New Vid: Everest 08!!!!! March 28, 2009

This vid is about the trekk i did with my future husband and sisters last fall.

Trekking to Everest sucks- I highly do not recommend it. Trust me- I made it look alot more fun than the 90 mile stroll was, lol.

I wish I coulda gotten more footage, but I only had 5 minutes of tape for the whole trip (as i was near the end of a tape when my camera playback controls took a poo on me), so I worked with what I had, haha.

It’s posted below, but if you’re feelin motivated, it’d be way cooler to watch it in higher quality right here:

http://vimeo.com/3846870

and for you less-motivated people, here’s the lower quality embedded -_-

(but at least click the little “HQ” at the bottom of the video player!)

Everest Trekk November 5, 2008

OOOOokk,

So I went on this trekk to Everest Basecamp. We hiked for about 14 days and it was almost 90 miles round trip. It had it’s…… ups and downs……. but basically, I’ll never do that one again.

We started out excited and eager

We took a Plane from Kathmandu to Lukla ‘airport’, which is a strip of pavement on a mountainside:

We saw cool stuff…..

hiked thru massive mountains……

came across villages in the middle of nowhere…..

mingled with the locals……

crossed some awesome bridges…….

camped in some random spots…

got high off the altitude….

went to the moon (above tree line)….

had some tea there….

got miserable from the altitude…..

got closer to Everest…..

and finally made it to EBC (Everest BaseCamp) at 530meters high….

 

it was cold, but I DID get one hot shower one of the nights tho…

and we were really stoked to be coming back when we were done….

 

 

But in the end, I’m glad I did it. 11 days to get there, 3 to get back- we hauled ass hiking 14 hours a day (even in the dark sharing 1 flashlight) to get home, but it was an experience I’ll never forget…

 

I wrote a daily journal the whole time, and I’ll type in out and share it when I get a chance, but I dont have time now. We’re back in Kathmandu and Brandon and I are couchsurfing tonight so we gotta get settled in for the night. You can check out the whole Everest Trip album here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sicahafan/sets/72157608669766293/

But that’s only Brandon’s cam- there are a bunch of great pics off Caitlin/Maile’s camera that I’m yet to upload. Hopefully soon- there are some priceless ones in there as well, so I’ll be making another post :)

Congrats to America for getting a new president. Good for you guys.

I’m headed to India next after my Indian Visa comes thru next week. Wish me luck :p

Nepal- I made it! October 16, 2008

So I busted ass on this totally scary motorcycle taxi in Bangkok to make it to my flight on time, and the damn thing ended up being canceled. The airlines put us all up in a really fancy hotel though, so it was cool (and the fanciest place I’ve stayed all year). I ened up hangin out with this other passenger (Nepalese dude) and a tower of beer later we ended up at this ‘club’ that was….. well, I’l never forget it, and if you want details, just email me directly (so I can write custom censored responses based upon who you are, lol). We had shwarmas (the middle eastern burritos) after too so I coulda died I was so happy and full. We got back to the hotel about an hour before the bus picked us up for our flight, haha. The dude was gunna hook me with a ride from the airport when we arrived, but e ended up getting seperated at immigration, so it never went down (btw, visas way more expensive than anticipated).

When I got here it was taxi madness, with everyone trying to give me a ride and make me stay in their hotel, blah blah. After shopping around I got one dude down to a reasonable price and asked him to drop me in central… which is kinda like, the center of everything.

After chatting me up andn being my ‘buddy’ and telling me I should stay at his hotel, I explain I dont need a place and I’m not interested, blah bah- well, in the end he ends up bringing me to his hotel anyway. As he’s bringing my bags up the stairs i put my foot down and tell him he can pressure me and carry shit around all he wants, but I’m NOT staying there, then he gets all depressed. As I’m walking to an internet cafe he walks with me and explains that its gunna look really bad to the hotel mamagement that he brought me there and I decided not to stay. I laughed and told him that he should have listened to me when I told him no the first time then! He explains that I’m the first one who’s actually backed out when that typer of situation happens. I tell him I’m not just some classic retarded ass tourist, and to suck it up. We end up drinkin beer and hangin out the rest of the afternoon, haha. And then his homie came and jopined us, and he ended up giving me a ride to Monkey Temple because I dont know about you, but when I get drunk, there’s nothing that sounds cooler than feeding bananas to a bunch of monkeys. I end up kickin it with the new friends friends family and crashing at their house in this sweet little cutty neighborhood. Surrounding landscape so beautiful, i cant even describe. The dudes father studied in the Philippines for a while too, so we had some great conversations.

