Neurodiversions

22/11/2022

On the way back from Los Algodones, stopped by Slab City, CA to check out some really cool artwork.

Photos are from "East Jesus" and "Salvation Mountain"

Enjoy!

12/08/2022

23/07/2022

16/07/2022

Oh snap 😳

credit: memes.travel

14/07/2022

This app tells me I've visited 13.8% of the world's countries.

07/06/2022

This was a great read.

I definitely agree that it's environmental.

I'm definitely capable of being social in the right situation. I've always thought that I'm an extrovert *when the vibe is right*.

When the vibe is loud and nasty, I don't really know what to do and just dissociate into my own world.

06/06/2022

🎵 it's yesterday once more 🎵

Having this song play every time I left and came back home became part of the experience of staying in Bahria Town

03/06/2022

Dental Tourism in Pakistan.

Edit: forgot the before and Afters of my teeth, they're in the comments. Be warned the before pics are a bit gnarly.

So years of dental neglect, pathological demand avoidance and the occasional bout of depression took their toll on my teeth over the years. Along with too much soda, smoking, and general poor care on my part.

I started my dental journey in Mexico last year after a toothache that started on my 31st birthday.

I realized that I really needed to go somewhere very affordable and stay for a few weeks. I considered several countries and ultimately settled on Pakistan.

My clinic was Dentaris creating beautiful smile . I was connected with Dr.Hania by a friend from a Facebook group and sent over my x-rays and treatment plan that was drawn up by a local clinic here in Whittier.

The price was perfect at $675 ($875 with zirconia crowns).

Compared to $17,000 here in the states and $4000 in Mexico

I arrived and was in the dental chair that same evening, they took a look and sent me the next day to get Panoramic X-rays at a separate place that only does dental X-rays. This cost about $7

They were able to save the majority of my teeth with just fillings, it turns out that I only needed 3 crowns and 1 root canal. I lost count of how many fillings they did, some teeth had multiple surfaces that required attention.

The level of precision they had with the Novocaine was amazing, they really managed to only numb the select teeth they were working on. Which I appreciated very much as I dislike the drooling/inability to speak when they use a ton.

They pulled my wisdom teeth on the first 2 visits, I expected this to be much worse but it wasn't that bad. No pain to speak of, the worst part is the cracking sound when they pull it.

Recovery wasn't bad, no swelling, very little pain, hardest part was not eating anything but cold soft foods.

After that I had to wait a few days to start the fillings, root canal and crown placements. They split this up into several visits to keep me as comfortable as possible.

Halfways through I took a break to go do some actual tourism, I was connected with a wonderful tour agency and went to spend 3 nights in Swat Valley which was beautiful and left me wanting to come back to see more of the northern areas of Pakistan.

Everyone that worked on my teeth had such great skill, the pain was really kept to a minimum, they made sure I was comfortable the entire time.

Outside of dental work, Dr. Hania was very helpful, she invited me for lunch with some of her family, helped me to find souvenirs, ordered food for me, and connected me with a wonderful tour agency.

Overall I'm very happy with the results, everything feels much better, eating is easier without broken teeth. I plan to heed every bit of advice that was given to me to maintain this level of dental health.

I can't speak highly enough of Dr.Gulzaib, Dr.Romessa and Dr. Hania who all went out of their way to ensure that I had not just a great dental experience, but also a wonderful trip to Pakistan.

Feel free to ask me anything about Dental Tourism in Pakistan and I'll do my best to answer 😊

22/05/2022

My "mishandled" bag was delivered at 3am to the house. Although it shouldn't have been left behind in the first place, I suppose that's the best service I could have hoped for.

21/05/2022

Final week in Pakistan
Part one

So the last week of the trip was incredibly fast paced! Between finishing up the dental work,the tour to Swat Valley and meeting with friends I’d met along the way, I barely had a moment to even process everything let alone make any posts.

Now that I’m back home and my sleep schedule still is flip-flopped it seems that 4AM is as good of a time as any to post some photos. There will be some videos as well, but FB doesn’t allow videos and photos in the same post.

