Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Goodbye, hello!

As you all may have noticed, there is no Nugget to this NuggZazz. The lovely Nugget is busy with her beautiful life and various other projects and couldn't find the time to update.

Because of this, I am discontinuing Nuggzazzadventures, till further notice.

But do not fret my wonderful reader! You can find all of these posts, plus more, on my new website.

ExistentialTravel.com

You can also find the brand new, Existential Travel Zazz Podcast there too! Where I will be interviewing and shootin-the-shit with fellow travelers of life.

So hop on over to Existential Travel Zazz and join in on the conversation.

Love you guys.

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Vipassana

Last month I spent 10 days in silence learning an ancient meditation tecnique called Vipassana. It was one of those types of experiences that are so influential you don't even know how to explain it. Not just because of the silence, which suprisingly turned into an odd sort of comfort, but it taught me golden things which have changed my life for the better.

Vipassana basics:

Nine full days in silence, only speaking to the managers for technique advice and other necessities. Four a.m. wakeup, 9 p.m. bedtime, ten hours of meditation a day, no electronics, no writing, no music, no distraction. I snuck all photos on the last day before packing.

First 3 days you focus on nothing but your breath, how it is, no altering it. This sharpens the mind to notice the small movements and changes occurring within us. The first three days are the hardest, many people drop out and don't finish the course.

From there you continue to observe the rest of your body while keeping in mind the reality of change. Everything within us and around us is in constant movement, from our cells to the particles of solid objects.

The cause of all misery is craving and distain. Distain for anything which is impermanent, which everything is impermanent. Craving for the unknown, the unattainable, the past or the impossible. One or both of these things is at the core of all misery, so in the practice of observing the body you are meant to remind yourself of this constant change.

I cheated on one of the rules, I took notes. This was for you lovely people as well as myself. Because this experience was so life changing and in depth, I've decided to simply post my notes. Below are my exact notes as I wrote them in the moment. Enjoy.

Day one:

  • Never fully submit. I want to be a strong person, not a submissive one. It's impossible to have one or 100 teachers to have everything right. Submitting yourself to complete submission of an idea allows little to no room for your inner and innate wisdom to come out.
  • How is a person to come up with new innovative ideas if they only follow tradition?
  • This is hard.

Day two:

  • Be like Batman.
  • Saved the girls by chasing off a black snake with a broom. Maybe they wouldn't go near it because they knew how dangerous it was.
  • Remind self, look up snakes of Cambodia.
  • Smuggled a cookie into my room.

Day three:

  • And another girl bites the dust.
  • Can't focus on meditation, daydreaming too much. I wonder if Batman daydreams.
  • Found forgotten playing cards in my bag. Solitaire anyone?
  • Part of what makes being completely in the present and not in a fantasy daydream so difficult, is because sometimes we don't like where we currently are.
  • Reality of our location and the reality of our minds can be scary to face.

Day four:

  • I missed breakfast today, slept through both bells. So sad when it's the most exciting thing about the morning.
  • I had bed bugs last night. The manager didn't know what they were and didn't believe they excisted in Cambodia. Awkward insisting to switch mattresses.
  • Sad today, I'm feeling a deep feeling of loneliness. I'm completely alone in Asia, no one here to hold me.
  • I've just realized that I miss music more than internet or books.
  • Just got "scolded" for wearing capri pants in the meditation hall. I thought this wasn't supposed to be dogmatic?

Day Five:

  • Learned today that meditation can make me horny. I might file that away for a rainy day.
  • It's getting easier to sit in one spot for an hour straight; perfect for future movie watching.
  • Getting a little more excited for the next five days.
  • Broke another rule, killed a bed bug, zero regrets. That sonofabitch will drink my blood no more!
  • Got bored playing solitaire, started playing a two person game against my two feet.
  • Aaand right foot lays down a king for the win ladies and gentleman! That's the game, left foot loses.
  • ... Maybe I should actually use this alone time to meditate...
  • It sounds like there is a little dinosaur outside my room.

