Year in Review and the future (thanks Kim!)

First and foremost, I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, or simply Happy Holidays. Whichever suits you best. And with a New Year upon us, I wish everyone a reflective and prosperous New Year! As for me, what did 2009 mean to me? And what is 2010 going to bring? A surprise awaits everyone at the end (don't scroll down).

So 2009... I suppose I'll start from the beginning.

Due to my good friend Paul Rosolie, I was able to spend the transition from 2008 to 2009 in the Peruvian Amazon. Here's a small story from that very night:

"It was a two day, up-river trip from Puerto Maldonado to a small station in the middle of the jungle. In fact, if you look on Google Maps there is no civilization around the station for miles and miles. Night one on the river happened to fall on New Years Eve (I believe, it might have been the day before). As night began to fall, we saw a steep bank with a small roof on top, peering over the grasses. We tied the boat to the shore and began to unload the boat. Our accommodations for the night were a 2-person tent under a small roof. Jungle all around us, and a steady moving river behind us, life was just as vibrant at night as it was during the day.
Going back down the boat, night had fully fallen and we all needed our head lamps to navigate. Paul was standing on the bow of the boat and called me over. Leaning forward, he was looking along the bank of the river at something. A small mist began to fall from the sky. “What is it?” I said to him. “There, you see those two red dots off in the distance?” he responded. I switched the setting on my headlamp to give myself a little more light and peered off into the distance. And there I saw it. About 20-30 feet in front of the boat, under some branches and leaves, two little red dots floated among the murky water. “Yeah, I see that, what is it?” He turned to me and smiled, “Croc eyes. No more than a couple feet long. C'mon lets go.”
'Let's go?' I thought to myself. But before I could finish the thought, Paul was in his boxers sitting on the side of the boat explaining that I have to get into the water slowly so as not to scare the crocodile. The mist turned into a heavy drizzle as I stood there dumbfounded. I was half startled at how quickly he got into the water. The other half was startled because of how quickly he expected me to get into the water. Just his head above the water, he looked up at me. “The water is fine! Imagine your first chance to catch a croc!” Now excited by the prospect of what I was getting myself into on the first day in the Amazon jungle, my pants and shirt were off before I knew what was happening. But I guess my body made the decision and acted before my head caught up.
The brown murky water surrounded my body. It didn't smell bad, and it was surprisingly warm. But with a cold rain beginning to turn heavy, the water seemed much warmer. My boxers waved around my thighs as I used my feet to navigate the root-covered clay floor. Moving my hands and feet slowly, I carefully navigated from one bunch of roots and plants to another. We stopped often and peered along the surface of the water, making eye contact with the two glowing embers that awaited me at the end of the long light-tunnel.
At one point we lost track of it, it sensed we were there. When we thought we lost it, Paul and I were floating in the water. Each using a hand on a branch to keep somewhat buoyant, we simply floated. The rain grew heavy and now a flash of lightning lit the area around me. As the thunder cracked, I saw Paul's head lamp turn towards me. He looked at me and said, “This is pretty damn cool, huh? You are chasing crocs, in an amazon river, in the middle of a thunder storm. At night.” I smiled at his statement and looked around, appreciating how alive I felt where I was. The red eyes appeared and I was mesmerized. Lightning flashed and the rain fell. We floated off towards the glowing red embers."

After Peru, the school year started again, and I finished off my last semesters of college. Ever. In May 2009, I walked across a stage, thanked P-Money (President Mercer, President of Ramapo College) for the fond memories, and put college behind me. Four years of fun, stress, school work, and numerous, numerous lessons, were over. Onto more lessons and more experiences worth writing about.

By June, I completed one year of work experience at Apple Retail. While retail is not my job of choice, and I doubt I will try and get a job in that sector, Apple was one of the best experiences of my life. I met a ton of great people, learned a lot from bosses and co-workers and overall had a very positive experience working there. Heck, I enjoyed it so much that I ended up writing a song for the store that I performed during one of our small events.

By the time I left Apple, I went on vacation with my family and that was it. My life (for the time being) in America was over. After coming home from vacation, I had less than a week to say good-bye to all my friends, pack my stuff, and catch a 14 hour plane ride to Delhi. And from there, well it's all been documented in this blog. From traveling in the mountains, to biking through Kerala, to going to Sri Lanka. The first leg of my adventure has been a blast.

