Trekking 2.0

After my first trek with the Chennai Trekking club left me very dehydrated and with some strange jungle rash, it took me several months to muster the courage to follow Peter (a.k.a. Belgium Crazy Man) into the wild. So an "easy to moderate" expat trek sounded like a nice weekend out.

We hiked for two days and spent the night underneath the starry skies. At 800 meters (2400 feet), I fell asleep outside my sleeping bag and actually woke up cold. What a great feeling! There were not even any bugs to suck my blood while I slept. We swam in beautiful pools and shouted battle cries at nature (still not sure why).

Upon finally returning to our cars... no wait... I mean finally returning to a village 6 km away from our cars, Peter borrowed the "village bike" to go and get his car, returning 40 minutes later to get the other drivers. (Seriously, there was only one bike in the village.) After another 25 minutes or so, everyone piled into the vehicles to go get the last remaining vehicle. Can we please go home now?! 

We reached Chennai around 2am and I finally got back to my docile around 3am. Good sleeping. I woke up the next morning and felt like an old man with back stiffness and soar legs again, which makes me wonder what old people feel like after exercising. 

Year of the Cobra

 

I am not sure whether Kevin chose to give me the Cobra puzzle for Christmas because I am in the land of Cobra's or because I bite people like Cobra's and poison them. Or maybe it was because I am really good at crawling on my belly and/or tricking women to eat fruit. In any case, I am glad he did. Despite the fact that it took me far far too long, I enjoyed thinking of home when I did it. The Cobra puzzle was the second-best Christmas present I received this year. The first being the one I bought myself, a place ticket to Paris.

This Cobra puzzle symbolizes people overcoming their fears and resolving to continue the good fight. It represents freedom and liberty, hope and justice, and light blue with a little bit of yellow. That is why this year shall forever be known as "The Year of the Cobra". Join Me. Be A Real American Hero!