Jacoby asks how far you live from where you were born? So I thought that I would take a look. It turns out that I’m currently 7,191 miles (11,572 km) from where I was born. That distance has varied over the years from just round the corner, to now halfway round the world. None of this was expected, so while I see no change anytime soon, who knows?

How far are you?

The Story Behind the Photograph: Fellow Travelers in Northern Pakistan

A group of western backpackers standing talking at the Pakistan border post, high in the dry mountains, a few trees and a red vehicle stand near by.
Waiting at the border crossing

I was going through some more slides of my travels last night and this one has stuck with me through the day. Taken in July 1989, I recognized most of the faces, as well as the nationalities of some of those standing there, but could not put names to them. I found myself wondering where they are now? What happened to them after we parted ways on our respective travels?

The photo was taken in Sust, the border post on the Pakistan side of the Karakoram Highway. I had arrived there the day before, too late to clear customs and immigration and catch the bus onto Xinjang Provence in China. The drive up from Sust, which is already 2,800 meters (9,186 feet) above sea level, to the Kunjerab Pass at 4,693 meters (15,397 feet) takes a few hours from my memory, and I think that there was only one bus a day. Once up to the pass there was another hour or so to the Chinese border post, where everyone spent the night before driving onto Kashgar the next day. But I’ll save that story for another post.

So this mixture of backpackers from around the world found themselves in Sust for the night. I think that this photo was taken either while we were waiting for customs and immigration to open - a couple of tables sitting outside, again from my memory - or we had passed through them and we were waiting for the bus.

When I come across images like this with people in, whether people who I’ve interacted with or simply people who have made it into a photo that I took, I wonder what has happened to them in the intervening years? Where did their life take them?

For a few days I traveled with some of those in this group, and then our paths forked as we headed off on our separate ways. I would then travel alone for a short time until after a few days I’d meet up with someone else. I wonder what life brought this group of travelers?

🌞 Hey, no rain today. That’s a first for a while.

I started week four of the Watch to 5K program today and that meant longer run intervals. I can say with a fair degree of certainty that if it wasn’t for the preceding weeks, today would have been impossible…or at least very difficult. I covered a total distance of 3.43km, and within that 2.97km was running. The first five minute run interval I was 0.04km short of running 1km.

As I ran I was reflecting on how I was running forty years ago. I was a cross country runner when I was in high school, though I didn’t train out of season. I stopped running altogether when I went to college. Since then I have had no formal exercise regime. I had an informal one during my years living in Portland, OR. I bicycled everywhere, and if I didn’t cycle, I would walk.

Still I can’t be hard on myself. I am pleased that I am sticking with this program and seeing the results of my efforts.

I was taken to an event last night launching an event that I had no idea was in the works. Epic Swim Maui, a planned swim this summer - sometime between the end of the July and mid August - around the island of Maui. The swimmers, some of the world’s best open ocean swimmers, will swim in relay around Maui. In doing so they will have to navigate some of the most powerful ocean that there is. They will have to deal with strong currents, huge larva cliffs, and beneath the ocean’s surface, sharks.

The swim is being undertaken along with scientific research as to the state of the oceans, how the reefs are holding up with global warming, and the effects on the water following the Lahaina wild fire which took place right on the ocean’s front door.

Huge respect for those who will be swimming this summer. This circumnavigation of Maui, undertaken solely by the human body, has never been attempted before.

Today hasn’t quite gone to plan due to a small plastic container that my wife uses to keep vitamins in being hidden at the back of the oven.

She was baking a couple of apple pies for dinner tonight with friends, when the kitchen filled with smoke. Out came the barely cooked pies along with the oven shelves, and there at the back of the oven was the melted remains of the container and a few vitamins. I’m not sure where the container had been sitting as bits of it had also dripped onto various other shelves of the oven. We can only think that one of grandkids hid it in there for a joke. They are away skiing right now and so we will probably never know.

Anyway, I have spent most of the day scraping and rubbing dried melted plastic off the shelves and fittings of the oven. Then I heated up the oven to a high heat to melt the main congealed lump that was sitting on the oven floor, so that I could first scrape it off with a trowel and then use wet iron wool to wipe off the remainder.

And now it is late afternoon…

Well I am finally ready to move onto week four of the Watch to 5K program. Because of illness and various other road blocks, I have been redoing weeks two and three, or parts thereof in order to get back into the program after a period of not running. Yesterday saw me reach the end of week three (again), and so now I can move on.

