Following Bourdain’s Footsteps: Melbourne, Australia
We always said if we ever found a city with Philadelphia’s layout and San Francisco’s weather, we’d move there in a heartbeat. Little did we know that’d require moving to the opposite side of the world to Australia’s hippest city, Melbourne.
We arrived in-style, fresh from Sydney after a perfectly executed 2-hour nap, starting before we took off and ending upon landing. We checked into our hostel within the CBD, Central Business District, a perfect rectangular shaped grid, eight blocks wide by four high. Trams run in just about every direction but walking is easy enough unless you’re trying to get a bit out of “town” to visit some of the cool suburbs like Fitzroy and Collingwood for art, music and beer or South Yarra for high-end fashion and what would become our favorite restaurant. We knew before arriving this was our kind of town as one of the few things on television worth watching, Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations, had just done a special on Melbourne, and it had our mouths watering. Whenever you build a city with immigrants from all over the world, you’re sure to find the Peanut Butter Nomads, fork, knife, spoon, chopstick, or freehand, ready to dig in. Flush with some extra cash after a stellar month at my company, we proposed to spend a little extra and put ‘ol Bourdain to the true test. We were going to follow in his footsteps, within reason of course, as it was unlikely we’d be getting tasting menus at the city’s most lauded kitchens, and see if the author was just full of fluff or really did make good suggestions and recommendations on his show. Read the rest of this entry
How To Sail Around the World and Live to Tell About It
Coast Guard Couple, Greg and Tiffany Norte
We met Greg and Tiffany Norte while on a liveaboard scuba diving boat in the Great Barrier Reef. Between the 10 dives, overeating the surprisingly good buffet food, reminiscing about the greatest the USA has to offer, and getting my butt kicked at euchre (a rare occasion, just ask the Schneider’s!) so badly I had to jump off the boat naked, we delved deep into the “Coast Guard Couples” interesting lifestyle choice – as the title suggests – sailing around the world and sharing the skinny on how to do it yourself. Heck, they’ve been doing it for two years straight and have 16 years of sailing experience between them! So when it comes from them, you know you’re getting expert advice. Fortunately, you don’t need to fly to Australia to meet them and pick their brain. They’re giving out the deets here for free and have an absolutely infinite amount of quality how-to’s on their website, along with other great antidotes from the rarely seen South Pacific, at www.CoastGuardCouple.com. So slip off your flip flops, crack into a Pacifico, and climb on board while Greg and Tiffany show us how to travel the world for free. Oh, that sounds so nice, I need to write it again. FOR FREE. Read the rest of this entry
Going Batty in Australia
Missing Halloween in The USA was a glum moment for us. No one does costumes, candy and haunted houses the way we do in America, so we decided to get our fix by getting chummy with a Halloween icon that we could find: the bat.
Although tradition shows bats flying around horror scenes and sucking blood from humans, they are actually very helpful, non-obtrusive creatures.
Melbourne's Botanical Gardens
The Micro Bats living in Melbourne, Australia’s Botanical Gardens are being studied by a group of scientists to determine what effect urbanization has on this species. By capturing the nocturnal critters, the scientists also hope to find answers to many unknown aspects of their life and assist in medical breakthroughs for humans. For example, bats may hold clues for skin grafting, since the wings repair very quickly when ripped even though they have no source of blood to this paper-thin membrane. Read the rest of this entry
Scuba Diving the Great Barrier Reef and Driving Down the Coast
The Great Barrier Reef
Dreams, every so often, do come true. I had been dreaming of diving the Great Barrier Reef for over 10 years and was close to fulfilling it in 2008, if it weren’t for “the end of a 7-year drought,” insane storms flooding highways and essentially shutting down the coast. The weather wasn’t much better this time but as we soon learned on the boat, “if it’s raining, the best place to be is underwater.”
We boarded the Kangaroo Express through the Cairns Dive Center, bidding farewell to our ladies for the night and promising to behave. We’d see them the following day after all and Claire needed to finish up some pool work before getting into the open water. The ride out was nothing short of terrifying, not so much for our lives, but for the sheer embarrassment of potentially being “that guy” who was hurling over the side of the boat. Eyes trained solely for the horizon, we mustered up the strength to keep our breakfast down and finally, the 90-minute ride ended with us boarding the much more stable Kangaroo Express, our home for the next 3 days.
