Wednesday 24 September 2008

Africa. The End of the First Leg.......

AFRICA

Bhutan-Katmandu-Dohar-Nairobi

01/11/2007

Exactly 9 days left of the first leg on this global journey. I cant actually believe how fast it has gone. It's been nearly a month since we left the western skies.
We've done so much in the time that we've been away and I've loved every minute of it. I haven't missed home as much as I thought I would. I know what it is to miss someone so being away from home doesn't seem to bother me too much anymore.



We travelled from beautiful Bhutan to Katmandu-Dohar then on to Nairobi. We spent 1 night in Dohar before we flew the next day to Nairobi. We were all in bed and zonko by 9pm.

We met our driver at the airport, who would be escorting us down south of Kenya to the Masai village. We had put all of our gear on top of the trucks, and bundled in. Brian, Bruno, Dave, Claire and I shared the same truck. It wasn't a tight squeeze, as the trucks were massive. I had a feeling at this point that we may be hunting Antelope, but thought it best not to think too much about it. I just wanted to appreciate the fact that we were in Africa. Again, the views were spectacular on our long drive down. Our driver Shady was really nice, he told us some history of Africa and all about the places we were driving through. We had to stop quite a few times as I needed a wee which gave us a minute to take it all in. The whole trip was moving so fast, so we took advantage of the "time out" bits to absorb in all of our good fortune.

1731pm we had reached Nairobi. I write about Nairobi as a dark, chaotic and brash place. I think this was because it was a riddled with poverty in a different sense to that of Vanuatu and the other places we had been. I was quite apprehensive and venerable as the night drew in. The driver locked our doors and his speed seemed to increase in particular parts. Many of the people who walked along the side of the road seemed to be in their own packs. Groups of school kids, men and woman. The men were carrying nothing but large knives, or swords, wandering around in herds for no apparent reason, or so it seemed. It all appeared to be twisted, bitter in desperate need, you could almost see anger in their hearts but sadness in their souls. It was a different kind of survival to anywhere we'd been. It reeked of fear and selfishness, not selfishness that was necessary though. These people had to be selfish in order to survive. The sheer presence of Nairobi felt unwelcoming, uncomfortable and somehow, almost sinister. I had been so open minded throughout our odyssey, that I was almost disappointed in myself for feeling this way. I put it down to the unknown. When you know very little about your onward journey, its hard to understand where and how you will develop as a person next. It brings out something special inside you. Strength. This was something I had actually really enjoyed, but I felt nervous in Africa. I brushed it off and let it go.

As our car ride continued, the flock of crowded people deteriorated and became less frequent, with lonesome randoms walking in one direction. I wondered how far they had to walk because on leaving Nairobi, there appeared to nothing for miles and miles. The only visible indications were that of the motorway, desolate shacks and very clear, bold signs reminding the passers by to "get tested for aids".

I'll admit, I did find this all bit intimidating, and Shady our driver was anxious to get us away from Nairobi at high speed. As night drew thicker, the roads got worse, that's if you can call them roads. Deep pot hole after even deeper pot hole, every time we went over one, Brian kept hitting his head. In the end, we all mastered how to react on approaching .......duck.

We arrived in the village on 02/11/08 and the Masai men came out to greet us. They huddled around us, began singing, chanting and jumping ridiculously high with no shoes on. They welcomed us into their community and together we walked into their world. The village was hardcore. Totally hardcore. The opening ceremony they performed to acknowledge us was hospitable but slightly wary. They looked indulgent with their wildly coloured robes, which looked so formidable in this isolated environment. I felt dubious, overwhelmed with curiosity and slightly conscious of my fleshy white legs! Here, they fitted us out with our Masai clothing similar to their own that we would wear for our time as part time Masai worriers.

In almost an instant the flies became a real nightmare. They would swarm towards you and land on every part of your body, even your dam eyelids. It alarmed me when a mother approached us holding her babe in arms who had a face full of flies. I actually couldn't bare to see this and felt constantly obliged to sweep them away from her face. At night, the flies would miraculously disappear, but it was only until I looked on the ceiling of our shack home that they were there. Resting their heads for the night. All that flying around and landing on everything in sight had worn them out. No, not even 'raid' could get rid of these little fuckers. We spent much of the time slapping ourselves for the flies landing on us. Hours on, we would end up with red bruises all over our arms and legs. Sleeping quarters were hardcore. It was necessary to have one of the Masai sleeping in the hut with us for protection, mainly against the wild animals. We would quite often wake up early with at least 3 other Masai members in the hut watching us and awaiting for us to wake up. It felt a bit intrusive but we were technically in their home, so you couldn't blame them.

