Back to Thailand

By the time we finished our trek it had been a month in Nepal. It was probably our busiest month, and also maybe the most fun. It is hard to compare because Nepal was so different from anywhere else. We were ready to head back to Thailand and figure out the next adventure.
Of course as soon as we got back to Thailand we headed right down to Ko Tao. Ko Tao is home away from home. I am so far from my family it helps me to come here and spend some time. I love showing up there and everyone is just waiting for us to say hello give us big hugs and to ask about our travels. I feel so lucky to have such good friends here in Thailand. After a couple of days chillin out at Seashell I finally made myself take the free diving class that I wanted to take. I really wish that I had taken it sooner, because it was amazing. It was better than I expected. The people that run it are great people and even better teachers. I did this course because I decided to head to Borneo and do some diving. I have been way to lazy on my diving here in Asia and I making up for it now. But before I could make it down to Borneo I had two amazing experiences once again here in Thailand.

First was another wedding. The owner of Seashell's sister'n law was getting married. The groom was our other friends uncle. So they invited us to come along. Now this was basically the opposite of the first wedding we went to in Nahkon Si Thammarat. This was in BKK. There were over 1000 in attendance. They had a massive hotel booked out. The commentator for the wedding was a TV star here in Thailand. It was great fun. The experience just like our first was priceless. It is great because our friends treat us as if we are thai, and as if we are family. Not many people get to experience this side of Thailand.

The evening after the wedding I had to hop on a Train to Pathuloong. A small city in the south of Thailand. When I was on Ko Tao Pleaw told me that she had just bought a new house. She was so excited about it. She then asked me if I wanted to come stay at her new house for a couple of days. I felt so honored she wanted me to come stay with her and her family. That's why I was on my to Pathloong. I spent the night on the train and woke up just in time to get off at my stop. I love the bus and train rides because you are never 100% that you are on the right train, or which is the right stop. Pleaw picked me up at the train station and we headed to her house. It was a great house just built. It was really long and narrow two story building. I was more like an apt. I really didn't know what to expect. I had an amazing time. The first day we just hung out went to the market. She bought stuff to cook up dinner. Then I took a nap for awhile. The next day was awesome!!! The whole family...I mean cousins, uncles, nieces, everyone got together and head to a waterfall and park for picnic. It was great fun going out and getting such a local experience. It was fun hanging out with her family and try to communicate with them. Most of them spoke very little English, and they spoke south Thai which I know very little of.
After those two days it was time for me to head down to Malaysia, so Pleaw and her family drove me down to the border and dropped me off at the bus station.

Pokara and the Anapurna Sanctuary Trek

After our unbelievable trip through the Karnali river we headed to Pokara. This was the most relaxed town ever. It would be easy to hang out there for a month and not realize how much time you spent there. It is a long small town spread out along beautiful lake. You can hang out at one of the many cafes along the lake and just relax, or just cruse the lake in a paddle boat or sailboat. We ended up spending about a week here. We needed time to rest before we headed into the mountains.
Pokara is the starting point for any trek into the Annapurna range. This range is not as famous as Everest obviously, but it is actually supposed to be a better trek for scenery and views. You just don't get to claim that you conquered Everest. We decided that it would be a better more relaxed trip, and that I will do Everest in the future. It was the right decision. It was the most spectacular experiences of my life. Each day we would set out early in the cold cold morning and just start walking into the heart of these enormous mountains. Each day we got closer and closer to the snow capped peaks. At times we were climbing near vertical staircases for hours at a time, then we would have to go right back down the other side. We would cruse ledges just a foot and a half wide and on the other side a thousand meter drop. At times I was so tired I wanted to cry. We averaged about 6 hours a day. Not to mention that we had no proper equipment. Mainly in the shoe department. I had cheap ripoff Adidas and they were not comfortable. Every time something started hurting I would just look up at the peaks above and it would make it all go away.
After day 4 was when it really set in that I was in the middle of the Himalaya Mountains. We were very close to the base camp at that point and it just had a whole different feel to it. We were starting to get up around 3000 meters and seeing more and more snow. On the evening of day 5 we made it to base camp and the feeling was (besides being really tired) was awesome. It was a feeling of accomplishment. The actual views were not that great because of all the clouds. We were hoping that the morning would be different. We spent the evening hanging out with some of the other trekkers playing cards and drinking hot chocolate. In the morning I woke up at 5:30. It was so bright and everything was white. There was virtually no clouds around. In 360 degree span I was surrounded by mountains. Words can't describe it. I don't think there is another place like this on the planet. I mean it was amazing. Just huge mountains all around you. The views here alone were worth every bit of the trek. It is funny though. We spent about an hour or so checking it all out and taking photos, then we headed back down. It was all over so quick. On the way down we basically ran. It took 1 and 1/2 days to get down. So the whole trip was 6 1/2 days. Normally it is 10-12 days. I think that may be the reason we lost so much weight. All 3 of us lost a noticeable amount of weight.