I’ve never really taken an organized tour like this, so I wasn’t sure what to expect completely. I met up with my tour operators at a very busy bus terminal in Lahore at approximately 10PM. Everything is included in the tour like food,hotels,jeep ride,etc.

The trip from Lahore to Swat Valley is approximately a 14 hour bus ride. We stopped at about 2AM for Chai and a snack at the Mian Gee truck stop, which is actually a pretty nice place. Great food and chai for sure. After this, we traveled onwards for Swat.

Arriving in Swat we made a quick stop by a resort hotel where we each got a room to freshen up in, they served us breakfast. This was the first stop that I got to chat with some of my fellow tour-mates and the owner of the resort.

Next stop was the Malam Jabba ski resort, no snow at this time of the year but apparently it draws people from all over the world in the winter. We did some hiking around the area, rode the chairlift to the top and back and had some coffee at “Gloria Jean’s”.

Once reaching Kalam we checked into the Eagles Nest hotel, there wasn’t enough room for everyone so some of us were transferred to their newly built/slightly unfinished “Cottage”. The cottage was located at one of the highest points in Kalam. Completely non-commercial area surrounded by houses,goats,cows,chickens…

Upon waking we had breakfast and took off in 4x4 Land Cruisers for Mahodand Lake. The drive was bumpy and beautiful. Our driver Rehman expertly navigated the rough road. It was approximately a 2 hour trip each way to the lake. The journey there was as interesting as the destination.

Arriving at the lake there are lots of families and people there enjoying the area. Tons of food stands and vendors to get a snack from, live rainbow trout that you can order to have cooked, bbq kebabs and all sorts of other deliciousness.

We took refuge from the cold wind to enjoy our food. They have canvas tents with UN and other countries aid organizations. They are surprisingly warm and comfy.

Thanks to my tour guide and others that spoke English I was able to hang out with the 4x4 drivers and have some conversation with them. Everyone was definitely very curious about me as a solo traveler from the USA.

After arriving back from the lake I went shopping in Kalam with my new friends, They helped me to get the best prices and pick good gifts for people back home. Their negotiation skills were amazing!

We returned to the Eagles Nest for BBQ and then headed off into the night for a 2nd time. Shopping and snacking a bit more, They insisted I try Paan Rasna, which I didn’t enjoy but glad to have had the experience! Eventually ending our night with Chai and Sh**ha we decided it would be a good time to head back at approximately 2:45am.

The issue here is, There are no cars for hire in Kalam at this time. We asked around and our first suggestion was to check with a 4x4 guy that was in his car… We walk to the car and he’s in there.. But snoring! My friends knocked on the window and tried to wake the guy up to no avail. So after talking to a few other businesses that were open, lengthy negotiations in Urdu that seemed to go in circles, We finally got a ride from a guy that doesn’t look old enough to drive.

The next morning it was time to go back, the drive back was a little longer because the AC had gone out on the bus, which meant we were stopping for water,ice cream and fruit fairly often. We made a quick stop in Islamabad to see if it could be an easy fix. While they took the bus to the mechanic the tour guide let us off at Faysal Mosque.

I was given instructions to stick with Hasnat and his friend. We tried some interesting foods around the mosque like “fried yogurt with spicy water” and “lemon soda” which was also a bit salty and spicy.

Faysal Mosque was beautiful, a very nice unexpected addition to our trip. We did a quick tour around, went to wash our face/drink the water, and then it was time to head back to the bus which still had no AC, as there was not enough time for the repairs needed.

Arriving back at Lahore around 1:22am I realized that the WiFi device provided by my apartment had had its month of service run out and I had no way to reach anyone, request a ride or anything. Was able to have a local person hotspot me so I could request the ride and had to sort out the internet in the morning. Luckily the bill wasn’t too much so I just paid it at the mobile shop in the morning, As the internet is kind of essential for getting around. Especially in Bahria Town as they do not have regular taxis in this area.