The days rolled past but I remember thinking how slowly the time was going. Living and working with the Masai was the hardest thing to date. By a mile. The men don't do any of the work, so Claire and I had to do everything with the Masai women. We fetched water, collected fire wood, helped make the houses, which by the way, are made from carved wood and cow shit. It was when we went to get the water that I probably realised how lucky us westerns are, cliche as it sounds. We had walked for about 20 minutes with the Masai women until we had reached their frequent supply of water. The water or dirt mixture was totally black. It was when I saw the youngest girl of our little entourage lean into the stream and scoop out handfuls of the solution into her hands and immediately into her mouth, that I realised. It was a fight to get as much water as possible, not to drink it with their hands because this was deemed as unfair. We filled up the watering barrels and attached them to a leather strap which was then rested onto our foreheads. Carrying the water on our backs to the village seemed like an eternity, but this was the way it was for these women, everyday of their living lives.

The Masai wear brightly coloured robes, red being the primary colour. This is because the colour red is deemed a threat to the surrounding animals, lions in particular. The animal will associate red with death and for the Masai, it is to warn off the predator. The predator versus the predator...

It wasn't long before our boys began to live quite literally as the Masai.

I was interested to know why a lot of the villagers had long hanging ear lobes or holes in the bottom part of their ears. It sounds silly but I could never quite understand it, and I wanted too. Mary, who was the wife to the head of the village Jackson, told us that it is done when a young person is ready to be circumcised. Thankfully, we didn't have to see it being done on a child, but we did witness a cow castration. During our time in the Masai village, we observed the strangulation of a goat which was quickly butchered, saw a very unusual killing of a chicken, and took great pleasure in watching the boys compete for the prize of a goat in the Masai Olympics. Full on.

On the 03/11/07 we woke up to the usual sound and smell of cows and the silent stares of the Masai in our hut. It was about an hour into the morning when we drained some blood from the neck of a nearby cow and proceeded in drinking it. First thing in the morning. Blood. I had wished Amber to be with us that day.

Time pasted and we were soon to leave the village. On 05/11/07 we said our goodbyes and began a 2 hour trek towards the meat cave with a herd of cows in tow. The idea was to take the Masai's chosen cow to be slaughtered, but in order to do this it was necessary to take a herd. An individual cow will know that it is walking to its death if alone. On the way, we saw loads of Ghazal but not many other wild animals. I had pointed out a mass of fluff on the floor and it was in fact a giant hair ball belonging to a lion. I found this quite funny, I also saw the biggest poo in my life. The poo was elephant poo, I love elephants so I was more than ecstatic to see it! It was a great little trek as we managed to see lots of things, lion paw marks in the ground, lizards, parts of trees that had been mutated by tall hungry animals. I found it really interesting and got loads out of it.

We eventually reached the 'Meat camp' and it wasn't too long before the chosen cow was killed by the Masai and Leo. Once the animal had died, the Masai, Leo, Brian, Bruno and Dave all began to butcher it. I assumed that the thought of 3 stomachs, a mass of intestines the length of the river Nile, a horned head and some other very questionable organs whose remains were left hanging over the nearest available tree, would totally shit me out..... No, but I did find the smell a bit unforgiving.

The cave had 3 pieces of wood in the corner which I found puzzling. My inconclusive mind soon became validated, as this particular area was used for all the bits of cow that would later be cooked. I had no intention of sleeping that side. Night drew in, and I walked to the right hand side of the cave to look up into the night sky. I was convinced I'd seen a shooting star. Despite the blood on every ones hand, and the brutality of the cow killing, this was definitely one of my preferred evenings. There we were sleeping in a super cool cave which was like a massive hole in the side of a rock. Fire alight directly in the middle and the Masai singing their own symphonies. Throughout the night, everyone would gnaw into steak chop and brain....I couldn't eat too much, but not wanting to seem disrespectful or at all ungrateful I ate what I could. The Masai men, Jackson, Sampson and Thompson woke up throughout the night to eat more meat, 1am and then again at 4am. Crazy but oh so real.

