Life begins at the end of your comfort zone
Day 5: Doi Inthanon – Siriphum & Sirithan Waterfall- Chom Thong – Mae Ya Waterfall There was nowhere to cook breakfast and it was our last day so we left bright and early to make the most of it. We checked out Siriphum waterfall and …
Day 4: Pang Ung – Mae Hong Son – Maeaukoluang Waterfall – Doi Inthanon This was our kilometre day, we had a lot of ground to cover. We were headed to Surin waterfall but along the way stopped in Mae Hong Song off Hwy 108 to …
Day 3: Pai Viewpoint – Pai Canyon – Susu Waterfall – Pha Suea Waterfall – Pang Ung
We both agreed that going to sleep with the sun and waking with it felt amazing. But we also realized that our minimalistic camping was almost too minimalistic. We were camping with only a tent and sleeping sheets; there were no mats or sleeping bags. In the mountains during rainy season this was definitely not enough to keep us comfortably warm.
It was a foggy morning and once again we received help from the villagers with starting our fire. We cooked white rice and Tom Yum soup for breakfast and packed the leftovers. Then we started the journey back down the mountain which went surprisingly smoother than uphill. We backtracked slightly to go visit Pai Canyon which was totally worth it.
We stopped to buy more water since we realized we were consuming about 4.5L per day for drinking and cooking. Also we bought cotton balls and Vaseline (15 + 45 THB) to use for fire starter; this is something Paulina learned was a cheap and easy hack from her training with Fort McMurray Search and Rescue. We passed on Mo Paeng waterfall and Tham Lot cave, although many people normally stop to visit those sites and instead stopped for a delicious Pad Thai at a village.
We continued our chase for waterfalls when we came upon Susu Waterfall off Hwy 1095. We handed the park guard a pocketful of change since we didn’t have any small bills to pay the park fee and he was satisfied with this. Although we didn’t end up seeing the waterfall because we got distracted having lunch with our friend George, it was very worth the detour. Our meeting with George, our new monkey friend, is an experience you just can’t pay to get. We were the only people in the park and as far as we know George was wild as wild can be but he must have been a young gibbon because he was curious and friendly. The mannerism of George was hysterical to us because for the entire hour we were at the park George tried to inconspicuously follow us around. Eventually George seemed to be getting cranky and had his eyes set on stealing the contents of our backpacks so it was time to move on.
For more videos of George, CLICK HERE to check out our Youtube channel.
We headed to Thampla-Phasua National Park off Hwy 1285 but we passed on the Fish cave (100 THB per person) and made a quick stop at Phasuea waterfall since there was no swimming. We camped at Pang Ung Royal Forest Park aka “The Switzerland of Thailand” for free. We had a giant campfire and cooked enough potatoes and beans for leftovers for tomorrow too! Once again it rained that night so we struggled keeping ourselves warm with only the tent and a sleeping sheet between the cold, wet, hard ground and ourselves.
Expenses: 350 THB = $13 CAD
Distance: 183 km
Day 2: Pong Dueat – Tha Pai Hot Spring – Pai – Pembok Waterfall – Pai Viewpoint We woke up as the sun was rising because we were anxious all night, waking up many times to the sound of engines or people … and rightfully …
“Don’t go chasin’ waterfalls Please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you’re used to I know that you’re gonna have it your way or nothing at all But I think you’re moving too fast” TLC – Waterfalls Actually, DO go chasing waterfalls! Especially …
About three months into our trip, we were starting to get bored of being tourists, feeling unproductive and lacking genuine purpose each day. We’d often wake up in the late morning and wonder “What now?” We’d heard many great reviews from people we’ve met travelling about Workaway and WHOOFing. We signed up for a membership with Workaway.info as a couple for about $30 for two years. Right from the workawy home page they state their philosopy is “A few hours honest help per day in exchange for food and accommodation and an opportunity to learn about the local lifestyle and community, with friendly hosts in varying situations and surroundings.” We thought this was absolutely perfect, plus the workaway site was very user friendly and its reach went worldwide.