Day six:

  • I woke up this morning from a series of bad dreams. The freshest one leaving me too scared to fall back to sleep. Meditation helps with misery, what do you do about fear?
  • Just realized the majority of these Khmer (Cambodian) women are over 50 years old. They lived through genocide. I don't know fear...
  • With no one else to talk to for 6 days I've realized something, I make pretty decent company.
  • Back to solitair.
  • I heard children singing today while letting the sound of rain enter my ears. People walked past me that weren't there.

Day seven:

  • This morning I watched a little beatle roll a little rat poo around in circles seven times on the pavement. I counted 8 rounds. I wonder if this is how we look to the gods when we go to the gym.
  • My deodorant stick has reached its end. Fuckmylife.
  • Our emotions and physical bodies are connected. When we feel sad we keep asking the mind why we feel sad. Almost never do we ask our bodies where this emotion, this physical and often painful sensation, comes from within us.
  • In a world where a person is encouraged not to talk or even make eye contact with the people around them, it's fantastic and surprising how a stolen, spontaneous, and knowing flash of a glance can brighten the whole day.
  • My god, I miss Del Taco... Why do I miss Del Taco?

Day eight:

  • A day for some serious meditation.
  • The path of Dhamma, the path of Dhamma, I keep hearing about this great and wonderful path from the Vipassana guy. Yeah, I agree it is great. Yeah I agree that everyone could greatly benefit from knowledge and an experience like this. However, is it THE path? Can there be only one path for everyone? I think not.
  • We are all biochemically different, why wouldn't our paths be?
  • During lunch they serve this "drink" of which I've dubbed, "cup-o-fish eyes." An uncreative name because it looks like a cup of little fish eyes, which I assume are actually seeds surrounded by a mucussy membrane. These tasteless goodies glop down smoothly like a cup of gelatinous fish eyes. Being tasteless, they are served with spoonfuls of sugar. Ah, what a joy! Goopy fish eyes- an excuse to drink sugar.
  • My addiction to sugar is deep and unsettling.
  • I met a bug today that went around collecting particles to put on its sticky back. I watched it for about a half hour.
  • I believe myself and I are becoming pretty good friends while we work out this ego thing.

Day nine:

  • When did I get so many freckles?
  • I've reached enlightenment.
  • Just kidding.
  • One of the men in the meditation hall keeps making this sexual sounding groan in the middle of meditation. In times past I've tried ignoring it, but today I looked over to see a group of young guys silently laughing. We made eye contact and the laughter grew to dangerously disruptive levels.
  • No words are needed for sex jokes.
  • I think a woman just thanked me for the snake incident by using a worm as pantomimed representation. She stopped me as I was making my exercise laps around the garden, not unlike the poo bug.
  • Just realized that maybe she was mocking my recent obsession with critters...
  • I disagree with Vipassana's teachings of ridding oneself of passion. Passion is human, passion is beautiful, raw, and yes, sometimes filled with mistakes and sadness. But passion is liveliness and liveliness is life.
  • If passion is a flaw, it's one I'd like to have.
  • "Don't create more sankaras, retain perfect equanimity." I realized that this advice was making me more upset. I can't be perfect, I'm upset sometimes, let me be upset!... ah, that's the teaching. It is what it is.
  • Perfection is a silly illusion.

Day ten:

  • This morning as the sun rose I looked out at the rice fields and was filled with such joy and beauty that it made me sad. I wish I could box it up and ship it to my friends and family.
  • The key to a proper Cambodian toilet flush is to create a swirling vortex of water, only then will the poo go down.
  • Today I get to talk!
  • I had forgotten that these woman around me don't speak English. A barrier I felt between myself and them has dissolved, we are all in this together.


It was a difficult but extremely rewarding experience. In the ten days I spent there I learned about an important connection between mind and body. I rid myself of a few pet peeves, including my distain for smacking. I learned to sit still, observe, and how to better focus my mind and attention. I learned techniques on how to handle sadness and anger, I worked through many emotional problems and learned the skills to continue to do so. And something I didn't expect in this course, I found a best friend in myself.  

