I am going to Kao Toa to get certified to scuba dive. It takes four days with 4 or 5 dives on your own. First I’ll learn in a pool then go out with an instructer. I have really wanted to do this for a long time and I guess the waters and beaches are amazing……close to the same place that the James Bond movie was filmed……………not this last one but the one before. Anyway it’ll be really cool and I am super excited. It’s a 10 hour bus ride then a 1 1/2 hour boat ride to get to the Island. I’ll be back tot Bangkok the 6th then am going to Pataya for 3 days 4 nights and catch a plane at 6 a.m. on the 10th.
That is what I am up to!!!! I am going to get some food and some beer and then jump on the bus soooooooo take care and I’ll see you in a couple of days!!!!!!!!!! If I get time will tell how the diving went.
Oh yeah took the GRE but have not heard back from the college but really really hoping they accept me!!! The scores were not so solid but solid enough to get me in?!!!
Bye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Camen
p.s. oh yeah and it is true there are dudes walking around here that seriously look exactly like the Thai girls………..It’s scary.
I ran into a mud slide in the road on the way back and was flying out the same morning but eventually a bus made it across and I made it into Kathmandu late the night.
Living the Dream
Howdy,
Well, still in Kathmandu and personally I really would not make it your vacation destination but if you only have a few hundred rupees this is definitely the place to be.
The Monsoon season is setting in and will last 3 months. I have never seen rain like a monsoon rain from last september. It is so intense!! I will miss it though leaving before it really hits.
You know I still have not gotten my visa/atm card but should get it this week. I am not saying this for pity but I just want to take a look at how little you need to survive here. I came back the end of April from India and have been living off of 6,000 rupees since. 6000 rupees is $75 u.s. dollars. I now have 200 rupees left after 1 month. That is $2.50. Have been not going anywhere and living off the bare minimum. If it was not for my friends here I would have never been allowed to stay in Nepal for the last 9 months. Living with Rajendra and his family, Yagya and his brothers, Binambra and Mukunda and his wife. For that I am sooooo greatful. It’s been a great home base!!! I am living with my friend Mukunda and his newly wed wife now. It comes with a great story of them being from different caste systems but still being able to marry for love as she was set to be arranged for marriage to a boy from the same caste she did not like. Mukunda took her away to a temple near by and married in secret telling the family later. I have also met her family and they seem to like Mukunda quite a bit. Rashya (Mukunda’s wife) serves me tea all the time and makes a mean Dhal Bhat!!! So there goes room and board. My friend Binambra actually owns the house and lives upstairs and also has no problem with me living here.
O.k. so 200 rupees. What can I buy, well I can buy enough food here including vegetables, rice and Dahl for probably a week serving 4 people. A coke costs 20 cents. 1 pack of ciggarettes is 90 cents (even for marlboros Carter) and no Kobs I have not started again. You can buy a pair of socks and underwear for 50 cents. You can ride 45 min. away to Bactipur ( outside Kathmandu) on a bus for 12.5 cents, a night in a hotel is $3.75………on and on and on. Hard labor construction workers make about 140 ($1.75) rupees a day and that is doing everything by hand even spreading concrete……. really no tools mixers or equipment?! A good paying job here is 20,000 rupees a month, $250. Most do not make close to this and a really well off person makes 120,000 rupees which is about $1,500 a month. It’s really quite amazing. I think b/c of there culture and situation it brings out support for one other no matter where a person goes. That is except the people always trying to rip the tall white skinny foreigner off with the massive fro!!! Oh yeah and I have lost 20 pounds since I have been here. Nice and slim!!!! Really my hair is like an african american fro now……damn handsome. This life is really quite humbling……It’s also an easy going life that some Nepalese take advantage of by never working and just living with their joint family. Whatever works?
I have been studying, eating rice, chasing girls and watching movies. I take the GRE this thursday and am finding out how horrible my vocabulary really is!!!!??? Getting a little nervous but we’ll see? So not much here. I have met another dozen friends in the last month but no time to spend now.
I am flying to Thailand this Sunday the 31st!!!! I just hope they let me take my guitar on the plane!!! I will just look like a really sad and helpless musician…….maybe the stewardess will help me out!!! ha ha ha…..it usually works =-) I will be there for 10 days then I am flying back to my home of Montana where the white tail run wild and the rainbow fight hard!! Ha ha god that is cheesy………but true.