Check out our profile:
We knew we wanted to work with animals and children at some point on our trip and found a great opportunity in Nepal to volunteer with a gentleman who had a facility for handicapped children and another shelter for dogs. We were very excited because we have a pug back home and we’ve been missing Murphy a lot, so we booked our flights for April 27th. When we heard about the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit on April 25th we were very concerned. We immediately decided that regardless of whether our Workaway host still wanted us to come and work or not, we were going to Nepal and would volunteer with the disaster relief groups. We contacted our Workaway host but did not hear anything back from him. We followed the news and started to realize that the situation around Kathmandu was quiet dismal and we would likely become more of a problem if we went there without some prior organization. There was nowhere to sleep, communication systems were down, and fresh food and water were scarce. We decided it was safer to not go to Nepal at this time, but had peace of mind knowing many humanitarian relief groups and volunteers were already mobilized.
So although we were disappointed the opportunity in Nepal didn’t work out we still wanted to serve a purpose and help. We found an opportunity at Cat Beach on the island of Penang, Malaysia specifically in a small fishing village called Teluk Bahang. There were only a couple requirements:
We were one for two on the requirements, we are hard workers and were ready to get our hands dirty! Liking cats had never been something we had the opportunity to explore since we both were dog lovers our whole lives! However, in general we are compassionate animal lovers and also enjoy meeting new people. We were really intrigued by Tevy, the lady who was running the cat sanctuary, an American expat woman, writer and teacher who was now living in Asia.
We stayed at Cat Beach for one week and worked with two other volunteers, Jo and Lizzie, from England. It was a unique experience that really needs to be felt rather than talked about. After spending that much time with over 100 hundred cats and 21 kittens (my last count before leaving), we both grew to love cats; Asian cats have so much more personality than Canadian ones. We also learned so much about cats and the environments these cats were living in, including:
Aside from our 5hrs of work per day we did at Cat Beach, there was also plenty of time to be entertained by playing kick ball with the locals in the backyard, interacting with the handicapped kleptomaniac (Will ironically had his soccer ball stolen), watching the giant Monitor Lizards in the streams, checking out the crazy caged monkey in the backyard, conversing with local people, and watching chickens frolic and lay eggs in the sand. Cat Beach was a dynamic place and there was always something going on or something to do! In the evenings when we were ready to relax, you could enjoy a refreshing swim (in potentially jellyfish infested water) with gorgeous sunsets or enjoy a casual drink with the rest of the gang while listening to cats who climbed into the ceiling whailing outloud. And once you were ready to venture outside the village there was Batu Ferringhi (where we were swarmed by flying termites in a restaurant which is abnormal) or Georgetown to visit. Both places are more touristy with restaurants, nightlife and boutique shops but definitely worth a visit.
Although a lot of the time at Cat Beach was fun and lighthearted, there were also challenges. There were several different personality types working towards a common goal and sometimes those mindsets clashed so we had to work together to move through those issues. We were recently refreshed on some tools from 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and when Tevy approached us and asked for our advice on certain dynamics at the sanctuary, we embraced the opportunity to give her feedback. Tevy has a strong heart and her intention is to help the numerous stray cats in Penang. She does the very best that she can with the time and resources she has but at the end of the day, she cannot do it alone and needs volunteers! So it’s very important to have a good relationship with the volunteers and for everyone to show respect and consideration. We were happy to hear that the dynamics in the house were stabilizing and one of the other volunteers was planning to stay for an extended period of time and help Tevy out. Jo had recently spent nine months at a cat and dog sanctuary in Thailand and was bringing with her a wealth of knowledge.
Other challenges at Cat Beach were cats or kittens passing away every few days. During feeding times there were millions of flies that swarmed the house. There was unglamorous work to be done such as cleaning up diarrhea, afterbirth, and dead kittens … no point in sugar coating it because this was the reality of the situation. And it was important to understand the sanctuary is in its first year of development so it was very basic, third world conditions we were working in. But challenges aside the good outweighed the bad.
