leaving Kauai

I haven't been online since leaving Thailand more than two weeks ago, simply because I didn't have handy internet access. I'm now using a friend's old Mac powerbook that has wi-fi. It's too old for me to be able to read my email messages (although I think it just needs an updated browser, but it's on OS 8.6 which is pretty old), but it seems that it's going to at least let me post a new blog message.

I'm currently in Hanalei (home of Puff the Magic Dragon) on the north shore of Kauai, Hawaii, and fly back to California tomorrow (Monday) morning. I've had a good two-and-a-half weeks on Kauai, including a week on the Na Pali Coast, although I admit I'm a bit bored of beaches at this point and ready for a change and a new focus. But this has certainly been a good transition place from the hecticness of Asia, and I've met some old friends here as well as made a few new ones. The guy who's laptop this is I met my first time to the Kalalau Valley in winter of 1997. He hasn't been living on Kauai the whole time since then, but has been here the last few years.

So, I first arrived here on April 24th (my 5th visit to Kauai, including when I was here last Sept./Oct.), spent two days camped on a friend's land, then hiked right away out to the Kalalau Valley. I made it the whole harrowing 11 miles in one day this time, with a week's worth of food on my back (but not much in the way of clothing, just one pair of shorts, one t-shirt, a sarong and the sandals on my feet). But not breaking it up into two days was a bit of a mistake, because by the time I got out there I was limping and both of my legs were pretty sore and hurting. In the morning I discovered that it was a little worse than that, as although one leg had gotten better overnight, the other hadn't and was feeling pretty bad. (Afterwards someone suggested that it might have been the result of tendonitis, since I'd previously had the exact same problem in the same place, but on my other leg.)

I tried to take it pretty easy while I was out there, but of course it gets pretty boring not walking around much, so even just going up and down the long beach and to a few other nearby places was still aggravating it. By the time a week was gone I was feeling pretty stressed about trying to hike out, because I wasn't feeling confident enough that my leg would be okay without leaving me limping down the trail most of the way, and maybe even leave me unable to continue. Fortunately though, a couple of guys came along with boats who stopped at the beach for a little while, and they agreed to give me a lift back to Ke'e Beach, which is where the start of the trail is. So that was a huge relief...especially when I was walking around later that same day back in town, and my leg was hurting pretty bad just walking on flat pavement. So that was pretty damn lucky that I managed to get that boat ride.

The past week I've just been camping a few places on the island; the first few days at a secluded beach, the past 5 days at an official campground by the beach, and then tonight I'll stay back at my friend Jasmine's land, where I've had a bag of my things stored. I've just been exploring various beaches basically, doing lots of swimming as well as yoga, and getting my leg back in good shape, which it is now. Also I hung out with assorted friends, and went to a party down on the beach complete with a DJ. They had to hike everything down to this out-of-the-way, little-known beach (which is where I camped for three days after the party) including a generator to power everything.

So it's been good revisiting Hawaii, but I'm ready to go back to the mainland, as they say here, and get on with things. My aunt Chris will be picking me up at the airport and then taking me to her house near Sonora, in the general vicinity of Yosemite, where I'll be working for her for a week or two. Then, I'll be visiting my mom in Ukiah, in northern Calif., and then from there I'll most likely be headed back up to Portland, to work my old job perhaps just for a few weeks. Then the summer is pretty much wide open at this point, although I have a number of options in mind, including visiting my brother and sister-in-law in Utah, and going to the Rainbow Gathering. Well I should probably wrap this up for now, but I'll be back in internet range and checking most likely on a daily basis, once I get to my aunt Chris' house. But it's definitely been an amazing 8-month journey here to Hawaii, Thailand, India and Nepal, and I've got the pictures to prove it. So I'll post some more photos as soon as I get the chance......

In the meantime I'll still be posting messages here occasionally, since it could still be an interesting summer, although it certainly won't compare to the past 8 months. But my travel bug has definitely been satiated for a while, so I won't be trying to top this trip, for a while at least. But I'll admit I do have a list of other places I'd love to go to at some point, including Australia and New Zealand, Fiji, Indonesia, the Phillipines, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia, Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Iceland, just to name a few (or rather quite a few). But that won't be for a while. So stay tuned and feel free to check back here every once in a while for my current whereabouts, plus any new info in the writing department, as there will be some new developments upcoming...