love for the traveling dirtbag

worst travel blogger in the world

2011-08-11T03:17:00.000-07:00

Alright, so in the two and a half months that I've been traveling I have blogged twice. WOMP! I know, I know. In my defense internet was really slow most places and/or I just didn't feel like sitting on the computer for an hour while I had a country to explore. So to my loyal reader(s), I sincerely apologize and I will make it up to you with a big picture update....when I get home. :)

Since my last blog update Hera and I have been through Laos, Cambodia, and now, Vietnam. Hera actually left yesterday and before she left, at our last dinner, we kind of did a big recap of the whole trip. I asked her what she thought she learned, what part was her favorite, what part was the hardest, and it just trickled into us recollecting all the major things that happened on this wonderful trip. As we were doing that, I kind of got overwhelmed. It's hard for me to think about how this was our lives for two months. We packed and unpacked our backpacks countless times, we laid our heads on a different bed almost every other night, we crossed paths with so many incredible and not so incredible people and to top it off, I don't know how many times we have said, "eh let's just go with it or we'll cross that bridge when we get there".
I can't complain one bit about my life back at home but I'm already back to making appointments here and there or thinking about two weeks from now. When traveling, it's day to day. It's that moment that's real, not what's happening weeks from now. Thinking about what's happening weeks from now really meant nothing to us this summer.
So as you can tell, I'm in process mode. I'm trying to process all the things that I went through and what I've learned, because I've learned a hell of a lot.

I'm actually finding myself staring at this computer screen because there is so much running through my head. I can't wait to share with you guys the things I've learned but I think I need a little more time. So in the meanwhile, I'll leave you with a story from Laos.

Buddhism is the primary religion in Laos. And actually, many Buddhists from surrounding countries often make journeys to Laos because they are said to be one of the only places that still hold on to the original Buddhist traditions. a.k.a they keep it old school. Well Hera and I were in this beautiful city called Luang Prabang in Northern Laos. This city is known for the Buddhist temples and monasteries. They are also known for the hundreds of monks that come out in the morning to collect alms. Alms are something that regular folks like you and me give to a monk in order to be blessed and to continue their monastic continuity (shoutout to wiki for that one) Alms are done everywhere but due to the fact that there is a particularly large number of monks in Luang Prabang, the Alms are a sight to see. It's like seeing a sea of orange walking along the street. The people sit on the sidewalk with pans of sticky rice or some other food/gift to give and the monks walk by with what look like bronze vases slung across their shoulder and you just drop your alm in.
Although it required a 6:00 AM wakeup, I was excited to see this beautiful tradition in action. I told Hera the night before that I definitely did not want to participate in this but just wanted to observe. I even read up on it online the night prior and the article talked about how some Buddhists want this tradition to no longer continue because it's becoming more of a tourist attraction and losing it's authenticity. So in my mind, I was set. There was no way I was going to participate. I had no desire to- The last thing I wanted to do was to taint this beautiful tradition.
So Hera and I walk out our guesthouse, bleary eyed and sleepy, and this lady runs up to us and she tell us to go sit down where the locals are giving alms. Hera and I said in our robotic, slow english, "no, no, no, we're going to just watch". She kept insisting and we kept saying no. We tried to walk away but when we said no, she looked like she was getting upset so I thought maybe we were disrespecting her and her religion. She ended up dragging us to where the Alms were being given and made us kneel down. She handed each of us plate after plate of these packaged cookies to put in the monks alm basket. As soon as she was out of plates and while monks are passing us by she whispers, "you pay money now".
WE STRAIGHT UP GOT PLAYED!
Ugh... So Hera and I were upset to say the least and we paid the stinkin' lady. We paid her less than what she asked for but it was more than we wanted to give.
So there was lesson #29342789349 out of 129837192412094010248... Just say no and quit getting so emotionally attached to people you don't know. Hera and I had a hard time saying no and this story proves it.

To tell you the truth, we got played quite a few times. We have many a ridiculous story to tell and I can't wait to tell them. But for now, I must go.
See ya later Southeast Asia, you've been damn good to me.

elephantastic!

2011-07-10T04:57:00.000-07:00

So I'm sitting at a laundramat in Chiang Mai, Thailand doing my laundry for the first time since I've started my travels. Tomorrow we head out on an epic three day journey to get to Laos. It's going to take approximately three buses and two boats for us to cross the border and make to Luang Prabang, Laos. Should be interesting!!

Hera and I are just wrapping up a two week trot through pretty much all of Thailand. We started way down south in Phuket and then took a 14 hour bus ride to Bangkok. Then after one night in Bangkok we took a 17 hour sleeper train to the beautiful northern city of Chiang Mai. It feels like we have done so much. We went snorkeling, laid out by the beach, laid out by a pool, went to a national park, took a cooking class, explored each city we were in by foot, went to a lady boy gogo bar, took a tuk tuk that drove on the other side of the rode (meaning opposite of traffic), and ate the best street food in the world. We have done incredible things and it still feels like our journey is just beginning but what I want to tell you about is what, in my mind, is probably the most amazing thing you could do in Thailand... Visit the Elephant Nature Park here in Chiang Mai.

Hera and I just spent the last two days feeding, walking around with, bathing, and learning more about elephants. This experience is still rocking my world and I really did not want to leave.
As many of you may know, here in Thailand the elephant is worshipped and pretty much put on every and anything that represents Thailand. People here have elephants like they have pet dogs. Literally though, elephants are put under the same category as livestock (ie, cattle). Any harm done to an elephant has minimal consequences. Many elephants are used for shows, riding/trekking through the jungle, begging in the streets, and formally used for logging. Little do most know is that a majority of these elephants are treated so terribly. In order to train these elephants they go through an excrutiating process called "crushing" which is an appropriate name because they literally crush the spirit of the elephant in order to have it listen to its owners.
Okay, I know, blah blah blah right? I could talk about this forever and I'd love to do it in person but I'll cut to the chase.
There is this Elephant Sanctuary that was started up by one woman. She takes on all and every kind of handicapped elephants. We got to play with ones that have broken backs, legs that were blown by land mines while logging, blind, mentally unstable, and really, everything across the board. They were all this way due to mistreatment by their owners in the past.. This place is seriously incredible. It is full of wonderful people and it is a place that is truly filled with compasssion.

I kind of have to cut this short because my time is running out on the computer and my laundry is almost done. But after leaving that sanctuary my heart feels a little more full and I hope that I could return again to spend a little more of an extended period there.
Moral of the story is that you should think twice before mounting an elephant or paying money to the owner to see it do silly tricks.

ahh.. i am so in love with elephants!

I will leave you with some pictures. The first two is actually from Malaysia but the rest is Thailand.

pad see ewe later, crystal

Malazin' Around...

