its been a good day
content happy and alive
its been a good day
Monday, June 15, 2009
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Canada is cold.
Hello friends, I finished my holidays in Asia. I am currently chillin in Vancouver with my good friend Gusto and will be traveling around Canada and USA for the rest of March. Everybody knows about those countries so I will no longer be blogging about my life. So thank you for everyone who took time to read what I was doing and email me while I was gone, greatly appreciated. Also, do something risky with your life, don't always make smart choices, thats my best advice for everyone.
Live without deadtime.
- Sincerely Nomad Nate.
Live without deadtime.
- Sincerely Nomad Nate.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Last week of holidays.
In a place called 4000 islands. Electricity is here only 4 hours a day. Everyday is mid 30s so it gets real hot and sweaty. Brent stole my deodorant and threw it away into a river. Reading Jurassic Park right now. Really looking forward to alot of things next week upon returning.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
LAOS.
In the backpacker mecca that is Vang Vieng. Everyone all over southeast asia talks about coming here and going tubing. We did it the last two days and it was real wild and real fun. Got some good videos of us doing stunts on the various river activities...maybe sometime Ill put them up if I am ambitious. Coming home soon...no extended tickets.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Le Concorde on the Nam Ou.
We met two dudes from France about 10 days ago while crossing the border from Vietnam to Laos. Nice guys. We then met them again in the town of Nong Khaiw in Northern Laos a week later. They told us they had bought a boat and wanted to paddle down the Nam Ou river from Nong Khaiw to Luang Prabang. They asked Brent and I to join and we could not turn down the offer. It was supposed to be about a 5 day journey so we got and the necessities - a machete, a tarp, some rice and 8 packs of oreos. We named the boat 'Le Concorde.'
The first day was calm and we slept in a village where all the locals stared at us and we were a major sight. The second day we went through some big rapids, grazed a few rocks, but made it a long distance through the beautiful mountain scenary. That night we slept under a full moon on a beach. We woke up to see two boats full of children just staring at us. We set out for the third day and went through some huge rapids that were way out of our league, but some how navigated them missing rocks by a foot or two with water splashing into the boat and filling it about 5 inches deep. Late in the day we came to the biggest set of rapids yet and had to make a sharp turn right before them...it didn't turn out well. We lost control and smashed into a rock sideways at fullspeed. One guy flew out of the boat, a huge hole opened in the bottom, we spun around backwards and went through another set of rapids while the boat was filling up quickly with water. We all jumped out and swam it to some rocks in the middle of the river. Nobody was hurt. We were all pretty shocked, but Brent and I could not stop laughing. Its definitely one of the most exciting thing to ever happen to me. Right up there with birth and highschool graduation. A lao man rescued us from the island and we caught a ride in a truck box the rest of the way to Luang Prabang. Crazy crazy memorable day.
Northern Laos has been alot of fun other then just crashing boats. Beatiful landscape and super relaxed people. The bus rides are pretty asian though as they are extremely packed on extremely bad roads with extremely loud Lao music.
The first day was calm and we slept in a village where all the locals stared at us and we were a major sight. The second day we went through some big rapids, grazed a few rocks, but made it a long distance through the beautiful mountain scenary. That night we slept under a full moon on a beach. We woke up to see two boats full of children just staring at us. We set out for the third day and went through some huge rapids that were way out of our league, but some how navigated them missing rocks by a foot or two with water splashing into the boat and filling it about 5 inches deep. Late in the day we came to the biggest set of rapids yet and had to make a sharp turn right before them...it didn't turn out well. We lost control and smashed into a rock sideways at fullspeed. One guy flew out of the boat, a huge hole opened in the bottom, we spun around backwards and went through another set of rapids while the boat was filling up quickly with water. We all jumped out and swam it to some rocks in the middle of the river. Nobody was hurt. We were all pretty shocked, but Brent and I could not stop laughing. Its definitely one of the most exciting thing to ever happen to me. Right up there with birth and highschool graduation. A lao man rescued us from the island and we caught a ride in a truck box the rest of the way to Luang Prabang. Crazy crazy memorable day.
Northern Laos has been alot of fun other then just crashing boats. Beatiful landscape and super relaxed people. The bus rides are pretty asian though as they are extremely packed on extremely bad roads with extremely loud Lao music.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Fan Xi Pan: The Battle of Vietnam's Biggest vs. Canada's Best.
At 9am on January 30th two young mountaineers embarked on a harrowing adventure on which their path would lead them to the tallest point in all of Vietnam. This path would also bring them face to face with many perils and dangers that would attempt to deter them from achieving their goal. However these two young lads were not merely your average men, as Seabeard and Hal Johnson had spent the last four months covering the globe. They were also joined by a quick-footed Sherpa who did not speak a word of english, wore a basket on his back and sandals on his feet.
The climb started with the quick-footed Sherpa leading the way up the mountain. It was a premium day and they reached their camp at 2800m before the sun lowered behind the towering mountain top. The beautiful weather and breath-taking scenery would be no indicator of what was to come though once they crawled into their bed, as danger was lurking closer then expected.