05/11/08- 06/11/08 We left the meat cave and headed off to the next part of our journey in Africa. Leaving the cow nightmare and remaining bones behind, we said farewell to Mary and the other Masai women. Jackson, Thompson and Sampson came with us to our next stop. We stayed in a camp site that evening, and it was here that Dave found out his sister had given birth to 3 gorgeous healthy triplets. He was over the moon. It was so refreshing to hear something so lovely.

07/11/08 We woke up early at 7am and headed down at 9am to the rock that we were going to climb. Initially, I thought the climb looked fairly easy but it was only until Leo told us it was the other side of the rock we would be climbing that I was chewing my thoughts. The day was long but well worth it, it was a good climb and I really enjoyed it. I didn't find it as hard as I thought I might, but because I'd found something I really enjoyed doing, I was only too happy to get up there. In fact, once I'd got down, I wanted to go again. The Masai all had a go, and as tough as they are, all found it a challenge. Fair play to them.

It was this day that I knew what I wanted to do. Leave my current job for something more active and begin climbing but wrote "fat chance!" in my diary. I had finally found something that I really really enjoyed. It was almost a relief.

Everything was moving so fast. I could barely keep up with the time scale of it all. On the 08/11/08 we all began the slack line challenge. I didn't do mine until last which was fine by me. I was quite happy to watch everyone give it a go and it was such a funny day. Bruno was hilarious, he couldn't grasp it so he decided to run it-so fucking funny and Dave shouted out "my leg, my leg" because he couldn't control it from shaking. They both made me cry laughing and are both such entertaining people. I loved it.

For Brian, the slack line was a really important challenge to him. All the challenges were important to us as we all had our own meaning behind each one. For Claire, it was her battle with heights, for me, it was yet another thing that I wanted to conquer. I had an attempt and enjoyed every moment of it. I reached the other side and could barely control the tears. I was totally overwhelmed and dead happy. It was Brian's turn. This challenge was totally all about achieving something so awesome for himself. When Brian stepped up, he put everything into that slack line. It was hard to watch as we all so desperately wanted him to beat the line and make it. Step after step, he concentrated more and with each heartbeat we all felt the pressure of his endurance. On reaching the middle, Leo told us that it would get easier so we were expecting the pressure to drop. But for each of us that reached the middle, the pressure became more intense. The frustration of wanting to get to the other side was so overwhelming. After a few gruelling minutes of persistence on Brian's part and silent encouragement on our side, Brian made it. It was an emotional time for all of us, as we were all chuffed to bits for him and totally made up.

We all really did relish in the slack line, and it finished our time off in Africa with the Masai brilliantly. I loved all of it especially the climbing and I promised myself that when I returned to England, this was something that I had to get involved in. It was almost as if I had no choice, something I had to do.

Africa is an amazing place to go. It was an epic place to end our first leg of the journey. I was happy. I had finally found something in life that was for me, Climbing.

It was in Africa that I finally realised who I was and what I wanted to be. I had discovered a person who had been hiding away, but could now breath and live again. I felt alive and almost whole. I started to see a clearing in the distance that didn't seem a scary one, but an exciting one. I was happy with this person inside, and they say that no one will love you until you can learn to love who you are. For the first time in my life, I was beginning to like me and what I had achieved. I was content.

Tuesday 16 September 2008

Bhutan. The third stop.


Oh My God. Was my first thought.Oh my god. How stunning is this place? Panoramic view of the Himalayas. Clean Air. No Alcohol. No drugs. No smoking. What, no smoking? you are kidding me?!


Prayer flags. Beautiful.

True. Bhutan is as natural and organic as it gets. They don't eat meat. Fabulous I thought, that means we ain't got to kill anything! what a result! I was chuffed.

From the minute we walked off the plane, I knew it would be here that I would loose it. It is so fucking cliche when people say to you "when you go travelling, you really find yourself!" but gobble me up and spit me out, is it true.