2011-07-04T02:56:00.000-07:00

Okay not really. Malaysia was kind of everything BUT lazin' around.
But first I must apologize because this post is going to lack pictures and it's kind of late seeing that I'm half done with Thailand now. But honestly, you think I really want to sit around in front of a computer while I'm in a beautiful new country? (actually, I don't mind it because the internet places are always air conditioned.. and man is it HOT here)

So Malaysia!! It was finally time to meet up with Hera to start our adventures. Our first bridge that we had to cross was meeting each other in the airport. I was arriving about 9 hours before her and we had no form of communication besides a "okay... I'll see you at the airport.. I hope"
I arrived at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport at around 9:30 PM and so I had to pretty much lurk around the airport until 7:30 AM when Hera arrives. I went in an out of sleep on an airport bench and finally it was time for Hera's flight to arrive. I stood at the arrival area where all the friends and families reunite happily. While anxiously waiting at the front of the crowd, I was picturing Hera and my reunification. I imagined myself seeing her first and yelling "HERA!" while waving and smiling. There would be squeeling and hugging and just an utter relief between the both of us that we found each other with no problems...
So I wait and wait and pace back and forth because I see no sign of Hera. It's probably already been two hours since her plane has arrived. At this point I'm kind of starting to get a litttttlleee nervous. Something doesn't really seem right so I awkwardly ask some airport person.. "Is this where AirAsia arrives?" and of course she says no and tells me that there is a WHOLE DIFFERENT airport that is 20 minutes away. And as soon as I started cursing to myself I hear a, "CRYSTAL!" heehhehahaahaaaaa! Hera found me!

Haha anyway, Malaysia was fast. We only gave ourselves five days in Malaysia which only reassured the fact that you should never book stuff in advance, just in case you want a few more days in a place that you fall in love with. We hit a different city every night that we were there and it felt like it was go, go, go. Our last night was on this amazing island called Palau Tioman.. I totally got my burn on. :)

Right now we are passing through Bangkok to get to Chiang Mai. We are meeting tons of travelers that are putting Hera and my two months to shame- it's amazing! We are both healthy and well (for the most part) and I am truly getting my fill of curries, Pad Thai, PadSeeEwe and TomKha... I think I could bleed coconut milk now. But that's for my next blog about Thailand. I will try to put up pictures.

Pad See Ewe Later!

Korea's got Seoul!

2011-06-21T05:07:00.000-07:00

Holy smokes! Today I leave for Malaysia to meet up with Hera and start our adventures together. In all honesty, I'm ready to leave Korea. I'm sad to leave but only because I'm leaving my family here. I don't see them often, maybe once a year and it has been so good to spend time with them.

But like I said, I'm ready to move on to the next place. Korea has been so comfortable. I know exactly where I'm going to lay my head at the end of the day and I know what faces I will see when I go downstairs in the morning. Hey, I'm not knocking on comfort because who doesn't like it? But I yearned for this long awaited journey for reasons opposite of comfort.

I know many of you think I'm crazy but there really is nothing like traveling in a foreign country and feeling so present. Feeling like every decision is made on how your heart is feeling in that very moment. Even if it comes down to picking a place to eat or which rickshaw to get in to... it is all in a matter of a few moments that you make those decisions.

I totally went off on a tangent-back to Korea.

So this was my first time being in Korea without my mom. Well that's a lie, I came in 5th grade for three months during the summer and lived with my grandma. She fed me so much that I had to be rolled around by umpalumpas everywhere like Violet in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. But again, I digress. So this was the first time I have been to Korea minus mom and old enough to wander alone. My biggest fear in coming was that I would stick close to my family and not explore the way that I actually wanted to explore. I would like to proudly announce to you all that I hit my Chacos to this Seoul pavement and did my fair share of exploring!

The very metropolitan city of Seoul is oddly nestled in between a handful of mountains so I got to do quite a few day hikes around here which was nice (and also scary especially when I stumbled upon the oldest Shamanist Shrine in Korea and ended up in a place where they used to do exorcisms) But I think one experience that I am still trying to process today is when I went to the North and South Korean border also known as the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) or the 38th parallel.

I don't know what I expected or why I had this need to see it but I felt this pull to go.

When I watch documentaries about North Korea, I always get this heart wrenching feeling in my body as I'm sure most of you with a soul do. Watching a documentary is just a tip of the ice berg and knowing that makes me even more sad. After watching these documentaries, the number one thing that runs through my head is, "This is happening right now." And I do the usual, "I live this beautiful, lavish life and these people have NO IDEA what it is to truly live" And another huge part of me says, "They're KOREAN."

I think the reason why I wanted to go to the DMZ so much is because I wanted to feel these things but not just feel, but be a part of it in a weird way. I didn't want to just be a fat american sitting on a couch watching an instant Netflix documentary about North Korea. I wanted it to be more real. I wanted more than just the tip of the iceberg.

This is a picture of the DMZ. That building is N. Korea and

the blue buildings are the JSA buildings. You culd see

a N. Korean soldier standing at the top of the stairs.

Well guess what? I went, and I was a fat American sitting on a tour bus visiting a tourist attraction.

I don't know if you could tell, but I'm pretty disappointed in what I experienced there. In order to visit the DMZ and the JSA (Joint Security Area where North and South have meetings and it sits right on the DMZ. Half in N. Half in S.) you have to go on a tour and up until recently, you couldn't have a citizenship in Korea.

So I'll get right to the point (Gotta leave for the airport in an hour) I went there kind of expecting to feel sad or feel scared or feel something... but instead I felt annoyed at the people around me and myself for smiling and taking pictures next to the soldiers. I couldn't get myself to do that. These soldiers stand at the DMZ staring their enemies straight in the eye everyday and my fellow tourists stood a foot away from them with a huge smile and excitement and snapped away. I know I'm being judgey but it makes me sad that this place that is SO full of tension and conflict is just a tourist attraction. I know I should be thankful because without these tours, I wouldn't be there but I.. Oh, I don't know.
As you can tell I'm still trying to process this. My next move-actually go INTO North Korea. haha, not sneak in or anything but they now have tours for non-Korean citizens IN North Korea. I will be putting that on my 101 List for sure.

ANYWAYS! I am thirty minutes away from going to lunch and leaving for Malaysia!!! Stay tuned for another blog!

my heart, crystal

It's that time again (finally)

2011-06-04T15:02:00.000-07:00

Oh dear.. this blog originally started as a travel blog because when I looked ahead in my immediate future, I had many a travels ahead of me.. I never expected them to really stop either but alas, the world is a crazy place and they stopped.
I moved to Salt Lake City in September of 2009. I had just graduated and had just come back from the most epic outdoor adventure of my life thus far-ALASKA. I wasn't ready to move back home and I also didn't have any other plans so I found myself moving to Utah alongside some of my dearest friends on this earth. I moved there thinking I would stay for about six months then hopefully move on to perhaps a different country, or just... something other than Utah. Basically, I had no intentions or expectations from Utah. I didn't think I'd make this place my home, find a job that I care about and definitely had no plans on finding love. Well, once again, like I said, this world is a crazy place and Salt Lake proved me to be terribly wrong. I have made this place my home, I found a job that I care about, and I have found love.
You're probably wondering why I am even writing about this.. Well, lately I have been reflecting a lot about Salt Lake and how grateful I am for what I have here. More than that though, I think this reflecting is brought up by the fact that I am feeling the itch to move onward from this place I call home..
Living in Salt Lake has been an adventure in itself but man has it been comfortable. I'm not leaving Salt Lake yet but my eyes are definitely looking towards a different direction than here. I'm hoping to settle down my restless self with a little bit of traveling.
Starting this coming Wednesday, I'll be hopping on a plane to Asia with a pack on my back and a camera around my neck. I'll be spending two weeks in Korea (the muthaaalaaand) with my family then will be meeting Hera down in Malaysia. From there on, all I know is that I need to get to Vietnam by the middle of August. Other than those set plans, my feet are free to roam to wherever my heart desires. Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam are the countries I will probably be hitting. I'm going to try to update this blog as much as possible so I could stay connected to you, my reader(s).
I can't believe this is actually happening. Finally, back aboard the traveling train where I get to experience and a part of a different world. I couldn't be happier.

