Welcome to my Nepal Story, a collection of blog posts written during my time living in and traveling Nepal during the summer of ’19. Together, the posts form a nice narrative and a complete story. This series could form a book, and one day, it just might. 🙂 Until then, I want to share it with you for free. If you do enjoy the journey, I’d love to hear your feedback.

Before we get right into it, here’s a short outline of the reading experience:

Part I: Pokhara — Details my experience in Pokhara spent living with and learning from a wise spiritual teacher.

Chapter 1 — The Story Begins (this is the post you’re reading right now!)
Chapter 2 — Leaving Home…
Chapter 3 — The Man, His Guide & The Wise Woman
Chapter 4 — The Woman in Pokhara
Chapter 5 — The Three Teachers
Chapter 6 — Ulleri Village & The Hills that Divide Us

Part II: Himalayas — Chronicles my fourteen-day long-distance trek through the Himalayas, guided by a Tibetan monk.

Chapter 1 — Beginning.
Chapter 2 — Middle.
Chapter 3 — End.

This trip was a big leap for me. I learned a lot about myself, the culture, and who I want to be in the world. I hope it inspires you. Without further adieu, please enjoy my stories and lessons learned from the land of Nepal.

CHAPTER ONE

THE STORY BEGINS…

For those of you who might not know yet, I’m excited to announce I’m heading to Nepal this Tuesday (April 23rd, 2019)!

The plane departs the same day as the day I started the Pacific Crest Trail four years ago, symbolic timing made more auspicious by the friend who will be joining me…

Bradley!

And they say history repeats itself… Wish me luck. 🙂

If you don’t know who Bradley is, well… you’re about to! Previous adventures with Bradley include ten-day meditation retreats and hiking across the country. We’ve battled mental and physical hardships, climbed mountains and met the most amazing people on the planet. I eventually wrote a book about our trail experience. But the past is the past and a new journey awaits! So let’s get to it…

Here’s the plan so far: Nepal for two or three months. We fly into Kathmandu, the capital city, where Bradley apparently knows a wise woman who is allowing us space in her home to sleep and sit. Have I met her? No, I haven’t. But she sounds nice, I’m hoping she’s real and I’m crossing my fingers she has a backyard. If everything goes according to plan, we’ll meditate there for 30 days. Maybe longer. Who knows. Hopefully, I survive my own mind. Hopefully, I survive Bradley. Again, still not 100% sure this plan will even work out but I’m holding out hope. You should too… for both of our sakes. 🙂 Stay tuned.

Eventually, after the sitting is complete (we’ll know it when we know, I guess?), we plan on trekking the Annapurna Circuit, which is ~145 miles of hiking through the Himalayas. It’s a massive mountain range that peaks at 17K feet, so I’m pretty stoked for the sights and feels. Maybe we can make our way up to the Everest Base Camp. If I’m not already documenting the journey by then, I’ll begin doing so more thoroughly. I’m unsure what creative mediums will manifest at that moment but I imagine blog posts, videos and podcast episodes are all worthy options. I hope you find them useful, insightful and entertaining.

Our time in Nepal lasts until July when we’ll embark on yet another journey, this time to the Land Down Under, or as the locals call it, ‘Straya! Here, we have debts to settle, support to give and kangaroos to box. We’ll take root by the beach in the midst of a cold winter season and begin planning what I can only imagine will be a grand adventure of meditation, hiking and service. Again… stay tuned. No idea what this will be but we’ll likely need your help.

Two final points about the trek before we get to the gear:

First, you might be wondering why I’m doing this. Great question, thank you. For now, I’ll say that I’m wanting to step out of my comfort zone, face my mental and physical habit-patterns, embrace the moment, open up, grow, and have some fun doing it! When I think about Nepal, I think about the adage: wherever I go, there I am. Flying across the world to take steps on an inward path isn’t necessary but it happened to align for us. I hope that traveling allows me to shed the patterns that aren’t serving me, invites me to see the beauty in the patterns that are, and helps me to create space inside myself for new patterns to emerge. During this time, I hope to inspire you to move inward, reflect, and move outward to pursue your own version of happiness. Life’s too short to settle for anything less.

I’ve also been asked a few times if I plan to write a book about this whole thing. The answer is no, no I do not. But then again, who knows. I’m not going to put the pressure on myself and simply enjoy the moment. I imagine one day this experience might exist as a few chapters of a longer story. But until then, I’m excited to bring you along with us on this journey and share the stories, lessons learned and snapshots along the way. If you aren’t already, you can follow the blog by subscribing below (it’s my personal email, too, so feel free to reach out whenever) and I’ll keep you apprised:

You’ll also be happy to know that Bradley has launched a blog of his own and is now on social media! I have a feeling that this go-around, you’ll want to hear his perspective too. 🙂 Subscribe to his blog, check out his stuff, support him, and make your way back here whenever you’re ready. Here’s a link to Bradley’s Gear post: Vipassannapurna. I’ll post it again at the end so you don’t have to scroll back up.

Wonderful. Now onto the nitty-gritty…

*David cutting in here: If you don’t care to read what I brought to Nepal, you can go ahead and read Chapter 2 of the journey by clicking the image below, or here.