Bad News Tuesday

Yesterday - Monday 29-Nov
With about four and a half months left until we depart from the states, I figured that I should shoot Kim (Koh Ra Owner) a follow up/check in email to see how things were going on the island. With hopes of good word and a bit more info on your duties on the island I awaited his email response with great anticipation. Having requested a day off from work for a trip to the Thai consulate to see which visa will allow us 5 months worth of stay on Thailand have already been granted. Our dreams of island life as we know it were within reach.

Today - Tuesday 30-Nov 9:00am
 "Hi Aaron, Things have changed here majorly. I cannot say if I will be here after April, including next year, so I cannot offer you a place here. I'm sorry, but I have no control over that and what has happened. I hope you still make it to Thailand but please don't base any decision on Koh Ra situation. Again, I'm sorry.
Kim"

The one versatile word that begins with the letter "F" was the only word that came to mind. The dreams of discovering, documenting and co-existing with nature has vanished, for now.

A few weeks ago, I brought up this scenario with Keri and asked her what we would do if the island fell through? We didn't come up with anything as extravagant as island care taking, but none the less we still have ticket to Bangkok. In theory we shouldn't have invested ourselves completely to the idea of the island, but was impossible not to.

I'm an honest believer in that everything happens for a reason, and if it the island wasn't ment to be then so be it. We now have to pick up our cards and start dealing again. Moral is down but hopes are always high, just another bumb in the every adventurous road.

Namaste

Mapping and Ideas

The last month or so, I have been compiling a list/map of adventures/destinations that we will hopefully be taking advantage of. Google maps help me, itemize ideas with little icons that designate what will happen in these areas.

If you click on the icons, a little bubble will pop up and give some info and links that I have added for the areas

The icons may not make sense so I will give a little run down of that they mean.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=210544611686653146042.0004906511f9159316ff1&z=2
Volcano - These icons aren't necessarily Volcano's (some are) but mountains that will involve either extensive trekking or technical mountaineering.

Landslide/Rocks - Were this strange icon is supposed to resemble rock climbing location

Swimmer - The swimmer represents areas worth surfing at

Camera - Areas that have historic/religious/educational relevance

Hikers - Hiking trails

Tent - Represents either camping or areas where we will be wwoofing (we will be wwoofing everywhere)

Sunburst - KOH RA ISLAND, where we will be caretaking

Boat - Ferry to island

Yellow Pin - Cities/Countries of Interest

Soccer Player - Stadium in Bangkok for Muay Thai events

Green Line - Trekking Map (specifically Annapurna Circuit and Everest Base Camp)

Blue Line - Driving Australia idea


This weekend we will be appling for our passports, and we will soon need to go to the Thai consulate to figure out what kinda of visa we will need for the island.


More to come probably not until after the holiday
Cheers

Success!

Last weekend during our last stint on the farm, we got word from Kim Obermeyer (Ecolodge Founder/Manager) that we will definitely be care taking the island. After reading and relaying the brief email there were no words that can describe the feelings that came over both Keri and I.

So our journey will begin at Koh Ra island on the Andaman Sea of on mainland Thailand. Currently signed up for 4.5 months, this adventure will test us mentally and physically. With most of the island undocumented, we will have our hands full during our free time after our duties to try to help with the island progression. Its hard to say what exactly we will be doing, but there is some base line work that is mandatory for us. Making sure bungalows are upright and in good condition, electricity, water supply, kitchen, housing amongst other duties. We will try to get a daily regiment down so we both don't go nuts, morning Qigong exercises followed by chores, afternoon yoga, kayaking, swimming, Exploring, maybe have some form of school or reading hour, really anything to keep our minds and body active will be essential.

To keep the body in good health is a duty, otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear. ~Buddha

Adventures

We are currently still in planning stages but starting for find opportunities and adventures that we both would like to tackle.

1. Koh Ra Ecolodge - Thailand

2. Everest Base Camp - Nepal

3. Teaching English Yangshuo - China

4. Mount Kinabalu - Borneo

This currently these are just a few of the places that we either have set in stone as well as proposed ideas. Hopefully we can start checking some of these of this list as completed. More to come.


Cheers

Is Traveling internationally considered Green?