After some safety briefings and getting checked into our rooms, and trying to sneak our way into the 11:00 dive, we learned we’d be spending our time between two dive areas: Mantaray Caye and East Timor on Moore Reef. Our first dive finally arrived and was essentially a refresher course and ultimately a way for divemaster Joel to gauge our skill
Giant Clam
level. I guess he felt comfortable, because the 2nd dive was true freedom. On the first dive we saw a giant clam that was breathtaking and would be a regular sighting through the rest of our time. After the second briefing, we were allowed to go out on our own, exploring the massive reef system and bommies, scouting three turtles, anemones and tons of tropical fish. At first, it was scary being on our own but soon found our comfort zone and enjoyed each minute underwater. This would be our final dive of the day and we settled nicely into the buffet dinner, matched with goon we snuck on board, and got busy playing cribbage. We met a group of Americans and soon found out they knew how to play Euchre, and the next 2 days were spent perfecting our skills between dives.
The next day was busy, with 4 total dives. We started early and got on the 6:00am dive and then the 8:00 dive with a delicious breakfast in between. We probably even snuck in a game of cribbage, too. The highlight was the Read the rest of this entry
Nepal to Australia: It’s Time For Friends
Leaving Nepal was not an easy thing to do. After all, we had volunteered with the Nepal Volunteers Council, Trekked the Annapurna Circuit, Kayaked Lake Phewa and caught up on lost time in Pokhara, Launched the OnlyABuck: Notebooks for Nepal Campaign, stretched, meditated and cleansed at Sadhana Yoga Ashram, and Cared for Elephants in Chitwan. Considering our dream list going in, we had more than accomplished our goals but knew deep down we would be returning. OnlyaBuck™: Free Health Clinic, anyone? (It’s OnlyaBuck™ now by the way…long story.)
Hong Kong Sickboy
Our intention was to fly from Kathmandu to Hong Kong and spend a few days with my old friend from high school (and Penn State), Chi Tsang. Arriving in Hong Kong, we were both ill and completely wiped from, well, travel we guess. We just needed rest and weren’t in top form. We emailed Chi and broke the bad news, switched our flight to Sydney (for free, thanks OneWorld!) and after 40 hours of travel, landed in Australia’s beautiful city that we had left behind in 2008. This time, however, we had some friends from San Francisco waiting, Chris Piro and Claire Fabricante, and were hell bent on arriving early, and giving them a surprise. Yes, I am my father’s son.
Checking into our hostel, we knocked on Chris and Claire’s door and as expected, they were out and about exploring. This gave us the perfect opportunity to dive head first into our pillows, get caught up on some
Sydney Food Fest Under Jack O'Randa Trees
quality sleep and try to shake the bug. Nine hours later, we felt great, left a note for Chris and Claire to meet us at the Sydney Food Festival in nearby Hyde Park and most importantly, to bring wine.
The food festival was hopping, and would ultimately begin our foray into the food scene of Australia. From $2 salmon and avocado sushi rolls to $20 all you can eat seafood smorgasbords, we arrived with one mission in Australia: eat what we missed most and eat well. And boy, we were hungry! We opted for steamed duck and BBQ pork buns and roasted chicken and sage pot stickers. Laughing at ourselves for selecting Asian as our first meal after having just left Asia, we sprawled out, enjoyed the meal and cracked into some goon, Oceania’s word for bagged wine. The food was delicious, albeit overpriced, but we’ve become experts in finding value on any menu worldwide. And we realized, just like the USA, Asian food IS part of the Australian food culture. Unless you’re from Europe, Asia, or Africa, we are all just immigrants after all, right?
Caring for Elephants
Chitwan National Park is one of Nepal’s treasures. We had heard about the jungle walks, native dance shows and elephant rides from the moment we entered the country. After our Annapurna hike and yoga ashram, it was our turn to see this jungle reserve for ourselves.
All three of us bathed in the river.
The day before we boarded our bus from the lakeside town of Pokhara, we had dinner with a couple from Bath, England who told us of their recent encounters in Chitwan. Walking on a narrow dirt path through tall, jungle grasses, their four-person group was surprised by a sloth bear. This animal, known for its long claws, was just as shocked by the tourists, who were hidden by the greenery, and lashed out at the guide with a growl. The entire group turned and sprinted as quickly as possible, but then realized that the guide was not with them. They heard his screams for help and returned to find his leg badly gashed, so the English couple wrapped him in their shirts and lifted him out of the jungle track and into a vehicle, rushing him to the hospital. After skin grafting and a few surgeries, the guide will be back to work in three months. On our arrival we heard the story from this guide’s brother, confirming the tale. This whole episode was followed by other crazy stories and we learned that the guides in Chitwan earn “bragging rights” when they survive wild beasts, and love to mention that they “saved tourists from the animals!” Read the rest of this entry
Yoga Ashram and How To Complete an Organic Gastro Cleanse
Erin Shows the Way!