I can't wait to get back and do Everest.

Karnali River

I want to say that this was the best time ever, but I can't. Everything else was so awesome as well. The Karnali is the longest river in Nepal. This time of year it was the best to raft by far. We spent 10 days rafting and camping out in the middle of western Nepal. We were 18 hours of driving from any civilization.

10 nights camping along the Karnali were some of the most peaceful nights of my life. We would wake up at 7 each morning eat our breakfast then get in the water. We would raft for 3 hours or so then have a lunch break for an hour. After lunch we would paddle for another hour or two. We'd get to a perfect sandy beach set up camp, then gorge ourselves at dinner. By 8pm you would be laying in the sand looking up at all the stars. We were in the middle of no where. The only people we saw were the villagers who have never left the countryside. Sometimes the kids would paddle makeshift canoes over to our campsite and play Frisbee or football with us (soccer). The whole experience was so surreal.

All this being said the actual rafting was a rush. We would go through rapids getting smothered by waves. I got thrown out twice. The second time was because the entire raft flipped. Everybody went. It was actually really scary. It reminded me how small I am compared to the forces of mother nature. In a matter of seconds we were all spread across the river getting thrown into boulders. It was one of those things where at the time it was not fun, but after it was all over you look back and say "hell yes that was sweet". One of the days we stopped a village and bought a goat. The guides butchered it up and cooked it up for dinner. There was not a lot of meat on it, but the taste was alright. Another night we bought some chickens and did the same thing. The chicken tasted a little better, but the goat was better than you would have thought.

It was such a great experience seeing the untouched countryside of Nepal. To see all the kids in the villages come running after our raft screaming random English words they knew was just priceless. This coupled with the white waters and peaceful nights is pretty much perfect. I can't wait to go back.

Nepal-Chitwan

Nepal was amazing. I couldn't believe how much there is to do there considering how small the country is. We spent 32 days there and still didn't get close to experiencing everything it has to offer.

We spent the first few days in Kathmandu. This is the biggest city in Nepal, but by no means is it a city. It was nice and there were some temples and things to visit, but that is not what we went to Nepal for. We wanted to get outdoors and see the beautiful landscape and wildlife. Our first adventure took us to Chitwan National Park. This is in the southern region of Nepal not too far from India. Chitwan was a nice quite little town right on the banks of a river. Everything revolved around the national park. I think in the town was a licensed guide. Every person that I passed asked me if I needed a guide. Chitwan is famous for the rhinos and sloth bears. Sometimes if you are lucky you see a tiger, but not too often. Unfortunately we didn't see a tiger or a bear. We did get to see some rhinos and that was amazing. I couldn't believe how big they were. They are like living tanks. At one point we climbed a tree to get a better look at one. While we were in the tree a local worker came up riding an elephant. Our guide got him to ride up on the rhino and make him honk. It was funny to see the rhino run off, but compared to the elephant he was small.

We also got to ride elephants there. I have done that before and it's fun, but here we took them in the water. It was sweet. The elephant was rolling around and squirting water with his trunk everywhere. At first the elephant didn't want to do much, but after some time he warmed up to the whole idea. There is an elephant breeding center which we visited as well. Next to the Rhino this was probably my favorite part. There was a baby there just maybe 1 month old. It was so funny to watch him play. He kept running at the guide and just before getting to him he would stop and run away. It was funny because the elephant was scared of the guide even though he was still bigger. I have some good video of this I will try and get some posted up.