Upon returning it was time to start up the daily dental appointments before I returned home. I was invited to a homemade biryani lunch with Dr.Hania and her sister and Dinner with my tour guide and his friends at their flat as well.

I will be making another post focusing on the dental part of this trip, I’m still awaiting my pictures with the office staff to be sent over. They also had me make a video review of my experience that they will be using to promote more dental tourism to Pakistan.

20/05/2022

Made it home, but my luggage didn't make it. 😩
It seems that the connection in Jeddah was too tight and some luggage didn't get transferred. They said I should have it by Sunday.

The last week has been so busy, finishing up with the dental work and the tour to Swat,Kalam & Malam Jabba.

The tour to the mountains was awesome and I'll be posting the videos, pics and stories.

10/05/2022

This drink has Ron Burgundy vibes.

09/05/2022

Last night I went back to Lahore for dinner and to catch the Dancing Fountain show(quite impressive).

The Greater Iqbal park is without a doubt the nicest park that I have been to anywhere in the world. It was packed with all sorts of people, family, friends, kids playing.

The park is home to several attractions, like the Minar-e-pakistan, An area for boat rides, the tombs of Allama Iqbal and Hafeez Jalandhari, the dancing fountains mentioned above and more.

All throughout the park there are vendors with snacks, drinks, ice cream. You definitely don't have to look far if you're hungry or thirsty.

Afterwards per the suggestion of my dentist I ate at Haveli, which is located next to the Fort and Badshahi mosque. They offer a lovely rooftop dining experience with great views.

07/05/2022

Fun Fact: Here at the lovely Rizco Heights apartments, you get to hear "Yesterday no more" by The Carpenters every time you come or go.

I'm only on the second floor though, so I get "When I was young, I would listen to the radio. Waitin' *Door opening*"

07/05/2022

Morning trip to Anarkali Bazaar.

Got up and took an Uber to Anarkali food street this morning, arriving just as the first stands were starting to open up.

The plan was to eat food and look for an extra pair of shoes for my trip up north in a few days. The food was easy!

The first thing I was drawn to was the pictured Samosa. Which is already one of my favorite foods to eat back home. Here it's 10x better. Perfectly spiced and fluffy soft potatoes inside. The bar has certainly been raised!

After eating, it was time to find a drink. Luckily wherever there's food there's various drink vendors. Chai, Basil seed drinks(not sure the name), lemonade, fresh juice vendors are everywhere.

Shopping at the bazaar was not as fruitful. There's some system of organization, but only the locals know it. Trying to navigate this place on my own is a daunting task.

I would've taken more pictures, but my phone started to pop up with overheating warnings, so I turned it off until it was time to leave.

I'm definitely looking forward to visiting more sights in Lahore, I will definitely go back to the food street for dinner and enjoy a less sun-baked experience.

Pictured Samosa: $0.21

06/05/2022

Incoming Food Post!

On the local food delivery app, they have Individuals preparing home cooked food that you can buy.

Decided to give it a whirl and was not disappointed.

Chicken Karahi w/ 2x roti and drink for $2.92 including delivery and tip.

02/05/2022

Quick update:

The last few days haven't been update worthy really, been seeing the dentist almost every other day, and have been told to take it easy so the extractions can heal.

The dental work has been far less painful than I anticipated it would be, the worst is over at this point and all we've got left is fillings and permanent crowns.

I've gotten accustomed to my block here, the guys at the grocery store seem to know me know. I guess I stick out as the random American that pops in to buy water and cold snacks every day.

Definitely itching to get out and explore the city a little bit, I think tomorrow I will be recovered enough to go walk around a bit.

I'm definitely dying to get into the local cuisine, I can smell the biriyani from across the street, but rice and spicy are a big NO right now. So I'll just have to wait!

27/04/2022

Pakistan Day One:

After the incredibly long flights here, I landed at the airport and headed to the immigration office to process my paperwork.

Almost everything in this office is done by hand, they had one laptop and leather bound books with the data of whose coming and going.