This is a question that I ponder frequently. How much work do you have to put back in the Earth to supplement the amount of pollution during your travels?



Train, planes, bus, car, boat, even moped are all subjects of pollution and factors of the degradation of the planet. Obviously some of these have more of an impact on the environment than the others, but without such means, our ability to explore foreign places are limited if not inaccessible. To be truly green it would seem that you would have to travel via tall ship. Having low impact on the environment but taking forever to get to your destination, this would seem the likely choice for the true green thumb. Learning Japanese would probably be easier than finding a reasonable rate on a tall ship. There are working ships out there that in exchange for your services and low daily cost will transport you over seas; but honestly, how many people these days want to work during their vacation? Also how many people have the time to sail over seas to their destinations given there 20 days out of the paid time off? Hardly anyone. Along with the ever obvious air and land pollution that these transportation vessels contribute to the environment, the other contribution that people seem to neglect would be NOISE pollution, one of the more hidden/overlooked elements of travel.

Nothing breaks the peace of a fishing trip, the serenity of belaying 300 feet off the ground or the splashing of water against your kayak than the piercing sound of a helicopter. Noise pollution to me has an immediate impact on our experience with nature. Since we consumers are so accustomed to the instant satisfaction life style that we want to get to our destination as fast as possible with as few stops as possible, but we soon forget how damaging we are towards each other and our planet.

With the emergence of organization such as wwoofing and volunteering aboard we can now be philanthropists on our travels. Giving back to the earth through these types of organizations I feel we will somewhat replace the negative output that I have created to get there.

I wish I could back up these thoughts with some facts, but at this point I feel that all pollution knowledge is so widely covered that I don't have to. If we "consumers" can slowly implement a day of green in our travels, maybe it will some how put a small dent in the pollution that we cause. WHO KNOWS

Koh Ra Ecolodge

After booking our tickets last week, I decided to terrorize the web to see what out of this world adventures exist out there. With no particular insite, I stumbled upon an independent wwoofing site that had a posting for "unique opportunity", being in the market for a unique opportunity I decided to read on.

"The Koh Ra Ecolodge is located in the Andaman Sea of southern Thailand. If you are looking for a truly unique nature experience in Thailand, then we invite you to stay with us on Koh Ra and explore the pristine jungle, private beach, coral reefs and hidden bays of this amazing island. Our goal is to offer guests a simple yet comfortable place to stay in the heart of the most natural stretch of coastline remaining in Thailand, and the closest island to world-renowned Surin National Park. We strive to do this in a way that is sustainable and responsible by helping protect and even improve the local environment and provide benefits to the local communities that depend on the natural resources here."

HEEERRREEE's Johnny.!!!

They are looking for a caretaker May-October, seemed like the sort of adventure that we were looking for, being stuck on an island during "rainy" season in Thailand. First thing that crossed my mind was Jack Torrence. For those of you who have no idea who that man is, he is the kind hearted star of the book/movie "The Shining". A loveable husand, a role model father, one can only hope to turn out as great as him. Watch out Keri.. Just hoping bartender Lloyd will be present.

On a sersious note, we have contacted Kim Obermeyer head of Ecolodge on the island Kho Ra and he has given us his initial interest is us to become sole caretakers of the island for 4 months. If all works out Keri and I will work on the island in exchange for housing and hopefully food. Since this is just an initial interest we have not gone over specifics on what is included in the opportunity.

To busy at work to write anymore

It's Official

After years of pondering of where our travels will be, we have finally locked in our first destination. As of Wednesday April 13, 2011 Keri and I will officially be making our way to Bangkok. Korean Air - Portland to Bangkok.

This seemed like an impulse purchase but after an hour of discussion we snatched up the tickets at an amazing rate of $560/ticket. We had been searching for months for one ways and low airfare, nine hundred, sevene hundred, a thousand. These prices seemed like round trip tickets to us, we didnt want to feel restricted with time frame of having a return date, so one-way was the choice.

Feelings of euphoria, fear, excitement, dread, happiness, sadness were running wild inside of us. We couldn't believe that we were actually going. We were in some sort of dream state where no words were able to transpire except the 4 words WE'RE GOING TO THAILAND! Shortly after the groundbreaking purchase tears of joy and dance were unleased in the condo. WE'RE GOING TO THAILAND, WE'RE GOING TO THAILAND, all I can think of is that we looked liked like the kid who got Nintendo 64 for christmas (youtube it).