If anyone is curious to learn more about Vipassana, or would like to take a class, check out the official website for more information.

Dhamma.org

All classes are by donation only. Yay!

Macklemore took a Vipassana course. Do listen.

 

 

Thank you Jacqueline for showing me that Macklemore is actually fantastic.

 

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Lets Connect

Human connection.

Ugh gross, Zazz is going to be gooey and cheesy again in a post.

Maybe, but my goal here is to be honest. If soft delightful fluff excretes from my brain mash, down and out through my fingertips to this keyboard, so be it.

Being in Asia, halfway accross the world in a foreign land to myself, I've found that my butt has been in a chair a lot lately. Reading, drawing, listening, eating, and berating myself for this.

Sure, I've finished a book and have gotten halfway through another one, a person could describe that as productive, but why all of the facebook time Zazz? Shouldn't I be exploring more? Maybe chatting up every person I meet who speaks English? After all, being surrounded by almost nothing but Cambodians for a week, I lack many opportunities to speak these days. Why would I not seek out that opportunity?

But there is something beautiful about getting to know myself on this level. Mass quantities of self reflection tend to bounce those shiny reflecting thoughts outword and all around. Like mirrors sporadically placed around me, I'm able to see multiple views from all different angles. This is a good thing, a form of meditation, and healthy for the mind. Though a problem I've worried about is the distortion of the reflections causing views that are too oddly angled that I'm not seeing things clearly. After all, I am still the only viewer.

Hence my rationalization for facebooking as well as a reminder of the importance of human interaction. We are, after all, the center of our own universe. There are only so many windows you can look out of yourself and into the world with. Human connection is not only emotionally satisfying, its also intellectually stimulating and life broadening.

A personal balance of all things. Time to stop berating myself for being antisocial for a while as well as stop being so frightened of lending out smiles. After all, soon I will be personally subjecting myself to solitute at a ten day meditation course, I won't even have Facebook there, I need all of the human connection I can get! Wish me luck.

Little Likena- master of human connection

 

P.S. To all concerned and asking, my friend from the flood recovered fully. If you're reading this Vanessa, miss you!

Friday, August 2, 2013

Laos Flood

They say that everything happens for a reason. I once believed this with complete certainty. The logic made sense to me at the time; A resulted in B which results in C, so therefore fate. But now I wonder if it is up to us to create a reason or a purpose for things that happen. Which comes first, fate or the egg? Awareness or the chicken? I may be less certain if there is a divine force guiding the world and deciding our fate, but I am more certain that it is up to us to choose how we perceive occurrences and how we decide to react towards them.

Maybe it was fate for me to choose to stay in Vientiane Laos a day longer to paint a wall. A spontaneous decision which ultimately caused me to be on the same bus as a women unknowingly facing possible death, while on our way to a small town which would soon experience a flood. Or maybe it was the unexpected occurrence of finding myself in the middle of a flood, with a woman who needed care, which caused me to feel that it was fate for me to be there.

Philosophical reasoning aside, the last few days have been quite an adventure.

Nugget had already made her way north when I last met with her in Lauang Probang, Laos. She had told me to visit a fantastic cave in Ban Kong Lor, which I decided was a fantastic idea. From the capital city, Vientiane, I hopped on a bus to arrive in the small and beautiful valley where the cave was located. There were only a handful of other travelers with me, one of them being a woman who told me she was feeling ill. We all checked into one of the only guesthouses in the area with plans to see the cave in the morning. Our plans became a fantasy when the torrential rains began to poor.

I woke up in the morning to find the roads slightly flooded and the power down. We were told that the caves were flooded and we would need to wait a day for the rain to stop and the water to recede. We stayed the day, but the rain never stopped. It was that evening when I became aware of the sick woman's condition, thanks to a wiser traveler who informed me of her fever. Not yet known to me, she had multiple severe infections on her leg which were giving her blood poisoning, a life threatening sickness. By the next morning it became clear that we weren't going to see the caves, the weather was only going to get worse, and we needed to get the girl medication.

