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Welcome to Working Towards Our Purpose, a podcast that

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offers a different perspective on what a job can be. For everyone

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out there that's heard that voice in the back of their head asking for something

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more, it's time to listen to it. I'm your host, Gino,

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and join me as I interview people who have decided to work in their own

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purpose. Together, we will learn, become inspired,

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and hopefully find our own path towards working in our purpose.

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Welcome back to Working Towards Our Purpose. Today, I got a special episode for

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you. I interviewed my brother, who was a photographer and owner

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and founder of MC3 Photo. He just got back from a trip to

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Nepal that we really dive into and talk about all the lessons and things

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that he learned. And, this episode is a little bit longer than normal. It's just

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over an hour, but we just had so much to talk to and,

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really enjoyed the conversation, and I'm really excited to get to share it with you

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all. Again, as a reminder, I am going on a short break in the month

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of April to line up some more amazing interviews with guests,

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and I'm working on a website and some other things behind the scenes to

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make the podcast even better. So I'll see you in about a

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month when the podcast returns, and I hope you enjoy this episode.

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So I don't know if you know, but almost a year

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ago today was when we recorded the first episode. It came

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out March 30th last year, and it's almost a

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year since the last time we recorded. It was episode 8, came out March

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30th last year. And at that time, you had just quit

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your job. And Mhmm. Why don't you fill us in a little bit on,

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like, what you've done in the year since then? Wow. Yeah. That's crazy to think

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that was a year ago. It feels like forever ago. So

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so, yeah, I've been working on the photography business as we talked about in the

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in the last episode. Basically, it was it was a year of learning,

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a year of, you know, experiencing so many different

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kinds of photography, meeting new people, just realizing that I

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knew so much less than I thought I did. Right? I think that's kinda what

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I touched on last time was wanting to learn and to try

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everything. Right? Kind of like an exploratory year of taking

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on any photography job and just seeing if I liked it, seeing

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if I made money at it, seeing, you know, the process. And I think at

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this point now, a year into it, I'm starting to narrow down what I'm

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focusing on and and kind of starting to market myself in certain

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areas. Right? Instead of just kind of putting myself out there as a

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photographer that will shoot anything. Like, that's not somewhere where you wanna stay for too

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long, you know. You have to niche down and get to some

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sort of, you know, specialty area, and it doesn't have to stay that

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forever. You know? You can kinda move around or whatever. But you

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have to kind of market yourself at, you know, I am an engagement photographer. I

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am a headshot photographer. So that people know who you are. They can look at

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your portfolio of work, and that's how you can get

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clients. So I've been working on the portfolios of different categories. I've

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been shooting a bunch of my friends, you know, just doing all kinds of random

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jobs. So, yeah, that's that's kinda been the last the last year.

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Did it go the way that you thought it would, or did it go

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differently? Like, in what ways did it feel,

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different or unexpected? Because I know for me, it was definitely, like, I

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had a very naive, thought process of, like, oh, I could put

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more time to this. Therefore, I'll make more money, and I'll make this much money

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because I could put this much time to it. And that, like, didn't happen at

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all. So for my 1st year, it was like a huge wake up call of,

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like, oh, you it's not just gonna happen because you put time to it. Like,

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you have to figure out how to make things work. Exactly that.

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Where I thought that, you know, like, oh, I could take decent pictures. You know?

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I will just work will come to me and I'll find it, and that's not

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really the case. Like, sure. There's, you know, there's friends and there's family who will

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refer you, and you'll get some work through that. But it's not gonna be enough

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work to keep you going. You know, you do have to market yourself. You do

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have to go out there and meet people. And and learning that, I think,

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was, like you said, a big wake up call that it's not gonna be that

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easy. It's gonna be really difficult. And and a lot of times, I'll explain to

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people, like, there's higher highs and there's lower lows. You know? And and getting

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through that is is challenging. There's not just, like, your daily routine of

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going to the office and doing your normal thing. It's like you really have

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to kind of focus on yourself a lot and make sure that you're doing

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alright mentally. Because if you're not, you can't really focus on the business. You know?

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It's like Mhmm. Yeah. I just came across a quote recently, and it said

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from some random guy on the Internet. So, I mean, take it for what it's

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worth, but it said something it said something about, like, it's the people

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that work on themselves are the people that are gonna become

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I don't like this word, but successful. And it's the people that work on their

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jobs that, like, won't be. Mhmm. And that was definitely a huge lesson that I've

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learned since I've left. It's just, like, working on yourself, whether

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it's, you know, mental health or, like, new skills or, like,

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you know, figuring out what it is that you enjoy or not enjoy. That's

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definitely, like, the biggest benefit of it. And then also to touch on, like, the

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high highs and lower lows, I also feel the exact same way. And I

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would still always take that versus just, like, even guilt because it's like Yeah. Yeah.

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You can't experience the highs without the lows. So instead of just having,

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like, you know, the flat line of just

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boringness for Mhmm. All of your existence, I'd rather, like, have

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really shitty days and then really awesome days. Yeah. Exactly. Like, a lot of

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people will tell you and I I think even, like, it's it's like a Buddhist

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thing that you you're supposed to just keep even. Right? Don't get too high or

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too low. And so many people have told me that, and and I just I

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kinda struggle to believe that. You know what I mean? It's like you said, like,

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I would rather experience something really awesome and then have something really

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bad, you know, come after that. And it's like the seasons. Right? It's

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like you don't want to live in 70 degrees all day long. You want the

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season so that you can appreciate the highs and the lows, you know? Yeah. I

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mean, maybe that's personal preference. Some people definitely do like living

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in sun for all the time, but I I don't know. Yeah. Sure. For me,

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I found out that that's what's important to me. So I think, like, that's the

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biggest thing is figuring out what's important to you and and what makes you,

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you know, enjoy the days that you have. Mhmm.

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So, yeah, just, to to keep going on, like, the last year and

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stuff, can you tell me, like, one, like, really good thing and then maybe, like,

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one really bad thing that comes to mind? I think, like, there was a

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point in I think it was, like, October last year where I had a

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bunch of inquiries come through, and I was, like, starting to feel good about,

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you know, getting work from outside of that network of

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friends and family that I described. And I wrote a couple of

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proposals, and and then a couple of people just, like, turned me down. They're like,

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no. That's too much money or or whatever. And I remember, like, being really excited

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in the beginning of the month with, like, a bunch of leads, and then towards

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the end of the month, like, none of them came through. And it was kinda

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defeating. And I think, you know,

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looking back, it was it was an ex a learning experience. Right? Like, you can't

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get emotionally tied to a client, like, when they reach out to you and, like,

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expect that that's gonna go through. Because some people just don't value it or they

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don't, you know, wanna spend that much money on it or it is what it

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is. You know? It's like some people don't know until they ask you. And,

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you know, I think I learned through that process that I need to better

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describe what I'm providing to people. Right? I'm not just taking pictures. You know? I

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have to show them my process, and I have to explain to them in

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detail what I'm doing, not because and the

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reason of doing that is so that they can see what you're doing. And they're

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not gonna know that because they they're not a photographer. And I know that because

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that's what I do. So I have to show them, like, this is this is

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what I'm doing to you. This is the value I'm providing. And it's more than

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just taking pictures for you. Right? Like, you could do that with a phone. So

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I think that was the important lesson from that from that time. Yeah.

