Joe's Roadtrip

Although my roadtrip ended in September, I continued traveling for another month.  I met up with a friend in Hong Kong for a couple hours, spent two weeks in Nepal, and then visited Japan for 10 days before returning home to the U.S.

If you’ve followed the blog before, you’ll know the Nepal trip came about from a serendipitous meeting with a Buddhist monk while visiting Taiwan.  If you’d like to read the story about that meeting you can take a look here.  One morning walk back in May eventually led to visiting the home of the tallest mountain in the world, and the birthplace of Buddha.  And how grateful I am for that chance run-in with Lucky Monk.  Nepal is a land of superlatives, and it was an eye-opening experience seeing the country.  I witnessed true poverty…a nation struggling to develop, and at the same time I met the most hospitable people in the world.  I have been truly touched by my visit to Nepal, and I know I will return someday.

My trip to Nepal has positively affected me and I started a project with the aim of giving back. My project: raising money for a small Nepali village primary school.  If this sounds like something worthwhile to you, please read my story and consider making a contribution on my site:

http://www.giveforward.com/namaste-nepal

Take a look at my video slideshow below, and you might understand why I was so moved by this visit to the other side of the world.

Music credit goes to the musician Sagarmatha and his song “Sagarmatha.” (Sagarmatha is the Nepali name for Mt. Everest)