On day two we negotiated a plan with a couple of local guys with a tuk tuk and a boat. It would be simple, we would take the tuk tuk as far as we could, hop in the boat, and we would get out of the flooded valley in a few hours. We were all wrong on it being a simple process.

The first half of the plan worked out smoothly. The farther we drove out of Ban Kong Lor, the higher the flood waters got. It seemed a fun novelty at the time. The locals were taking advantage of the extra rivers and were fishing in the roads. Soon the time came where the tuk tuk could no longer drive through the water, so we brought out the boat.

There were ten of us trying to get out of the town that day, and the boat only carried 5. It was decided that the ill woman would go first, and I happened to get included in that group of four other travelers. As we started off, we were in awe of the amount of water that covered the rice fields and road. Only two days ago we had driven a bus into the town where we now required a boat to exit.

After about an hour on the boat we came to a small bit of high ground which formed an island of road and houses. The driver couldn't find a way to go any further so he dropped us off with instructions to walk as far as we could and wait for the second group to join us. By this time our patient wasn't doing so well, hardly able to step out of the boat let alone walk for very far. It was with her pant legs rolled up to avoid getting them wet where I first saw the sight of her infected legs.

A couple of weeks before I had googled information on staph infections, confusing Staphylococcus with ring worm, and I had seen pictures of mild and severe cases. This woman's legs were undoubtedly on the severe end of the spectrum, and I knew the severe end of the spectrum meant deadly. Thanks to my nurse mom, I also knew that Staphylococcus and other wound infections required antibiotic treatment. By the look of her legs, coupled with the presence of a frightenly high fever, I knew that she needed antibiotics as soon as possible. The damp wet environment we were in would only worsen her condition, which was already life threatening. But we were stuck on a small bit of island with cows, rain, and chickens, but no medications. Well, except for the antibiotics in my pack which my nurse mom sent me off with. Fate? I don't know, who knows if my antibiotics were even needed? But I do know that the antibiotics didn't hurt the situation, nor did my awareness and decision to be concerned for a person.

After waiting for 2 hours, we found another boat which would carry two people out of the flood and possibly to safety. It was quickly decided that our ill friend should take the opportunity to leave, accompanied by someone to help her. Our wise friend who had also taken the girl under his wing opted to join her, while myself and two others stayed behind. We waited another two hours before officially deciding that the boat wasn't coming to get us.

A small part of me almost wishes we chose to stay on that small island with a nice local family who offered their home to us for the night. But perhaps it was fate whispering, because we decided to walk forward despite the warnings from others that the water only got higher further on and we would be swimming by nightfall. With our packs lifted high on our backs we trudged through the shin deep water, then the knee deep water, which quickly became waist deep water. Just as we were deciding that we were crazy for doing what we were doing, our boatman finally found us.

The hour long boat ride from our pickup point is one that I am unlikely to forget. The water quickly appeared to rise higher and higher the further through town we got. The rain never stopped and unfortunately my camera became too fogged to capture the images I witnessed. Entire houses under water, families on roofs, cars submerged, boats filled with electronics, water buffalo drowning, people clinging to bamboo, and all of the smiling faces.

Yeah, you read that correctly, the people were grinning. I don't know how, I can hardly comprehend why, but the people we passed in our boat were smiling. Their fields were ruined, their homes trashed, their animals dying, but they still had time to laugh. Perspective, a beautiful lesson on attitude.

We eventually arrived to high ground where after a 6 hour adventure we finally met up with the rest of the group, our sick patient included. From there a tuk tuk brought us to the nearest town.

I could write another whole blog post on the conditions of the hospital we eventually brought our ill friend to, but I'll sum it up with telling you that it seemed safer to leave than be there. After consulting a doctor in Australia, it was confirmed that her condition was indeed life threatening. We were told to get her out of this country or to get her immediate antibiotic treatment through I.V. One person alone wasn't enough to convince the doctors at the Laos hospital to give our friend the treatment she needed to save her life. They kept insisting we wait one week for the test results, she might not have had one week without the treatment. If there is one thing I've learned from this, it's to avoid the need to visit Laos hospitals.

