Off to the motherland!

Hey friends! So once again, I am off traveling (it's a drug, really).  But this time, it will be a soul-searching experiment of my past, present, and future.  I am going on a 7 week journey with my parents (and some on my own) to the motherland of Vietnam--where my destiny was shaped by the Vietnam War (or the American War as the Vietnamese call it).  This will be my parents' first time being back since they left and took refuge in the United States in 1985.  In the next 7 weeks, we will be visiting old homes, relatives long forgotten, and the beautiful ecology of Southeast Asia.  So get ready to experience another journey of self-discovery (round 3!...or 4.... or 5....)

Since traveling to Southeast Asia 3 times, I've learned to pack extremely light while still having my travel toys.

Southeast Asia Light Packing List!

• Essential good traveler/explorer items (**Keep in mind that these might get pricey to buy if you have none of these but they are great to have if you are ever planning to travel again**)
• Reusable water bottle
• Steripen or some way to sterilize water (so you don't have to buy water bottles every day... REDUCE PLASTIC FOOTPRINT YAY!!)
• Daypack (I love the REI Flash 18 because it packs so well in my big pack)
• Internal frame pack (40-60 liters)
• Mosquito net
• 1 Travel towel (sarong works well too)
• Headlamp (better to have and not need than need and not have)
• Small utility chord
• Combination padlock
• Money belt (to hold passport, credit card, and money)
• Compression sacks (it packs your clothes down so much!!)
• Shoes (I am bringing my Chacos because they are great sandals that are durable and usable for hikes too)
• Clothing 
• 2 tanktops/ 2 shirts
• 1 pair of shorts
• 1skirt
• 1 legging
• 4 underwear
• 1 bra
• 1 bathing suit
• 1 sweatshirt
• 1 lightweight shell (for those tropical storms)
• Toiletries
• Limited amount of makeup, and hair ties
• Toothbrush, toothpaste, floss
• Razor
• Conditioner, soap
• Essential oil (great for mosquito repellent!)
• Girly items (I use the Diva Cup--great for travel and reusable!)
• Medicinal
• DRAMAMINE (If you are like me, I eat this stuff like candy when traveling because of my horrible ability to get vertigo)
• PEPTO BISMOL (Great for the travel tummy)
• Allergy meds, ibuprofen, emergen-c, etc.
• Earpugs (you never know...)
• Sunscreen
• Things to keep you occupied while waiting for the train, bus, plane, boat, etc.
• Mp3 player
• Book
• Journal
• Other things that are fun! But totally not necessary
• Climbing shoes, harness, and chalk bag (Southeast Asia has some of the best climbing in the world!)
• Travel hammock
• Sleep sack
• Fire poi set (if you do that)
• Camera and camera accessories (I am bringing my Canon T2i, 15-85mm lens, and charger)

All of this will fit in my pack as a carry-on item.  Feel free to play around and see what you are willing to give up for space! Remember, you can always stock up on more items while there.  I suggest buying any pharmaceuticals back home (they have different FDA regulations).   Other great items to bring for travel are a deck of cards, some small art supplies, travel guitar/ukulele, OR ANYTHING YOU'RE PASSIONATE ABOUT!  Bring the gift of talent to share!

Peace, love, and good vibes to all my fellow dreamers out there,

J.

Full Moon Experiment

What do you get with two minds, a 10-22mm lens, a full moon, and an I-Phone light?  Some amazing experimental photography.  Rob and I decided to venture on this beautiful-full-moon night to experiment a bit with zoom and exposure.  The result: a synthesis of natural, artificial, and psychedelic stimuli.  For this experiment, I used ISO 400, shutter 30", and f/8, f/9, f/10.

 

 A new banner, maybe?

f/9, 30", Adobe Photoshop

We waited 15 seconds then zoomed in for the last 15 seconds.

f/9, 30", Adobe Photoshop 

I zoomed in at every 10-second intervals.

f/8,  30", Adobe Photoshop

We split up the 30-second shutter into four intervals.

f/10, 30" 

The new Music Producer's Club banner!

f/9, 30", Adobe Photoshop

A zoom for each 10-second interval.  10mm: 16mm: 22mm

f/8, 30", Adobe Photoshop

So with this knowledge, try it out.  All that is necessary is a tripod, a light source, and a zoom lens. Have fun!