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Totally. I had the exact same experience with what I was doing because at

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first, I was just doing podcast editing. So I would just tell people, like, yeah,

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I'm just doing podcast editing. I remember the story of a client that,

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I had. She's, like, my kind of my first I think she was my second,

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like, real client. And we used to talk a lot about, like, our businesses because

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she was an entrepreneur also. And she said to me one time when

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I was explaining to her what I do, she was, like, oh, I had no

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idea that you, like, did that. I, like, I just thought you edited. I didn't

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know, like, you went through every single minute and listened to it and did this

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and mixed the music in and stuff like that. And it's like nobody knows what

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you're doing because they're not they don't have the same view that you do. Some

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of the stuff they won't care about, but, like, the parts that value or benefit

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them, that's what they care about. So you have to, like, use your words in

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a way that, like, describes to them the value that they're getting. And I guess

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that's kinda kinda marketing one on one, but it's one of the most sound like

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you never really learned not going to school for marketing or whatever. Exactly.

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So yeah. No. That that's cool. That's a good perspective of, like, the ups and

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the downs. But yeah. So the reason that I wanted to

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have you back again, was a little bit for that recap,

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but then also because you just went on a really big trip. You spent almost

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a month in Nepal, and I kinda just wanted to talk to you about that,

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how that experience was, the things you took from it, and things you learned from

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it. So give us, like, a brief description of the trip that you just came

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back from. Yeah. Sure. So I guess that would be the the high of that

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trip. So I came back about a month ago. So I was

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on a a service trip with the Sierra Club, which is the,

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the country's oldest nature preservation

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organization. And they do these trips all over the world. And most of them are

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tourism based, you know, just to get people in and kind of show them, you

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know, maybe these areas that aren't as accessible to the normal person. And our

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trip was, like I said, it was service based. So we we went to a

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remote area of Nepal, and we helped rebuild some homes for

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people that lived in the village that were destroyed back in the earthquakes they had

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in 2015 that were really bad, and they're still recovering from it. So, yeah,

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we spent a little bit of time in Kathmandu doing tourist stuff, and then we

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kinda took this long, like, 2 day jeep ride, one day

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trek out to the village. And then we stayed in the village for about a

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week, came back, did a little more sightseeing in Kathmandu, and then we

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came home. So it was 3 weeks total. So how did you, like, even

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get involved with the trip to begin with? Or, like, what allows you to think

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that, like, it was something that was obtainable? Yeah.

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I guess I've always so I think back in high school is when it started

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when when I read Into Thin Air, which was about, the 1996

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Mount Everest trip that went poorly. Another Jon Krakauer book, which is

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highly recommend if you haven't read it. But that got me interested in the mountain.

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And the mountain, you know, is just its own

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thing where people obsess over, and it's, you know, the tallest mountain in the world.

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And and I think it got me really interested in the people and

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and why people do this, and and they have, you know, Sherpa from the

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area. If they didn't have these people and Paul helping them, they wouldn't be able

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to climb the mountain. And through that,

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I think, that sparked the interest in in the area and

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my, you know, figuring out what Nepal even was as a country.

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And fast forward to when I moved to New York City, I moved

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to Jackson Heights, which is one of the biggest neighborhoods for,

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Nepali and Tibetan people outside of Nepal. It's the

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in a small concentration. So there's the food, there's the

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people, the culture, and I kinda got immersed into that.

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And that was kinda the next step. And I think I just

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the next step was me just kinda wanting to go there for some reason. I

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don't know why. I just felt, like, kinda drawn to it. And I remember

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I think I watched some photographer I follow on YouTube, and he

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did the trek to Everest Base Camp. And I was like, wow, I didn't realize

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you could do that. That's really cool. Maybe that's something I could do. And kind

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of just bookshelf that, you know, fast forward a couple years. And I think I

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was just doing some research and I found this trip through the Sierra Club's

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website. And it wasn't the Everest track, the base camp

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track, but it was the service based track, and that was

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kind of interest me a little bit more. I was like, okay. Well, if I

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can go to this country and kinda give back to the community and

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go in a more sustainable way, that kinda sits a little bit better with me

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instead of just going on, you know, kind of a selfish trip or whatever. None

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that there's anything wrong with that, but it sparked my interest even more. And

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at the time that I saw it, I was still working, you know, my corporate

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job. So, obviously, I didn't have 4 weeks to take off and, you know, go

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to Nepal by myself. So I think I told myself

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if I leave that job and if they post it again next year, I'm gonna

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go. So then fast forward again to that year, and I saw them post

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it. And I'm like, oh, shit. Now I gotta now I gotta go. And I,

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you know, I contemplated for 6 months and was like, nah. You know,

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coming up with all these excuses of why I shouldn't have gone, why I didn't

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need to go. And I I don't know. You know,

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this is just, like, kind of a strange thing to do. Like, there's not a

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lot of people who understand it or support it. But I think,

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like, my wife and, like, a couple of close friends were really supportive of

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me and kinda gave me the push that I needed to to do it

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and signed signed up, and I did it. Yeah. Yeah. I was gonna say if

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you could maybe talk a little bit more about the decision making process because I

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do remember, like, you going back and forth with it and, like, thinking about, like,

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you know, should I be doing this or should I not be doing this? Thinking

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about, like, your business and and that sort of thing. What was, like, the thought

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process like? Yeah. I mean, I think I

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it felt kind of, I don't know, self

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indulgent to do a trip like that, you know, as I'm trying to

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make my business take off and and get successful and,

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you know, I would just look at all the the failures not the failures, but

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the down parts of the past year. I'm like, well, I need to focus on

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that and and get better. And I think

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I don't know. I think I talked with another photographer who had been to

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Nepal and kind of shared similar interests with it. And I remember he was,

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like, laughing at me. And he's like, why why don't you just go? And And

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I was like, well and I give him all these reasons, and he's just, like,

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shaking his head, and he's like, it's 3 weeks. He's like, is that really gonna

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make a big difference in your business? 3 weeks? You know? And I was like,

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yeah. I guess he's right. You know? And just I think hearing that from

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him who was kind of an outsider a little bit, but

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had some perspective on it. And hearing him kind of think like, why

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are you even, like, contemplating that? Like, just do it. And then hearing

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from, you know, like, close friends, family, them also supporting me

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with it. It's like, okay. Well, the people I care about the most are telling

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me to do this. You know, I wanna do this. So let me just let

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me just do it. Yeah. Yeah. I think part of it too, I think you

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kinda alluded to, is the, like, almost

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the the idea of, like, deserving of it. Right? Like, did did you

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Mhmm. Did your business do well enough that you could deserve a trip like this?

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And I don't know. It's interesting to think about it in that

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way, and I don't I don't know if it holds as much

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value as, like, it does as as it feels personally. Like, because I think a

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lot of decisions are kinda made like that. Like, do you think you deserve this?

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Oh, I shouldn't do this because I don't deserve it. Mhmm. And that's just kind

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of an interesting thought process to think about. Because I think

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from your perspective, it could be like, well, I don't really deserve this. But from

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that other photographer's perspective, it's like, yeah, of course. Like, go on it. You're gonna

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learn a bunch of stuff. You're gonna have new experiences. Like, yeah. You should definitely

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go on it. Like, he doesn't think of it in that way, but you do.

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Yeah. Which makes you question, like, the validity of that thought. Yeah.

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A 100%. You know, I think that's a huge part of it,

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right, is telling yourself you you can go

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on this trip and and do that. And and I think part of it was

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just fear too. You know, just being scared to do something like that. I'm I've

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never gone a trip that big by myself that far away. That was that

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was a factor of it too. You know? Mhmm. Yeah. Definitely.

