SkyDiving

                                      Sky Diving in Sacramento, California
This was one of the most amazing Sky Adventure I had in Sacramento, California. Even though, I did Bungy Jumping  in Nepal. (160 M), sky diving was different experience. It was 13,500 ft above the sea level. The most amazing moment was when my cameraman came right in front of me to hold hands in the sky and at some point I was  facing upwards towards the sky while falling.
This is one of the adventure sports I can't wait to do it again.

Trip to Florida

Trip to Florida

Trip to Florida was one of the most amazing experiences that I had in the East Coast. Driving from Miami on A1A Coastal Highway to Amelia, Beach was breathtaking.   Will post more soon.

Amelia Beach

Open Ocean

 

Survival skills in the wilderness – Part 1

Survival skills should be bedrocks of outdoor enthusiasts. In the wilderness, many favorable or unfavorablesituations may occur. Learning survival core principle, right mental attitude, knowledge of edible and poisonous plants, creating a shelter, making a fire, and most importantly finding water are master principle and techniques. The psychological foundation of survival is basic: remaining calm. If you find yourself in a survival mode your mind will wonder and get thousands of disoriented thoughts and feelings. If you are in this situation, stay calm and remain where you are and fight these effects no matter what and at any cost.

Observing your breath and assessing the environment will calm you down significantly. Once you remain calm, find a place which is sheltered and make a plan for survival. Objectives planning and preparation will not only lead you to a safer destination but also helps you to overcome odds, unfavorable situation, and dangers. Your main priorities are shelter, fire, and water. If you see trees, wood, and fossil fuels you will also have resources to make a shelter and fire.

But above all element, water is the most important. In a survival situation human being may live with food for several days or weeks but death is likely within day without water. Therefore, finding water is the number one priority for all survivors. But how do you find the water and what are the indicators of water, look for column of insects and ants, birds- they may gather around water not necessarily all the time, abundance of varieties of vegetation, large clumps of grass, cracks in a rock, valley floors.

If all of your efforts fail, utilizing SAS tips would be greatly helpful. Rest as much as possible, avoid smoking and drinking alcohol, stay in the shade, avoid laying on heated ground and surface, eat as little as possible, as the body uses fluids to break down food, do not talk, breath through your nose not with the mouth. Retrieve from Special Forces (survival guide, “minimizing water loss”). And once you find water it is very important to filter the water.

There are several techniques such as collecting dew by rubbing with a cotton cloth and absorbing water, digging mud and creating a reservoir, if you plan to stay in that location for a while and you have plenty of food, water and energy to survive. You may filter water through your sock; a sock filtration technique is very useful as it filters dirt and large particles or vegetation from that sample of water. And if possible avoid collecting water from still pond with foam, still odors, and bubbles in the water, and avoid drinking water that lacks green plants and vegetation as they are poisonous. Don’t even waste your survival time in filtering them.

 

  

A day Exploration with the World Explorer

“On November 29, 1998 I set out on an 11 year long journey to capture my dream, the dream of riding 221,000-kilometres around the world on my bicycle to spread the message of peace and hope for my country and for the world” Retrieved from Pushkarshah.com(Around the world in 11 years, 2010) .

Pushkar Shah, who has travelled all around the world in his bicycle in eleven years, is an outdoorsy, intelligent, foolhardy, and is a man with strong determination. Man who overcome, rain and shine, thrust and hunger, safety and shelter, and life threatening challenges on his restless perilous journey. Conversation with, Pushkar Shah a day ago, led me to believe that I was really going for a ride!! And not on any ordinary ride, this time I was the proud receiver of the honor of riding along side the legendary cyclist.

You can only imagine how happy I felt when he granted me the opportunity to ride along with him the next morning. It had been one of my many dreams until then impossible, to ride along side the outstanding biker. Hence I was both mentally and physically prepared for the challenge and for me it was to impress the great cyclist. During our conversation he had advised me to come to the Himalayan Java (Restaurant) at 7:40 am. Not wanting to give a bad impression I reached the spot at Thamel way too early, all prepaid with my bicycle. I asked myself, “am I really riding along with the world cyclist”. My doubts were over as I saw him approaching the restaurant down the street.  

We quickly headed off to out destination, Osho Tapovan (1984 M). The deep joy I felt simply riding alongside one of the world's most popular cyclist is beyond explanation. We stopped at a local bicycle shop, to check the condition of my bicycle and soon stared our journey once again. To me it looked like in no time as we arrived at the destination.

As soon as we got off the bike I got my camera ready to capture this blissful moment with the view of the jungle,sound of the waterfall, and songs of the birds welcoming us into their territory. The casual chat we had was nothing but ordinary to onlookers but to me they are precious as well as motivational. As we came back to Thamel we had our lunch and were planning on riding around the outskirts of the Kathmandu Valley the next day. Even though, we did not spend an entire day riding in fact it was only one part of the day, but still it is one of those days I’ll cherish for years to come, and look forward to the next expedition.