Peace, love, and good vibes to the fellow dreamers out there,

J.

India, My Love

Day three in Bankok after yet another incredible month in India.  It is crazy to think that I could miss a place so much.  Waking up this morning was infinitely more lonely with no roommates or Indians outside serving their morning chai.  You can never be lonely in India and being in Thailand amplifies this feeling.  It will be another year (hopefully less) until I return to India once again.  I feel such a strong connection to India and the culture.  There is nowhere else in the world where the people are so open to invite you into their lives.  There is never anywhere else in the world where you can hate it yet love it all the same.  I want to hold on to the memories of India before it fades away so dearly. 

• Ravi’s smile lighting up the brass figures in the shops
• Ankit’s completely honest descriptions of our looks (“You look fat... and 30 years old”)
• Stories of Raj’s kidnapping experience in Goa by a bunch of jealous locals
• Dancing with Ankita and Mama after our morning chai
• Walking to the cemetery and climbing rhododendron trees with Ravi
• Watching Bollywood soap operas with the Jains… and the whole family’s reaction to the death of a character
• Wedding crashing in India… always such an adventure.
• Breaking my sunglasses in the middle of the street and a man walking past yelling “Oh my god!!” (He was more upset about it than I was)
• Having a shop owner show me his entire life on his phone… with the highlight of it is a video of him drinking a beer in Thailand
• All of the Indians walking around with jackets, beanies, and scarves… With the weather probably 85 degrees…
• Once again, having everyone be completely confused by my ethnicity (I guess Vietnamese people don’t really travel)… JAPAN, NEPALESE, TIBETAN, CHINA, and even INDIAN (teehee yes!)
• Walking along the Ganges River and making up dubstep remixes to the various ways boat owners say “Boat, madame?”
• Singing “Rivers and Roads” in the Taj Mahal (it has the best acoustics… an empty dome of marble)
• Singing “Rivers and Roads” to Dr. Jain’s school… and having them be so confused as to why there is only three chords in the song
• The constant sounds of Bollywood hits blaring from lo-fi cell phone speakers (Rani tu mein raja… my favorite song)
• Almost overdosing on chai everyday by invitations from locals
•  Oogling at the beautiful Kashmiri men in Dharamsala
•  Oogling at the beautiful women in their saris everywhere
•  Getting proposals from parents (“You want Indian boy? My son very good.”)
•  The famous Indian head nod… I might get neck arthritis
•  Taking a 4 hour detour because our jeep drivers needed to avoid checkpoints because they don’t have licenses
• Sitting in a bus for an hour outside of Agra because our driver forgot the hotel he was supposed to bring us to (India logic…. )
•  The “No Problem-isms” of India…. Never a problem in India
•  India Time
• Charging rupees or gifts for photos with me.  Don’t judge, I’m copyrighting this face!
•  Sleeping in a cave in the Himalayas
•  First world travelling problems (“I look pregnant because my money belt is too full of money”)
• Charlie paying our bicycle rickshaw drivers… and having random dudes pretend to be the drivers come into the commotion
•  Dance party behind the Saraswati Puja car with Ankit
• Indian food: “Party in my mouth, hangover out of my ass”
•  Rolling up on the train stations… and having my nose hairs singed off with the pungent and lovely smell of millions of human feces
• Rhododendron chutney.  It’s as delicious as it sounds.
• Group cinnamon roll hugs.
•  Protesting in the Tibetan Uprising Day… a momentous day of solidarity.