We arrived in Bhutan at 1030am and were 2,000 feet up in the thick of Himalayan mountains and fresh air. Once we found our resting place, I became overwhelmed and began to cry. I walked away from the others as I didn't want to get upset around them, but Brian came after me. We talked for ages and he really helped me out. He made sense of things in my head. He was brilliant. I knew it would be hard here, as it would be wrong to go to such a spiritual place and feel very little. And that was what Bhutan was. Spiritual. It was here that I felt it inside. The place just does something indescribable to you. No matter how you try to control it, it catches up on you, and wins.

On 22/10/07 we were well on our way to Tronsa. We stopped at the highest point on the mountain where there was 108 chortens-Buddhist shrines. We were told to walk around it 3 times, as it is said to do so would give you prosperity and good fortune in coming times. We carried on travelling through the stunning landscape and were soon to play Archery with our Bhutanese comrades that we had met earlier on. Claire was fantastic, I was total shit. But it was excellent fun, and Claire actually hit the target-target was 150 metres away and so small. Amazing she was.

It is a trekkers paradise! We trekked up to Tigers Nest Monastery in traditional dress with our fellow Bhutanese pilgrims. Here, we met the Bhutanese monks and briefly experienced their way of living. Of course, it was such a cultural difference.

On 23/10/07 we began our first big trek. We started at UGENCHOLING and were heading for NEANGUIAKHANG-a place which I wouldn't even try to pronounce. It was at 2,800 metres up and we trekked up to 3650 metres which actually works out to be roughly 12,000 feet. This was the hardest day so far for me since we left sunny England. It took us 9 and a half hours and Dave and I ended up walking together as Leo, Brian and Bruno had gone on ahead. Claire was some 2 hours behind which was awful as I wanted to wait, but felt I had to push my endurance to the max. It was all pretty much up hill and extremely steep. I am so grateful to Dave because after just 40 minutes, I broke down as carrying a third of my body weight on my back was proving near on impossible. I was beginning to feel that I was near to the end of this journey. That I couldn't go on. Thankfully, with Dave beside me encouraging me, I pulled myself together and pursued. A few hours on, the tables reversed and Dave needed to stop. Within 2 minutes we both stopped. 2 minutes start, 2 minutes stop. It was like we were in some sort of fucking marathon training. It had got to the point where Dave and I were both gagging cos we were so fucked. Dave actually went a worrying white colour at one point, and with no medic around I was pleading with him not to pass out on me. But Dave being Dave, determined as he was, got through it. With every step, the pain increased, with every step, it got steeper, and steeper. With some time and agonising pain, we eventually could see the top. No idea how happy we were, we both stopped and had a fag!!!!! We were both so proud, we pushed ourselves ultimately, physically and mentally. Tears were shed and blisters were formed, aching limbs and sweaty stinking clothes, but we made it.

On 25/10/07 we had a smaller trek. Man alive. I couldn't actually feel my feet! It was OK though as it was flat all the way, no more hills!!! I write in my diary that it was so nice because we all got to walk together with our Bhutanese comrades, or pilgrims. One of which, Kezang, lovely girl was 21 the night before! We were soon told that we would be attending a fire festival. It sounds dangerous I thought, probably will be...... LOVE IT!

After 3 days of trekking, what felt like a month, we'd finished. The hardcore, never ending trek was over. And the relief was unreal. Next stop, fire festival. Hmmm, curious.

The fire festival started at 9pm and we all went in our traditional dress that we had fitted on the first couple of days being in Bhutan. The Bhutanese girls decided it would be a good idea to put makeup on me, but no fucker told me how much I on. I looked in the mirror and looked like something out of the Rocky Horror show. It was hideous. Fire festival was indeed dangerous, mental, electric, crazy arsed Bhutanese people going mad running through a mass of fur on fire. I think I was, if anything a bit anxious, I didn't mind to much, I think I had an advantage as I'm so small. That's an interesting point actually, the Bhutanese are all quite small, and Brian is really tall.....They should cater these fire lighting arch way things for all heights. Brian was fine, but even so.....