Yesterday’s run had the added bonus of having the accompaniment of the sound of bagpipes. Someone was playing them in the park where I ran. However, it was not an easy run (how often have I said that?). With the increase in run times with each progressive week, I look forward to week four with some trepidation. I must remind myself to go steady, that I’m not out to beat any records and that I am the only one setting the standards. If I set them too high, I suffer and the running no longer becomes fun.

Onwards and upwards…🏃‍♂️

🌤️ Sun, blue sky and scattered clouds this morning. The world below can now dry out.

🌧️ Well the sun’s appearance this morning was brief and short lived. Today it has rained and rained and rained. That’s two days now of steady drizzle interspersed with the occasional downpour. More tomorrow or a change?

Maui Strong

A rallying call since the devastating fires here on Maui last year has become “Maui Strong”. The words have lended themselves to multiple funds to help raise financial help, material supplies and volunteering possibilities, all for the immediate and long-term recovery needs of those effected by the fires. These include,

While walking around China Town in Honolulu last weekend I saw this large image painted onto a boarded up building. The support runs through the islands.

A big board across the front of a building, painted blue with the words Maui Strong painted in big letter along with a map of Maui

🌥️ “Here comes the sun,…” 🎶 Hopefully it will continue to make an appearance through the day, and dry things out. That’s a plus of living here in Hawaii. If it rains, once the sun is out the everything dries out pretty quickly.

😶‍🌫️ The last twenty four hours have been overcast and seen more rain than I was expecting from the forecast. Low cloud, mist in places, localized flooding - driving home last night was no fun. And it looks as though we have woken up to more this morning.

I love this overcast, wet weather. I have the French windows open so that I can listen to the sound of the falling rain, and as it trickles down the down pipe from the gutters.

A heavily overcast sky, rain falling, a herbaceous border with a lawn in the foreground. On the lawn is a wheelbarrow with plants in it.

Cheeky Devil in China Town, Honolulu.

A sticker on a pipe depicting a walking green devil with black shoes on, small white wings, a pointy tail, a smiley face with horns on top, and above him a halo

There is a bird singing its heart out as I sit here and drink my early morning coffee. I wish I knew what species it is. The bird’s song is close to a British Song Thrush. Sadly I still don’t recognize all the bird calls here in Hawaii. For that matter I don’t know them all in Britain, but I am a lot more familiar with them there.

The Story Behind the Photograph: In Bodhgaya (Part 1)

A lot happened during my short time in Bodhgaya, and so I am spreading this section of the travels over a couple of posts.

Arriving into Bodhgaya. In the distance the Mahabodhi Temple rises up above trees. Fields and dusty open ground in the foreground. A few people walking on a single track road through the center of the image.
Arriving into Bodhgaya with the top of the Mahabodhi Temple peeking above trees

One of the first things that we (myself and Ray, an American who I had met on the road and was currently traveling with) noticed on arrival in Bodhgaya was the number of people who walking around with patches over one eye. Clean white patches. It wasn’t just one or two, there were a lot of people with patches. There were crowds queuing for food and others just hanging around, waiting for something, but at that stage, I knew not what?

A group of people in white clothing walking in a line near some makeshift structures and a large tree, with greenery in the foreground.
A group of people walking past some covered, makeshift stalls

Once we were settled in our hotel, I went off for a wander around by myself. I stopped in a restaurant for something to eat and then went to take a look behind the Tibetan monastery. Each Buddhist nation has a monastery in Bodhgaya. Behind the Tibetan monastery there was a building which appeared to offer rooms for the lay Tibetans and other hill peoples. I felt a visceral buzz to be around these mountain people again, following my time trekking in Nepal.

A crowd of people, many wearing traditional Indian clothing, gathered outside a white two-story building with balconies where more individuals are standing or sitting. Some are queuing toward a tent, suggesting a possible event or distribution taking place. The ground is dusty
Crowds gathering in front of a building housing Tibetan people

I found out that a wealthy Indian businessman or men had paid for eye operations to be performed here in Bodhgaya. Apparently ten doctors were performing five to six hundred operations a day.That seems like a lot, but that is what I was told. His Holiness the Dalai Lama had offered the temple which was built for the Kalachakra Initiation in 1985 as an operating theatre for the doctors. Masses of tent like structures made up of bamboo frames covered by cloth surrounded the temple. The scene reminded me of what I had seen of refugee camps on television.

In front of the home for lay Tibetans were people waiting for food or to be operated on. I sat at a distance and as I started to blend into the background, took some pictures of the waiting people, and the food preparation.