 Saraswati Puja, Sarnath, India

 Saraswati Puja, Sarnath, India

 Sarnath, India

Ankit Jain, Sarnath, India 

 Agra, India

 Meghna Jaradi @ Taj Mahal, Agra, India

 Amritsar, India

 Amritsar, India

 Lotan, March 10th Tibet Uprising Day, Dharamsala, India

 March 10th Tibet Uprising Day, Dharamsala, India

 March 10th Tibet Uprising Day, Dharamsala, India

March 10th Tibet Uprising Day, Dharamsala, India

As I sit here enjoying the comforts of Thailand (good smells, good food, relaxing people), I can’t help but miss the complete and utter discomfort of India.  Life is infinitely more interesting when you’re always on your toes.  There is an intensity of the place that mirrors my inner intensity.  I will return.

Peace, love, and good vibes to all the fellow dreamers out there.

J.

Village Life

Hence another day in the village life of Noh Bo, Thailand and the hours seem to stretch beyond my understanding of the time-space vortex.  Since so much has happened in the past two weeks and I have all but little time to truly elaborate on the intense activities of my daily life here, I will provide key moments of hilarity and the confusion of the traveller.

1.  Meeting Thai soldiers on the taxi-truck and having them try to hustle us into buying cigarettes, getting random toiletry bags from them, then having one of them show us a video of him cutting a man up on his phone.

2.  Having a group of Karen orphans (ages 3-8) roll clay into little balls, then lighting them in a stack of clay, then leaving the fires to burn in the jungle (completely against what the Boy Scouts have taught us!)

3.  Playing arm wrestle, leg wrestle, and whole body wrestle with 13-year-old Karen orphans.

4.  Puking in the woods… twice.

5.  Having the traveller’s stomach issues… and the only toilet around is a shack squatter toilet in a refugee camp.

6.  Realizing that the only problems we come across are first-world traveller problems. (i.e. “I look pregnant because my money belt is too full of money!” or “Dammit, can’t watch Netflix because we’re in a foreign country travelling….”)

7.  Thailand’s love for sugar ceases to amaze me.  The moment when Sprite is considered a “bitter” drink is when I realized I will get diabetes here.

8.  Realizing that life at Blessed Homes Orphanage can truly be considered a sitcom: take 30 undocumented orphan refugees from conflict zones under the care of a 26-year-old Norwegian and you get situations where moms in the USA die of heart attacks.

9. Having virtually everyone in Asia extremely confused about my ethnicity.

10.  Finding a dead body float past us as we swim in the Moei River that borders Myanmar and Thailand…. Not so funny but worth mentioning.

11.  The sweet sound of singing children…. Also not so hilarious but beautiful.

A summary of my stay here is simple: I’ve been living in an orphanage in a Karen village on the western border of Thailand for the past two weeks.  The focus of our documentary has shifted towards education inside of the refugee camp, Mae La (which houses over 50,000 people).  The subjects of our story are 7 engineering students.  Interestingly enough, many of the students we have been meeting so far left Burma (or Myanmar) to live inside of these camps for education.  These camps seem to be more like permanent destination areas rather than places of refuge for displaced peoples.  The more I learn about Mae La, the less of a hopeless place it seems.  For a camp that has existed for over 20 years, it has become something of a permanent place of residence for many.  I would not be surprised if it becomes a permanent village in the future.  There are six colleges, marketplaces reminiscent of Indian alleyways, and even semi-paved streets.  The Karen are such loving people with a distinct identity and culture.  The more people I meet here, the more happy and lucky I feel to be alive.

Peace, love and good vibes to all the fellow dreamers out there

J.

Body Projections

Teaming up with Sensebellum incorporates multiple mediums for creativity.  We spent a night in the light room (aka basement with black sheets) and projected images onto our bodies.  This enabled our bodies to be malleable canvases.  If your body is a temple, would you leave it blank or decorate it with all of your love and energy?!

We started off with cityscape images.... a tribute to the creations of humanity.

 

 (This photo was taken by me and edited by Sensebellum)

Then we ended up mapping tetrahedrons onto our bodies... naturally.  It just felt so much more natural and zen.  Our chakras were glowing with love!

More photos coming soon... (I am still waiting to get the rest from Sensebellum)

Sending good vibes and high fives!

J.