Really gotta keep studying……kind of slacking.
Wish me luck!!!!
OH YEAH and do not think I would miss the chance to jump off of a bridge 500 meters up? Still bungee jumping!!!! woo hoo!!! I am going the day after my test if all goes right!
To give you an idea a 25 story building is 76 m (250 ft) and the statue of liberty is 92 m (301) ft compared to this jump of 160 m (500 ft) yeahhhhh!!!
I pulled this off of the website
Ultimate Bungy at The Last Resort in Nepal may be the most spectacular Bungy Jump on the Planet. This remarkable 500ft (160m) drop into the Bhoti Kosi River gorge on the Nepal/Tibet border is the longest Free-fall in the world. Designed, constructed and operated by very experienced Kiwis to exacting international standards your safety is guaranteed. It is Nepal’s Ultimate Rush.
Located a 3 hr drive from Kathmandu and 100km northeast to within 12km of the Tibet border, there is a 166m wide steel suspension bridge over the Bhoti Kosi River gorge and at an of altitude 3600 feet, which is 600 feet lower than Kathmandu. The Bridge: Swiss designed, especially for bungy jumping with a 4x safety factor, the bridge has a loading factor of 41,500kg or 4.5 tones. And those are Swiss measurements!
Gonna go to the bathroom before this one………..
Camen
One more journey down….
I made it back from India last night and really covered some ground by train and by pocket book paying for two. Went to a place called Haridwar for a couple of days…….more temples and holy water!!!!! Then on to Rishikesh. After getting my Astrological reading and palm reading done and talking to tons of cool foreigners in Laxman Joola (and some real crazies!) I went to Ram Joola for my birthday the same day. I went to the Beatles Ashram. They stayed there for 6 months and think wrote maybe like 30 songs? Anway it has been shut down but if it was still up and running would be an outstanding Ashram. Was really nice. Went for a swim in the Ganga river and then got on a train travelling back for about 3 days. I covered a lot of Northern India. Man I would have love to go farther East (Rajastan) and south (also to the Lahdak and cashmere area at the very tip NE) but India is so huge 3 weeks of travel is hardly enough. It is such a crazy chaotic but very colorful place but really cool at the same time. I was really digging all the people, trains, food……..just the whole Indian style. If it was not for money situation, travelling partner situation and heat situation I would still be there. Let’s just say the girl I was travelling with was very, very interesting to say the very, very least. I cannot even begin to explain. Maybe another time. I met tons of people exploring. India definitely draws people that are a little on the insane side and sometimes a little past the insane side. All depending on what area you are in. It is such a melting pot and grab bag of people, races, religions and cultures. I would say India is a very great place for as long as you can handle it. Everything is very inconsistent with many suprises along the way. It takes a lot out you. I could have and should have travelled alone. I am better alone travelling. Gettin Wiser!!!!!!! I did not think I could do b/c of so many horror stories but now going through it, I would have been ok. You know there is no dangerous place on earth only dangerous situations. I was so relieved to cross the border into Nepal………It’s wierd like going back home even though it is definitely not my home.
The plan is to stay here and study for the GRE and take it the 28th of May and fly out the 31st. The only thing I will still definitely do is bungee jump before I leave. The spot is the highest bungee jump spot in the world at close to 650 meters (maybe 1/4 of a mile?). It is going to be absolutely insane!!!!
Peace!!!