Hal Johnson was awaken from his sleep by an extremely loud, almost deafening noise, also he was unable to move and didn't know where he was. As he came to his senses he remembered he was 3/4 of the way up Vietnam's largest mountain sleeping in a bamboo shack. He realized the noise came from the powerful mountain winds blowing right thru the porous bamboo walls and his lack of mobility was due to the three sleeping bags he was cocooned inside to try and with hold the elements. However, they did not do a sufficient job as he battled the wind and cold just to get a few hours of sleep.
Later on in the night Seabeard was also aroused out of his sleep by the feeling of a greatly feared, but rarely heard of Mountain Rat crawling up his leg. He howled out of terror and as the rat was crouching to spring the quick-footed Sherpa was already at his side plunging his dagger into the rats throat. This saved Seabeard from a scar so deep that it would have lasted until the grave.
As dawn broke on the second day they awoke from their restless sleep and were instructed that it was time to begin the summit attempt. The conditions were anything but premium as they were the day before. A light rain was falling, turning the steep path into a muddy waterslide, and the wind had blown in a fog so thick that if one stumbled off the trail, they would never find it again. But as the fog grew thicker and the air grew thinner, they climbed on. The quick-footed Sherpa lead them to the top over the toughest 4kms of the trail yet without a single break, and despite all the obstacles and hinderences they faced along the way the two young men reigned supreme, standing heroic on the roof of Vietnam. The clouds robbed them of any view they could have had, but it couldn't take away the overwhelming feeling of accomplishment as they had completed the arduous journey to the peak. At 3140m above sea level Hal Johnson let out a rebel yell so loud that it was heard from every corner of the earth.
But the journey was not yet complete as they still had 18kms to descend in order to return to the security and warmth of their $6 guesthouse. They eventually made it down with only a few falls each. With the mountain conquered they only had one thing left to do: celebrate! They did this the best way they knew how putting an exclamation point on two of the best days in the mountaineers lives. A feast of Indian food and a bottle of wine.
*Authors note - this is mostly true.
The climb started with the quick-footed Sherpa leading the way up the mountain. It was a premium day and they reached their camp at 2800m before the sun lowered behind the towering mountain top. The beautiful weather and breath-taking scenery would be no indicator of what was to come though once they crawled into their bed, as danger was lurking closer then expected.
Hal Johnson was awaken from his sleep by an extremely loud, almost deafening noise, also he was unable to move and didn't know where he was. As he came to his senses he remembered he was 3/4 of the way up Vietnam's largest mountain sleeping in a bamboo shack. He realized the noise came from the powerful mountain winds blowing right thru the porous bamboo walls and his lack of mobility was due to the three sleeping bags he was cocooned inside to try and with hold the elements. However, they did not do a sufficient job as he battled the wind and cold just to get a few hours of sleep.
Later on in the night Seabeard was also aroused out of his sleep by the feeling of a greatly feared, but rarely heard of Mountain Rat crawling up his leg. He howled out of terror and as the rat was crouching to spring the quick-footed Sherpa was already at his side plunging his dagger into the rats throat. This saved Seabeard from a scar so deep that it would have lasted until the grave.
As dawn broke on the second day they awoke from their restless sleep and were instructed that it was time to begin the summit attempt. The conditions were anything but premium as they were the day before. A light rain was falling, turning the steep path into a muddy waterslide, and the wind had blown in a fog so thick that if one stumbled off the trail, they would never find it again. But as the fog grew thicker and the air grew thinner, they climbed on. The quick-footed Sherpa lead them to the top over the toughest 4kms of the trail yet without a single break, and despite all the obstacles and hinderences they faced along the way the two young men reigned supreme, standing heroic on the roof of Vietnam. The clouds robbed them of any view they could have had, but it couldn't take away the overwhelming feeling of accomplishment as they had completed the arduous journey to the peak. At 3140m above sea level Hal Johnson let out a rebel yell so loud that it was heard from every corner of the earth.
But the journey was not yet complete as they still had 18kms to descend in order to return to the security and warmth of their $6 guesthouse. They eventually made it down with only a few falls each. With the mountain conquered they only had one thing left to do: celebrate! They did this the best way they knew how putting an exclamation point on two of the best days in the mountaineers lives. A feast of Indian food and a bottle of wine.
*Authors note - this is mostly true.
Ascending over mountains and through valleys.
The quick-footed Sherpa doing a natural power stance.
Path up along the ridge, with beautiful views to each side.
The heroes at the summit.
Descending through the fog.Some of vietnam in pictures.
Cu Chi War Tunnels
SEABEARD
Dalat Market
SO MUCH POWER
Hoi An
Pagoda
Tet celebration crowd
Rugged beauty on mountain top.
Cat ba fishing village.
Halong Bay
Sapa view.In a few days I will be adding a few more pics and a story regarding the greatest two days of the trip thus far, until then this will have to do. Laos within the next 2 days...hopefully.
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