Bhutan goes on and on and on in my diaries, so I cant write too much more. I could but to break it down is difficult in this short space. All I know is that Bhutan made me. It broke me and transformed me, and then made me again. Its weird. It is the most life changing place we went to and gave me a bigger, wider out look on my life. NZ triggered it, Bhutan set it off. An incredible place on this earth, I was lucky enough to go there with incredible people. All of them.



New Zealand




As I write briefly and not descriptively from my diary, this is how my journey went on.
New Zealand.
We set off from Tanna in Vanuatu to Port Villa (also Vanuatu) to Sydney and on to New Zealand. The Journey from Vanuatu started at 10am on 11/10/07.
Leo explained to us in Vanuatu that our journey would continue with the Maori.
We were to live and work on a ship for the next part of our trip. I knew that this part of the journey would be truly awesome, as New Zealand was somewhere that always had great meaning to me.
The tall ship, R. TUCKER. THOMPSON was huge, with enormous sails and a grand entrance, it had such a beautiful sense of welcoming. We climbed aboard and had little time to settle in before we began our continued epic journey. It was a wise idea at the time to only take the essential stuff with us. Our bags were so big to store on board that it seemed pointless bringing everything. Waterproofs were the only thing that were essential.
As we found our feet, I couldn't help but wonder about our current situation. For me, it was a time to think about my life and what was important. My journey had suddenly become a real evaluation of my true emotion.
After a few days of settling in 15/10/07 to be exact, we went diving for cray fish. We rowed the Waka out and away from the TUCKER THOMPSON tall ship and had a quick brief on the dive. Our task was to dive down and collect as many cray fish as we could. This was something for Brian and Leo as they both had diving experience. I couldnt work out the whole breathing thing-I was spitting and coughing and god knows what. No, I just couldnt master it! Still, it was pleasent enough, I was swimming in the New Zealand sea for fuck sake!.

Later on that day, Dave and I decided to climb up to the top mast where we had time to reflect. I think we both had a true moment, and I would give almost anything to have that moment again. The moment was an overwhelming one of realisation and of reality. We were in New Zealand looking upon the great sea with the sound of silence in our lives. It was this very moment that I began to find true peace with the devastation and destruction I had endured in my young life. We didnt need to say anything to eachother because we both knew it. We knew this was the start of something better.
When the night fell upon us, the ship really did do itself justice. I would stand over the edge, holding on to the ropes and see dolphins glowing in the water and swimming gracefully beside us. The stars shined wildly over the sea, and looking into the distance, there was nothing but an open world. It was breath taking, it was the beginning.
The vessel would glide through the sea so passively and with little effort against the harsh waves. A storm had brewed up over a few days, but none of us were frightened. I think I speak for everyone when I say, we made the most of every minute and it was here that we fought together.
For most of the time it was all pretty hands on, our duties were to put the sails up, scrub the deck, polish the brass, steer the boat and help the chef cook. Bruno was the one who had the cooking expertise, so he took on the cooking job very well.
Working on the ship was a real team effort. I know it sounds obvious, but I think that it was here when we all came together and bounced off each other. We had all been thrown into the middle of the ocean, and they say that if you're out at sea for too long, you go insane....Thankfully, that didn't happen, but quite a few of us were barfing up the first few days.
It wasn't long before Leo told us that we were to climb an Island called the Motukokako Island, Hole in the rock or as Pirates call it Piercy Island. It is a rocky island off the very northern tip of Cape Brett Bay of Islands, which features a hole where boats can pass through. The Island, to the Maori holds something of a rite of passage. The Maoris would swim the shark infested sea to the island, and then climb to the very top. It was hardcore.
I was below deck when we arrived at Motukokako Island. On climbing up to the top deck, everyone had gone pretty silent and I think the fear of the climb had started to wade in. It was massive. No question.
On the 17/10/07 we began our climb early at 8am, and after 4-5 hour or so, there abouts, we all reached the top. We initially climbed it individually then went up through the terrain together on a single rope which we were all attached too. The view was just too much to comprehend. Unreal and truly amazing. The tall ship looked like something out of a film, so rich and grand. On reaching the summit, Leo informed us of our next destination on this once in a life time journey. Bhutan. I couldn't really react at the time but I did my best, because I remember everyone saying "wow, that's cool" and all I could think of was "where the hell is Bhutan...."