Visitation hours for

2010-07-21T23:46:00.000-07:00

1051 Fuller Ave are
Monday-Sunday: 24 hours a day

The months of June/July have been quite the eventful ones.. It all started when I got a phone call from my dad on a Monday night saying, "we're gonna be in Vegas tonight and I was wondering if we could swing over to Salt Lake on Wednesday". I blinked, smiled, and said of course!! My first family visitors!!

step mom, me, and my pops

Then the very next week I get a phone call from my brother, Alex and he says, "Hey! We're passing through Vegas and on our way to Salt Lake! See you in about 7 hours!" It's been a long time since I've received a surprise, and this was an amazing one.

me and my bro

bro and sister in law

Lastly, the next week after Alex and Janet left, I got two wonderful friends from different sides of my life together under one roof! Celeste and Ryan!

The whole point of this blog entry is that although my travels have come to a bit of a halt, it has been incredible to be able to discover a new place outside of California where I've lived all my life. I honestly am not sure how I got here to Salt Lake, nor would I have EVER thought I'd end up here for so long or even at all... but here I am. Still here. Nevertheless, it has been a pretty fantastic experience to be able to share this world that I have been living in for the last 10 months with people I care so much about. (Mom, you're next!) It's just nice to feel a sense of pride about the life I'm living, the house I made a home, and the community I've created here.

Thank you Dad, ahjimmah, Christine, Alex, Janet, Celeste and Ryan for coming to see where I live and where I frolic. It really means the world to me..

So as you can see, summer here in SLC has been treating me well. The mountains have revealed its many hiking trails, there are free outdoor concerts all the time, and it stays light out until 9:30 PM... But I'm not going to lie- I can't wait till the powder hits again.

1051 Fuller Ave. is always open for visitation.

ps.
man its good to work full time hours in just the weekend. you could see why...

Dear Neal #2

2010-06-05T23:26:00.000-07:00

Wish I could watch this series with you.
It's just simply not the same.

click.

byebye celts.

slc

2010-06-03T01:24:00.001-07:00

bye bye winter...

Hello summer...

my office

2010-05-18T01:08:00.000-07:00

"One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am -- a reluctant enthusiast ... a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it's still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; you will outlive the bastards." -Edward Abbey

I'm not knockin' those of you who enjoy working in an office. I'm sure working indoors with artificial cool air blowing above you while your eyeballs burn from staring at the computer too long has its enjoyable moments. And I'm not putting down the fact that freedom comes when it's time for a lunch break or the weekends... haha I guess that was pretty harsh seeing that maybe one day, far from today, I may be doing that same thing. But today, that is the exact opposite of what I am doing and what I want to be doing to pay for my bills.
Although my travel blog has seemed to come to a traveling halt, I'd love to share with you, my faithful readers, my current job. I guess it's more or less a chance for me to brag about how rad my jay-oh-bee is.

Currently I work at a residential treatment center for teenage boys called Crossroads Academy. All of the boys that I work with are between the ages of 14-18 and they have all just come out of wilderness therapy. Crossroads is an after care for these boys. Crossroads is giving them the opportunity to continue therapy while getting their feet back into the world again, sober. They are attending school, whether it's catching up to where they are supposed to be at or even jumping ahead and graduating at early ages of 16! In other words, it's a sober house.
So you're probably wondering what the heck I'm doing there. No, I'm not a therapist nor am I their teacher in school. The thing that makes Crossroads unique is that they have special focus on board sports. Mainly snowboarding, wakeboarding and skateboarding, depending on the season of course. This is where I come in. They "force" the boys to get involved in recreational things such as these board sports in hopes that they are able to find a different kind of "high". So that is where I come in. I do the recreational part! I put in 40 hours a weekend and go with these boys to do these things. We rode and shredded all winter and now we're moving onto a lot of skating and soon wakeboarding. We do other things too like flow riding (indoor wave surfing), paintballing, community service, and hopefully this summer, rafting and camping.
And I know what you're thinking, and yes, this is the most fun job a girl could have...except it does get pretty tough and it has presented many challenges that I never thought I'd have to face. It's not always kicks and giggles at the house (i mean... most of the time it is... but not all the time) My main challenge has been about confrontation and dealing with it. I realized when I first step foot in that house that I am and still kind of am terrible at confrontation. I avoid it and hunker down when it happens. I'm terrible at sticking up for myself when I feel the least bit of weakness. But at this job, in order to not get stepped on by 15 teenage boys and 3 male staff (yes, I'm the only female) I have to puff up my chest a little and be a bit of a, pardon me, a bitch at times. Which is very, very new to me. I'm learning to be assertive and hold boundaries while still creating these amazing connections with these awesome boys! Balance.
This job is perfect for me right now. I am really happy with it and never, ever dread going to work. It is seriously a joy working there.
And although my travels have come to a slight halt, this job keeps me outside, active, and around people and so I can't really complain much. But don't get me wrong. I am itching to get out of the states, bad. So sooner than you know, I'll be jetting off to another place...but I think I'll save that for the next blog because it has been on my mind a lot lately.
Thanks for letting me brag about my job.... Please ask me more about the boys and more about the job. I will talk your ear off I promise!
I'll leave you with a couple videos of my boys doing some pretty cool things:

I hope you readers didn't get too BOARD with this post. heh heh heh heh
I leave you all with a souvenir i took from this epic snowboarding season.

goggle tan............ until next time.. my heart,
crystal

2010-03-23T14:11:00.000-07:00

So thankful for video chats&family...

speechless

2010-03-17T21:46:00.000-07:00

In all honesty, I have opened up this blog page about ten times and stared blankly at that stupid blinking vertical line that screams "WRITE!"
But no words or thoughts really come to mind. This blog was meant to connect me to those that aren't able to be around me but I apologize for the fact that I can't seem to do that at this time. Right now, my life doesn't seem worth recording. Or maybe it's not about worth, but the fact that I just don't want to outwardly express how I feel... because then, it will be too real. And to tell you the truth, I don't want this to be real-
...even though it's one of the realest things I have encountered.

So instead of being a downer, I'll leave you with a few videos that make me happy-
Sorry Celeste (not really though)
Here is teacher Celeste at her best:

and me and my friends skiing- This was my first time skiing since.... forever.
This video is rated PG-13 for language, brief nudity, and some serious shredding in onesies/wigs

until next time.
my heart,
crystal

is anyone out there?