The Art of Living (Part 1)

It started when a friend of mine told me about one of the meditation centers in Kathmandu. At the begining, I wasn't really paying attention to what he was saying, until he said, "it was so hard that people leave". But he was explaining about all the good aspects that he learned in his first three days of meditation, such as the intensity of the focus level, concentration, noble silence, and the art of observation. 
     I started asking him questions like,where he used to live, what he used to eat, and was he allowed to go out of the center to buy stuff and so forth.Within few days I started researching about the center and found out that there's an office in the city where people register before they begin their course, which was on an outskirt of the kathmandu valley within 20 miles radius. 
     Fifteen days past, and I am walking on the street of Kathmandu, and all of sudden my eye catches a sign that says, "An art of living" Bipassana Meditation Center.I stopped and followed the sign, there I saw people waiting on a line to register for the course. Beyond the shadow of the doubt I knew, `this is it`. Soon I was waiting on a line to register as well,and after a long queue, I finally got to see a lady who was registering. She offered me list of dates the course was available and I requested her to put me on next available date. But she told me that the next available date was three days from now. I accepted and after filling out registration form I went to the neareast photo studio and took two passport size photograph which was also required by the center and soon headed to see of my friends who was waiting for me to arrive as we had plans to hike at Shivapuri hill (2224 M). 
     Next day, early in the morning I went to the photo studio and got my photograph and went to registration office. Luckily, there wasn't a line and I got my registration in no time. Once, I was done with my registration I came back to my house and started thinking about the quest for tranquility.

Lost in the Forest

I was lost in the forest of Shivapuri (National Park) Nepal. It was a full moon day during the time of Holi Festival (Festival of color) in Nepal. Instead of celebrating the festival I thought of camping in the forest of Nagi Gomba. I called few of my friends if they were interested to come along with me. Unfortunately, all of them were busy. I decided to venture the forest on my own. 
I packed my camping gears such as maps, tents, light, a khukuri (a Nepalese knife), and headed towards Shivapuri. At the entrance, an army officer stopped me and asked, where I was going, I said, “Nagi Gomba”. He asked for my ID and said momentarily, “It is really hostile up in the forest” and questioned why I was going, I replied, “I love camping in the forest, and as part of my Job at the trekking company and also being a Leo leader I am exploring the area”. I further said that I was planning to organize an Eco-Trek and it was a self exploration trip. And after few other questions, officer gave my ID back.

I started walking up in the hill for about ½ hours, and then I spotted a waterfall; I quenched my thirst, observing the beautiful sound of the forest, song of the bird with cool breeze in the air. As I turned around, I saw three army officers pointing guns at me. I surrender, was nervous and speechless. One of the officer asked, who are you? I replied, “I am a student”, and then he asked why I was here? I replied, “For camping”. He asked few other questions before he finally asked for my ID. I approached my bag where my wallet and other belongings were, at this point I was on the ground and soldiers were still pointing guns at me. I found my wallet took out my ID and gave it to the officer who was right next to me. He then handed my ID to a senior officer who inspected and gave it back to me. I was relieved and glad that I was still alive. Gradually, I regained my confidence and asked few questions about the forest, good place to camp, and within few minutes we were making casual conversation. Finally, they let me go. I was free as a bird. 

Thinking all the moments that took place with the officers, I found myself calling my own name, laughing with furor, and jumping with excitement. After couple of hours of walk in the forest, I reached Nagi-gomba (2248 M), a monastery of female Buddhist monk. I went in the monastery and saw Ani (female monk) smiling at me. 
I said, “Namaste!” she welcomed me and asked why I was there and offered me a tea. It wasn’t an ordinary tea that I was used to drink in the city. It was one of the hearty drinks that I have ever drunk in my life. While enjoying the tea, and watching the Kathmandu valley below, I asked, how far was Shiva-puri (my final destination), she replied, “About four hours walk in the forest”. She asked me why I was there, where was I going to stay, do I have enough food with me and so on. I told her that I was planning to stay at Shivapuri and stopped there to rest for a while. She warned me of danger, and told me about the incident of a young boy who was eaten by a leopard few weeks ago. My heart started pumping when she made this remark, but deep in my heart I had decided to go, and there was no turning back. I thanked her for a wonderful tea and greatest hospitality, and left the monastery.

I started walking again; each and every step took me deep in to forest, after an hour I felt my heart is pumping faster, and sense of animals nearby. I asked myself, what would you do if you face a leopard? I had no answer, at that point. I laughed, and realized that I was making myself vulnerable. I took my Khukhuri out of my bag and said to myself “I will kill it”. I started looking for a tree branches and started cutting its wedges in order to make it sharper, and use it for my self defense. I started walking deep into the forest carrying khukuri and self made weapons. Suddenly, I heard a movement. I stopped and looked around but nothing was there. I knew that there was something, as I rolled and glazed my eyes around, I spotted a deer. I thought it was a Leopard. I thank god for his wish not to encounter me with a Leopard at this point. I was nervous but alert, conscious, and determined to reach my final destination. After two hours of walk I reached, Bag-Dwari (Gateway of Tiger). 

I was even more afraid and worried. As I saw the cave type of shelters built by rocks  from the point where I was standing and to fuel the fear of fire I saw water creek that flows to the valley below. And, it also means chances of wild animals nearby. That was the only point I felt like I should have not come alone and I must immediately turn around, and RUN for life.  However, after constant battle of indecisiveness. I decided to move on and reach the Shivapuri Peak.