A group of people, mostly women in colorful traditional clothing, gathered in a tight crowd with a couple of children and a small dog visible in the foreground.
Crowds gathering

A hot cauldron being stirred while men stand around in a large area covered demarcated with a bamboo frame, some covered
Food preparation

I started walking back to the hotel, passing a temporary and colourful archway with Tibetan people gathered around. I stopped to watch what was going on, not really wanting to leave. One monk had a sizable video camera on his shoulder. I got talking to a man from Darjeeling, Tamsin, who told me that the people gathered here worked in the handicraft stalls around Bodhgaya. They had closed up shop for a week in celebration of His Holiness the Dalai Lama having just been awarded the Noble Peace Prize.

Monk with camera with Tibetan and Indian people standing around
Monk with video camera

Tamsin told me that they were all off to dance and invited me along. I followed everyone to a field just behind the Mahabodhi Temple which is built on the sight commemorating where Buddha attained Enlightenment. I just appeared to be accepted. No questions. I just joined them.

On reaching the field a circle was formed, half with the women linking arms together and the other half the men together. Singing started, dancing as well - stamping of the feet while slowly moving backwards and forwards. While I had no idea what was being sung, I didn’t and don’t speak Tibetan, there was something deeply familiar to me about what I was joining in with. I was familiar with the moves. I was not one of these people but I felt at home around them and very comfortable. The joy of this crowd of people was infectious. I was so happy. I wrote in my journal,

I sat down to watch the other dances. We got together for a group video shot. Tamsin took a photo of me, I one of him, a couple of Tibetans jumped. Everyone was smiling/laughing, just so happy. Writing this I wish that it was happening now. A woman started started singing, competing with some far off speaker. People listened and then joined in then clapped, laughed, smiled.

I stayed there until dusk. I had to get back to the hotel and look for Ray. What a day it had been. When I left home a little over four months ago I had little idea really of what the reason was behind my trip. There was a pull to see Central Asia and the Himalayas, I wanted to set off on this journey, but if you had asked me to explain the “Why?" of the trip, I don’t believe that I could have named it. Now I was starting to feel as though I was coming home ‌(this I write on the back of a few other experiences that I had had earlier on in my travels, while in China, Tibet and Nepal). The sense of uncertainty of direction was going, replaced by focus and clarity. A murky clarity, but it was there.

I went to bed that night reflecting on how today had turned out. I was happy and looking forward to what would happen next. Tomorrow was the blessing of the new Buddha statue at the Japanese temple by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Me with Tibetan people in a field and the Mahabodhi Temple behind
Me with the Tibetans after dancing

Well the prep wasn’t too much fun yesterday, but the friendly doctors and nurses this morning made my start of the day colonoscopy so much more easier. Much gratitude from me to them for their work today. I’m taking it easy for the rest of the day as I slept little last night, and I’m feeling a little spacey from the fasting yesterday…and maybe the anesthesia as well?

A Little Bit of Magic in the Air

Maui has so many microclimates, and with that the weather can vary in a very short space of time. Yesterday from what I could see most of the island was covered in cloud. Where I live there was a lot of wind, but I had to run Upcountry and there the air was very different. It was still, so still. Even the landscape felt still. Being March there was a little chill in the air as well. These conditions, along with the distant views available Upcountry, brought a little magic to the surroundings.

For a while I could feel the presence of the little corner of South Wales where I lived before moving to the US.

I lived in the same area for just shy of twenty years, a small rural village at the end of four miles of country roads. It was very quiet there, few distractions. Radio was my only source of media entertainment. I had no television and the internet (dialup) only arrived a few years before I left. I spent a lot of time outside experiencing the elements. I felt as though I became very intimate with that landscape. It became very familiar to me. With time, through living there and the lack of distractions, my mind quietened down and started to recognize subtleties in environment, the magic in the air. The place became special to me, truly home.

Over two decades later I still remember that corner of South Wales fondly. It has a place in my heart. Yesterday I was transported back there.

An overcast day with a broad mountain top visible above low clouds. Fields and trees extend to the middle distance. In the foreground is a hedge with some purple and red flowers in it.
Haleakala peeks above an overcast sky

Currently listening to, Somewhere. Nowhere. by Kupla on Apple Music.

Here’s the Songwhip link.

Album cover for Somewhere. Nowhere. by Kupla. A drawing of someone sitting on a rocky outcrop by a fire, a deer grazing nearby, the sunsets on the horizon