Yoga? Check. Meditation? Check. Organic Gastro-intestinal Cleanse? Um, check. Yup, we did it all during our 6 day/6 night stay at a yoga ashram and we’re still standing with a few good stories to tell, too. My in-laws are going to get the biggest kick out of this one, that’s for sure. So, Rick and Deb, this one’s for you…
Thanks to generous wedding gifts, Erin and I were able to “check in” to Sadhana Yoga Ashram in Pokhara, Nepal. Perched on the side of a mountain, the 5-story orange, purple and white behemoth is pretty hard to miss, even from town center. With killer views of Phewa Lake below and delicious organic vegetarian cuisine, it felt like we were at a serious health retreat. After the good, healthy living with loads of exercise we had during the Annapurna Circuit trek, we had slipped into some well-deserved indulgences. Comfort food, room service, beer o’clocks and whiskey combined with a steady diet of loafing around and getting caught up on internet became part of the daily repertoire in Pokhara. It was time to clean up our act again and we intended to do just one thing while at Sadhana — get healthy.
The Daily Schedule
5:30 – Wake Up to Gong (so cool)
6:00 – Pre-meditation Practices
6:15 – Morning Meditation
7:00 – Tea Time
7:20 – Yogic Cleansing (Neti Pot)
7:30 – Morning Yoga
8:30 – Morning Walk
Group Shot During Morning Walk
9:45 – Breakfast
10:00 – Steam or Mud Bath
Schneids and JV Gettin' Dirty
12:00 – Pre-meditation Practices
12:15 – Afternoon Meditation
1:00 – Lunch
3:30 – Karma Yoga (Chores)
4:00 – Tea
4:30 – Chanting
5:30 – Evening Yoga
6:45 – Dinner
8:00 – Bedtime
Day 1 is the Toughest and Our Experience
The Annapurna Circuit: The Ultimate How-To for the Epic Trail
The Trail
The Annapurna Circuit has been ranked one of the world’s best treks for countless years and for a good reason; it’s absolutely, 100%, jaw-droppingly amazing. And frankly, that’s putting it lightly. With 26,000-feet-plus peaks, the world’s deepest gorge, the world’s highest lake, and the world’s longest pass, the trail has it all and then some. At times you feel like every mountain range in the world has
On the Way to Tilicho Lake
been crammed here until you reach elevations high enough where you know you could only be in the Himalayas. Originally, when the area opened to tourists in the 70s, the circuit took 21 days, starting and ending in Pokhara. These days, with the abundance of roads (4×4, unpaved, single lane) being built over parts of the existing trail to accommodate trade amongst villages along the way, hikers are much more likely to take a bus for certain sections rather than walk and be passed by vehicles all day. This means the trail can be knocked out in a maximum of 16 days. We did it in 10 and added 3 more days halfway through for a highly recommended side-trip to Tilicho Lake, the highest lake in the world, for a total of 13 days on-trail.
Erin and I combined forces to write this, with inserts from our travel journal to never forget the magic we felt and saw each and every day, and partly as a practical guide for all intrepid travelers who may want to follow in our footsteps and may need honest, objective, budget-minded advice on how to plan for what will definitely become a highlight of any trip. Read the rest of this entry
Update to OnlyABuck: Nepal Notebook Campaign
Education is the Answer in Nepal
A quick update on our OnlyABuck™: Nepal Notebook Campaign. We’re just over 44% to our goal of $4,200! This money will enable 30 students in Nepal who have applied for need-based scholarships to attend school for one year. We are working together with the Nepal Volunteers Council to create a sustainable platform to ensure that those students selected will never miss a day of school again; not this year, not ever. We are not alone in believing that education is the answer for Nepal as it is the only way to break the cycle that currently exists.
Healthcare in Nepal: Volunteering at Bageshwari Hospital in Kathmandu
Bageshwari Hospital
While Erin was teaching during the morning hours I would hop on the packed local bus everyday to shortly arrive at Bageshwari Hospital for four to seven hours of volunteering. The hospital is a two-story “L” shaped brick building on the dusty, heavily-used road leading to central Kathmandu, serving a predominantly poor community and emergencies that needed immediate attention. It contains a ward with three beds, an out-patient room, a pharmacy located street-side, an ER, and an x-ray lab. It was eerily reminiscent of the very hospital I stayed in 3.5 years ago in India but much, much (much) cleaner.To be honest, once there, I mostly chatted with the doctors, comparing and contrasting the multitude of differences between our respective healthcare systems, and having them answer my questions about physiology and diagnoses. While I believe every healthcare system is riddled with problems, this experience strengthened my convictions that healthcare in the U.S., despite all of its alleged flaws, is in really, really good shape. I’m proud to say, “Hey USA, we’ve got it gooooooood!” Read the rest of this entry