2010-02-20T21:23:00.000-08:00

For those that are... I know I haven't been a consistent blogger, but I'm going to try to change that. I recently received a great birthday gift from my brother and sister-in-law called the "flip".
I'll try to post as many videos as I can...
For starters, here is a sneak peek of what I've been doing a lot of lately:

I've been getting pow shots in the face here and there while breathing in the mountain air as often as possible. It's when I'm up there and riding where I feel those glorious moments where it's just so good to be alive. Ya heard? Well if you haven't, I highly suggest that you hop into your car right now and experience it with me. I would love to share these mountains with you. (along with a nice frosty beer of course)

As for a little update on mi vida... Currently I am juggling four jobs, yes four, and loving each one in a different way. I just recently landed my fourth job which I am pretty sure is one of the best jobs in the world. I basically get to hang out and be a "role model" for 15 high school boys over the weekend at a therapeutic boarding school. Many of these boys have struggled with drugs, alcohol, or other things so they are going through therapy while living at this school. Last week I went paintballing and raced fast go-carts. This weekend we'll snowboard. I think I've found a job where I'm excited to go to work and excited to be at work. There is no staring at the clock here. It's amazing!
On top of that I'm doing research at the University of Utah for the Department of Social Work/Criminal Justice, waitressing, and babysitting the best twin boys there is in Salt Lake City.
It may seem like a lot but trust me, I have selfishly arranged my schedule where I work little and play a lot. I'm still very poor but loving it (except for once a month when bills roll around).

I still constantly question why I'm in Salt Lake and why I'm not doing other things with my life... But I think I would question why I wasn't in Salt Lake if I were elsewhere.
I get to snowboard three times a week and I am surrounded by a supporting and loving community here so it is great. Don't get me wrong. I miss the California sunshine and I miss my family on a daily basis... But I can't have it all. There are good days, great days, bad days and sad days but all in all. I am breathing, alive, and well and I am so thankful for that.
I'm trying to learn balance. trying...
Until next time.

Here's to you Mint. I miss you so much! Hope Japan is treating you well...

Murder on the dance floor...

2009-11-07T17:41:00.000-08:00

I just realized that I haven't been able to do a post on Alaska yet.
This is very, very important that I share a bit of this experience with you.
I am always shocked at how much of an impact a place could have on a person.
But this time, it wasn't just the place, but it was the people I was able to share it with.
I was really blessed to have an amazing group of kiddos who I love and miss all the time. A combination of these powerful mountains and these inspiring kids rocked my world. This trip that I led was the reason why I do what I do.
Pictures definitely don't do justice (they never do).
But man, I for sure know that I am one lucky girl to have been able to have this experience.
Anyone wanna go back to AK with me??

Alexa, Eric and I on our journey to the last frontier. gettin' CRUNK!

GREAT SUCCESSSSS WE MADE IT!!! (barely)

Here's my lovely, lovely crew.

Our first section backpacking in the Kesugi Ridge
in Denali State Park. This is where the glory began!

Sea Kayak expedition in the beautiful Prince William Sound

Here we're in Wrangell St. Elias. We backpacked into an island
in between two glaciers (the Root Glacier and Kennicott Glacier)
We set up camp there and ice climbed!

Our last section was a 10 day backpacking section
in the Talkeetnas... (which lead to the rafting)
Burly river crossings and epic views.
Boo-ya

After the 10 days of backpacking we met our raft guides
at a tiny runway at the headwaters of the Talkeetna River...(below)
They were flown in along with all the raft gear..

Big HEART Sun.
I miss you.

2009-10-02T16:36:00.000-07:00

http://www.events.org/sponsorship.aspx?id=17651

anything will be appreciated and so so helpful.
thank you thank you thank you.

The Invitation

2009-09-02T10:36:00.000-07:00

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.
It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shrivelled and closed from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it, or fade it, or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own; if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic, remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself. If you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. If you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty even when it is not pretty every day. And if you can source your own life from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand at the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, 'Yes.'

It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone and do what needs to be done to feed the children.

It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the centre of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

Into The Wild

2009-06-27T10:52:00.000-07:00

So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun...you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty. -Chris McCandless

2009-06-20T23:18:00.000-07:00

Take time to realize

I'm on your side.

kiss and ride

2009-06-09T00:06:00.000-07:00

So I'm going to work a little backwards because... well because I uploaded the pictures incorrectly and I'm too tired to fix them.

I just got back from an epic time spent in Yosemite National Park with some fantastic people. Heidi, Andrew and I busted up Half-Dome. If you don't know about Half-Dome here are a few facts that I'll brag about.
Half Dome is a 16.4 Mile roundtrip hike. It sits at a nice 8,836 ft with a 4,800 ft. elevation gain... I ate a lot of string cheese! Pictures and a nice video will have to come in August when I get home..if I get home!

The day before I left for Yosemite I was in the East coast due to a beautiful graduation gift from my cousins/aunt. And the day before leaving for the East coast I moved out of Redlands and also graduated! It has been a series of crazy events and I still feel like I'm spinning so please excuse this terrible blog update. I just felt like I needed to post something before I left for Alaska.

The pictures below are not all the pictures I wanted to post but... sigh. excuse excuse blah blah blah..

Okay I'm going to shut it now... I'll be heading to AK in about 10 days but meanwhile I'll be in Northern Cali doing staff training..

Here's my one and only mail drop while in AK so if you so desire to send some love:

NOVA Riverrunners

P.O. Box 1129

Chickaloon, AK 99674

Attn: ARCC “Crystal Lim"

Must arrive by 7/17

prospect park

Welcome to Brookly and Alan!

Ah.. the pretty Brooklyn Bridge. The view was/is amazing. pretty pretty pretty!

Bibian and Me watching a Orioles game. Who woulda thunk I would be in any other stadium other than the Dodger Stadium?

Dunkin Donuts to the Dome!

Me and Mina. I seriously love these museums.

=] A simple sign that made me so happy. This is what they call
the drop off zone for the metro in DC.

We are grown ass peoples.

The love of my life. Mommaaaaaa

My boys. We done it!

Again, I'm so sorry for such a bad post. I'm so exhausted. See you guys in August after AK!! Until then...

2009-04-26T19:54:00.000-07:00

"We do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us something is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our trust, sacred to our touch. Once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals that human spirit." -E.E. Cummings

I'm lucky.

I know that.

I've been fortunate enough to have found people who "reveals that deep inside us something is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our trust, sacred to our touch."

I am so grateful for my dear, dear friends and my heart feels alive when I'm with them. They truly do help me in believing in myself.

These past couple weeks have been a flurry of emotions. I feel like my world was tossed up in the air and flipped around a couple times.

But thank goodness to a perfectly timed San Francisco trip with Andrea, Emily, and Heidi I feel a bit more grounded. A bit.

I think things and trips like this helps me because it is just a reminder that there are big things to worry about but even bigger things to enjoy.

Life really is a good thing so why not save a wave and ride a surfer? I mean.......Ride a wave and save a surfer? This makes no sense whatsoever but I like it.

Eh I'm boring myself with this post. I'm so freakin' melodramatic sometime even for my own good.

On a bit of a different note:

I'M GRADUATING SOON!!