Now we're in the present. The past 2 weeks or so have been hectic and crazy. Let's see. I got home from Sri Lanka and quit my job. Then there was Christmas. On the 26th I officially moved out of my apartment. And I am now living at Fireflies until January 7th when I hit the road again.

So what does 2010 bring for me? Well for starters, Nepal. That's right, in the last months (I'm planning on coming home between May and June), I might as well see more mountains, tick another country off the list, and enjoy traveling to the fullest.

Looking through the lonely planet for Nepal and seeing what tickles my fancy, there are tons of things to do. From trekking, to kayaking, to elephant rides and many more. As long as I see mountains, I will be happy. And it will be chilly, so at least I will get a small taste of winter this season.

I will keep you updated, but I hope you still pay attention to the blog – it's looking like things are going to get a lot more exciting. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Trekking

As per Norm Jr.'s request....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wS-O6jW4sxw

Enjoy, more to come.

Finally! The start of Bangalore

What a re-introduction into Bangalore! You've all seen the pictures, so here is the story and description.

While in Mysore, I got an e-mail from my friend from the states, Paul Rosolie, that he was coming to India on Sunday. Paul is person who changed my perception on a lot of things by bringing me down to Peru to spend 2 weeks in the Amazon Jungle. It was the most amazing trip I've ever experienced. The flora, fauna, the beauty. I highly reccomend this to anyone.

In fact, before I begin with my own story I want everyone to be aware of Paul's company in Peru. The name is Tamandua Expeditions (www.tamanduajungle.com) and is run by Paul (the U.S.) and Juan-Julio (from Peru). If anyone is interested in going on an Amazon trip, finding out what Paul and Tamandu Jungle is doing to preserve the rainforest and educate people on the importance of what a big impact the rain forest has on the rest of the world, please find Tamandua Jungle or Paul on facebook, or e-mail him at: Paul@tamanduajungle.com or you can call his U.S. cell phone at: 201-675-5379

He is always looking for interested people, donations, or anything that will support the conservation of the biggest rainforest in the world. The rainforest is one of those really specific places that if something is out of place - a certain bee doesn't polinate a certain flower, or a certain animal doesn't migrate to another specific place - everything is out of whack. It affects everything else. I had the opportunity to witness when I was down there in December, that the biggest causes of these problems are loggers, oil companies and gold miners. They constantly disrupt the wildlife and flora patterns in the area. I would look into his organization, it's vastly important and I fully support all their efforts to make the world a better place. You should too.

But, onto to Bangalore. So while in Mysore, I got this e-mail from Paul and decided to arrive in Bangalore the same day as himself. I found a hotel, got some stuff unpacked and jumped on a bus to meet him at the bus terminal "Banashankari" as we had planned. I got out of the bus, and as if it were all planned out for us, Gowri and Paul got out of their auto rickshaw at the same exact time. It was all smiles and excitment, ready for what adventures lay ahead.

And off we went to eat dinner at Gowri's house. They were also nice enough to let me stay the night. The biggest change for me wasn't finally seeing friends, or being able to talk and communicate with people in a manner I was used to, it was being in a house. And not just a house. A home. A place where I fely physically and emotionally comfortable. I went from observing many different ways of life in India, living on a shoe-string budget, to living with a middle-class family. People that you might see on the street everyday, but never really see their homes.

I imagined Gowri's house as my own. If my parents were living in India, they would want the same quality of living that Gowri's parents have provided her. And it was great. A home cooked meal, a friendly cat that likes to sit on your lap, a couch. I was actually more relieved to hear that they didn't have cable TV in the house. I've gotten tired of watching TV. But I have been able to relax in the morning with a nice cup of home made chai and a paper to read. It's been great.

But being with Paul, a day of that is already too long. Let the adventure begin!!

On Tuesday, out of the blue and with no planning, we decided to go camping. Being in Bangalore, and having no idea where one could possibly go camping, I was confused. It's not like at home where we could drive 15 minutes and go to Harriman and get lost in the woods for 3 days. Instead, they told me about this giant monolithic rock. According to them, it's the second biggest in the world, called Savan Durga. The name might be misspelt. Either way, it used to be a summer home of sorts for Tipu Sultan, and what remains is the ruins of the house, some walls, and an old stable. And of course, being that it is so tall, there is a temple at the top.

