An Easter of Epic Proportions

Happy Easter to everyone!
This Easter will be the first that I have not been home since I was abroad, which was not too long ago considering I've only had one Easter back home in New Hampshire since 2008, but this time I will not be celebrating the holiday in Bangkok, or in Guangzhou, China, or at 4140 meters above sea level in the Himalyas. I'll be in Baltimore. Celebrating Easter (and Hanamatsuri the Buddhist holiday/Flower Festival in Japan to honor the birth of The Buddha). Today, I'll be working on my writing and photography. Documenting and reliving all of my past Easters.
Granted I miss my family and having the traditional Easter egg hunt, big dinner, and special moments back home. But this year it's more about reflection. Looking back at the year that was since my Easter 2011 and seeing such a big change in my life. Then being able to extrapolate those memories further back to the following years.
In 2010, my easter morning was spectacular. There were no eggs hidden anywhere, no Easter dinner served. It was the one of the most untraditional holidays I've ever had. And I'll never forget it.
I could barely sleep I was so excited, partially because I was having trouble breathing due to the unbelievable thin air but also because I was so excited to see what I had in store outside my window. I looked out a few time through the frosted glass to see the moonlight shining down onto the pearl-white snow of a hill outside the freezing cold hut we were sleeping in. I was wearing about six layers and still was shivering. The sun couldn't have come up faster for me and my anticipation. Finally it was time to awake and open my door to see just where I was: at the Annapurna Base Camp in the Himalaya's. After four long, grueling days of hiking to the top of this mountain, I finally got to see what it was all about. All the other hikers and myself came for this one day, for this one view. To stare down the tenth tallest mountain in the world and be surrounded by colossal giants for 360 degrees.
(I wrote about the entire Annapurna trip last year at this time, you can see it here...)

The view was incredible, the sky was piercing blue and the contrast of the snow and rock against the sun's beaming light was amazing. Early in the morning, the sky was a deep-sea blue but the sun's rays hit the mountain tops in a pinkish/orange color almost reminiscent of the Easter bunny.

13 Days of Thankfulness: A Good Meal

I'm been very fortunate in my life to have some pretty darn good eats in my day. From my mom's spectacular BBQ chicken pizza to homemade pasta with meat sauce with my dad, I've grown up with some pretty delicious meals. And just last week while in Las Vegas I got to try out chef Tom Colicchio's (of the show Top Chef) restaurant CraftSteak. Let's just say it was incredible and I was able to try a lot of new things like caviar, frise'e salad, and gold sprinkled chocolate (all separately of course). But it was a tremendous meal that made me think about how appreciative I am of a good meal.

Making homemade fettuccine at home in New Hampshire.

Over the years I have had the chance to try all different kinds of foods from around the world. I spoke at a Peace Conference last month which was mixed with a traveler's forum and one of the questions was asked, "what is the weirdest thing you've ever eaten?" I had to dig into my brain a bit to think about exactly what it could have been.

Being Uncle Mike is a Pretty Cool Title

With all of my travels and being away for so long, missing family is obviously a very hard thing to cope with. Especially when new additions to the family come and I am not there to welcome them to this beautiful earth.

Back in 2009 my sister had her first son, and my first opportunity to be Uncle Mike, but at the time I was in Bangkok, and had been there for about 9 months at that point, so I didn't even have the chance to see my sister carrying my first little nephew. Like I said, it's difficult to only see pictures and hear stories over the phone and not be a part of it all. But that is the part of the "nomadic traveler's" contract, so I lived vicariously through my family as little Logan was introduced into our family.

I had the great chance to meet him at about 4 months old for about three days when I came home for a wedding, but obviously not enough time.

Now that I am back in America, I have had the chance to see Logan grow more and more. At first I was just referred to in baby blabber as "uh oh mai". Then my sister taught him how to say his new toy she bought him; a bike. So once he could say that, I was "Uh Oh Mike". Now he can hold conversations with me, mostly just "C'mon Uncle Mike!" as he holds my hand and walks me to play soccer or play with the bouncy ball-- which is a pretty awesome feeling.

As of last week, I can officially say I have a niece, as my other sister just had her first child, Ayla! And I thought since I got my first chance to see her via Skype just the other day, I would write a little post about how cool it is to be an Uncle and to see my niece and nephews firsthand (or somewhat so) grow up.

I have been photographing Logan a lot lately and I have thousands of photos of him already, but these recent ones from Easter have really made me happy, especially because he is photogenic like his "uh oh Mike". So now he is somewhat of my little model, especially since he's got piercingly deep, ocean-blue eyes like his mom and dad.

Maybe I will be able to teach Logan how to sing this song in tribute to Thailand...

Or I can try to have Ayla properly "wai" when someone says "sawa-dee ka" to her...

But enjoy these photos of my little "Logo" from Easter and check out the rest of my pictures from Easter on my site:

Logan Michael = cool guy.

Perfect

You caught me doing something naughty, I can tell!

Oh hey!

Just driving the tractor like a big boy.

One of my favorites with that smile!

สุขสันต์วันสงกรานต์ Happy Songkran! ~Travelog Thursday

Songkran mayhem in Chiang Mai.

In an effort to shorten up the writing on my Travelog Thursday, this week I will just give a brief description the special and famous three-day holiday in Thailand called Songkran. It is the Thai New Year celebration and kicked off every April 13th and ends April 15th through all of the regions of Thailand.

Wat Chedimon celebrating Songkran which bases off of the religious holiday of cleaning the temple and Buddha statues.

It is the country's most popular and fun holiday, as the entire country takes the three days to rejuvenate and start a new year on a fresh foot. Such a fresh foot that all of the harmful things we carry with us each day are to be literally washed away with chalk powder and water. A cleansing of the soul in some sorts. So for the three days, the country holds what could be best described as a massive, country-wide waterfight. Several other countries celebrate similar holidays or traditions with water, but Thailand is known for this incredible celebration. Everyone is a target to splash water on, not out of revenge or spite or anger, but because it is to give you good luck and wash all of the bad things in your life away. So when that stranger dumps a bucket of ice water over your head, they really are doing it out of celebration of the new year, AND they are actually helping you cool down as mid-April is the hottest time of the year in Thailand.

Phantom splashes surprise this young girl.

This songtaew (local taxi truck) drove by me and splashed me as it pulled around the corner. When I looked up, I saw a bunch of smiling monks looking back at me with suspecting smiles. That was a really beautiful experience, being involved in the holiday with even the monks finding a little fun in the water festival.