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Yeah. And then even just to think about, like, the selfishness part

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of it too, like, because I'm sure that's a thought. I don't know if you

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specifically said that, but I'm sure that was a thought that went through your head,

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like, am I being selfish going on? For sure. I think over the past year

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or so and into this year, my idea of, like, what

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selfish is has changed, and I think I used to think of that as, like,

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a negative thing. But now more so than ever, I don't think of it as

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a negative thing to be selfish. I think it's a positive thing to be selfish

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because if you can do the things that you won't hold resentment and you

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do the things that you wanna be doing, then you could be better at purpose

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that are around you. So I think that for me is, like, something that I've

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noticed, and I tried to make decisions based off of, like, what I truly want

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to do. Because even in the short term, if it seems selfish or you tell

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somebody no, I think in the long term, you're better to the people that you

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are closest to. Yeah. Absolutely. And I think that I

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had a specific conversation with my wife about it saying that I felt

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selfish about doing this. And she, like, laughed. And she's like, you're going to help

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people in another part of the world. Like, how is that selfish? You know? Yeah.

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That's a good point. And and definitely, like, that that's another piece of it too

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is, like, having support of people around you. I think that's definitely, you know, a

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big piece of kinda showing you, like, that you are allowed to do certain things,

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and kinda gets rid of that negative talk. Yeah. Like you said, it

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takes that judgment of yourself and the voice in your own head, and it kinda

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removes that because they don't have that. Right? Right. Exactly. So, yeah,

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I guess, let's talk about, like, what the beginnings

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of the trip were like because, I mean, it's a huge flight. Right? Like, it

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takes forever to get there. What what was it like getting there? And, like, what

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is Nepal even like to somebody who never been there? And I don't know what

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it's like. I think a lot of people have, like, stereotypes of maybe what it

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would be like, but what is it actually like? Yeah. Yeah. For sure. It was,

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well, first, it was a 25 hour commute, which actually

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wasn't as bad as I was expecting. I had a layover in in Doha,

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Qatar for, like, 8 hours or so. And then I

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arrived in Kathmandu at 9 AM, their time. I don't

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even know what the local time in New York was at that point. But I

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felt good. I was ready to go. I got some sleep on the plane. And

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I had gotten there a day before everyone else did. Not everybody, but the day

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before the the group trip started. So I met a few the guys were already

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there. I met a few purpose, and I kinda had some time to myself.

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And I remember, like, being very excited and ready to go getting there.

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And then as the day went on, like, I was trying to do this sound

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bath thing that was supposed to be there, and I, like, couldn't find it. I

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was getting kinda aggravated at that. And then my my throat started to bother me

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a little bit. And I thought it was just, like, the dust and the pollution

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and whatnot, but I ended up actually getting sick on the 1st night. So it

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actually started off kinda rough, but it didn't it didn't really affect

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my trip in at all. Like, I feel like it was kind of almost nice

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in a way because I ended up having to miss the first day

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of the sightseeing in Kathmandu. But I think,

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like, starting at such a low, like, it only went up from there. You know?

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It was like, it didn't even bother me really at all now, like,

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looking back. But at the time, I was thinking, like, what am I doing? I'm

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halfway across the world. I'm sick now sitting in my hotel room by myself.

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Like, just contemplating, like, this was the a dumb decision. You know, everyone was right.

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He was telling me, like, not to do this. Right? Mhmm. So the the fear

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creeping back up again. So, yeah, that that was getting there and the start of

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the trip. I was able to do the 2nd day of sightseeing in Kathmandu, and

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and Kathmandu is just, chaos is the first word that comes to

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mind. It is, it's very polluted,

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unfortunately, from industry and the surrounding area.

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It's it's a valley, so all the haze and pollution kinda sits there.

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And I think I was told at the time of year we were there, they're

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also burning all the crop fields in India. So all that pollution is kinda wafting

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over. So it's very hazy. We landed, and it's just

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haze. Just every you know, you can't see very far. It's sun's out.

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It's not cloudy, but it's just hazy. And we got

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picked up from the airport, drove to the hotel. And I just remember sitting in

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the the jeep thing that we were in and just watching out the

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window at this chaos. And I was like, this is so cool, you know. Just

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people, animals, cars, all in the street. There's no sidewalks. There's

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no lines. There's no street signs. It's just like, you know, this

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chaos, you know, happening. It's very dusty. I have an

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appreciation now for the street sweepers in New York that I always used to make

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fun of. But I guess they make a difference because it's so dusty there. It's

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like a lot of people are wearing masks just to not breathe in the dust.

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Not for COVID, but just not to breathe in the dust. You know? The wires

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are just hanging everywhere. There's communication wires and poles. And, I mean, you still

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see damage from the earthquakes in 2015. Buildings are collapsed still and never been

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rebuilt. Yeah. It was kind of shocking, I think, culturally

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from I was expecting I guess I didn't have too much

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expectations, but I knew it was gonna be different from anything I'd ever seen. But

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it was it was very different. And it was kind of overwhelming at

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first. Once I got out of the Jeep and I was immersed in that, I

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was definitely, you know, scared I was gonna get hit by a car or a

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moped or whatever. But you get used to it, and

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you learn that it's you know, the although it

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seems like it's crazy and people are gonna run you over, it's like everybody's paying

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attention. Everybody's kind of, you know, you can walk in front of a car and

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the car's gonna see you and it's gonna stop even though it seems like it

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might not because that's not how we operate here. It's just different. Yeah.

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I mean, I imagine it's kind of a similar experience for somebody who's never been

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to New York City before, and then they go to New York City and they're

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like, holy crap. There's cars everywhere. I'm gonna get killed. Yeah. Yeah. That's true.

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So that perspective coming from somebody who lives in the city to Kathmandu,

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imagine, like, if you come from a rural, you know, Idaho, and then you go

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to Kathmandu, it's probably, like, insane. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. And it's,

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I mean, it's super crowded too. It's a big city and but there's, like, there's

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parts of it that are pretty westernized. Like, you go to coffee shop,

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and it's like, this coffee shop could be in America, Europe. It's, you know, there's

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parts of that, but then there's also parts of it that are nothing like that.

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You know, it's all kind of mixed together. And it's it's a country that's developing

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very quickly and they're trying to, you know, get on par with some of the

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other countries in the world. And so you do see, like, the younger people who

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want that influence, and they're trying to kind of build these kinds of

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things that are, you know, like you see in the west. So

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what was the difference between, like, Kathmandu and then the village that you went to?

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Because you spent a couple days in Kathmandu and then went out to this remote

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village. Yeah. So we hopped in the jeeps and we drove all

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day. And the first, I don't know, 2, 3 hours

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of it was sitting in traffic and camping to trying to get out of the

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city. But once you get out of the city, it's just I don't know. It

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was it was so cool to just kinda stare out the window at the landscape.