So off we went. It was Paul and Gowri, as well as Gowri's sister Siri, and myself.

We took our time and climbed around the rocks, and made our way to the top. In one small alcove of rocks there was a tree with many vines growing. They grew up and down, side ways, snaking their way around the rocks and boulders, some how finding water and soil for nourishment. As amazing as the tree looked (you can see it in the pictures, the one with me crouching on a branch to the right is a good example), for us it was a play ground. Like monkeys we jumped and leaped from branch to branch. We swung and hung and made jokes and climbed around. That is, until we realized the sun was quickly setting and we needed to make it to the top before dark.

Getting to the top was not easy. There was an easier way that skirted around the more flat parts of the mountain, but the four of us were feeling adventurous that day. We decided to try for the steep part. The funny thing about climbing a steep rock face is that when you are clmbing, you exert a lot of effort. And after climbing for five minutes you get tired, and look up, and see still so much ahead of you. But then you look down, and (for me at least), it is ALWAYS surprising how far you make it in so little time. I climbed quickly, looked back, and while I still had a ways to go, the other three already looked like ants far below.

So climbing rocks that are perched at 45 degrees from flat ground, it's best to be on all fours. Not on your hands and knees (a giant gash on my knee shows why not), but using your hands for balance, and your feet to keep pushing you up. It's actually kind of fun. You feel like a monkey running up a steep cliff.

But enough games and monkey business, we finally made it to the top. And by now, night had fallen. In fact the last 10 min or so of climbing was in the dark. And since we were clamboring up this giant rock, our hands were too tied up to grab head lamps. Oh well, it makes the climb all the more exciting. You just have to pray that your footing is secure.

So we arrived at the ruins. Plain, with some graffiti, we weren't there for aesthetic value. What amazed me aesthetically is when I turned around from facing the ruins where we were camping. What lay at my feet was a vast forest of lights. Bangalore, in all it's glory. Unlike New York, which is on a relatively small space and grew up towards the sky, Bangalore is located on the Mysore Plateau and has space to grow. Even now, Bangalore is expanding out wards. There are very few 10+ story buildings, but instead, like a giant amoeba, Bangalore had spread out in front of us on this pleateau. You could almost touch it. The fortunate thing about seeing Bangalore from where we were was that you could not hear it. Thankfully it was silent except for the howling of wind on that rock.

As is standard in camping, the first thing we did was search for firewood. It was begining to get chilly. We made two fires, one inside the ruins and one outside. Both were... well, not the best to say the least. The one inside, while it was windy, produced so much smoke that you couldn't stand being inside the ruins without hacking up a lung. If a fire was going all night, there was a good chance we would have all died of asphyxiation.

I'm kidding.

But it was quite windy outside, which made the one we made outside hard to maintain. We had to move some small boulders and rocks to keep the fire protected from the wind. We talked, we jumped around, we explored a bit, and we ate Cup Noodles. After a while, we laid down and attempted to sleep. That, however, did not come easy. If you can believe it, it got so cold at night that it actually kept us from sleeping. Eventually, I think I got 2 hours of sleep or so before 6 am.

At 6:30am though, our day began anew. This time, we were going for the small forest located in the center of this rock. We climbed rock faces, and down vines. We hugged boulders as we inched our way across ledges that had just enough room for a foot. Looking down, with the wind around you was not always a good idea, as many drops were over 20 feet in depth. We leaped from boulder to boulder, branch to branch and without an planned route, made a trekking, rock climbing adventure on the rocks.

At one point I had gotten a little ahead in climbing and decided to round his one rock. Inching across quite a precarious cliff... I mean this cliff got my heart racing -I heard a strange sound. Like squeaking? Or a lot of people talking but really far away. I yelled for Paul to come hear what I was witnessing. He came over, and that's when it hit me and I understood what I was listening to. He looked at me and understood too.

Guano! That's spanish for Bats! Tons of bats! It sounded like there must have been over a hundred bats in a cave some distance away. Unfortuneately, we couldn't reach them from where we were. We were going have to descend from that cliff, and head in the general direction to try and find an entrance.