WITH MY BOOOOOOYYYS!!

Also on a different note and for your listening pleasure:

2009-04-15T10:11:00.000-07:00

EL-OH-VEE-EE

2009-03-16T18:51:00.000-07:00

What it is about love that gets a person spinning sideways and upwards and all other ways?

No, I'm not in love but I have been pondering the idea of love.

It is so ridiculously powerful but so wonderfully magical isn't it?

My heart beats a little bit faster when I think about loving someone so much

you would go through great lengths to love that person until the day you die.

I believe in love. I always have and I always will.

I think that many of us have become so jaded on this four letter word but I believe

there are still hopeless romantics out there in the world, searching for that passionate,

mind-blowing, perfect love.... and many have been lucky enough to find it.

I hope everyone finds it.

I hope everyone finds a love that makes you do stupid things, pisses you off, pushes you

to greater heights, believes in you, makes your heart beat a little faster, makes you lose your breath, calls you out on things you've done wrong, holds your hair when you're throwing up (or rubs your back), always leaves you wanting more, always comes back wanting more, makes you laugh even when the world seems to be at its lowest point, fuels the fire of passion instead of dampening it, laughs with you when you're pants have ripped down the crotch, holds your hand when you're scared, is right there next to you when you're having the worst day of your life.... I think I could just go on and on..

It's out there....right?

Well- I can't wait to find the Homer to my Marge, Eric to my Donna, Noah to my Allie, derek to my Meredith, Jim to my pam...

Who says singles can't have fun on V-dAY?!

2009-02-16T18:28:00.000-08:00

Roses, red, pink, white, chocolates, balloons, love... Ah Valentine's. The clever Hallmark holiday carefully crafted by some sly capitalist. Usually I would shake my angry fist at this dreaded February 14th, but this year was a bit different. This year my heart felt filled to the brim because of a wonderful surprise.

My dear, dear friends Phil, Willett, Dre, Peter, and Grant (and much more) came and kept me company this Valentine's.

Their company was enough but what I'm really getting at is my Valentine's outing. It's not the typical dinner and a movie nor was it mushy and gushy... but it sure as hell was fun and some may say stress relieving...........

Shakey, scared, and unsteady to say the least... but man am I glad I did it. whoa mama.

Que romantico, no?

There really is nothing like shooting shotguns and dancing all night long to Black Light Soul with your best friends on Valentine's day.

Dear Neal

2009-02-09T20:25:00.001-08:00

It's been good to be back watching the NBA again. Being in college, access to a tv has been difficult, but those times that I do get a chance to watch are glorious... especially when one of your best friends is a Boston Celtics fan. And especially when the Lakers have been doing some serious damage.

There's nothing like kicking back with your friends, drinking a brew (or shots of rum...either or) and watching a fantastic and epic battle between two of the best teams in the nation.

Its even better when you make a competitive but senseless deal with your buddy that you wouldn't eat until your team won.

So we sat next to each other without food in our bellys since about the last 27 hours yet the craziness of the game made us forget our hunger... well until the time outs when those Outback steakhouse and pizza hut commercials would come out.. then thoughts of sushi, indian food, thai food, and everything else kept seeping in.

So after a great overtime game and after Neal shed some tears. We hugged it out and made up with a SERIOUS feast at Tokyo Sushi. 6 rolls, assorted tempura, miso soup, and salad later... it was back to lovin again. Until the Finals that is.

Moral of the story is: Competition is great, food is better, friends are the best.

WAHOOO LAKERS!!

2009-01-20T21:51:00.000-08:00

My body aches for it.

Like physically aches for it.

I get that swirling in my stomach.

I just read some blogs that

my friends wrote during our stay in India.

I felt such a strong pull to be back there again in that space.

I miss it so much. It's already only become a memory. I'm not living it

anymore. It's just a memory. I hate saying that.

Although it was challenging, looking back on it I couldn't have asked for

anything more.

I know I need to move forward from this experience, but it has been a

lot harder than I thought it was going to be. Although this nostalgic moment

made me take a couple steps back, I'm

ready to move forward. Be patient

with me, it will be a slow process but I know I need to take my experience

and continue to grow here.

THE question

2009-01-17T10:24:00.000-08:00

So I'm back from my travels. *waah waah boo hoo* I've been in school for the last two weeks and all I could think about is getting out of here as fast as possible. I'm trying to plot a way to make money and travel at the same time. Impossible? I will find a way. Anyway, apparently while I was abroad I was able to escape reality for a good number of months but when I came back, it punched me right in the face. I was faced with questions like, "are you working on your capstone?", "are you all set to graduate?" and of course... THE question, "so... what are your plans for after graduation?"

If you don't know me by now, I will tell you that I am a girl that is not excited about hitting the "real world". I don't want no stinkin' desk job. I don't want no stinkin boring job. I don't want no job that will restrict me. So basically.. what I've come to terms with is that I will just push this "real world" thing as far away as possible.

So here's the tentative plan:

I'm going to take a year off between undergrad and grad.

June-August: work for arcc.. hopefully go to some sweet place and get paid for it again.

August-October: Get a temporary job for 3 months. Make some dough, put some greens in my pocket sort of speak. This job is up in the air. At the same time, I will be taking tests and filling out applications for going back to school again.

October-December: Work for Asian Pacific Adventures over in southeast asia leading hikes, sea kayaking and what not.

December+(hopefully till I need to go to school again): Travel. Take the little money that I have and go to places like Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, Nepal. Do the whole Asia thing. Maybe if I have enough money I will be able to skip over to South America. But like I said. It's tentative.

So there it is. THE answer to THE question. Sure it's not getting an internship that will lead into a serious job or going to grad school right away... But i'm okay with that. I'd rather see the world. Wanna join me?

i'm living in a tree house.

2008-12-12T00:29:00.000-08:00

It's true.

I'm living in a tree house. I climb up a tall, rickity ladder multiple times a day to my home sweet home (or as we say here in India, OM sweet OM). I'm sharing this open tree house with a keet roof with my dear friend Marisa. It's seriously one of my favorite places that I have every rested my little asian head.

Ah. This life here in India has turned to be so wonderful and a blessing.

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to give an update but I was reminded by my brother that I need to do so. First of all, I am safe and sound for those who are wondering. I am far from the attacks and will remain far for the rest of my stay here.

During the attacks that occurred in Mumbai I was here down south in Tamil Nadu battling our own attack. A cyclone ripped through this place and ripped through with no hesitation but I might say a bit of kindness. Let me remind you all that I am a California girl. A rainstorm goes as long as a week and it is harmless. Winds don't really happen and there is typically no danger. Here, I was in my first cyclone. This was a rip roaring, full out rain storm that people in Tamil Nadu haven't seen for years. Here in Auroville, they have tried to do this great thing of planting lots and lots of beautiful trees all around. This place is heavily forested as opposed to before Auroville it was barren and pretty dry. Only problem with a lot of the trees is that they are not local. Because of this, after days and days and days of rain the soil got and remained SO wet that my of the trees started to fall over. Like... TIMBER style. Eucalyptus, Work Trees... All kinds of monstrous, large trees. At the place I am living, over half of the trees fell over. As you know, or didn't know, our roofs are made of keet. So pretty much palm leaves. If a tree were to fall on my room, the building would be history. We all had to vacate our keet houses and move into the one cement structure in our guest house. 9 girls, one room, wet, rainy, hectic... It was awesome. Although it did feel like a bit of a refugee camp, I loved every minute of it. I did have to worry about a tree falling on my head or a sharp bamboo violently hitting me as I took a wet stroll to the bathroom, but other than that.. it was just fine. One to go in the books. Although, it did make our Thanksgiving a little miserable. No power, no water means no cooking, no showers, no a lot things. But it was all good in the hood!