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It was kind of similar. I mean, you're familiar with the trip my wife and

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I did for our honeymoon. We took the train cross country and just

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staring out of the window, and it's just so entertaining. You know? It's like,

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you think that sounds boring, but it's it's really not. And it was kind of

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a similar feel that I had of just staring at the landscapes of

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everything we drove by. And and it's just these you know,

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after you get out of Kathmandu, it's very very hilly, but

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it's not what you would think. You know, people probably think of the Himalayas, and

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they think of snow capped mountains and and, you know,

381
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sharp granite, you know, rocks everywhere. And and that that

382
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is there, but where we were, we were kinda driving south,

383
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east, and it's just rolling not rolling hills

384
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because they're tall. You know? We probably went up to 8, 9000

385
00:22:36,430 --> 00:22:39,925
feet and down to rivers kind of going up and down up and down

386
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crossing these these mountains, which are, you know, the foothills of the Himalayas,

387
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basically. But it was very subtropical, almost. Like, there's banana

388
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trees. There's lots of birds. There's you know, it's it was warm. It was,

389
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like, 70 degrees. You know? It was it was beautiful. It was these

390
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rivers we would cross, draining from Mount Everest, and it was

391
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just unbelievably beautiful. It was so amazing to

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just stare at. You know? It was it was really, really cool. So we did

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that for 2 days, and then we got out and we trekked for 8 or

394
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9 hours on the 3rd day, which was really, really fun.

395
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We stayed we camped in a in tents in a village where

396
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the jeeps dropped us off and the next day we hiked. And quickly into the

397
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hike we kind of came around a mountain. And when I say mountains, I'm talking

398
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about the green mountains. Those are the ones that we were hiking through. There was

399
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no snow. It wasn't really that cold. But we came around the mountain and then

400
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all of a sudden there was like 4 or 5 peaks from the Himalayas, the

401
00:23:32,135 --> 00:23:35,655
high peaks in front of us. And I just remember, like, it was very surreal.

402
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I was like, wow. Like, that's the Himalayas, you know?

403
00:23:39,539 --> 00:23:43,059
And it's hard to even translate on pictures or talking about it. It was just

404
00:23:43,059 --> 00:23:46,835
really, really cool. I just, like, was overcome with emotion and was like, this is

405
00:23:46,835 --> 00:23:50,515
so amazing. Like, that's the mountains that I read about in high school.

406
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You know, like, that was it right in front of me. And it wasn't Mount

407
00:23:53,669 --> 00:23:57,110
Everest, but it was I think Mira was one of the mountains. But it was

408
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just seeing that, like, still covered in snow while we're standing in, like, 70 degree

409
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weather. Like, it was pretty crazy. Mhmm. Yeah. For

410
00:24:04,215 --> 00:24:07,895
sure. Yeah. There's definitely a certain energy about different, like,

411
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areas, and I definitely have some sort of, like,

412
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maybe similar connection to, like, being out in Death Valley and just, like, seeing the

413
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mountains and just feeling like a certain energy that's, like,

414
00:24:19,125 --> 00:24:22,965
coming or radiating from the earth or Mhmm. Whatever it is. And I think people

415
00:24:22,965 --> 00:24:26,325
are drawn to, like, specific areas, and it's it's almost

416
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interesting, like, knowing that, like, you read about it in high school and, like, you've

417
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had this, like, affection for it for so long and then being able to see

418
00:24:33,670 --> 00:24:37,144
it. Like, because with that valley, I'd had I knew nothing about it, but then

419
00:24:37,144 --> 00:24:40,505
I got there, and I was like, woah. This place has, like Mhmm. Something special

420
00:24:40,505 --> 00:24:44,279
about it. So it's cool to, like, almost have all that anticipation

421
00:24:44,279 --> 00:24:48,120
and then to see it in real life. But, yeah, certainly understand, like,

422
00:24:48,120 --> 00:24:51,775
the frustration of not being able to, like, translate that to anybody. Yeah. It's

423
00:24:51,775 --> 00:24:55,175
hard. You know? Mhmm. But Especially as a photographer. Like, you take a picture and

424
00:24:55,175 --> 00:24:58,909
you're like, well, that doesn't really describe it very well. Yeah. It's a two

425
00:24:58,909 --> 00:25:02,750
dimensional representation of it. Right? So it's, yeah, it's one

426
00:25:02,750 --> 00:25:05,230
of those things you have to experience. And like you said, the energy you feel

427
00:25:05,230 --> 00:25:08,375
from it, it's not something you can translate either. Mhmm. You know? I remember I

428
00:25:08,375 --> 00:25:11,815
remember, like, getting in the jeeps. I was still recovering from this cold I had.

429
00:25:11,815 --> 00:25:15,390
Right? And I was, like, timid of it and kind of, like, a little bit

430
00:25:15,390 --> 00:25:19,230
nervous and still questioning, like, what the hell I was doing. And

431
00:25:19,230 --> 00:25:22,670
that very quickly turned around when we started driving out to the landscapes, and I

432
00:25:22,670 --> 00:25:25,455
just started to get immersed into it. And I was like Mhmm. You know, it

433
00:25:25,455 --> 00:25:29,055
it very quickly went from that feeling to just feeling

434
00:25:29,055 --> 00:25:32,780
like this is really cool. This is amazing. Yeah. It makes you

435
00:25:32,780 --> 00:25:36,620
almost think, like I mean, I'm somebody who thinks that, like, things happen for a

436
00:25:36,620 --> 00:25:40,059
reason, and there's not really, you know, a bad thing that happens, I

437
00:25:40,059 --> 00:25:42,975
think. Because in the moment, that seems like a bad thing. You got sick. Right?

438
00:25:42,975 --> 00:25:46,575
But Mhmm. It almost kinda shows you, like, the dichotomy of, like, the

439
00:25:46,575 --> 00:25:50,180
fear versus, like, the reward, and then maybe they're just blowing past that

440
00:25:50,180 --> 00:25:53,620
being, like, yeah, that was just an irrelevant thing that I was thinking about. Like,

441
00:25:53,620 --> 00:25:57,455
there was totally a reason why I came here and, like, why this whole thing

442
00:25:57,455 --> 00:26:01,215
happened the way that it is. That's exactly the feeling I had, in the

443
00:26:01,215 --> 00:26:03,455
jeep the first day. And even on the truck we were walking out there, I

444
00:26:03,455 --> 00:26:07,260
was just thinking, like, just laughing at myself. Like, what was I scared

445
00:26:07,260 --> 00:26:10,780
of? Like, why like, even pre getting sick and all that and, like, being at

446
00:26:10,780 --> 00:26:14,424
home and, like, having reservations about doing it, I just remember laughing being

447
00:26:14,424 --> 00:26:18,024
like, what was I scared of? This is amazing. There's nothing to be scared of

448
00:26:18,024 --> 00:26:20,345
here. Like Mhmm. I think that was, like, one of the lessons I learned was,

449
00:26:20,345 --> 00:26:23,429
like, you can either, in anything, you can either choose

450
00:26:23,730 --> 00:26:27,169
to listen to the fear and and limit yourself

451
00:26:27,169 --> 00:26:30,975
and or you can just choose to push ahead and see what happens. Right? Like,

452
00:26:30,975 --> 00:26:34,195
at the end of the day, it's I know it's easier said than done. Right?

453
00:26:34,735 --> 00:26:38,390
But if you can choose to just push through that, so many amazing

454
00:26:38,390 --> 00:26:42,150
things can happen. Mhmm. Yeah. Totally. And, I mean, I think that's just a

455
00:26:42,150 --> 00:26:45,945
representation of kinda, like, the also the paths that we've chosen. Like, it

456
00:26:45,945 --> 00:26:49,705
was certainly very scared to leave corporate and to leave a steady paycheck

457
00:26:49,705 --> 00:26:53,465
and to, you know, that's something that's not, like, comfortable to do. But

458
00:26:53,465 --> 00:26:56,730
then after doing it, it's, like, well, I could've done that a long time ago.