Maybe I was meant to be in that flood to give our sick friend antibiotics and to then provide needed backup for further treatment. But I personally would give more of the credit to a girl named Ally, who helped me back in Thailand when I had food poisoning, an event I wrote about in a previous blog post. She reminded me of a simple human lesson, that we should look out for each other.

Even with cause and effect, it's up to us to shape our perception and reactions. Awareness and movement is more powerful than fate alone.

By the way, those are power lines.


This post is dedicated to Gregory and Vanessa. I love you guys, hope to see you again soon. 

 

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Secret War

Often when I come across a great travesty in this world my heart is filled with flame and a desire for redemption. I dream of going to great lengths to right these wrongs, spread the word, and protect the realms from evil.

But after a few days pass I realize that the flame was only a spark and I have been reading far too much of the Game of Thrones series.

As the saying goes, "Out of sight, out of mind." Which doesn't always apply to distant love, but is often the case with wars and death in far away nations.

What all of my blathering is referring to is my resent visit to Phonsavan, Laos.

Last week, when I first entered the country was the first time I heard anything about Laos in relations to the Vietnam war in the 60's and 70's. Before hearing about any secret war, I was told that Laos is the most heavily bombed country in the world. At first I thought it must be an exaggeration. The war was in Vietnam, not Laos. Why would the U.S. bomb the wrong country? Despite my skepticism, the bombing stats turned out to be true.

Phonsavan is a city amongst mysterious jars, an area known as the Plain of Jars. It was the jars that drew me to Xieng Khouang Province, but a less ancient history is what captivated my attention and got the tear ducts going.

Right before my tour to see the jars is when I learned about the C.I.A. secret war on Laos. I was shocked about hearing the number of casualties and bombings in this beautiful and friendly country. But seeing is believing and I became completely appalled to see the number of craters left by bombs during a war that "never happened."

 
I was shown a very small cave, right next to a site of jars, where an entire village lived for 5 years hiding from U.S. artillery. The cave contains stacks of rocks that the locals compiled, each representing someone who died in the cave during the bombings. I counted over 70, and learned that there is a cave nearby where over 400 civilians, unassociated with the war, were killed.

Did I mention these were villagers? Farmers, mothers, children. These were not accidents either, the pilots were told to target the caves filled with people, because they were filled with people. Many of the bombs were also dropped like trash. If a plane missed their target in Vietnam, they couldn't land with missiles, so they had to drop them somewhere, Laos was often that somewhere.

Worse yet, most of the bombs dropped were full of what the Laos call, "bombies" lethal mini bombs contained in what is known as a cluster bomb. 30% of these bombies didn't explode on impact and continue to kill villagers today. There are teenagers in this town with missing limbs. Children, who had helped with farming and struck a bomb or who had picked them up to play with. This is happening still, over 30 years after the war. The equivalent of one person a day was killed last year alone from these bombies. 

On the tour we were informed to walk on designated areas marked by MAG (mines advisory group) that had been cleared of bombs. I felt at first they were being over cautious until our van got stuck in the mud and a fellow traveler found one of these bombs off the side of the road. This is real, not just some documentary on Nat Geo.

For 9 years bombs were dropped on Laos every 8 min. It's still hard to wrap my head around that kind of bombardment. And sadly it's easy to let the significance of this monstrosity fade away in my life as I nurse dengue fever and get lost in a book.

But it's important for us to realize these horrible realities. Even if distance and time come between our concern for the world for a moment, we can't progress as a species (let alone a country) if we don't learn to pay attention to history. History does repeat itself, and often in the most horrible ways.

What worries me right now is that I hadn't heard a word about this war in Laos my entire life. An operation, carried out in secret, in direct violation of the Geneva Agreements which prohibited the presence of foreign military personnel in neutral Laos.