Unfortunately there was a family with big issues in front of me so I was stuck waiting in this dusty little office for a while. Eventually they sent in some uniformed immigration guys who treated me like I was their best friend, took selfies with me, shook my hand and welcomed me to Pakistan.

That tradition continued with everyone I've met here so far, warm reception, they're excited to meet someone from the states. It's very nice!

I've already been to the dentist for consultation and surprisingly my situation isn't *as bad* as I thought. It's definitely not good, but that's why I'm here!

Tomorrow I head to the xray clinic for better x-rays, as it was agreed on that the ones from the states were not very good quality.

Tomorrow evening, the first treatment begins. Then it's time for Eid festival, we will take a break and start working again afterwards.

Pics of the apartment/view below.

06/04/2022

Great news/travel update!

I have managed to secure funding for the Pakistan Dental Trip!

Why Pakistan? Best dental prices in the world, unparalleled hospitality, beautiful land/nature, vibrant cities, wonderful cuisine.

What about Mexico? I still would recommend Mexico to most people, especially if you just need a few things done. My situation unfortunately requires almost every tooth in my mouth to have something done to it. The prices in Pakistan are worth it, even with all travel costs included.

I'm excited to head off into a country that is totally new to me, I have not left the North American continent since 2017 when I returned from the Mongol Rally.

I'm looking forward to the trip, but even moreso looking forward to not having food getting caught in my broken teeth.

It's 3am and I just finished up the visa application and booking a luxury apartment minutes from the dental clinic.

Next step is booking the flight, once my visa/electronic travel authorization is approved.

03/04/2022

Stories from the 2016 Trip.

About these stories:

In 2016 after being laid off from my office position and placed in a remote working role, Sam was also laid off from her job and we were left with time and money. It’s like a glitch in the system that wasn’t supposed to happen. Any rational person probably would’ve saved their money. But that’s not me! Confident that the remote position with Duckfish would be comparatively profitable to my in-office position(shocker, it wasn’t). We booked a trip on the cheapest flights Skyscanner had to offer.

On this trip we visited Ireland,UK,Moldova,Transnistria,Ukraine and Greece. We managed to spend one entire month abroad. It was worth it! But this was definitely the taste of travel honey that further fueled the travel “addiction”.

Today’s portion: Visiting Chernobyl

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We spent 6 days/5 nights in Kyiv, One of these days was spent on an excursion to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. To describe the experience of walking through this place, I won’t even attempt. It’s something that can’t be put into words.

I have always had an “Urban Exploration” bug as well that is held back by anxiety, although I have managed to push it down for a few experiences, some of those happening in the days before everyone carried cameras in their pocket everywhere.

So It was a no brainer, I absolutely had to book this tour while visiting Ukraine. I searched “Chernobyl Tours” on google like anyone would. What I did differently was I avoided all of the fancy well designed websites. I found a very basic 90’s style website offering tours. I filled out their forms and to my surprise my phone rang within 30 minutes with a Ukrainian phone number!

I spoke with Yuri and worked out the details of our dates, paid him $99/person and it was set!

Fun Fact: No matter who you booked through, The official guide will always be from the military. The company you book with manages the transportation and hires the military guide.

That morning came and we had to meet our van driver at 7AM, We waited outside our hotel to be picked up while munching on some McDonalds(Camembert McTost!!!!). The driver pulls up and it’s only Myself,Sam,One other tourist from holland, and the official tour guide from the Ukrainian Military.

We drove out of Kyiv and through some rural areas, Making a quick stop for gas/snacks on the way at a travel stop on the highway.

Arriving at the exclusion zone every vehicle is checked in, every person entering is noted in a log book, they check the vehicles for radiation going in and out it seems.

Once inside the exculsion zone,I saw all of the people who booked on the first page of google results, They got loaded up onto buses of 20+ people, they weren’t allowed to enter ANY buildings and got herded around like cattle. Our experience was much better with our small passenger van.