459
00:26:56,730 --> 00:27:00,110
Like, I'll figure it out. Like, maybe it's not all figured out yet, but, like,

460
00:27:00,250 --> 00:27:03,850
the rewards are so much more past, like Yeah. You

461
00:27:03,850 --> 00:27:07,295
know? Anything else that, like, it almost seems silly at that point.

462
00:27:07,295 --> 00:27:10,255
But but, yeah, I think that's, like, a kind of a common theme with with

463
00:27:10,255 --> 00:27:13,910
these certain things for sure. So then yes. Then you took

464
00:27:13,910 --> 00:27:17,590
this track and you, you know, took the Jeep tour to the

465
00:27:17,590 --> 00:27:21,165
village, and then you hiked for 8 hours to the village that you're supposed to

466
00:27:21,165 --> 00:27:24,765
be helping. What was that like when you, like, got there? What was the reception

467
00:27:24,765 --> 00:27:28,530
of the people in the community? Yeah. So just to give a

468
00:27:28,530 --> 00:27:32,150
description of the village, it was basically this hillside on one of these

469
00:27:32,450 --> 00:27:35,990
mountains, these green mountains I was describing. River at the bottom.

470
00:27:36,394 --> 00:27:39,934
At the top, there's a natural spring providing water to the to the neighborhood.

471
00:27:40,315 --> 00:27:43,754
And it's just, you know, you can't take 2 steps without being on a hill.

472
00:27:43,754 --> 00:27:47,300
Nothing is flat. Nothing at all was flat. I mean, this was the story from

473
00:27:47,300 --> 00:27:51,059
Kathmandu all the way out to this village. And there's just homes

474
00:27:51,059 --> 00:27:54,245
kind of built throughout this hillside all the way from the bottom, all the way

475
00:27:54,245 --> 00:27:57,544
up to the top. Terrace landscapes everywhere, growing crops,

476
00:27:57,845 --> 00:28:01,625
cattle, you know, goats, chickens, all kinds kinds of stuff.

477
00:28:02,370 --> 00:28:05,890
And we walked in and, you know, for us, it was such a journey to

478
00:28:05,890 --> 00:28:08,530
get out there. So it was to us, it was like, wow. We finally made

479
00:28:08,530 --> 00:28:12,095
it here, you know, and get to see what it looks like. But the reception

480
00:28:12,095 --> 00:28:15,775
from them was kind of overwhelming. Like, we we walked in and people kinda,

481
00:28:15,775 --> 00:28:19,375
like, knew who we were a bit. So this was the 4th year they have

482
00:28:19,375 --> 00:28:23,170
done this exact trip. And they kinda knew who we were. They were

483
00:28:23,170 --> 00:28:26,850
expecting us. So when we showed up, they were very, like, happy. They

484
00:28:26,850 --> 00:28:29,534
kinda came out of their homes. I remember the kids came out of the school

485
00:28:29,534 --> 00:28:33,294
and, like, we're clapping and stuff. It was, like, too much almost. It

486
00:28:33,294 --> 00:28:36,335
was like, you know, they were making a big deal about it, but it was

487
00:28:36,335 --> 00:28:39,720
kinda nice to see that they were happy that we were there. Because,

488
00:28:40,180 --> 00:28:43,700
I mean, we didn't really know what to expect. I mean, I had some

489
00:28:43,700 --> 00:28:47,505
conversations with people in the group, and we kind of you know, the you

490
00:28:47,505 --> 00:28:51,265
could look at it as, you know, where these, you know, Westerners coming

491
00:28:51,265 --> 00:28:55,049
in and helping out and for a week and, you know, making ourselves

492
00:28:55,049 --> 00:28:58,650
look good. And and maybe it's not really about helping them, but it's just

493
00:28:58,650 --> 00:29:02,010
about, you know, this, like, white savior kinda stuff. You know? So we didn't know

494
00:29:02,010 --> 00:29:05,695
if they were gonna take to us well or if they were going to,

495
00:29:05,755 --> 00:29:09,535
you know, maybe not care for us so much. Just so we I was kind

496
00:29:09,755 --> 00:29:13,309
of treading lightly. You know what I mean? But I think that

497
00:29:13,769 --> 00:29:17,610
that thought was coming from, like, us coming

498
00:29:17,610 --> 00:29:21,435
from the west and thinking that we're better off than they

499
00:29:21,435 --> 00:29:25,115
are. Right? And they were gonna maybe be, you know, feel a certain

500
00:29:25,115 --> 00:29:28,930
way towards us. But I think as we went on, I realized that that was

501
00:29:28,930 --> 00:29:32,690
a weird way to think about it. Right? Like, why would why would we

502
00:29:32,690 --> 00:29:36,130
be better than them? You know, they're living their lives. They have everything they need.

503
00:29:36,130 --> 00:29:39,875
They're they're happy. You know? Some could say better than us. Right? Like,

504
00:29:39,875 --> 00:29:42,914
they they're living a different way, but they're still living their lives, and they still

505
00:29:42,914 --> 00:29:46,710
have everything they need just like us. So we we're not living

506
00:29:46,710 --> 00:29:50,550
better than them. Right? They're they're just living their lives in a different way. So

507
00:29:50,550 --> 00:29:54,115
I think once I thought about it in that way, I was able

508
00:29:54,115 --> 00:29:57,555
to more kinda see how maybe they thought about

509
00:29:57,555 --> 00:30:01,395
us. And and the whole time we were there, I felt nothing

510
00:30:01,395 --> 00:30:04,760
but just this, you know, overwhelming, just

511
00:30:04,900 --> 00:30:08,740
welcoming of us and and just they shared everything with us. You

512
00:30:08,740 --> 00:30:12,315
know? We're as you're walking, you know, we had a campsite where where all the

513
00:30:12,315 --> 00:30:15,195
tents were set up, and then the 2 homes were maybe a 15, 20 minute

514
00:30:15,195 --> 00:30:18,475
walk away from there. So you'd have to walk through people's homes. You'd have to

515
00:30:18,475 --> 00:30:22,260
walk through people's gardens to get there. There's no real roads or anything. It's just

516
00:30:22,260 --> 00:30:26,100
walking paths. And no one cared. You know, they invited us

517
00:30:26,100 --> 00:30:29,785
into their homes. They gave us tea. You'd walk by them. Everybody would, namaste. They

518
00:30:29,785 --> 00:30:33,465
would say hi to you. And everybody was so sweet and just so

519
00:30:33,465 --> 00:30:36,665
kind, and they didn't judge us at all, it felt like. You know? They were

520
00:30:36,665 --> 00:30:40,100
just, oh, you're here in our village. Now you're part of us. That's kinda how

521
00:30:40,100 --> 00:30:43,860
it felt. Mhmm. Yeah. I think that's a really good point to think of it

522
00:30:43,860 --> 00:30:47,605
in a way that's, like, I guess something that you can maybe only

523
00:30:47,605 --> 00:30:51,284
think about, like, after experiencing it. But, like, yeah, if you are thinking of it,

524
00:30:51,284 --> 00:30:55,090
like, oh, I'm coming to, like, help you do something because I'm better

525
00:30:55,090 --> 00:30:58,929
off than you. Like, that sort of thought process is flawed in and of

526
00:30:58,929 --> 00:31:02,555
itself because Right. There's a hierarchy in that thinking, right, that you

