http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/White-Cloud/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from White Cloud en-us Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:11:35 +0000 Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:11:35 +0000 HAPPY 4TH OF JULY ALL Unfortunately I am not doing anything to celebrate our independence this year but that's not to say that I'm not keeping busy. My time in China has been flying by From Kunming I headed to Dali a charming little town. It is growing by the minute with tourism and they are in the process of building the 3rd 'city of Dali' as we speak. The development in China is a constant http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Yunnan/blog-176981.html I have to start by saying that even though I only stayed in Laos for a little over two weeks I LOVE LAOS . My time was spent with people that felt like family. The first family was a group Janneke and I met in Luang Prabang consisting of four guys. The group included Daniel and Jordon from Canada Ramon from Switzerland and Chris from England. We all were on the same slow boat from Huay Xai an http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Muang-Ngoi-Neua/blog-170498.html Zipliningtake 2 ziplining Alrighty are you ready for this ...hammertime haha jk Cause I sure as hell was not. I signed up for the Gibbon Experience in northern Laostwo nights three days of hiking in the jungle sleeping in treehouses flying through the airjungle on zip lines all while looking for black gibbon monkey's. What actually happened Well there was a lot of riding on zip li http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/West/Bokeo-Nature-Reserve/blog-167583.html ask and you shall receiveIt started with a conversation I was having with myself the universe God whoeverwhatever you want to call it I was speaking to. It was after I called my parents and told them that I thought I was ready to head home in the next week but that I really wanted to think about it before making any rash decisions. Well the next thing I did was sit in my room and talk abou http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Northern-Thailand/Chiang-Khong/blog-164489.html A BREATHE OF FRESH AIR The meditation course wasn't exactly what I expected but nonetheless a good experience. I only stayed six days instead of the full ten yet I gained more insight into what makes me happy and how to make myself a better person. Some reasons it didn't suite me one everyone dressed in white moving in silence expressionless never smiling definitely puts out an asylum vi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North-West-Thailand/Chiang-Mai/blog-153193.html Copyright legalities I admit to all that the pictures on this blog of Sipidan were all taken by Mat. Except for the sunset pictures which I took with his camera. I didn't use my camera so I got his pictures with his permission. Sorry if there are the same pictures on both our blogs I tried to avoid and control this while we were travelling but what can you do. Any issues or concerns send to h http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Sarawak/blog-152714.html So it's 8 am in Davao I've been up since 3am just downed a cafe mocha and my body and mind are moving at hyperspeed. Back in the Philippines and wondering if Palau really happened or if it was just a crazy dream. Eight days went by in the blink of an eye minus the huge hole in my bank account afterwards. Four days of diving two sometimes three dives a day and some amazing sea life interact http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Micronesia/blog-142582.html If money doesn't bring happiness then neither does being without itSo despite the fact that I am broke something that Mat likes to point out and continually laugh about we still are charging forward with the adventures. Last week we flew from KL to Kota Kinabalu the capital city of Sabah a state in Malaysian Borneo. Professor Steve Oakley the mastermind behind Aquatica met us at the airp http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Sabah/Kota-Kinabalu/blog-120592.html It's been so long since I last updated I'm not even sure where to begin... I guess I'll start with the good newsstories and save the bad newsstory for last so you can skip it if you want to and save it for a rainy day.Things are going wellI'll take it back way back to Christmas. I spent Christmas on the beach reading and taking an occasional dip in the ocean for pretty much the whole day. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Lanta/blog-118872.html There's too much to write from the past couple weeks so instead since I'm traveling with Mat now you can check out his blog for an update Mat'sblog. When I can bring myself off the beach and into this internet cafe again for a long enough period to write a blog then I will fill y'all in...mmmkkk For now I wish you a very belated Merry Christmas Happy Hannukah and a Happy New Year from the b http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ko-Lanta/blog-115097.html I've been taking a lot of pictures during my days in Ram Jhola so here are a few that will give you a taste of some of my experiences. Hope you enjoy.I also have taken many videos on my camera but I can't seem to upload them until they are downsized because they are such big files. As soon as I figure it out I will post some of these videos. Until then the pictures will have to suffice. Just http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttarakhand/Rishikesh/blog-111515.html I've been in Rishikesh for over a month and a half now and I'm still going strong with my meditation course which has been extended two extra weeks making it a total of 8 weeks. After doing some math I realized that this course is actually more intense than a quarter of college. Yeah go figure and I've only missed two classes one because I was sicker then a dog vomiting and ya know and the seco http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttarakhand/Rishikesh/blog-107750.html I just want to let everyone know that although I may not be in America to celebrate Thanksgiving it doesn't mean that it can't be done. Oh no My buddy Zack and I managed to bring Thanksgiving to Rishikesh and celebrate it India style. You are probably asking yourself... what is this 'India style' Kendra speaks of Well wonder no longer Irsquoll paint you a picture of our Thanksgiving D http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttarakhand/Rishikesh/blog-105385.html DIWALI Saturday October 21 2006.Ok so I know that I told you about Diwali built up a huge expectation for a great night and then forgot to fill you in on how it all turned out. Diwali was the party which the artist formallly known as Prince speaks of when he sings so tonight I'm gonna party like its 1999. There is actually a double meaning to that as well Diwali is the Hindu new year cele http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/National-Capital-Territory/New-Delhi/blog-100215.html Woke up at 545am washed my face brushed my teeth and made some tea with special herbs and honey for meditation. Meditation starts at 7am sharp and I like to get there a little early so that I can settle and get myself relaxed before we begin. Today meditation was more difficult than last time. My foot was dead asleep my mind was all over the place and I couldn't understand what Swamiji kep http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttarakhand/Rishikesh/blog-99272.html ...to grandmother's house we goI felt like I was on the ride of a lifetime when I took a one day trip from Leh to Nubra Valley in Ladakh. I went with my new found friend Pooja from Bombay who was also traveling solo and we headed out at six in the morning on public transit aka janky bus. We drove for six hours and the highlight was when we went over the Khardung La pass which is the highest m http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Jammu-and-Kashmir/Leh/blog-95480.html We have bigger housesand smaller familiesmore convenience but less time.We have degrees but less sensemore knowledge but less judgmentmore experts but more problemsmore medicine but less healthiness.We have been all the way to the moon and back but have troublecrossing the street to meetthe new neighbor.We built more computers to hold moreinformation to produce morecopies than ever but http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Jammu-and-Kashmir/Leh/blog-95473.html Today was an incredible day in that I had a beautiful revelation during my trip to Angad's family farm. His grandmother invited me two days ago to see their farm and there was no way that I was going to pass up such an opportunity. It all started with our discussion in the car about how India is perceived by the outside world. While it is a developing country and there is much poverty as far as http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Haryana/blog-93573.html Continuing where I left off India is amazing. So far Irsquove been to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal and yesterday I had a tour of Delhi. To keep this brief all you really need to know is that the Taj Mahal is as majestic and exquisite as it should be for being one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Ok thatrsquos all. Hope everyone is well.Just kidding. No seriously it was great see http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/National-Capital-Territory/New-Delhi/blog-93349.html Finally I am in India writing a post for the first time. I've been waiting all summer to actually post a blog from around the world so what am I waiting for lets get on with it. Before I begin about India let me paint a picture of my 39 hours of travel to get me to the motherland. Yes 39 hours 17 of which weren't on a plane but rather consisted of hanging out in an airport and taking a tou http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/National-Capital-Territory/New-Delhi/blog-92230.html