I just came across what I thought was a 10 minute compilation video of the Boxing Day Tsunami in 2004. I clicked on it, got hooked, then found out it was only part 1 of 7. By that time I couldn't put it down, and ended up spending the next hour plus watching a handful of people's first hand Tsunami stories.
As 2011 comes to an end, I thought it would be cool to talk about my top 5 travel experiences of the year. My year was split roughly 6 months in Australia, 3 months in Southern Asia, and 3 in the US. It's hard to pick just 5, but here are my favorite travel memories from 2011, in no particular order.
In early 2010, I spent a lot of time travelling around Europe. Coming from the U.S., and having a lot of English friends made England the ideal hub. For those of you who don't already know, Europe is famous for their discounted airlines like RyanAir and Easyjet. You can sometimes get flights for mainly just the cost of the taxes, and England is one of the best hubs to get these specials from. This meant I was in and out of the country on a semi-regular basis over a 3-4 month period, but all completely legit, not breaking any posted rules or regulations.
Running With the Bulls is fairly common among bucket lists, and it should be. It was one of the most exhilarating things I've ever done. It's not like sky diving or bungee jumping in that you're pretty much at the mercy of your equipment or instructor once you jump, you have to move yourself through a crowd packed shoulder to shoulder, all pumped full of adrenaline and running full speed as 12 1000+ pound bulls/steer come charging for you.
There are a lot of hazards you think of when you imagine the Everest region and the elements that come with it, but we never saw this coming. While waiting for dinner on the second floor of our Namche Bazaar tea house, on the evening of September 18 (2 days into our trek to Everest Base Camp), a magnitude 6.8 earthquake hit the mountainous region diving India and Nepal. All of us coming from California, our first thought was "Oh, it's just a little earthquake"; and then it clicked. We were in a small village in the Himalayas, we had seen first hand how these buildings were constructed, they stack bricks and seal them with mud.
The ATM was down in Namche so it took us a little while to get going in the morning, and we needed to pay the remainder of our tab with Boo. It's been surprisingly difficult to get cash since I've gotten to Nepal, but we got it all sorted. We finally got moving around 9:15 AM, and it was bright and sunny. We even got one more peek of Everest. Yesterday I tried to eat a normal meal, and my battered stomach didn't like that at all. I started to feel sick about an hour and a half into the hike, and I had to slow our pace way down.
When we woke up it was still raining heavily. There's nothing to do in Pangboche so the idea of staying there sounded worse than walking in the rain. Once we got confirmation from Boo that we could move our flight back up, it was worth pushing through to get to Namche today. Out into the rain we went, shortly before 11 AM. The rain meant that small streams were now gushing rivers, and there were massive waterfalls everywhere. Rivers were overflowing to the point that rocks that you used to be able to walk across were completely underwater. Jit was picking up rocks and carrying them across the rivers to make paths for us. It was crazy.
We woke up at 4:30 AM to try to get a glimpse of Everest at sunrise and set out at 5 AM in the dark. Dan led the pack up the hill, and he and I waited every few minutes to see the rest of the group's headlamps come into view while it was still dark. Once it got lighter we realized no one else was planning to go too far so we headed up with Jit. As the sun started to come up we saw incredible views of mountains in all directions. Massive peaks that shot up into the sky all around us. We even managed to get a few quick sightings of the pyramid peak of Everest before the clouds moved in right at sunrise and covered everything.
My stomach hurt all night, but I’m feeling ok this morning. Sam was sick again last night, but he feels up for the climb. Andrew seems better and wants to climb as well. Mike still hadn’t fully recovered but was in good shape to go up. I’m glad we don’t have to send anyone down to Pheriche. The rain we walked in yesterday turned to snow during the night. The landscape looks pretty with the dusting of white, but also very, very cold.
I slept well last night for the first time in quite a few days. I woke up at 6:30 AM, well before breakfast. Andrew was not too happy with me for being up so early, but it was an incredibly beautiful morning and I wanted to take it all in. This morning had the clearest skies we'd seen yet, and the mountains are simply stunning. Sam isn't doing so well. He was sick all night and didn't sleep much. He says he's feeling ok to climb. Andrew isn't feeling great either. He was accidentally taking malaria pills instead of the altitude pills.
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About The Cheap RouteTheCheapRoute.com is the site where you find fresh new travel destinations & ideas. We don't provide guidebook style writeups, we normally don't even offer you all the specifics, you can find that elsewhere. What we do provide are high quality photos & videos, useful tips, and a fresh perspective on travelling the world for cheap.
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