527
00:31:02,635 --> 00:31:06,395
you're better than these people because they don't have the next

528
00:31:06,395 --> 00:31:09,455
iPhone or whatever card. Right. And that's, like, a interesting,

529
00:31:11,020 --> 00:31:14,860
thing to, I guess, probably experience going on. Like

530
00:31:14,940 --> 00:31:17,580
because it's almost like you have to change your thought process once you're there. You're

531
00:31:17,580 --> 00:31:21,395
like, oh, I was being naive by thinking that. Mhmm. And that and learning that

532
00:31:21,395 --> 00:31:25,015
lesson, I think, also takes a little bit of, you know, ego

533
00:31:25,075 --> 00:31:28,820
degradation, if you will. Absolutely. Yeah. I

534
00:31:28,820 --> 00:31:31,700
think and and I know, like, one of your big words is curiosity, and then

535
00:31:31,700 --> 00:31:34,660
that's kinda what I felt from them too is they were just curious. Mhmm. They

536
00:31:34,660 --> 00:31:37,735
were just like, oh, these people are different. I wanna see what's going on. You

537
00:31:37,735 --> 00:31:41,095
know, these little kids would come over, and they would, like, come into our tent

538
00:31:41,255 --> 00:31:43,575
not in well, into our tents, but they would come over to where we were

539
00:31:43,575 --> 00:31:45,750
sitting around our tents, and they would just be looking at us. They'd be looking

540
00:31:45,750 --> 00:31:49,030
in the tents. They were just curious. You know? That's all it was. And I

541
00:31:49,030 --> 00:31:52,270
remember, so we we worked for 4 days. We had a day off. There was

542
00:31:52,270 --> 00:31:55,914
a day off in the middle. And the guides went on another

543
00:31:55,914 --> 00:31:59,034
hike for the day. But I decided to sit back in the village because I

544
00:31:59,034 --> 00:32:01,835
wanted to have some more time to spend in the village because we were, you

545
00:32:01,835 --> 00:32:04,720
know, we were working most of the day doing manual labor and stuff. So I

546
00:32:04,720 --> 00:32:08,560
didn't have time to explore, take pictures, and meet the people. So I

547
00:32:08,560 --> 00:32:12,195
didn't go on that hike and I spent that day in the village. And I

548
00:32:12,195 --> 00:32:14,995
hiked all the way down to the river, and I was eating my lunch on

549
00:32:14,995 --> 00:32:18,755
a rock. And and I see this guy coming over to me, and he's got

550
00:32:18,755 --> 00:32:22,390
this huge machete. Right? And I think of myself here,

551
00:32:22,610 --> 00:32:25,890
and I would have been scared. Right? But I wasn't scared at all. Like, I

552
00:32:25,890 --> 00:32:29,090
knew he wasn't gonna do it. Like, he was curious. Right? So he comes over

553
00:32:29,090 --> 00:32:31,585
and he's looking at me, and he walks over and he comes over and he

554
00:32:31,585 --> 00:32:35,265
sits next to me. And we spent, like, a half an hour together. And all

555
00:32:35,265 --> 00:32:39,049
we can actually say to each other was our names, but we kinda just

556
00:32:39,049 --> 00:32:42,650
shared this moment and it was amazing. Like, I've never

557
00:32:42,650 --> 00:32:46,465
experienced that before. We kinda just sat there and he we tried to talk

558
00:32:46,465 --> 00:32:49,105
to each other and you know, as much we could, but we kinda just sat

559
00:32:49,105 --> 00:32:52,565
in silence and just enjoyed each other's company. And it was really cool.

560
00:32:52,840 --> 00:32:55,980
Yeah. That's really cool. Yeah. That's awesome. That's

561
00:32:56,760 --> 00:33:00,360
that's kinda like any situation where, like, you can't communicate with somebody

562
00:33:00,360 --> 00:33:03,755
verbally. It's like that's only a kind of small piece of it. Like Mhmm.

563
00:33:03,915 --> 00:33:07,755
Like, body language and energy fields are, like, such a bigger part of it. And

564
00:33:07,755 --> 00:33:10,950
it's like Mhmm. It's cool to be able to, like, receive that from who you

565
00:33:10,950 --> 00:33:14,730
don't know and can't communicate with, but still can

566
00:33:15,030 --> 00:33:18,789
positively interact with. Like Mhmm. And especially just, like, sitting in silence too, I think

567
00:33:18,789 --> 00:33:22,565
is, I don't know, it's it's easy to be, like, that's awkward. I

568
00:33:22,565 --> 00:33:26,325
don't wanna I'm gonna remove myself from the situation. Mhmm. But just to, like, accept

569
00:33:26,325 --> 00:33:30,130
it and accept whatever he can send to you energy wise and you

570
00:33:30,130 --> 00:33:33,410
can send back and forth. And that's kind of a, interesting thing. Because I was

571
00:33:33,410 --> 00:33:37,075
gonna ask about, like, the language barrier and, like Mhmm. Did anybody speak English or,

572
00:33:37,075 --> 00:33:40,615
like, what was the were you able to communicate at all?

573
00:33:40,835 --> 00:33:44,440
So yes. In Kathmandu, most everybody speaks English.

574
00:33:44,840 --> 00:33:48,539
Like, even signs and stuff for in English. It's it's pretty prevalent.

575
00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:52,120
So they had a they had a civil war in, I think, 2001, and they

576
00:33:52,120 --> 00:33:55,955
kind of overthrew the parliament and kings or whoever were ruling

577
00:33:55,955 --> 00:33:59,715
the country. And for a long time, they discouraged literacy, and they didn't teach

578
00:33:59,715 --> 00:34:03,490
people how to read. And after that revolution happened, they've

579
00:34:03,490 --> 00:34:07,250
really I think the literacy rate went from some dismal number, and now it's at,

580
00:34:07,250 --> 00:34:10,915
like, 95%. Like, it's it's really good right now. And they teach every every

581
00:34:10,915 --> 00:34:14,515
student English and the Pali. So all the young people know how to speak

582
00:34:14,515 --> 00:34:18,350
English very well. The older people, not so much. In the village, not so

583
00:34:18,350 --> 00:34:21,890
much. But they are teaching all the kids now in that village English.

584
00:34:22,430 --> 00:34:26,244
So most times, it was not an issue. But there were,

585
00:34:26,244 --> 00:34:30,085
like for instance, he didn't speak. He was probably it's tough to tell. They

586
00:34:30,085 --> 00:34:33,364
all look so young. It's tough to tell people's age. But he was probably in

587
00:34:33,364 --> 00:34:37,120
his thirties, maybe forties. He knew how to say my name is, and that was

588
00:34:37,120 --> 00:34:40,960
about it. So yeah. What was the,

589
00:34:41,360 --> 00:34:45,125
like, getting back to photography and stuff? You said you stayed back that one day

590
00:34:45,125 --> 00:34:48,085
to kinda, like, take pictures. I saw some of the pictures that you posted on

591
00:34:48,085 --> 00:34:51,739
Instagram and, like, some of the best ones were pictures of purpose, and I imagine

592
00:34:51,739 --> 00:34:54,699
the people that were in the village. What was the reception to, like, their picture

593
00:34:54,699 --> 00:34:58,095
being taken? Because I know, like, even in America, like, people hate getting their picture

594
00:34:58,095 --> 00:35:01,875
taken. They think it's, like, a privacy violation or whatever. What was their reception,

595
00:35:02,255 --> 00:35:05,510
especially to the people that you couldn't even really communicate with? Yeah. That's a great

596
00:35:05,510 --> 00:35:09,350
question. It is it's difficult. It's difficult to, you you

597
00:35:09,350 --> 00:35:12,390
you have to ask a lot of times. So that like, the way I of

598
00:35:12,390 --> 00:35:15,135
taking pictures of people I see is there's 2 2 ways you can do it.