One of the opportunities we had was to watch Carolina give birth to three beautiful kittens. It wasn’t Carolinas first time giving birth to a litter and you could tell she was a champ at it. Cats are nothing liking humans when they give birth, they don’t make a single peep, they don’t need anyone at their side, and they clean up (ie. eat) their own mess. Like we said Carolina was a champ! Also within a few days she was already adopting other runty kittens or kittens that were orphaned so they could get some milk and nutrition.
Check out our Youtube channel to watch Carolina give birth!
On our last night at Cat Beach we were actually quite torn to be moving on. We had built relationships with the people and fell in love with many of the cats (RIP Stormy). But we needed to celebrate our first Workaway experience, and what a memorable one it was, with a few drinks and a sleepover party with 30-odd cats. 
They say cats have nine lives but in reality they don’t, they are like us, and they only get one chance. We hope that we gave some of these kittens and cats a fighting chance in the short time we were there. When we get back home to Canada we’d like to continue to help with cats and either foster or adopt … Add them to our crazy life and the farm!
If you’d like to learn more about Cat Beach or donate to them, please follow the links:
Workaway profile
Facebook page
GoFundMe donations
Our first Workaway experience was great and we can’t wait to do more! Our next Workaway is housesitting at a farmhouse in Turkey during June/July. We will be training two 7-month old puppies, taking care of 23 chickens, two peacocks, two beehives, and an orchard of cherry trees. Stay tuned ….
While planning our departure out of Japan, we were brainstorming new endeavors into our next country. It was Japan to… INDONESIA! Never really looking at the map to even know where this country was located, this was our next destination. Bali, baby! We hit the ground …
Today, on the topic of dumpster diving, we’ll be discussing the German man from the Vipassana meditation center that we met. We are going to endeavor into this conversation about our meeting with Max Maximus and the noticeable garbage and waste we see in the …
Everyone has their unique talents so use those talents to help others and you will feel whole and purposeful in life; use talent to serve a greater purpose and to serve humanity. Don’t try to control the details but set your intention and let the universe take care of the minor details. That’s my Golden Nugget!
The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success
by Deepak Chopra
Reader: Paulina
Method of reading: hard copy
Rating: 5 out of 5
I recommend everyone to give this book a read and if you have already read it, it’s one of those books that are great to have a refresher on regularly. I won’t go into detail on the seven laws because I really believe it is delivered best through Chopra.
1- The Law of Pure Potentiality
2- The Law of Giving
“The universe operates through dynamic exchange … Giving and receiving are different aspects of the flow of energy in the universe.”
3- The Law of “Karma” or Cause and Effect
4- The Law of Least Effort
5- The Law of Intention and Desire
In applying the law “I will release this list of desires and surrender it to the womb of creation, trusting that when things don’t seem to go my way, there is a reason, and that the cosmic plan has designs for me much grander than even those that I have conceived.”
6- The Law of Detachment
7- The Law of “Dharma” or Purpose in Life
This was a short, sweet and simple read. It spoke to me most because I often ask Will, when I see him eating or snacking, “Are you hungry?” On our travels he has been stomach sick multiple times, to the hospital twice and on antibiotics …
This was a philosophical read making an analogy between our daily life and a dream that makes you wonder if where we are here and now is a dream and if we are actually just lucid living. This is a book that is better summarized by …
When we started telling our family and friends of our plans to leave our jobs, homes, vehicles, pets, and entire lives behind to take a year off to travel, not too many people took us seriously. It’s not that we needed to convince others anyways but we found our hardest crowd to sway was our family and coworkers. Will was going to quit his job as a Process Operator in the oilsands and Paulina was going to take a leave of absence (LOA) from her career as a Process Engineer. Questions and statements were flying from everyone such as “how can you afford this?”, “what’s your plan?”, and “a year is too long!” Will’s coworkers were even placing bets on when Will would be “crawling” back to his job. At first we didn’t feel like we had the most positive support from peers on our decision except for a handful of people.
To be honest, we didn’t know how we would afford this year off, what our plan was and how long seemed like the right amount of time to be gone. However, we had set our minds to it and we were going to push hard over the next few months to get our responsibilities organized so we could start this journey. As the months and days grew closer to our departure date, everyone finally started appreciating the value a gap year can provide to personal growth. We have learned that many people are uncomfortable with change, some are projecting their own personal fears on us, and others are just stuck in their present with no plan to grow and develop.