Camen
Taj Mahal, Haridwar and Rishikesh
So the next trains I have taken have not been close to the first experience. The have went along grandly! After Varanasi we went to Agra. The Taj Mahal was beautiful and also I went to a Red Fort that was most impressive, very huge and large gardens thoughout. Could easily get lost in it. So Visa decided to shut my card off b/c it came up on a compromised list and so they discontinued 1000’s of cards I guess. Since I have been over here for 7 months they did not get a hold of me to send me a new card. So no money and was stuck in Agra for 3 days until I could get money wired. I talked a Hotel owner to front me a room and food for 2 nights until I got money. So b/c I did not have much to do except fix my financial situation I decided to get in a fight with an Indian kid with a limp that was trying to rip me off big time. I made 4 phone calls to the US calling banks family etc. the the little turd charged me 3 rupees for every 6 seconds. Man he had some nerve (cheaters all over India, never buy anything or trust anyone here). That pissed me off so bad I just walked out and told him to stick it up his ass. He did not like that to much as the bill he was charging me was 900 rupees (like $20 US). I never did pay him over the 3 days as he hounded me from across the street even bringing his boss. I told him no bill no money honey!!! He was a piece of shit. I wanted to make his other leg limp. I just really hate being cheated, but who does?! I did end up getting into the Taj Mahal for free though and the Red Fort. Happened to show up there the day of some archeological survey. I didn’t ask questions. It saved me 750 rupees. Some things just work out. After went to Haridwar (Another holy city north)and went to another temple way up on a hill top overlooking the Ganges river, met an Indian guy that showed us around the town and ate some really good Dosa (Like a big rolled up light pancake stuffed with spices, vegetables, potatoes etc. It’s tasty. After we took a Tuk tuk taxi to Rishiskesh and got here yesterday. It is a really really nice place……Huge river (also Ganges), beaches and waterfalls. Besides that this place is known as the yoga/meditation/astrology/palm reading center in all the world. It is a huge business here with people looking for their own personal masters and teacher centers all over and Ashrams lining the river and the hillsides. I personally am not looking for a master and do not want to pay for meditation or yoga since I have already crossed that mile a couple of months ago. It is a beautiful place though and a really nice place to spend a few days and probably not a better place to meditate or do Yoga or whatever is your thing. Really quiet, peacful and a great break from the middle of India where I was. Also a little cooler up here. India is getting really hot now. Wanted to go farther north to Badrinath and then to the Valley of Flowers. It looks really really neat but on a serious budget now!! Also trains are booked back to the Nepalese border at an Indian town named Gorakhpur close to Kathmandu for a minimum of 5 days………we’ll be fine if we stop travelling now and go back and if I can hold off Bimala from buying stuff from every little vendor in North west India!! Also a tragedy struck last night when I lost my camera…….yeah I know careless I guess but I have been so good about keeping track of it up to this point. I ate dinner with this really interesting older French guy that had been all over the world, phd in History, ex professor and then carpenter after and on a serious spiritual mission (his 6th time back to India to visit his master in south India). He told me so many great things………..anyway we carried our conversation down to the steps of the Ganges and I got so excited when I was ready to leave about all the things he had helped me realize through his knowledge and experiences it was midnight and dark……..no excuses I just left it. Pretty heart broken as some really great pictures were on there of the Taj Mahal at sunrise plus everything Bimala and I have been doing. It’s gone now nothing I can do, honestly Bimala is more pissed then me for some reason I do not care that much? I will keep the memories in my mind forever. Shit Happens. Could have happened with shittier pictures but what the hell I am still alive with a little money in my pocket and a girl by my side…………..life is good.
Talk to you soon
Camen
Varanasi
O.k.!
So we reached Varanasi yesterday morning at about 7 a.m. Let’s just say the trains are one of the most interesting places I have spent 17 hours. We got a sleeper class but forgot to mention the 2nd or 3rd sleeper class with ac. Yeah big mistake but real healthy! It was supposed to leave at 1030 but left at 1230. During the trip I was asked buy anything from “fresh” lemonade that a guy created with lemons, two huge ice blocks a bucket of water and some shaker cups……..that took up about 1/2 hour of my time watching him manuever around the train cutting lemons and almost his head off? I had a one Indian try and sell me a big ass keyboard and a suit……….seriously what kind of business are these people in? Like I am gonna start a band on the train with my new keyboard when I do not even have room to scratch my nutz?! Toys to every type of food you can imagine and enough chai to drowned a buffalo!! People on the floor hanging out of the train……shew. Let’s say I had way more friends then I needed actually got creepy at times and def not trusting anyone. All and all Safe though……just a little trying on the nerves. It’s a whole new world man… I tried to sleep and stretched out on my little sleeper bed on the middle bunk. there were 6 sleeper beds per area in bunk bed formation. So I am about to pass out for about 6 hours before we reach our dest with my gangly chicken legs and a guy comes out of no where and decides that my bed looks like a great place to take a nap…..damn it. You know I snuggled with that son of a bitch for 6 hours with one eye on my bag, one on Bimala, one eye on the 30 Indian dudes around us and the rest of the time trying to devise a plan to get the skeazer the #$#* out of my personal space and of my bed that went from 3 feet to actual 3 feet in my face. Gonna do a little upgrading on the next train to say the least. No more of that action…….no no.