Our first stop was at a small village in the zone, I’m unsure of the name. There were a few dilapidated houses, a market and a “House of Culture” much like the one I had seen days earlier still operating in Transnistria, but in ruins.

Next stop was the DUGAR Radar system, This is part of all of the tours and seen in almost any photo album of anyone’s chernobyl tour. Kind of ironic that what was once a top secret facility is now one of the top attractions of the zone!

Next stop is viewing some monuments built to honor those lost in the disaster, along with a small display of the machinery that was used in the initial cleanup efforts.

After this we view the power plant at the closest distance that we are allowed to get. There are giant catfish in the river surrounding the plant. Some joke that they are big because they are radioactive. Reality is they just have no predators, so they grow big and old!

Then we make a quick pit stop at the “Chernobyl Cantina” for the included lunch, which is surprisingly delicious and I’m pretty sure the *only* traditional ukrainian food that I ate on my visit. The guide joked that “Every time I eat here, I pray that the food is not local”.

With our stomachs full of interesting foods and hearty stew we head for the biggest city in the zone, Pripyat!

This is definitely the most well known and most photographed area of the exclusion zone. There are many tall buildings here, large apartment blocks, schools, and a supermarket. There is glass everywhere, So it is required to wear thick shoes. I actually purchased some shoes off of a vendor near the metro the day before, Just for this tour!

We wrap it up with a visit to the famed amusement park, which was scheduled to open the *day after* the disaster.

Exiting the zone has a process as well, Every person is checked for radiation before they are allowed to leave.

All in all, it was interesting and sad. I can’t say it didn’t tickle my Urbex bug a bit. I would someday like to visit again when the region is stable. There are 94 other villages in the exclusion zone, Some of which are much better preserved/Not ruined by looters. Some of these are on the Belarusian side of the zone which only opened up for tourism recently. Until a few years ago it was only accessible by scientists.

Hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my day in Chernobyl 8 years ago!

Slava Ukraini!

30/03/2022

Adventures within the mind/Adventures with “Peak” therapy.
General Personal Updates
Possible Dental Tourism to Pakistan!?

—

A few weeks ago I posted asking for help crowdfunding curated psychedelic therapy from a Peak. The near-instant support and messages of care that I got from friends and family was therapeutic. I really enjoyed the session of speaking with my provider.

*But* I didn’t like the experience. I would not go so far as to call it a “bad trip” or anything along those lines. It just didn’t seem productive, there are some soothing sensations within the experience. However the 18-hour lingering side-effects just weren’t worth it for something that just didn’t feel like it clicked with my system.

I’m currently doing research into some more traditional routes, of course good help is often astronomically expensive.

This all being said, I’m doing OK lately. Good is prevailing lately, I’m getting some issues that I've procrastinated away for half a decade finally wrapped up, which has been a weight lifted.

I’m also hopefully going to get to go on a dental tourism trip to Pakistan where I will stay for 20 days and get all of my dental issues fixed! Funding this trip won’t be easy, I’ll either be taking out a high interest loan or hopefully getting a no-interest loan from a friend.

I’m shocked that so much good is coming my way, enough to be a little suspicious! But no, this is good and I’m going to ride the wave.

Fingers crossed that I will be posting on this blog about my trip to Pakistan towards the end of next month. Nothing’s set in stone yet, but I still have hope that somehow/some-way I will be able to fund this trip.

28/03/2022

Mongol Rally Stories #5
Samarkand

Preface: I went on the Mongol Rally 2017 with a team of 4 other random people from the internet. Many unfortunate circumstances led to me not completing the rally. These stories will not be told in any specific order. I will be writing them as I think about them.

—

I wanted to take a moment to write about Samarkand, on its own without being lumped into a “General Uzbekistan” type post.

Historically significant as one of the oldest inhabited cities in central asia, so old in fact that there is no agreed upon date in which the city was founded, it is estimated to have been founded around the 7th to 8th centuries BCE.