I will be home in t-minus 19 days. Whoa. That is not so far away huh? Oh boy. Honestly, I do not want to leave this place. I have fallen deeply in love with India, with this life, with the people.... Don't get me wrong, I miss friends and family back home, but if I could teleport you here, I definitely would not leave.

19 days.

geez.

okay.

See you soon I guess. This was kind of a funny blog entry huh? I'm in a funny mood.

blissed out

2008-11-23T22:38:00.000-08:00

breath.
I just finished a 3 days vision quest/solo on this island in Hampi, India.
I am feeling fresh, renewed and so good.
I might never leave India.
breath.

Check your smiles at the door

2008-11-03T20:10:00.000-08:00

i can't control the volume of my voice.

journaling, surfing, reading, the outdoors, sports, dancing and music are my therapy.

i enjoy good company.

rough housing is my guilty pleasure.

i'm competitive-and i WILL win.

chocolate ice cream is the way to my heart.

being a hopeless romantic gets the best of me.

So about maybe six, seven years ago I joined myspace. There is profile section titled "About Me" where you are given the freedom to write whatever you wish. Above is the thing I wrote and I haven't changed it since. I read that from time to time and I still feel like it rings true to certain core parts of who I am.

The reason why I write this is because of the first line. "I can't control the volume of my voice". If you know me at all, you know this is true, but today or maybe the past few days, I am starting to think for the first time that this is a negative trait that I possess. I actually really enjoyed that aspect about myself. It never really crossed my mind as something negative but here, in India I h

ave been running into trouble with it. I've been told that I laugh too much and too loud and in general I just make too much noise. And yes, this is very true but I have always surrounded myself with people who appreciate it, if not laugh harder, dance faster, and talk louder.

so what if i like to dance and sing around these

parts?

so what if i like to stay up and laugh with my friends?

so what if i enjoy great conversations till late at night?

so what if i love to blast music before dinner time for a quick dance?

so what right?

not.

i'm feeling so contained. My wings are clipped and every time I want to spread them, someone closes the cage. I'm here in India trying to squeeze out my time and be me to the fullest but i can't.

I feel like I can't have fun. and if any of you guys know me at all, you will know that this is a big, big problem for me.

I'm conflicted. Do I change and become more reserved for these few boring people? or do I march to my own drum and enjoy myself with people who also enjoy the beat i make? (cause there are a handful of those, thank

God)

Well, for now I will make noise. I will sing, I will dance, I will for sure laugh, and I will talk. But a girl could be told that she's noisy so much until she reaches breaking point. I refuse to reach breaking point.

I'll leave you with a song that has always rang true to my heart but it's even more so now...

i wanna go where the mountains are high enough

to echo my song

i wanna go where the rivers run deep enough

to drown my shame

i wanna go where the stars shine bright enough

to show me the way

i wanna go

where the wind

calls my name

-india arie

"excuuuse me?"

2008-10-08T08:20:00.000-07:00

Pondicherry Institute of Medical Services (PIMS)
This is the name of the local hospital nearby. Sure we have great medical services in Auroville but it's a clinic. Lots of the girls have gone to Auroville clinic and received great help. Great help for UTI's, stomach issues, or headaches.
Why do I mention this you ask? Well I was fortunate enough to experience first hand the great medical services of Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu, India.

So the last time that I needed to be at the hospital was when I was a wee little baby almost near death with the Kawasaki disease. No I didn't make that disease up. Anyway.. The only time I go to my doctor, which is still my pediatrician, is for essential shots and that's pretty much it.
So during my stay here in India I'm taking malaria pills. Doxycycline. I have to take it religiously every day and even 28 days after I get back from India. My travel clinic doctor who prescribed me this medicine told me "DO NOT miss a day. You miss a day and you WILL get malaria". This man instilled so much fear in me that I make sure that I take my Doxy every day. One day I ALMOST forgot to take it but got that light bulb in my head right before I fell asleep so popped in it my mouth and went to bed. I sighed with relief thanking my great memory for letting me not forget.
The next morning I woke up with feeling as if the pill was still stuck in my throat. I've gotten this feeling with Nyquil before so I wasn't too worried. The next day came along and I still had that feeling in my chest. Along with that feeling, in the middle of morning yoga I got the sudden urge to throw up. From that moment forward I threw up absolutely everything all day long. I felt miserable but was in acceptance to the fact that I was in India and it was probably just the food.
I felt much better the next day but was STILL feeling as if the pill was stuck in my chest. Along with that feeling, everything I ate and drank was a painful experience. Being the stubborn person I am, especially with medical things I decided to wait it out.
My friend Michelle wasn't having it and even with my objections she googled it. When she googled it, it seemed like many people have experience similar things that I was experiencing. Still, google didn't give me a good remedy or did it comfort me in anyway. So I decided I could get some easy, quick fixes from my travel clinic doctor. *side note: my travel clinic doctor is someone i met once and literally just prescribed me malaria.
I call him and tell him that it feels like it's stuck in my chest. Without asking any questions on my symptoms or anything like that he says "You MUST go to the doctor right now. Not just a clinic but a hospital. This is a very serious matter that you need to get to a doctor immediately. This is very serious." I asked if there is a chance that it's not so serious or if he could tell me something a little more comforting and he responds with a quick no. So I go to my advisors and tell them that I think I need to go to the hospital. They wanted to just call the local doctor in to see what was wrong because in India the hospitals are not 24 hour. They do have standby nurses and they can call doctors but that would be for big emergencies. Seeing that I was living, breathing and my symptoms were not too dire, they wanted to talk to the travel clinic doctor for themselves and ask questions. As soon as they got off the phone my advisor looked me and said "okay you are going to the hospital". My heart sank and I was sure that I was going to have to go through some heavy duty stuff. My imagination took off without my consent and I was terrified. The taxi ride over to the hospital was a quiet and long one.
We walked into the hospital which seemed more like a dark and scary asylum of some sort. It was circular, the lights were all off or dimmed and the only thing that was going on was janitors sweeping the floor. It was so quiet. We went to the first nurse we saw and Martin, the program coordinator asks "excuse me we need to see a doctor" and she replies "why? what's wrong?" and he replies, "we have possible internal bleeding". I just look at him and say "WHAT?! excuse me?! internal bleeding?!" and the nurse responds "take her to Casualties" and then again i look at martin and ask, "EXCUSE ME? CASUALTIES?"