599
00:35:15,135 --> 00:35:18,175
You can either take their picture without them knowing, which is more of like a

600
00:35:18,175 --> 00:35:21,295
street photography kind of thing where you you don't want them to know you're taking

601
00:35:21,295 --> 00:35:25,119
the picture because then it kinda ruins the moment a little bit. Or there's,

602
00:35:25,119 --> 00:35:28,319
you know, kinda portraiture type stuff where they know you're taking the picture and you're

603
00:35:28,319 --> 00:35:32,135
kind of making them feel good. You're having a conversation with them beforehand. And then

604
00:35:32,135 --> 00:35:35,975
you take their picture once you build a little rapport with them. And that's kinda

605
00:35:35,975 --> 00:35:39,815
what I was doing. I wasn't really taking their pictures without

606
00:35:39,815 --> 00:35:43,650
them knowing. I mean, maybe I could have, but it it didn't really feel right.

607
00:35:43,950 --> 00:35:46,910
So I would go up to somebody, and I would try and talk to them

608
00:35:46,910 --> 00:35:49,825
a little bit. And I would kind of point to my camera and be like,

609
00:35:49,825 --> 00:35:52,865
is it okay? Thumbs up, is it okay if I take a picture? And and

610
00:35:52,865 --> 00:35:55,609
some of them said no. Some of them didn't want them. Like, I remember there

611
00:35:55,609 --> 00:35:59,289
was this older lady and she had this, like, really beautiful dress on and and

612
00:35:59,289 --> 00:36:02,490
just this nice jewelry and stuff. And, she looked really cool. I wanna take a

613
00:36:02,490 --> 00:36:04,805
picture of her. And and she said, no. She don't wanna take her picture. So

614
00:36:04,805 --> 00:36:08,565
I respect that. I wish her well, and I move on. You know? The kids

615
00:36:08,565 --> 00:36:12,400
were easier because they were more just curious about what the camera was. And

616
00:36:12,540 --> 00:36:16,300
I and and showing them the pictures too is really, really helpful.

617
00:36:16,300 --> 00:36:18,540
So you take a picture of them and then you show the back of the

618
00:36:18,540 --> 00:36:22,170
camera to them. And and they see it and they start laughing and talking to

619
00:36:22,170 --> 00:36:25,804
their friends and stuff. And kids were much easier than adults. Mhmm. But there were

620
00:36:25,804 --> 00:36:29,430
some adults that let me take their picture. Yeah. It was you you kinda

621
00:36:29,430 --> 00:36:32,550
have to that's the way I did it. You just have a conversation with them

622
00:36:32,550 --> 00:36:36,075
first. Mhmm. I'm also curious to, like,

623
00:36:36,075 --> 00:36:39,835
understand their sort of way of living as much as you can, like,

624
00:36:39,835 --> 00:36:43,115
describe or what how much you even, like, you know, took in in that short

625
00:36:43,115 --> 00:36:46,600
period of time that you were there. But, like, I'm curious as to, like, how

626
00:36:46,600 --> 00:36:50,360
community is there. I I imagine it would be, like, more tight

627
00:36:50,360 --> 00:36:54,095
knit and and that sort of thing, but what did, like, community look like or,

628
00:36:54,095 --> 00:36:57,714
like, what was your sense of it? In the village, it was everything.

629
00:36:58,335 --> 00:37:02,160
Everybody knew each other. Everybody, like I said, they they, I mean, they had

630
00:37:02,160 --> 00:37:05,520
their own house and, I guess, private property in a sense, but it wasn't. Like,

631
00:37:05,520 --> 00:37:09,335
they all shared the land. They were just such a tight knit community.

632
00:37:09,335 --> 00:37:13,175
Like, you'd see groups of people talking or, you know, walking by each other

633
00:37:13,175 --> 00:37:16,455
and talking to each other. And and and I think the coolest part of it

634
00:37:16,455 --> 00:37:20,039
was seeing how you know,

635
00:37:20,039 --> 00:37:23,420
community was a huge part, but seeing how self reliant that community

636
00:37:23,480 --> 00:37:27,115
was. They didn't need anything from anywhere. They made their own

637
00:37:27,115 --> 00:37:30,955
food. They made their own houses. They grew their own crops, and they

638
00:37:30,955 --> 00:37:34,270
did everything on their own. The you know, they fixed things that the water system

639
00:37:35,070 --> 00:37:38,910
everything they had was built by them. They were just totally self sufficient as

640
00:37:38,910 --> 00:37:41,810
a community. And I remember seeing that and being like, wow.

641
00:37:42,605 --> 00:37:46,305
You know, everybody in the west is so reliant on other people.

642
00:37:46,365 --> 00:37:49,885
Right? You can't, you know, you get your food delivered to you. You have your

643
00:37:49,885 --> 00:37:53,710
car fixed by somebody. Like, everything is just you need so

644
00:37:53,710 --> 00:37:57,310
many other people to just get through your normal day. Right? And

645
00:37:57,310 --> 00:38:00,670
they don't. Like, they're just totally disconnected from it, and

646
00:38:00,670 --> 00:38:03,904
they and they run everything on their own. And I thought that was really cool

647
00:38:03,904 --> 00:38:07,585
that they knew how to do everything. Yeah. Was there any sort of,

648
00:38:07,585 --> 00:38:11,339
like, indications of, like, these

649
00:38:11,339 --> 00:38:15,099
people were in charge of farming, these people were in charge of, like, more

650
00:38:15,099 --> 00:38:18,685
manual labor sort like, maintenance or house building or something like that? Was there, like,

651
00:38:18,845 --> 00:38:22,525
like, subsections of, like, parts of the community? And and, also, like, how big

652
00:38:22,525 --> 00:38:26,205
was the commune the village in general? Like, how many people? Sure. It was

653
00:38:26,205 --> 00:38:29,610
about, I'd say between, like, 15200 people.

654
00:38:30,150 --> 00:38:33,750
The school had I'm trying to remember now. I think it was, like, 200 and

655
00:38:33,750 --> 00:38:37,464
something people, but there were people from other villages too that went to that school.