It only leaves me to wonder what else our government is keeping hidden from us. Snowden gave up everything in his life to expose a secret. Should we let his efforts go to waste as we read our books, watch our shows and pretend our government isn't lying to us? An out of site out of mind mentality might end up being our downfall, but it's still our choice to acknowledge what's there.

-Zazz

For more info on the secret war check out this documentary below.

 

Monday, July 1, 2013

Guilt of the Lazy Traveler

Leaving my hostel to the bus station I was told to pay no more than 30 baht (.96 cents) for a ride, any higher I would be getting ripped off. I was also given the advise to go to the main road and catch a blue truck, which Chaing Rai uses as public transport. Armed with this advise I headed out into the heat with my backpack; but my plan was quickly thwarted by the sudden appearance of a tuk tuk driver on the sidewalk, blocking my way.

Not wishing to walk any more in the heat with a heavy pack, I decided I would at least check the price and if I could match 30, no need for the blue truck. After a couple rounds of a song-sib, sam-sib duet (40, 30) I was able to get him to agree on sam-sib baht, or 30 baht. Win! Except that this was before my slow realization that the tuk tuk was not a tuk tuk at all, but a good old fashioned rickshaw. And the driver happened to be a little old man who was smaller than myself. As he struggled to peddle my heavy bag and ass to get started on our way, I realized I had made a horrible mistake.

With each valiant effort of my driver to peddle me to my destination, I began to feel more and more like an ass-hole tourist. There I was, a white middle class tourist paying a little old Thai man pennies to wheel me around. Before we had gone one meter I had agreed with myself to pay him his original 40 baht he suggested.

Whenever we came upon traffic or a slight incline upward, forcing our momentum to be lost, his bicycles wheels would lock, forcing him to struggle even more. With each moment this happened I silently told myself I would give him more, "Ok, 45 baht.... No, 50. This deserves 50." I couldn't back out, it was far too late. I had agreed to pay him money and he was determined to follow through no matter how shaky his legs got.

The apex of the situation was reached when we came to a stop light in front of traffic. As the light turned green motor bikes zoomed past us and cars waited patiently for us to get going. We weren't going. I watched some pedestrians smile and chuckle as I silently put a leg out to help push the rickshaw forward. I was shamefully reminded of my youth, health and laziness in this moment. Why couldn't I have walked one block further to the main road? This tiny old man was outdoing me by a longshot. One hundred baht I decided then. This crazy old man was getting 100 baht.

Before handing him the 100 baht, I asked for a photo which he proudly posed for. Before putting my camera away I handed him the note, signaling to keep the whole thing. When I looked back up he had his hand stretched out for me to hold. I obliged and was surprised when he didn't shake it, but held it firmly with both hands. It was clear in his eyes as he looked into mine, that he was very grateful. I wish I could say it made me feel like a saint but 100 baht is only 3 USD and it was given mostly out of guilt. I can't say it was all out of guilt, however. That amazing old man peddling my 160 lb self and bag through the streets of Chiang Rai undoubtedly earned my respect.

Shameful experience for me, but at least I learned something and my strong friend got a great leg workout.

- Zazz

 

 

Monday, June 24, 2013

Finding God

Ladies and gentlemen, I have found God. I know who he is, I have met him.

 

Yikes! Don't worry everyone, I'm not being serious. In all actuality, something about hearing that statement is really frightening to me. It's so mater of fact, so confident, so end of the line... So arrogant.

You know god and you have seen him, hmmm? Little ol' you, handing out pamphlets at the end of your speech with nothing to benefit yourself but to spread the message of love and good things. Reel 'em in with laughter, simple truths, dancing, robes, shaved heads, and with your strong presence. After everyone's smiling and soaking everything up like children, throw them the pamphlet about the course. The 7 day, articulately planned out course on how to be a better person and learn the truth. Not a free course of course, but you won't tell them that quite yet.

I know a salesman when I see one, I've been a saleswomen myself. If there is anything I have learned in my life, concerning god, its to be alert around the people who claim to know things with certainty about god. Be weary of the person who's trying to sell you something.

