Climbing

Now that we have this amazing opportunity at Maya Devi, I decided to do a bit more research on the area and what Pokhara has to offer. When Keri and I first started to project a trip, she came up with the idea of going to Nepal. She was in running for the Fulbright scholarship which provides selected candidates a year long stint in a certain country of choosing in exchange of instituting a way to educate/enhance the country of choice. With Keri's expertise in art, she wanted to involve art in the schools as well as create a program that would take recycled products and create useful items in schools or in cities. That might not be the best description of what it was but that's the gist.

If selected, the Fulbright need to know what I would do with my time while I was over there with her. They didn't want to shell out extra stipend for someone who was going to be sitting on his ass using free money. So I had to get on the ball and figure out how I was going to use my time.  The first thing that came to mind of course was, how can I involve myself in the local rock climbing scene? We were going to be in the center of the climbing world that is the Himalayas, there should be plenty of opportunities to get in on something.
Come to find out there wasn't much to offer in the way of "rock climbing" but plenty in mountaineering. Since I have no experience in mountaineering, my chances of finding anything were slim. There were a few companies out there that I wrote to that wanted some help, but nothing was made of it.

After we got word from the Fulbright that Keri wasn't selected out of the 12000 that applied we both stopped looking at our ideas in Nepal. We knew we still wanted to go but more on a trip of selfishness that a trip of giving back. Fast forward 5 months, Keri tell me the good news of Maya Devi. Hearing this news brings up the old ideas of helping the locals with climbing; the search continues.

Being at a job that involves me sitting at a desk for 8hrs will only drive me to insanity without the little escape that is the Internet. Getting to my point that the Internet is a hell of a tool to find unique opportunities that normally you would never come across. With some google skills that I picked up after 3 years at the travel job, I have become a master of finding the odd and quirky sites that hold some useful info. Numerous hours of word combinations lead me to a low profiled website that had one posting for climbing in Pokhara. Reply to the post desperately, I had little hope in a return reply since the post was from a year ago. This site was the last straw that I had in hopes of finding something climbing specific.

After a few weeks I heard nothing back from the post so decided to re-read the post and play Internet detective again. Finding a few helpful hints and words I came across the 3 Sisters Adventure website that was based in Pokhara. Shooting them an informal email about the rock climbing in the area they hooked me up with the email for the gentleman who posted the message a year ago on that bogus webpage. The man who posted was a Dutch man named Harry, who has slowly been establishing a local crag for the women of 3 Sisters Adventure. Emailing back and forth numerous times, I had finally found the one who could help me pursue my goal of teaching locals how to climb.

Persistence pays off in the long run but also can't help but think that good luck and the idea of keeping your doors open had some involvement with this. Slowly we learn not to be let down by missed opportunities (the island), because something else equally as great is just around the corner waiting. We will take this view of life into our journey because we have no idea what is in store for us on the trip that is life.
As for Keri's proposal, she is in current search for finding that school in Pokhara what will allow her to fulfill her ideas. She has high hopes for being inspired to create and educate her art once we arrive in Pokhara.

Everything seems to level out at some point.

Maya Devi

Its been a while since anything has been posted on this sucker. Things have been quite busy here the last few months. We have been putting in some quality time with research on where our adventures will start now that the caretaking job has fell through.  After numerous hours researching and dissecting the net, Keri came up with a site and a listing that would allow us to spend 5 months in Pokhara, Nepal house sitting. From the website, mindmyhouse.com, Keri posted an simple ad about who we are and where we were interested in going. The site brought up many options over the world but few in the areas we wanted to go. A few days/weeks passed before something came up. There was a posting that popped up that fit our ideas and time frame perfectly.

Maya Devi was looking for a couple to house sit from June to September as well as look after their birds for the duration. Kicker here is that this isn't no ordinary house, this house/village is the center for parahawking/paragliding in the tourist city of Pokhara. This couple (Scott and Anita) have set up a business that involves the thrill of paragliding and the art of falconry.


To be honest, falconry has never been that much of a point of interest of mine but it is something that will now be a part of my life. Learning something new that in foreign to me is important in keeping the mind young and fresh. Working with these animals hopefully open my mind to ideas that have not yet been open. From what we've been told these birds each has a distinct personality of their own. Both Keri and I have worked around various animals during our stint at the farm and know how animals personalities are very different just like humans. It will be interesting to see what these birds will bring to the table.


Getting away from the birds for a minute and back to the housing that we will be living in. This house/bungalow, sits right across from Phewa Lake on the outskirts of city center. Maya Devi is more like a small community than a single house. Maya Devi is a place where tourist come to vacation for a bit before taking part in the 20 day Annapurna Circuit. With a few other units on the property as well a restaurant, Maya Devi is a peaceful retreat to enjoy the serenity of the lake or the adventure of parahawking. With most modern amenities, wifi, running water, electricity (I think); this is a place where Keri and I will be able to en grain ourselves in the low key Nepali lifestyle. With a 10-20 minute walk to all main shopping areas, this is a great place to start our soul searching journey.

‎Tuesday, ‎March ‎08, ‎2011

Tiger Temple

With the news from Koh Ra that we will no longer be able to caretake, we had to set sail to the world of the internet in search of our next adventure. Always looking for something that will set this trip apart from all others, the unique opportunities are the ones that grab our attention. 

Tiger Temple.

It is a Buddhist Temple located western Thailand in the Kanchanaburi province which is a few miles from the Burma/Thailand border. Burma being know for the tiger hunting way back in the day, this is a place set up for conservation. There has been much dispute on whether the temple institutes humane practices or not. After much research on the net, it was hard to get a full grasp on whether or not this place is legit. There are activists out there that pretty much crucify the place saying that is a tiger concentration camp, but then on the other hand volunteers saying that the place was magical.

I personally have issues with zoos, and keeping animals from there natural habitat, but I feel that these monks are trying their best and reaching out to people to come help educate on the areas where they fail. They are monks for christ sake. The only way for us to get a complete conclusion on this place would be to stay and volunteer there.

The volunteer process requires a month long stay, that will involve working with the tigers one on one as well as being the tour guide of the temple. Food and housing are the exchange for our services, but with it being a Buddhist temple, I can have to physical interaction with Keri, no touching, no physical affection towards one another, as well as separate sleeping quarters; which I must say the guys have a much more luxurious quarter than the ladies.

Canon EOS 30D Digital SLR

The end to 2010 was a memorable one for me. An amazing year filled with all sorts of goodies. We finally purchased our tickets to Asia, we volunteered on an amazing farm for the summer, did some superb rock climbing, made some new friends; the year seemed to be one of the best on record. To top off the end of the year the "Goodwill God's" gifted me with a new camera.

For a whopping $150 the Canon EOS 30D Digital SLR was in my hands..The only down fall was that no lens was present, with a quick search on the net I found myself with a 18-55 mm for $90.

What a great way to end the year, and a great treat for the trip