After watching Paulina’s mom, Yoyo, break down in a puddle of tears at the YMM airport, it definitely pulled on our heart strings and it set in that we may not be seeing our loved ones for quite some time. Ironically though, we’d actually be seeing Paulina’s family in only five days in Hawaii so there was no reason to cry now, the goodbye before the big trip was still yet to come! The only things we were saying goodbye forever to at that point was our consumer based life, the societal expectations that were pressured on us and fear of the unknown and unplanned.
It was very exciting to arrive in Hawaii, especially when Will learned that Hawaii was an island! Travelling is definitely one of the best ways to give anyone an appreciation for culture and a few good lessons in geography. We spent the course of the next ten days with family enjoying meals, beach time, snorkelling with sea turtles, whale watching and sightseeing in and around Lahaina, Maui. Maui was one of our first travel spots and this island was very beautiful and full of great places to explore. The beaches on the west coast had some of the best snorkelling we have ever done! Where else in the world can you swim within inches of multiple giant sea turtles in their natural environment? The west and east side of the island were same-same but different. Both equally worth exploring but be aware… as you head east the road to Hana can get quite windy. We had to pull over a few times to easy the pain of motion sickness in the car as we were sightseeing.
A fun little project we were asked to do in the downtime of enjoying Maui was to show Flat Stanley around the island and send him back to Canada in one piece. This was a project for Will’s niece, Zanaya, to help her and her classmates learn about different places in and outside of Canada. Although we got a few odd stares from bystanders, we had no problems playing around like kids and showing Flat Stanley around.
We also liked walking around and checking out real estate. We saw an open house along the beach and figured we would check it out. It ended up being on the market for $4.9M and recently had $600k in renovations. We were shocked to see those kinds of price tags but for a beachfront property in Hawaii it is normal. We talked with the realtor, Todd Hudson, who told us about some other successful vacation properties in Maui but also stressed the importance of good and consistent property management if you wanted to delve into that business.
Our trip had started off with quality time with family and now we were departing for our next destination. We said our goodbyes to the Hubert’s, since they were leaving a day early, and put our heads together to figure out how we were going to get to the airport on a budget. TripAdvisor had said there was a $1 local bus from the airport to Lahaina but we had learned on our way there that the buses would not take us with our backpacks. Instead, the only other option from the airport was a shuttle for $67 or renting a vehicle which we were unimpressed with. Fortunately, Hawaii is known for its friendly hitchhiking and we had our camping gear so we’d head in the general direction and sleep on Kanaha Beach near the airport. We had two days to get to our flight which was plenty of time in case the unexpected happened. This would be the first time we had hitchhiked and Paulina’s dad gave us the advise to “make sure you look good and clean.”
Leaving the next morning and walking into a gorgeous sun shower was a decent start. We ended up walking for about an hour through Lahaina and found a nice pull over spot where cars could safely pick us up along the highway. Will was first up to try and flag down a car. Tons of vehicles passed us and it’s funny how we immediately started to feel personally offended to be rejected that much. So Paulina came to the plate, although Will wanted to keep moving, she said “Just give me five minutes!” and BAM! she had our first car.
Thumb warriors first piece of advice, a little patience and giving vehicles a safe place to pullover can really increase your chances of getting picked up.
Our first ride was from a really warm, welcoming local named Nate … who happened to be covered in tats from head to toe, wearing camo and in a beat up truck. But we were not passing judgement just as we hoped people wouldn’t pass judgement on us as we were hitchhiking. Nate couldn’t take us all the way to Kahului but we covered tons of ground since he took us to the major intersection; 34km out of the 39km was done! We said a quick thank you and goodbye, hopped out of the back of the truck and crossed a super busy interchange of vehicles going all directions. Jokingly, Paulina held her thumb out as we crossed the intersection and surprisingly flagged down our second ride in record time.