I should have started out the post this way,

Ladies and gentlemen, I have found a charlatan. Yet another person trying to sell you god. Yet another fisherman reeling in hungry fish, casting nets and taking what he can get.

All in all, he seemed a fantastic guy with possibilities of becoming a bit of a cult leader. You know, those types of people who have followers who go to seminars in fancy hotels in cities like LA. They know the secret to happiness, (so they say) and they'll teach it to you... for a fee. Whoever that guy is, I believe I have found one tonight. He is already holding seminars for large groups of businessmen, and I came across him tonight by a compelling situation of chance.

I've been looking for teachers, someone to teach me about Buddhism, meditation, Taoism, yoga, and pretty much anything related. And 'lo and behold, this Russian baba, who's flying into town for a seminar in Bangkok, decides to be a day late because he showed up here in Pai, to speak with us. Not on purpose mind you, but by chance. Because he dressed like a sheep at an airport, and someone spotted him believing they'd be getting the real wool. Lucky us! I know I was fooled at first. His appearance in my life, just as I was getting into town, seemed like fate at first, and he seemed so wise and aware.

Perhaps I'm being a bit too cynical towards this guy. He was knowledgeable in eastern philosophy and religion, far, far, far more so than I am. More than 85% of what he said was great advice as well. Simple and beautiful truths that everyone needs reminding of now and again. Like, don't be afraid to smile, be humble, remember to love, and all of those other great sayings you'll find on cheesy Facebook memes. He had passion for what he was teaching, he was engaging, musically talented, and he could very possibly have had nothing but good intentions.

But... There's that but.

And that, but, farted out, " I know who god is, I have met him."

I wish I could show you all a picture of this guy and his companion. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera on me when I went to this bahajan/satsang gathering. He was dressed like a monk, sang hare Krishna, and preached of Jesus Christ. My reaction at the end if it all? Sorry dude, I was a Mormon once, I am fully experienced with people who claim to know and see god. Maybe many who claim it, believe it, there is nothing wrong with that. But my opinion is that to claim to know, with certainty, anything related to the unknown, is stunting towards growth and possibilities.

My conclusion so far after this experience? God is still hiding, or maybe god is everything and nothing. whatever the case, people are still longing to connect, love, and experience life. There will always be charlatans and preachers and prophets who claim to know things, many of them do know great things, but always take it in with a bit of open minded cynicism. Or don't, it's totally up to you. :)

 

Hare Krishna,

Zazz

 


                         

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Chiang Mai Train Ride

A little soul on a train all alone.

How do you draw a great expanse of space and time? How do you write of the sensation of speeding past beautiful scenes on a clicking bullet; all the while being oddly aware, but not fully comprehending, the lands, mountains, and oceans separating you from home, friends, and anyone who knows your name?

I am simply a little soul on a train in a great expanse of land full of many. And there is something wholly awe inspiring about that, something exciting as well as deeply lonely.

I plug my music into my ears and I can't help but cry from the shear beauty and power of this experience. Music, art, and literature are the tools we use to share and connect with the other humans around us. An artistic connection helps us not feel so alone in the world. But nothing can compare to the dizzying sensation of being completely in a moment.

I am not alone in my loneliness, therefore I'm not alone.

-zazz

Peter Bradly Adams everyone,


 

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Get Busy Living, Please

The Talented Nugget put together a video of the first two weeks of our travels.

Introducing: Nugget Zazz Adventures Video prt 1: Get Busy Living

Guest starring the beautiful Rachelle from London

( Prepared to be inspired and amazed!)

 

Assume It's Illegal - Singapore

Nothing like stepping out of the airport, smelling that sweet sweaty smell of Bangkok and promptly obtaining your obligatory five mosquito bites in the first five minutes.

 

A drastic change from the clean idealistic city of Singapore. A city where you can't walk longer than five minuets without seeing someone scrubbing away at an already spotless window, fountain, or floor.

A city where it's not only illegal to jaywalk, eat food on the streets and litter; it's illegal to chew bubble gum in public. No seriously, it is.