For me, I want to say this place was unexpectedly magical. Upon arriving at the old city, the architecture is breathtaking. It feels almost as if you’ve stepped back in time. Everything is very clean and orderly in the city. There is a curfew of 11PM, after this time everything is closed.

We were rolling in with our convoy of 4 rally teams at this point, I was getting along so well with some of the other ralliers outside of our team. It seemed that things were coming along so well. The kindness/acceptance of everyone from teams like “Tin Snail and Ale” , “Mgol Blue” and “Team Bulls-eye” was refreshing and reassuring somehow, even knowing that I already had plans to exit the rally.

Upon arriving, all 4 teams, approximately 14 of us, checked into the “Furkat Hostel”, which I cannot say enough wonderful things about this place! The family running this place had some of the warmest vibes I've encountered in my lifetime. Every morning when you would wake up they would put out a spread of the breakfast. Not feeling 100% and being a bit depressed my appetite was minimal and the father of the family would encourage me to take more food every morning, Then proceeded to load me up with non-perishable foods on the day that we left. If that’s not being treated like family, I don’t know what is!

Every day in this place felt like an adventure, and being in such wonderful company made it even better. I did what I could to escape from the team I had come with and join up with the activities of the other guys. Barbaros of Mgol Blue was some sort of travel superstar, armed with his Lonely Planet guide he led us to so many wonderful things in the city(that meal at Platan! Straight up comforting after so many kebabs).

One of these days, We went into a neighborhood where families live along tiny,winding,old streets. We went in search of an old synagogue which was now a museum. On our way we encountered an empty hall with some table games in it, which seemed to be communal and open to the residents of the neighborhood. In itself this isn’t wasn’t terribly interesting, however I can’t imagine having something like this open to the public all the time in any city here in the US.

We also came upon an area where some fathers were watching over their kids while they swam and played soccer. A friendly young boy quickly noticed we were out of place and greeted us in perfect english. After chatting for a moment he was proud to announce that he had just returned from an exchange student program in the US. We asked him for recommendations of where to eat and we were led to a small arcade serving pizza and hotdogs. Kids have similar tastes around the world I suppose haha.

Further exploration of the area led us to an Uzbek antique store and some other interesting things that were hidden away from the bustling main streets.

Venturing beyond this neighborhod, We visited “Shah-i-Zinda” an ancient necropolis that is said to be the final resting place of a cousin of Prophet Muhammad along with other prominent historical and religious figures.

Following days were filled with trips to the Bazaar, even got a sneak peak into the “meat industry” of Uzbekistan while walking around. That’s a fairly bloody part of the bazaar, Certainly not for the squeamish.

Food is interesting in this part of the country, Plov is popular around most of Central Asia, however Samarkand has its own special type which contains Raisins and some other special ingredients making it unique. I watched a fellow traveler order a beer and get served a thick cloudy brew that smelled like bread(it was beer, not Kvas!).

I didn’t want to leave this place and even made plans to hang behind with another team when my team was ready to leave. Every day held so many awesome things to do and I barely scratched the surface. The hospitality was off the hook and I happened to be there with a few mind-blowingly awesome people. It wasn’t even hard to find things to do because everyone in our convoy had amazing plans.

I left here with a T-Shirt that I’ve worn to the point that you can’t read it any more, a packet of saffron from the bazaar and lots of great memories.

If you’re on the fence about coming here, Do it. Book a stay at Furkat. Ask for the downstairs room on the corner(secret insider advice ;) ). The city is magical and this hotel/hostel is magical. If you don’t believe me you’ll just have to check it out for yourself.

PS: To any members of the teams I've mentioned here, I’d love to hear from any of you and catch up! It’s been almost 5 years now. You guys all made the last few weeks after the boat, not only bearable, but fun! The kindness and generosity I experienced from every team mentioned here is something I’ve never forgotten and has been a source of fuel for the light, even in the darkest of times since then! I never hit anyone up, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to hear from you. Anxiety just tells me everyone’s too busy for a trip down memory lane, Tell me it’s not true!