Anyway, todays been awesome, walking around discovering temples, hangin out with the monkeys, meeting nice people, and I even got blessed this morning my a holy man

Nothings been stolen yet and I havent been cheated too bad either. This is a very peaceful country with alot of good honest people in it. It’s less chaotic than the PI, but there are some things that feel similar. There’s a great sense of pride and happiness that people have with their lives- in whatever condition it’s in- and a welcome desire to embrace and share their culture. Even if I’m the only white person in the neighborhood, people just smile and nod their head- not yell shit at me and laugh if I respond.

Aight, I’ve been at this computer too long- I’m gunna go feed more monkeys (it’s like feeding the ducks at the park…. but the ducks kinda look like you and they sit down next to you and eat with you)

The Next Chapter: Nepal October 5, 2008

Ok, so first I just wanted to say that I’m bustin ass trying to get all videos completed and get everything backed up and off my laptop by friday, so I have been (and will be) a bit distracted! My ‘day in the life’ vid that I’ve been telling some of you about is almost done, and WILL be done this week for sure.

OK, now on to the point

I’ve been having a blast here in the PI and teaching English and all that, but I’m ready for a new adventure. The Philippines has been a place to call home, and I’ll probably call it that again sometime in the near future… but for now, I’m off to Nepal

This friday will be my last day at my school. When I put notice in a month ago they were bummed, but have been very understanding and hope I come back sometime. Saturday afternoon I fly out of Cebu and into Manila, where I’ll find something to do for like 8 hours before heading over to Bankok. I’ll arrive hella late at night so I’ll probably just stay up all night hangin out around Koh San road. My schedule will be off cuz I wont be sleeping friday night and will probably sleep most of saturday, so it shouldnt be too rough :p

Sunday I’ll meet up with the Couch Surfer that’s hosting me and get settled in at her pad, then play around Bangkok (and surrounding area) for a few days. Sam Yang from San Jose is going to school there, so we’ll probably chill at one point too… no plan, so no doubt I’ll have some fun.

On the 15th I’ll catch my flight from Bangkok right into Kathmandu, Nepal. I’ll stay with some surfers the first couple nights and explore the city. I’ve never been to Nepal, but I hear so many great things…. I’m really looking forward to it.

After a couple days of playing, I’ll be meeting up with Brandon, Maile, and Caitlin (woohoooo!!!!!). They’ve been travelling India together since Sept. 20th and will be headed to Nepal to meet me by the 17th. I can’t wait to see them!!!! I couldn’t think of a better group to travel with- we’re gunna have a great time

The plan from there is to…. ummmm….. enjoy Nepal and do whatever the hell we want. Then we’ll mozey on over to India and continue our fun there. I’l love to visit some of the JK schools while I’m out there, so hopefully I can coordinate that.

Anyway, I wont have a laptop anymore, as I’m sending it back to the states with a friend before I leave. That means no video capturing, no editing, and MUCH less online communication in general. I’m canceling my Skype phone number (the 805 one) and I dont think my voicemail will work anymore too. Just stick to email communication, and I’ll do what I cant to keep up on it

I wont have a still cam, but Brandon and Maile will, so if I get a chance to do some flickr dumbs, I will. There are internet cafes n junk, so I’ll write updates when I can. Just dont get hurty if you hit me up and I dont respond for a week, you know?

This friday I’m having a massive party here. I’ve invited all my friends here in Cebu- everyone from my school (students/staff), my ‘big brother’ friends in my neighborhood, the Cebu CouchSurfing community, and any other randoms I’ve met along the way. It’ll be held at Switch, which is the restaurant/bar/cafe next to my school. My homies own it so we’ll have the run of the place and it’s open till 1am. At that point, we’ll head to a club or up one level to the Snack Valley, which is another restaurant/bar that’s open till 6am. At that point, I’ll head to the airport and sleep in the terminal for a few hours or something.

Here’s the flyer that’s posted all over my school, haha:

going away party