Now that we have purchased our tickets, the next step is to outline our trip. Going with the plan of not having one, our guidelines will be on the fly. We have a few ideas of things that we want to do during our trip but having actual reservation are something that we both do not want. Being able to move freely will open up all sorts of doors and oppournities that we would have otherwise have if we were locked into an itinerary. I guess our only goal on this trip is to fully experience life outside the comforts of the states as well as humble ourselves as human beings. We want to live the simple rewarding life rather than the consumer life as we now know it. Learning different techniques of organic pratices as well as being a wwoof host. Our options are endless at this point, learn scuba, reef research, cheese maker, kayak guide, english teacher we are open for it all and more.

"the greatest risk in life is not taking one" - Chouinard

The Skinny

I have started this blog in hopes to take my mind of the numbing work thats is the travel industry. But as you can see this blog is irony at its best. I want to get a away from travel by talking about my own personal travel goals. Hmmm.....

Moving on, as the previous entry said, our Top 4 areas of interest being Nepal, Thailand, Oz and New Zealand, I wanted to write a bit about the areas we hope to see. Over the next 4 posts I will try to elaborate a bit on each place. But will probably just end up writing about nothing.

Numero Uno

NEPAL

Standing out in Nepal are the formidable Himalayas. Anapurna could be a fun hike with outstanding views as well and a strenuous hiking. Kathmadu will probably be of main focus at this point due to the accessablitly and the programs that are offered. Also if things pan out with rock climbing, Kathmandu will be the center of this teaching due to resources. Wwoofing isn't as prominent here as of countries is Asia. It is basically just starting up and few farmers are able/capable to grow organically. I feel that wwoofing will take us through the country in remote places thats are seldomly visited, which is was both of us are looking for.  It seems that most of Nepal if not all of it, except base camp, is seldomly visited. Nepal would be our starting point for the trip and what a place to start. Being thrown into culture so foreign to both of us could make quite an impact.

Having done some research on traveling, living, experiencing Nepal, this could be one of the biggest challenge in our lives. Having no previous or current knowledge of the Neplaesse language, which is some sort of sanskrit, communication will be ZERO. Kathmandu being the largest city in Nepal will probably be the best bet to try to adapt the language or adapt a way to communicate with the locals. This may seem like insanity to people but this is what we are looking for, escaping the comforts of the monoculture that is America.

-Aaron-

Where too?

Hmmm, a question that has stumped us for many nights. Keri and I have drawn up a rough itinerary of the places that we want to travel to. Top 4 being Nepal, Thailand, Austrailia and New Zealand. We have also have been entertaining China, Bangladesh and possibly Indonesia. It would seem easy to pick a place and just go for it, but the fact that there are endless areas of interest out there it makes it difficult to set anything in stone. Let me give a little background on our travel plans.

Currently we have a whopping 700 dollars saved up for our 1 year expedition to Asia. With that sort of savings we won't even be able to make it to Los Angeles. We plan on departing some time early '11 (hoping for feb/mar). With such little savings we plan on WWOOFing throughout these countries to save on food and board. Working with the locals on sustainable farming etiquette, we are hoping put this knowledge to use for our future goals in life. For most people this sort of trip is on the boarder of insanity, but we have put behind our doubters and have fully engulfed ourselves on this idea of being glorified vagabonds. Within Nepal, I have hopes for appling my knowledge in rock climbing to the local children of Kathmadu. Having a few contact over there, I think that it will be a fun way to engrain myself in the culture and also with the locals. Who knows if this idea will actually come to fruition, if not so be it, there will be enough to keep us occupied. WWOOFing is an option pretty much anywhere were go.

WWOOFing stands for something like world wide opportuinties on organic farms. What this program basically is, is an opportuinty to work on and organic farm and in return they offer free room and board. Work schedule is usually something like 5hrs a day for 5 days, seems like a pretty good trade off to me. Having this opportunity available to us is a life line for our travels.

Thats about it for today.
-Aaron-