Our next ride was an elderly couple from the United States who owns multiple vacation rentals in Maui. We chatted with them about our trip and they shared with us about how great vacation rentals here were. Getting free, experienced advice is always a great treat. They had sold about 25 apartments in parts of Wisconsin and California and reinvested in two vacation rentals in Maui and were much more successful! Since we had made such great traction and it was still early in the morning, the couple detoured and ended up dropping us off at a great little trail called Needle Point in Yao to hike before heading to our campsite. As we left the car we asked if they pick up hitchhikers often. Their reply,
“Well you guys didn’t have dreadlocks and you look like you take care of yourselves.” BAM! Thumb warriors second piece of advice.
After a short hike and some great views, we headed back down the mountain toward town. We met these other Canadian and German backpackers who were just finishing up the sights as well. We decided to spread apart so that we could increase our chances on our hitchhiking roll.
Thumb warriors third piece, travel in safe but small groups of two.
Success! We were picked up by a young mother and her two youngins. She was a native of Hawaii and filled us in on how the island works … through her eyes. We were quite detoured with her “cruising” around and chatting. She seemed to just want some adult company and people to tell her stories to. She filled us in about high school and heavy use of “ice” and alcohol, moving to Washington to get cleaned up, and eventually coming back to restart in Maui. After running a few red lights and a stop sign we eventually had to ask her to get us back on track towards the beach campground. We were surprised to see the campground was turned into a homeless tented town with no sure safety for our belongings or ourselves. So on to Plan B … but what was Plan B? We started walking to the airport to find wifi but found that the road between the airport and campground had a massive flood and the water smelt like sewage so we didn’t want to cross. As we were cheering for the cars that were making it across we were also rooting for other cars to try. An older American was headed there to drop off their rental vehicle but was too scared to flood the car and decided to turn around and take the longer route. So Paulina asked if they’d give us a ride and they did!
Still on a mission for WiFi they dropped us off in town where we came by a nice air conditioned coffee shop. We ended up looking up hostels, hotels, and B&Bs but nothing was very close to the airport and within budget. We almost came to the conclusion of just pitching our tent very close to the terminal without being caught. But we ended up meeting this beautiful couple who spotted us in the coffee shop, Alex and Hermy. He was from the mainland and she was from the Philippines. We got the scoop of their past and learned how there relationship has grown over 25 years of marriage. We asked for marriage advice and they shared they believe in making an effort to have time alone. They told us once a week they have a breakfast, coffee or dinner date outside their home or about their friends who put their kids to bed at 8 PM so they can have adult time.
We really hit it off with Alex and Hermy and they wanted to show us around town. Having snow cones at a locals favorite place was a surprise for both of us and on top of that they invited us over for dinner. Alex was a cook and Paulina latched on to him learning how to make fresh buns, cream sauces, roast chicken and other deliciousness. Meeting the family was great, full of music, cooking and playing with their grandchildren who were very affectionate.
Thumb warriors fourth piece of advice, coffee shops are great places to make connections with people who will go out of their way to help a new friend out.
After our home cooked dinner we were openly welcomed to camp at a member of Alex’s church who had some warehouse property. The facility was used to host various Christian groups and at this time had a group of young adolescents from all over the globe, Surfing the Nations, who stayed to learn to surf and spread the love of Jesus. We ended up coming in late so our introductions didn’t make it through everyone but it seemed like a great group of kids. Our first tenting experience outside of Canada and we were on a nice dry concrete pad with a flight to catch in the morning.
Looking forward to new experiences always gets us motivated. We ended up arriving at the airport only to be informed 40 minutes before our flight was leaving that Japan was not going to accept us due to the fact we had no outbound ticket. So we ran to the nearest computer in the airport to book a cheap, random flight to Korea … which was never part of our “plan” for our one year trip. The attendants ran us through security and some back doors and with barely minutes to spare we made it on the plane, the last folks to board!
We caught our connecting flight over to Honolulu and sat down to reflect on what it is we want out of this trip. Hawaii was a first for us, so was being denied entry, and now we had set an intention that we would continue our thirst for firsts of anything!
Us too! That’s why we can only ask ourselves the question of “Why not?” rather then the excuse of “Not now.” Our writings will warmly and chillingly introduce many moments of our life that have unfolded and that are yet to unfold as we continue …