Singapore has a plastic look which resembles the inside of a themed Vegas hotel, an atmosphere and attitude of stepping into a city scene of a Disney Channel original movie....and has the death penalty.

Singapore is a glorious place, but don't just take my word for it. Let me share with you all a lovely song which Nugget and I were lucky to hear while on the perfect island of Santosa.

 

 

 

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

RIP potted plant

Zazz here,

I would like to take this moment to say farewell to the potted plant outside my hostel door, for it will surely die from all of the stomach acid that it has consumed today. I am terribly sorry plant. 

Today was a day from hell for Zazz. It all went by in a horrible blur of vomit, sleep, nausea, embarrassment, and other dreadful experiences that I'm sure no one wants to read about. Not sure exactly what it was, but I'm willing to place a bet on food poisoning. 

Poisoned, away from Nugget, and now a day late for my visa run, I have come out of this ordeal surprisingly happy. There is a silver lining to this story, and her name is Ally. A girl who has single handedly restored my faith in humanity. Yesterday I didn't even know her name and this wonderful girl went out of her way to take care of this gross sick girl she didn't really know. 

I had first met her from Ton Sai but didn't remember her name even as we traveled into Krabi and checked into the same hostel. This morning she had the pleasure of seeing me again while I was feeding the potted plant. She stopped to check on the poor plant and got me some water. Later, after one of my medicinally induced stupor sleeps and another round of barf-n-the-bag, I found a "party bag" of crackers, coconut milk, a roll, and a lovely note from her. 

I would like to publicly thank Ally for her kindness and her understanding that it really sucks to be sick away from home with no one to take care for you. It's really great to get a reminder of there being some truly great people in the world. I for one will be sure to pay it forward and do the same for any sick comrades that I might happen across in the future. Thank you Ally for reminding me that we're all in this together. 

In loving memory of Potted Plant


Monday, June 10, 2013

Krabi

Zazz here! 

It is official, I have found heaven on earth (If you could kill all mosquitos) and it is called Krabi, Thailand. Or more specifically, Ton Sai on Railay peninsula. 

This version of heaven doesn't include white clouds and harps. It doesn't even guarantee a warm shower or a full day of electricity. But who needs those things anyway? Ton Sai has rock climbing galore, Mama's chicken, the coolest collection of travelers, bioluminescent plankton, Chang beer, lots of kittens, and beach. What more could you ask for? 

'Tis Adolf Kitler. Meow. 


Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Nugget

Nugget Here.

Sarah Girl has brought to my attention my lagging skills on this blog. She is 1000% correct. So I am now going to burn that into the ground and post.

First of all...everyone watch our video. It shows all the damn good fun we are having. Its a lot. I am currently working on part two *Krabi, Tonsai and Railay.

So this is what Sarah and I decided......YOU ALL ARE GOING TO WIN THE LOTTERY AND COME OUT HERE RIGHT MEOW. (I thought if I used all caps, my nugget magic might work) No?.......piss.

We have slack-lined, juggled, danced, and met the most amazing humans. We feel like a couple of lucky ducklings I must say. But all in all.....we miss you all. And now we give you the giant-est air hug on the planet. Loooooooooooooooove youuuuuuuuuuu.


Heres us pointing to absolutely nothing. But hey, at least we are in front of a really cool tree.





Saturday, May 25, 2013

Hello, I love you, won't you tell me your name?

Hello, I love you, won't you jump in my game? 

Zazz here! aka, Sarah Kate. As you might have guessed so far, this is mine and Nuggets adventure travel blog. I am pleased to be the first to post because Nugget is off adventuring on Haad Rin beach in Koh Phangan, Thailand. Which just so happens to be the home of the infamous full moon party. And it also just so happens to be a full moon tonight. This timing is not an accident. 

I would love to blather on about silly things in my head right now, as well as the adventures we've been on so far, but I figured I'd make my first introduction short on this blog. I personally feel that Nugget is the one with an affinity to witty blog writing. So goodbye, I love you, I'm off to go party my ass off.