Clamboring down we reach a chamber of rocks right before the bat cave entrance. It was more of a small cathedral. We had to crawl under rocks to enter it, but once inside, it was magnificent. A giant rock created one wall, and in a dome shape went 30 feet into the air. Smoothly it curved and connected to another rock on the other side of this "cathedral". It was magnificent. But we couldn't be distracted from the task at hand. The sound of the pats was growing.

We found a narrow passage that was acting as a sort of wind tunnel. How did we know we were heading towards the bats? Well this wind tunnel was blowing air from the bat cave towards us. So it smelled. Bad. Horrible. All the feces and urine of the bats were just sitting in that cave, and the fumes were blowing in our faces. We pressed on.

The passage got tighter. And steeper. But now, in the distance we could see the shadows of bats on the ground. They were talking and flying and doing whatever bats do. Then, the passage was too tight. As we got to this point, as if the bats knew of our presence, they grew in volume. The passage was like this. It got really steep, and a rock was lodged about 4 feet above the ground. So to arrive in the cave, one would have to slip under the rock, and between the two tight walls into this small tunnel. The bat cave lay just beyond that.

First Paul got down and tried to squeeze through. His hips wouldn't make it through. Being a little smaller, I tired next. I lay on my side, kicked away debris in front of me and began to slide down. I also had too much girth to slip through. We climbed ontop of the rock that was lodged above the ground and sought out a way to get down on that side. Since it was getting steep though, we would have had to jump 10-15 feet from the rock to hit the ground. And in such a small space the danger was greater than the benefit of seeing a bat cave.

Then Gowri spoke up. "I'll go." Excellent! We thought. Gowri, so you know, is a small girl. Weighing in at about 80-90 pounds, she just barely slipped through the crevice, through some mud and feces, and down into the bat cave. All we heard from our position were "Oh my gods!" and "You guys should see this."

She hurried back through the tunnel to tell us what she witnessed. She told us it would have been bad to enter because bats were just flying around, defacating and urinating all over the place. She wasn't under neath them, but she said if we went in, it would have been impossible to dodge it all. And we didn't have an umbrella. But more amazingly, she described how there must have been hundreds of bats just hanging from the cieling, all talking and squaking, and doing what bats do best. It really shook the stereotype that bats sleep during the day. The sound of them all at times was deafening.

It was a crazy experience. Too bad we didn't get to see them that day (the rest of us) but Paul and I want to make a point to go back and make an effort to really see the cave. It was crazy that we found it in the first place. From there we continued to climb around and have fun, but that was by far the most exciting part of the experience. We eventually made it to the temple at the top, where (as you can see from pictures) it was windy!

We also found some trees with definite leopard scratches on the tree. And from the position of the tree, it would be impossible that it was a bear. Only a leopard could have the agility to climb to that position.

Sorry for the rushed post, I am trying to get through responding to e-mails and phone calls, as well as writing this. However... there is more to come! Tonight, Paul, Gowri, Siri and I are heading to Pondicherry until next week. According to everyone ever Pondy is an amazing place. A place where everyone rides their bikes, where the atmosphere is calm, and it has beaches. I'm excited to relax on a beach with some friends for the next week. So hopefully I'll have some good stories for when I return.

However, on the blogs next episode: Hanchehalli, The Archimedes Rock, and Pondicherry!

More soon!

Pictures of Hanchehalli

Hello everyone! Sorry about the delay on blog posts, I've been busy as you can see. These are all pictures of the adventures I've been on since arriving in Bangalore. I'll describe them briefly, but full story-style posts to explain all these pictures will soon follow. For now, enjoy the pictures!

For the record:

Hanchehalli is a small town about 3 hours south of Bangalore. Gowri's parents own the farm, and a family lives there year-round to take care of the crops and the house. We luckily have the opportunity to visit the village and farm from time to time and climb the rocks, explore for snakes, and enjoy some time away from the city.

For the previous post: Savandurga is (so I was told) the second biggest monolithic rock in the world. It's only about an hour and a half away from the southern part of Bangalore. It used to be a summer post for Tipu Sultan where there are now ruins from an old stable, temple etc. We were able to camp in one of the ruins. More details to follow.

Rock formation just up from the farm at Hanchehalli

Sunset. In the zoomed out picture you can see Savandurga looming in the background (to the left).

