Heide and Jordan
Hey guys......Heide and Jordan
It's June 15th and I am back in Kathmandu, we just arrived back from Pokhara where we did our long awaited 50km trek through the Himalayas. It was incredible, the experience of a lifetime. The monsoon season just started and there have been some really fantastic storms.....thunder so loud it shakes the buildings and jolts you from your peaceful sleep in the middle of the night. I love it. We are just kind of hanging out, day to day life and waiting to go to India....India - where it hit 50 degrees the other day!! You might say we are crazy but we are planning on heading up to Darjeeling in the North, it is a mountain and should be quite cool there. After that we are heading due south by train down to Kerala and are going to brave the Southwest Monsoon down there. I hear the Southwest Monsoon is an experience all in itself. I can't wait to try it out.
Well, I hope you are all doing well, we are doing well over on this side of the planet. We miss you all and I can't believe 10 months have gone by already. It boggles my mind. Only two months until I arrive back home.....will I be able to cope???????
Take care,
Love Heide
xo
Travel Blog Posts
Culture shock, Canadian style.....eh?
Published: December 21st 2006North America » Canada » British Columbia » Vancouver
December 20th 2006
So I am back home.........four months into my ten month trip. It was a hop, skip and a jump and I was back in Vancouver - just like that. Well, not really "just like that", I was in Nepal after all, far enough "in" that I was just hours away from starting an 11 day trek through the Himalayas. But now I was very unexpectantly on a plane taking me back to where I started this whole amazing adventure. As I started my four plane journey back to Vancouver, I looked out the window at Mount Everest and I daydreamed that dream of trekking through those majestic Himalayan mountains......so close yet so far. How quickly it all ended with one filthy e-mail of a girl on the edge - my poor kitties!!!! I still can't believe ... read more
December 14th 2006
Well, this is a blog I never expected to be writing.......believe it or not, we are on our way home (four months into our 10 month trip). I have had some unexpected issues to deal with in Vancouver which has meant I need to come home for a couple/three weeks. I am still in shock but I am adjusting towards being really excited to see everyone!!!!! I am sad because it has meant the cancellation of our 11 day trek, a trek that was only hours away from beginning - as a matter of fact, if I had not gotten food poisoning, I would have been deep in the Himalyas...... a huge dream of mine. However, my cats would have been history. I have faith that I will make it back to the Himalayas. For now ... read more
December 12th 2006
I am in a terrible position. The girl who was looking after my cats is now taking them to the spca. I have to fly home if I cannot find a home in the next two days (the next available flight). If anyone could possibly take them, please let me know asap, or if you know anyone. I know this is a longshot, but is my last resort before flying home - they are all I have left from the fire. With sadness, Heide... read more
December 8th 2006
Nothing seems strange here, it all feels familiar. It feels so natural being in Nepal. Not like Africa where I felt like a foreigner, here I just feel at home. I was so happy as I flew over Nepal and saw the Himalaya's for the very first time. I could sense that I was going to absolutely love this place, and I was right. The mountains were so majestic and beautiful and I just looked down from the plane window and wondered what it all held for me. Arriving here has been a long time coming, I have wanted to get to Nepal for so long. I have always been so fascinated by it. I remember being fascinated with the name "Kathmandu" since I was a small girl. It had not only been a long ... read more
Wild Africa and the Serengeti - too many photos!
Published: December 28th 2006Africa » Tanzania » North » Serengeti National Park
November 28th 2006
Leaving Arusha for the Serengeti was very exciting. We have been in Africa for quite some time now with the past couple of weeks being quite difficult and it will be nice to let our guard down and be taken care of for eight days while on safari. Luxury. Something we have not had in quite some time. No lugging our backpacks around, planning what bus we were going to take, what time we would arrive, where we would stay and how much we should pay. Wow, what a treat. As we left and drove through the streets of Arusha I was aware at every second that everything I was seeing was going to be a series of "lasts" for me. The last time I would drive down the dirt roads with the African people ... read more
November 25th 2006
I was surprinsingly emotional this morning as I stood taking pictures of the sunrise from atop the cliff. Lake Manyara, who would have thought? Today is not only my 35th birthday, but also the one year anniversary of the beginning of the end of my house on Burris street - and my life as I knew it. It was one year ago today that I was supposed to go downtown to meet some friends for a birthday drink and had to cancel because my kitchen was completely flooded. I had no idea what was in store for me at the time, but if you had told me then that this flood would lead to a fire that would leave me homeless, which would lead to a robbery, which would lead me to being posessionless, which ... read more
November 22nd 2006
THE RWANDA GENOCIDE "When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincable, but in the end, they always fall - think of it, always. Mahatma Gandhi ******************************************* I experienced some of the most horrific truths known to man today. I attended the International Tribunal for the Rwanda Genocide in Arusha over the past two days. Belguim Luietenant-Colonal Claise was testifying to the facts as he experienced them in Kigali, Rwanda in January of 1994 - a time when the country was on the brink of the genocide. Yes, 1994. These grotesque acts of evil seemed to happen while the world looked the other way and those that were not looking away intentionally were ... read more
The smell of death and the call to prayer
Published: December 12th 2006Africa » Tanzania » East » Dar es Salaam
November 14th 2006
Dar Es Salaam is a very strange city, the kind that is neat to experience but you would never want to stay for any length of time - at least in my eyes. It is the capital city of Tanzania and is so full of contrasts. As we arrived into the ferry port at Dar Es Salaam, I was pleased to see that it wasn't quite as chaotic as I had been told it was. As a matter of fact, only one taxi driver approached us to offer his services, and even quoted the correct price when I asked him "How much to the Peacock Hotel". I always know ahead of time how much it should be and if they try to rip me off by doubling the price, I refuse to use them. It is ... read more
November 7th 2006
I really love the villages of Africa. The air conditioning at our hotel is nice when the temperature hits 40 degrees, cable every few weeks brings me a luxury I used to think of as a curse and to find a grocery store would be like finding the golden ticket. All the luxuries of home are extra enjoyable when you've been in Africa for a few months, but the villages are really where it's at. There is something so innocent and pure about being there and the villages are what makes me love Africa so much. Jordan gets bored sometimes when we hang out there too much but he even reminds himself that it won't be forever that we can just decide to go into a village for a few hours and play with the kids. ... read more
Barefoot, hounded and dumbfounded in Zanzibar
Published: November 30th 2006Africa » Tanzania » Zanzibar
November 6th 2006
PAJE, ZANZIBAR Waking up, remembering where I was before I opened my eyes..............wow. Zanzibar. Remembering the airport with the touts outside, the one hour taxi ride through the backroads of Zanzibar, the muslim men all wearing their islamic prayer caps and pilgrimage robes, the women covered from head to toe with just their eyes peering out, the donkey's pulling their carts as a way of everyday transportation of goods, the smells, the sounds......... it was all so fascinating and mysterious. Unlike anything I had ever seen or experienced before. I looked outside my bedroom window and saw the most blue-green water I had ever seen in my life. If I saw water that color in a picture I would think it was doctored. But I was there and it was real. Jordan and I got changed ... read more
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