This is turning into a long story so long story short I ended up at the casualties section, was given a mysterious shot and sent on my way. The doctor just asked if I was pooing blood or throwing up weird things and I said no. He said that they usually prescribe antacids with doxycycline and that it is not an unusual thing. He said that I could do an endoscopy if I wanted (where they shove a camera down your throat) I thought I would go with this but after taking few days of antacids I felt much better. I also talked to my buddy Andrew Jones and he had the same problems and he is still alive. Basically I am shaking an angry, angry fist at my Travel Clinic doctor in Pasadena. I don't recommend him. He just scares the ants out of your pants.

I would like you guys all to know that I am nearly 100% now and feeling back to my old self. =]
This was one of the scariest moments ever...
Until next time.....

poyt varen.

my situation has been dismissed

2008-09-21T05:20:00.000-07:00

So here is my situation. I’m eating another delicious south Indian meal. It includes cucumbers, chutneys, this naan-ish thing filled with cheese, and a soup. As I’m scarfing down this tasty treat in front of my face I feel a grumble and/or a tumble in my belly. And maybe I should back up a bit. The group I’m with consists of 11 other girls who aren’t aware of the fact that I am a proud burper and farter. Therefore, me being the fragile and delicate lady that I am I have to hold them in. (for now at least) I rush to the bathroom knowing what my punishment for holding secrets in will be.

I guess that story was really irrelevant being that all I wanted to do was explain the toilet situation to you guys but I thought it would be nice.

Now here’s the important part. The bathroom is four brick walls with no ceiling. You turn a corner and there lies an Indian toilet. Flush with the floor and pretty much a porcelain hole. It’s not like a HOLE, hole. Well it is but it has room for error. Next to the porcelain hole is two porcelain rectangles. They are the perfect size for your feet to be placed. You carefully place your feet on the nicely put rectangles, pull down your pants to your knees and squat a nice comfortable squat. You have to make sure to aim correctly or several things can go wrong.
1. You pee all over the floor in front of you
2. You pee on your pants
3. You pee in the toilet but with a perfect angle to splash back on your usually bare feet.
I will admit that the splash back is my specialty but I am getting quite good at aiming. Peeing is the easy part. Pooing is a craft. You must make sure to not aim right at the hole because if your poop lands right in the water, splash back is inevitable since you are so close to the ground. You MUST and I repeat MUST land your droppings in front of the hole to avoid it. Then after wiping, whether it’s with your left hand or by luck there is toilet paper, you get a bucket of water and wash your droppings away. Ah... dismissed.

The end.

I will post pictures. I can't right now because our internet is complicated. It will start back up in October.

vanakkam

2008-09-15T07:43:00.000-07:00

So It's real. I wasn't just saying words or making it up in my head. I'm really in India. Honestly, I keep having to blink my eyes over and over again to realize that I am half way around the world from everything that is comfortable. And when I say everything, I pretty much mean everything.

I'm surrounded by people I don't know, a language that I don't speak and in a place that is SO foreign.... But I know that will all change in a matter of days. =] I've already made a local Aurovillian (I live in the village called Auroville) sit down and I had him teach me some simple phrases in Tamil. Tamil is known to be one of the oldest languages that is out there. The language is beautiful-except not when I speak it. It sounds like a really twisted up Spanish.

I can't wait to video chat with you guys so I could show you my room. The mattress is thin and the roof is made out of palm leaves. It's quickly becoming home for me though and I actually really love it... though at first glance it was a different story.

I'm going to keep this short because I slept like 4 hours last night and I am pooped but I will be sure to keep you guys posted every step of the way.

I'm really excited to be here. I already know that this is going to be a unique and life changing journey.. India!

"this is indeed India...

2008-09-04T21:49:00.000-07:00

...the land of dreams and romance, of fabulous wealth and fabulous poverty, of splendor and rags, of palaces and hovels, of famine and pestilence, of genii and giants and Aladdin lamps, of tigers and elephants, the cobra a

nd the jungle, the country of a thousand nations and a hundred tongues, of a thousand religions and two million gods, cradle of the human race, birthplace of human speech, mother of history, grandmother of legend, great-grandmother of tradition, whose yesterdays bear date with the mouldering antiquities of the rest of the nations-" -Mark Twain

So this is it, I'm finally off to India for the semester. I admit that I am a bit nervous but I think it's because I just want to be there already. Get it started, ya know?

A lot of people have been asking about my program so I'm going to give a little overview of what I'm going to be doing there.

My classes:

Group Dynamics: This class is on learning to recognize and analyze the physical, social, economic, political, ethical, and spiritual elements that make up sustainable communities.
Global and Local Sustainable Living: We're going to study the role of human history, language, education, physical landscape, society, and world view on shaping human-place relations. We're going to find connections through use of ecological footprint analysis and other things.
Applications and Practices of Sustainable Living: This class is field based and I get to do an internship project in sustainable development throughout my stay in Auroville
Body, Mind, and Spirit: Cultivating Personal Sustainability: Here I'll be studying the importance of world views and how they affect human behavior and the earth, and gain an understanding for the historical roleof religions and spirituality in creating culture.

Some highlights of the semester are:

Visiting cultural and ecological sites like Periyar Ecological Sanctuary
Engage in a 40 hour wilderness solo
Travel to Karnataka and spend 3 weeks at the Ecodaya Santuary, and island in the Tungabhadra River-jungle ruins of ancient Hindu empires and some of the rarest ecology and geology on the planet
Overnight at the Sri Ramanamarashi's ashram and climb Arunchala Mountain, locally believed to be the body of the Hindu god Shiva

AUROVILLE, TAMIL NADU, INDIA

Auroville is an ecovillage in the state of Tamil Nadu. The largest city that is nearby is Chenna

Here is a visual reference to where I will be:

This is a model picture of what Auroville looks like from a birds eye view.

Contact Information:

Love from the states will be much appreciated and will be returned graciously from India... please send by Global Priority Mail NOT economy (surface) post. The latter has been known to take four months to get to us.

College Guest House

Crystal Lim

Auroville 605 101

Tamil Nadu India

If you need to contact me ASAP and I mean ASAP call...

413-259-0025 This is the number to the U of Amherst Living Routes Office.

I will have opportunities to do webcam/skype/ichat from time to time so get ready to set some phone dates with me..

I will update this blog as often as possible so stay tuned.

mas costa rica

2008-08-13T18:58:00.000-07:00

So I'm long over due for this one. I've been back from Costa Rica for a while but the place is still heavily resonating in my heart. Since Costa Rica I lead another trip to Moab/Zion, Utah and have been to Baja Mexico and back but Costa Rica constantly replays its beauty in my mind.

The following pictures are of the places that I went during my Adventures Cross Country trip.. meaning lugging 15 kids around to these amazing, hidden secrets of Costa.

I want to keep this short because I have nothing more to say except the fact that I had a really hard time leaving this place. I was so lucky to be able to go to these EXTREMELY remote places... FAR away from tourists and SO CLOSE to locals. I got to stay up late nights talking to my new family Tia sara, Adriana, and Hector about life and love by candle light. I got to wake up early mornings to the booming sound of howler monkeys (congos)... It was just incredible. Costa Rica has definitely stolen a little piece of my heart and I am counting down the days until I get to return and unlock more secrets about this amazing place.

no where to be and all day to get there

2008-08-05T16:34:00.000-07:00

I'm back from Costa Rica. I'm going to do two posts on it because I feel like I had two very different experiences there.

