Why This Trip?

A lot of people ask me 'why?' when I tell them I'm going to travel in Nepal and Bhutan.

The short answer is 'why not'.

To give a little more perspective and insight here's the longer story:

I've not been out of the country since 2003 unless you count a 4 day trip down to Mexico during the particularly hellacious winter of 2004. The time has come to leave the great US of A.

So why Asia and why this particular part of Asia?

Nepal and Bhutan are very interesting locations; the geographic wonders in these regions speak for themselves - the Himalayas - which we will get to see from a spectacular vantage point when flying from Kathmandu, Nepal to Paro, Bhutan.

The cultures in these countries are fascinating to me. I've studied and practiced a couple of different forms of Buddhist meditation over the last handful of years. A large part of my interest in seeing Bhutan is particular is to witness a Buddhist kingdom; particularly one that has not been overrun by the Chinese.

The other neat thing about spending time in these two countries is that they are both relatively small (especially compared to neighboring China and India) and thus we will not be doing a monstrous amount of driving or flying from city to city. These appeals to the part of me that is dire need of a *vacation*. I want to relax and enjoy myself. In 2000, I traveled to Costa Rica for 2 weeks by myself. It was my first trip solo and to Central America. I tried to do way too much, jetting across the Pacific and Caribbean sides of the country with stop overs through the center to witness volcanoes and butterfly farms. I went horseback riding, hung out in a tiny village where 100 year old sea turtles emerged from the waters of the Atlantic ocean to lay their eggs at night. By the time I returned to San Francisco I was sick and exhausted - I needed a vacation.

So - - - - while this is certainly set to be a big trip I want it to be a small trip in the sense that I want to enjoy myself, the company of my mom and the delights of experiencing an extremely different culture from the one to which I am accustomed.