Who knows how old this city or which city is the oldest in the world cause who really knows right? It’s up there though. A real good feeling about this place. This place is amazing! It has so much character………the most religious place for hindus and I can see why. It sits upon a huge river named the Ganga and I mean massive. Yesterday I went to the largest temple for Hindus. It was on the grounds of a college and the architecture everywhere on campus plus the temple was awesome. Went to the monkey temple and watched monkeys high diving into a big pond of mud from trees above. After went to a silk factory that makes Saris (Indian dress bedspreads etc by had and old wood stitching. At night Bimala and I went to a Pooza (worshipping to the Gods) with a French couple I met the same day. It was very large set right on the edge of the river with boats filled with people lined up all along the shore to watch and take pictures. Hundreds of people on the steps leading down to the water (Ghats). They used a hell of a lot of fire, flowers, smoke, bells, singing over loudspeakers, offerings into the water with flowers and a candle set in a little leaf boat that floats into the river. So the river was coved with floating candles hoping for wishes to come true. Plus holy bathing etc. etc. It lasted about 2 hours.
This morning I went on a 1 hour boat ride with an Argentinian guy and an Israeli at 530 in the morning to watch the son come over the River and see the Ghats and people holy bathing, doing yoga, meditation on the shore and worshipping. It was nice and cool this morning. Good time to do it. Now I am back and am going to 2 more temples………one cultural temple, Maybe a place called Sarnath that is 17 kilometers away (first stop for buddha after reaching enlightenment). Maybe not though it is only special to Buddhist followers…….. It’s proabably not a lot to see? We will see……I am taking a motor bike with the Indian guy that owns this hotel so he invited to show me some cool places. A very nice family that runs this hotel. Ha ha ha oh yeah this morning I tried to explain and teach the indian kid cook how to make a breakfast burrito for me……turned out tasty.
We are leaving tommorrow on a night train (that I can sleep all night in without the sweet Indian lovin from nasty guy) to Agra at 1030 p.m. and will reach the Taj Mahal at sunrise then probably on to Hiridwar and reshekesh 8 hours (North)…….it’s a rough plan anyway.
Adios amigos
Camen
Darjeeling
Hello, hello,
Bimala and I stayed two nights ago in Siliguri. It was supposed to take 16 hours on a bus and it took 23 from Kathmandu…..It’s just so much damn fun you know!! From there we came to Darjeeling in a Jeep and arrived 2 days ago. It is a great little mountain town with tea gardens and monastaries. We have to stay one more day today and will leave tommorrow because of no space on the trains. We could have left today but standing room only……not the greatest situation. We will have a sleeper train tommorrow and it should take about 19 hours to reach our next destination to Varanasi. It is the oldest city in the world and a very spiritual place for Hindus with many temples. She has a Russian friend that we are going to meet when we get there and maybe stay with him or he will def. show us around. Today we are going to a Japanese temple about 30 minutes away. We did not plan to stay this long but are making the best of it and from this point forward will definitely reserve seats a few days before.
It has been a really nice time thus far and can only get better!!
Love
Camen
India Bound!!!!!!!!
Hey!! Hey!!
I am going to India tommorrow morning. I am going with my Nepalese friend Bima!! She will make a very good travel partner as she also loves to travel and is actually a guide in Nepal. We are starting in Darjeeling. It will be about a 16 hour bus ride from here. Then we are slowing heading West to some spots picked out and some that are not. I may go south also but it is getting very hot in India. I will try and update as I get from place to place. India is such a huge and old country with a lot of culture and history. Many spiritual places among many beautiful and unique places.
Besides that I have been living in the town of Kalanki just outside Kathmandu valley with Yagya and his brothers. Studying GRE and playing my guitar. I am still working on teaching in South Korea…I will be making that decision when I get back as everything should be set at that time?! It is time for me to move from here for a while. I will probably be gone 2-3 weeks…..we will see as we go as both of us have the time now. It is going to be great!!! I am very excited to again see new things, meet new people and see and experience a different culture and place. I am planning on coming back to Kathmandu after going to Agra which is the last destination. I am also excited to know more about teaching, or wherever my destination may be in the near future when I get back!!!
As always I love you all and you are always in my heart.
Love
Camen
Nepali Trek 