Before the kiddos got to Costa Rica, I got the opportunity to travel around for two weeks. This was really the first time I hopped on a plane with no plans and really no clue what Costa was going to be like. The whole plane ride over I was internally panicked about how the heck my broken spanish was going to take me to a hostel let alone get around for a whole month and a half.

A lot of my travel in Costa Rica consisted of asking "hola senor, donde esta el estacion de autobus?" and "soy koreana pero nacio en california". I carried only a backpack on my back and planned as i went. If I wanted to leave that day I could or if I wanted to stay three more nights I could also. I really had zero limits (well maybe how much money I had to spend... which wasn't a lot) But traveling on a shoestring was incredible. I was blown away by the numbers of world travelers from all over. It definitely gave me the travel bug aka wanderlust.. so if you want to come on una aventura with me.. let me know because I am always in.

Jaco, CR- My friends and I were walking down the street with our packs on and suddenly a man just pulls over and asks if we're looking for a hostel.. we answer 'yes' and he basically just loads us up in his car and takes us to an amazing hostel called The Kangaroo Hotel. It consisted of very cute surfer Ticos and us. I love Costa Rican kindness. =]

I'm pretty proud to say that Cristal along with one other company is the main water company. To tell people my name would be a breeze

These three pictures are from Montezuma, CR. One of my favorite spots that I got to see during my travels alone. It was pretty free from tourists and had a 'getaway' feel.

Ah- Volcan Arenal. The tourist hub. Yes, it is one of the most active volcanos in the world... but man I didn't like most of my experience here. Too expensive, too touristy, and not easy to get to. Luckily my friend Gordo and I found a guy driving to this place from Monteverde and hitched a ride from this North Carolina, tattoo covered, ear stretched man.

Yes. Puerto Viejo, Limon, CR. Here is where I acquainted myself with the Caribbean side. This place was where I ended my travels and stayed the most time in. I just loved it. It was a hostel called Rockin J's and you rent a hammock for $4 or a tent for $5. I went the hammock route and no it's not uncomfortable. I actually slept like a little baby being cradled against my mommas bosom. okay well not that well but only because this place is bumpin' pretty much all night long. Live music, a bar, and eclectic travelers from all around. Pretty amazing. If you ever go to Costa Rica and are looking for a fun time twisted with the most chillest vibe... this is it.

my next post will about costa rica with the kiddos. watch out for it.

pura vida mae

2008-07-03T20:06:00.000-07:00

This is going to be short and sweet due to the slow internet and limited time i have on here.

Currently I'm in a hostel in MonteVerde Costa rica called Pension Santa elena i think... So far this is my fourth hostel in just about 4 days. There are two dogs with no collar near by and a cat curled up next to me. I've found that hostels around costa rica are a safe haven for travels from around the world that speak mostly english. My legs are getting bitten by the pesky mosquitos and I have seen so many crazy animals that costa rica inhabits... just simply beautiful.

Monteverde is known as the cloud forest because we are so high up... its truly amazing.

Okay well that's all I could do for now because of the time limit but I hope everyone is well-even throughout the my traveling I still miss home every single day.

mucho gusto

this is my job...

2008-06-28T16:17:00.000-07:00

Details:
So between the time of my Southern Utah trip with Phil and now, I have been mainly in San Francisco. I drove with Emily from Salt Lake to good 'ol Mill Valley, CA where I had staff training for my second year at Adventures Cross Country (ARCC). Staff training ended this past sunday and then I had two days of prepping for my trip with my co-leader Dan Grossman. After that I headed out to Santa Cruz with a few of my friends from ARCC and have been relaxing for the last four days.

This is Salt Lake... Emily, Phil and I took a nice hike up to the "living room". This picture alone should relay why I love Salt Lake so much...It's so beautiful!!

These are the not so natural "seats" in the living room. You can see all the way out to the Great Salt Lake from here.

Here is the Golden Gate Bridge.. We did trail work here for our community service during training..

Here are a few of my friends from work. My co-leader is the one in the orange shirt!

That's Chris and Adam doing manly trail work.. there was a lot of poison oak but most of us were okay.

We call ourselves the blues hounds.. my buddy travis is a talented musician that can play many-a-instrument He's been teaching me haaaaaarmonica!

That's Adam, Juilian and Brett at Muir beach. They're in my group. Our campground where staff traning was held was near Muir Beach so we spent a lot of time there..

that's meeee at Muir beach!

Staff training has been exhausting, exhilarating, stressful, fun, wonderful and... a lot of other things. I love the people here and it is not too shabby to be able to travel on the dime of a company. I definitely miss home but I'm ready to head out to Costa Rica and do some solid exploring of a new place. I have two weeks to play and then the kiddos come in for three weeks. We're doing three service projects (Working with Sea Turtles, teaching English, and building a library), We also get to raft the Pacuare River, surf along the Pacific coast among other things.

Here is my address while I'm in Costa Rica:

Crystal Lim

Adventures Cross Country (CRS 2C)

Interlin#124

P.O. Box 526770

Miami, FL 33152k

It usually takes about a week and a half to get to me and I will be there until August 1st so don't send anything later than a week and a half from august 1st.. got it?! but send things otherwiseeeee!!! weeeeEE!

That will be my main source of correspondence and I will be able to email once in a while.

Ah I truly miss everyone-I will be home soon. I will update in Costa Rica as soon as I can..

Momma, Daddy, Andrew, Alex... i miss you guys the most. I think about you guys every day!

ex.plore [ik'splor]

2008-06-02T14:33:00.000-07:00

verb

travel in or through (an unfamiliar country or area) in order to learn about or familiarize oneself with it.

Southern Utah is truly a beautiful place. I fall in love with it more and more. Here are some pictures..

from Salt Lake City to the San Rafael Swell-Buckhorn draw

Buckhorn draw to Capitol Reef-Sulpher Creek

Capitol Reef to Fish Lake

Fish Lake to Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon to Moab

going through here.. i am just thankful to be alive and well. I am breathing everyday and appreciating the things i get to experience. i am so lucky to have these opportunities.

i love you mommaaaa

And We're Off!!!

2008-05-27T20:42:00.000-07:00

School is done. Three down and one more to go.

If you guys didn't know, I am about to start my venturing into the world starting tomorrow. (Wednesday, May 28). I am taking off with my friend Phil Stoker and we are going camping for about a week and a half into the beautiful world of Southern Utah.

I wanted to give everyone a heads up that I will be writing in this blog of my travels to come. For a little taste, here is what my future looks like:

May 28-June 7 ish: Southern Utah camping trip

June 8-June 12 ish: Crested Butte to see Erin!

June 13-June 22: ARCC training

July 3 ish-August 1 ish: Costa Rica

August 26-Sept 14: hopefully Spain, Italy, France, Germany

Sept 14-Jan ?: Auroville-India

I will be hip hoppin around the globe and this will be where I will post pictures and update friends and family.

Thanks for your care and love..