A market on the way back to Bangalore

The road home... beautiful

I can't really describe these pictures... just wait to see the video that accompanies these pictures. Lets just say that that rock is no longer on that cliff.

Relaxing above the farm. If you look closely, just to the left of me there is a small patch of trees way below. You can see the roof of the farm house.

Rock climbing near the farm

Lotus flowers in a pond right outside the house. They only come out at night and close up shortly after morning arrives.

Enjoying the view... the bottom picture was taken first... soon after the clouds and storm rolled in, and the second (top picture) was taken. It's dark but you can see Paul and I standing on the rocks.

Rock jumping.. from right to the left

A view at Hanchehalli

AWESOME LEAF BUG

Praying Mantis... sweet

Crazy Catapillar

Trek Pictures Day 1

Note: Last picture is beggning of the day... first pictures are the end of the day. These are a very small amount of pictures, and with limited internet I'm trying to post as many as possible.

A small lake with a wooden pathway to a shrine/temple. And... RAMBO! These two pictures are from the beginning of day 2... Thus ends day 1... more pictures to come soon.

The room in the hut where we slept. Mine was the second bed from the far wall. And part of the group. From left to right: Jim, Biren, Myself, Mortasa, Dominic, and two of our porters.

A single hut in the woods, accompanied by mist makes for a creepy scene.

A small trekkers hut at Bakhim - about a forty minute walk from Tshoka. Behind me was the guest house where horrible things happened.

Some Views... Misty Forests.

Leeches!!

Some of the bridges we crossed.

A view from Yaksum, and Tomba

So what's next?

So... the current tentative plan -

I have finally had a few days to relax here in Gangtok. After the incessant traveling of the past week or so, some days to let it all soak in have been nice.

Don't get me wrong, seeing all those places were incredible, but moving around alot does take it's toll. But a new plan has emerged! On Tuesday, me and two other travelers I met at my hotel depart for the Trekking trail and National Park Entrance at Yuksom, in Western Sikkim.

From there we will have a 2 day trek through Tshoksa, to the summit view station of Dzongri. Barring any bad weather, we should be able to see the Great Himalayan Mountain range as well as the third tallest mountain in the world, Mount Kanchenzdonga (28,208 ft, 8,586 m). The trek will be the three of us, some porters, a cook, and a guide... I hate paying for expensive types of trips, but with this... I think I'll have to bite the bullet and go with it. Oh, and what a delicious bullet it should be. The pictures of previous expeditions look incredible.

Ideally, I wanted to trek alone, but that might have been a bit naive. We are pretty far up in altitude, and people getting altitude sickness on the trek is not unheard of. Also, the weather up here can be unrelenting, and unlike getting stuck in the forests of the North Eastern U.S (Harriman would be considered a joke, here), no one will find you if you get lost. There is plenty of time for solo treks in other far reaches of the globe.

As I write this, I am in a cafe/bar with free Wi-Fi and the power just went out. They just delivered me a candle so that I could see as I type. Only in India.

After the 4 days of trekking, we arrive back in Yuksom. I figured I would just head back to Gangtok, jump in a jeep and go to NJP. That is, until I found out there ARE places you can walk alone to.

About 12km south of Yuksom, there is the Buddhist Monsatery of Tashiding. Apparently there are numerous monasteries hidden amongst the foliage in these misty, forest covered hills. From there, a three hour walk west brings you to yet another Monastery, the Monastery of Pemayangste. On top of all that, just a little more south of this latter monastary there is the hill city of Gyalshing, which provides shared jeep rides back down to NJP and Silliguri. What fortune! The ability to do a real mountain trek, as well as walk alone through the hills to various Monasteries and hill stations!

I keep expecting to wake up and either be at home, or be on the plane on my way to India. I'm crossing my fingers this is all real.

So... Gangtok > Yuksom. TREKKING. Yuksom walking to Tashiding, to Pemayangste, (with intermingled exploring) to Gyalshing. Then back down the mountain.

I am thinking of retiring to Hampi (Eco-Daya) for my last month before work begins. Get some real alone, peace and quiet time in an amazing, sanctuary type of environment.

This looks like its turning out to be more and more exciting. Let's just hope it doesn't rain as it has in the past couple hours. Hell, let's hope it DOES rain. It will make the trail more treacherous, exciting, and challenging.

Volentis Nil Difficilis