A picture from last year and an update on my fundraising!

So last week, I submitted a picture to National Geographic's Photo Contest. The picture is below, and if you click the picture, you will go directly to my entry page. If you can? Click the Facebook "Like" button! In just six days, I've been overwhelmed with the number that "Like" the entry, and I am hoping that it gets picked by the editors as a favorite! If so, I will try to update everyone!

Next week, I leave to start my journey! As of today, I have helped to raise $570 for the World Wildlife Fund. While I am far short of my initial goal, it instills a sense of pride in me that I am trying to turn something that brings me happiness and peace into something greater than myself alone. I thank each and every one of you that has donated or has even shown an interest in what I am trying to do.

You'll reach the goal!

The wise words of Confucius. I may be far from my goal, but I will keep plugging along! Thank you to those of you who donate!

A new goal reached, a t-shirt for a cause, and Henry Rollins

So a week ago, I finally hit the 20% mark of my fundraising goal. I'd be remiss to say I wasn't a little disappointed that I had not raised more, by now. However, the money that has been raised is more than nothing, so there's always a positive to everything. I thank everyone for helping me out!

Also, I just purchased a t-shirt from Arm the Animals, this week. They help support animal shelters around the US by selling shirts that portray various wildlife in possession of weaponry. Me? I opted for the panda wielding the machine gun. Makes sense, right?

Lastly, a few people may have seen a picture of a letter that is credited to Henry Rollins, recently. Below is the letter, and it echoes all of the ideas I speak about.

The Kali Gandaki.......Road?

Sorry for the long delay in between posts! As of today, I am at 390$ raised towards my goal of 2000$. Click the above button to help donate!

This post is about a story I read on the BBC News website, yesterday. On BBC World News in my car, I sometimes hear the 'From Our Own Correspondent' piece. I read this story yesterday about the new roads being built in Nepal written by James McConnachie.

Click here to read 'New roads bring change and danger to Nepal'.
Click here to listen to 'New roads bring change and danger to Nepal'

The Kali Gandaki gorge runs through the second half of the Annapurna Circuit trek, and is widely considered the deepest gorge on the planet. On either side of you, you have Annapurna I and Dhaulagiri - the tenth and seventh highest peaks, respectively. When walking through the gorge, you are at approximately 8200ft. Meanwhile, the peaks on either side of you rise more than 18,000ft higher than that. One of the other issues with this gorge is a naturally created wind tunnel, of sorts. After about 11am, winds that blow North get bottlenecked in this gorge, which creates exceptionally high winds practically every day. I experienced this firsthand, and have certainly taken note to leave Ranipauwa earlier in the day than I did.

Well, I wrote James to share my experience. About an hour before reaching Jomsom, a couple I was walking with during that day and I were walking along this road, and came across a pretty startling sight. Nature had obviously been fighting back, as there was a weak point in the road, and it had collapsed. A crane that was being used for this construction was laying on its side in the dried up riverbed! So the danger was pretty obvious.





I received an email from James not long after, and he responded to this - I had emailed the above picture - as well as my comments on the stones that the bus drivers obviously had for constantly riding this route.

Dear Walt

Thanks so much for taking the time to write. I think that might have been the very crane repairing one stretch of the road when I was there in late September... Totally agree about the drivers. They hate it - have to get really revved up inside before they begin the drive.

Let me know how your October trip goes? You may know I write a guidebook to Nepal, the Rough Guide, so I'm always looking for updates and reports.

With thanks

James

If you guys are interested in checking James' stuff out, click here.

And again, please donate if you can!

Lastly, check out the facebook fan page!! Thank you, guys!

Facebook Fan page! Follow us!

Facebook Trek For A Cause fan page

Above is the new fan page for the fundraising efforts. So take a peek and "like" the page!

Video posts!

I will be using my Samsung Galaxy Tab to occasionally create videos for the blog. I will be using the Galaxy Tab while on the trip to create a sort of "video diary" of the trip, and create a movie of a lot of footage when I return. Above is the first video for the blog. Thank you, guys! Click the above button to donate!

Another cool travel blog!

I wanted to share another blog with you guys. When I took the bus from Kathmandu to Pokhara, I sat next to a gentleman who was with his family on what I assumed could have been a vacation like mine. I had no idea it was one that far surpassed mine! They had pulled their three kids out of school, and for a full year were traveling around the globe!

Check out the "Where is Bear, Raz, Magi, Digs, and Miranda" blog. There are a lot of great pictures, there, too!