656
00:38:37,464 --> 00:38:41,165
I think there was, like, maybe a 100, a 120

657
00:38:41,305 --> 00:38:44,920
homes. I'm sure there was some sort of I didn't really get an

658
00:38:44,920 --> 00:38:48,680
insight into that as much. You know, you would walk by and you would

659
00:38:48,680 --> 00:38:52,474
see some farmland, and then you walk by and you'd see some water buffalo or

660
00:38:52,474 --> 00:38:56,154
whatever and chickens and where the farming was. But it was kind of all

661
00:38:56,154 --> 00:38:59,870
mixed in really well. And I don't know if some people would provide

662
00:38:59,870 --> 00:39:03,470
certain things for other people or if everyone kinda had their own animals. I'm not

663
00:39:03,470 --> 00:39:06,705
exactly sure on the details of that. What about, like,

664
00:39:07,245 --> 00:39:10,845
money? Like, what was there any sort of, like, money exchange or conversion? Was there

665
00:39:10,845 --> 00:39:14,180
stores that people bought stuff in, or was it all kinda just, like, where the

666
00:39:14,180 --> 00:39:17,940
farmers hears all the food? Yeah. No. There there

667
00:39:17,940 --> 00:39:21,780
were stores, I mean, in the sense where you could go and

668
00:39:21,780 --> 00:39:25,525
buy something. There's maybe 1 or 2 of them. And they had,

669
00:39:25,525 --> 00:39:29,285
like, snack foods and sodas and and beer and stuff like that. You know,

670
00:39:29,285 --> 00:39:32,960
it wasn't things that you needed. It was more like things that were

671
00:39:32,960 --> 00:39:36,560
nice to have. Because I remember one day we after

672
00:39:36,560 --> 00:39:39,974
work, we were wondering if there was a place to get a beer, you know,

673
00:39:39,974 --> 00:39:43,255
and and we one of our guides asked one of the local people and they're

674
00:39:43,255 --> 00:39:45,974
like, oh, go in there. And it looked like a home. We walk in and

675
00:39:45,974 --> 00:39:48,760
there's the bed in the back behind the and there's a TV and some kids

676
00:39:48,760 --> 00:39:52,279
playing video games on the TV. And and there was, like, a little bench out

677
00:39:52,279 --> 00:39:55,345
front. And we just bought, like, these dusty beers and drank them. And it was

678
00:39:55,505 --> 00:39:59,045
it was, like, essentially a bar, but it was a convenience store as well. And,

679
00:39:59,185 --> 00:40:02,945
you know, they do take they use in a polygroupie, and they take money, but

680
00:40:02,945 --> 00:40:05,770
I don't think that a lot of the people

681
00:40:06,710 --> 00:40:09,910
need that. I'm not entirely sure how it works. I mean, a lot of the

682
00:40:09,910 --> 00:40:13,590
people in the village would get jobs elsewhere. A lot of them were into trekking

683
00:40:13,590 --> 00:40:17,425
because it's huge. People come from all over the world to go trekking, and they

684
00:40:17,425 --> 00:40:20,945
all have guides. And those people get those are good jobs to

685
00:40:20,945 --> 00:40:24,630
get. You know? Carrying things through the through the mountains is another job that

686
00:40:24,630 --> 00:40:28,170
people had. You know? But so a lot of times, maybe they would go outside,

687
00:40:28,309 --> 00:40:31,234
get a job, make some money, come back to the village. But I don't think

688
00:40:31,234 --> 00:40:34,615
that you needed tons of money to really live a life there.

689
00:40:34,914 --> 00:40:38,630
Mhmm. Yeah. That's interesting, especially coming from, like, a place

690
00:40:38,630 --> 00:40:42,410
like America where everything revolves around money, and that's, like, the first

691
00:40:42,950 --> 00:40:45,430
conversation of anything. It's like, well, how much money are you getting paid? How much

692
00:40:45,430 --> 00:40:49,194
money is it? How much does it cost? Like To to kinda like remove that

693
00:40:49,194 --> 00:40:52,875
from the hierarchy of needs almost Mhmm. Is, like,

694
00:40:52,875 --> 00:40:56,589
kind of interesting to think about. Like, I don't know. It's it's definitely

695
00:40:56,589 --> 00:40:59,990
a completely new way of living that I don't think I could completely wrap my

696
00:40:59,990 --> 00:41:03,210
head around, but since leaving corporate, I've definitely

697
00:41:03,750 --> 00:41:06,885
devalued money way more than I did back then.

698
00:41:07,585 --> 00:41:11,265
So it's interesting to almost kinda, like, keep following it even more so to the

699
00:41:11,265 --> 00:41:15,080
fact of, like, you know, not even really needing it as much

700
00:41:15,080 --> 00:41:18,200
or they're, you know, maybe in a in in a completely different way than we

701
00:41:18,200 --> 00:41:21,420
see it here. Absolutely. Yeah. It's not like a

702
00:41:21,585 --> 00:41:25,345
capitalistic society whatsoever. You know, it's it's more of just kinda how

703
00:41:25,345 --> 00:41:29,040
things used to be where Mhmm. You know, 100 of years ago, and it was

704
00:41:29,040 --> 00:41:32,800
trade and and barter. And there was money to an extent, but it was

705
00:41:32,800 --> 00:41:35,840
just not heavily used like it is now. Yeah. I think it was more similar

706
00:41:35,840 --> 00:41:39,665
to that. Yeah. And I and I think that especially, like, for me

707
00:41:39,665 --> 00:41:43,425
being a part of farmer's markets and kinda seeing that, moneyless economy where,

708
00:41:43,425 --> 00:41:47,190
like, at Canada farmers market, you trade stuff, and, like, I trade my

709
00:41:47,190 --> 00:41:51,030
bagels for some vegetables Yeah. Or, like, it's or some mushrooms. It's, like, it's a

710
00:41:51,030 --> 00:41:54,765
interesting way to live, and it definitely feels a lot nicer than, like, going and,

711
00:41:54,765 --> 00:41:57,885
like, buying something at the store. Like, when I know that, like, my friends who

712
00:41:57,885 --> 00:42:01,085
own the farm grew the food that I'm gonna eat Yeah. Like, that to me

713
00:42:01,085 --> 00:42:04,920
is, like, way more meaningful and impactful than, like, going to Stop and

714
00:42:04,920 --> 00:42:08,680
Shop and buying carrots. Like, it's it's something there's definitely something

715
00:42:08,680 --> 00:42:12,325
to and I always reference this book, The Cellist and Prophecy, but they talk about

716
00:42:12,325 --> 00:42:15,605
it in there. But, like, the care that you put into the things that you're

717
00:42:15,605 --> 00:42:19,290
eating can significantly change, like, how it affects you.

718
00:42:19,530 --> 00:42:22,570
So Mhmm. It it just makes you think, like, if there's a whole community of

719
00:42:22,570 --> 00:42:25,450
that, all all the food they eat is grown by the people that they love.

720
00:42:25,450 --> 00:42:28,835
Mhmm. Like, how does that affect your health long term? A 100%. Yeah.

721
00:42:28,835 --> 00:42:32,435
I mean, one of the guys' houses we were working on, Manju is his name.

722
00:42:32,435 --> 00:42:36,200
He's a really, really sweet guy. And he was he was kinda telling us

723
00:42:36,200 --> 00:42:38,680
about it a little bit. He's like, everything here is all organically grown. We don't

724
00:42:38,680 --> 00:42:42,280
have chemicals. We don't have pesticides. He's like, that's what we eat. You know, we

725
00:42:42,280 --> 00:42:45,525
eat the food that we grow. And and, actually, one of the one of the

726
00:42:45,525 --> 00:42:49,125
days we were there, someone in the village had passed away, and they were

727
00:42:49,125 --> 00:42:52,825
95. So it gives you a little sense of they do live pretty long.

728
00:42:53,130 --> 00:42:55,850
And it's it's almost like they they I think it was a conch shell they

729
00:42:55,850 --> 00:42:59,290
blew in the morning to kind of indicate the death of somebody in the village,

730
00:42:59,290 --> 00:43:02,515
and it's kinda it affects everybody. Like, everybody knew,

731
00:43:03,135 --> 00:43:06,355
what it was and kinda pay their respects for that.

732
00:43:06,895 --> 00:43:10,319
And then another night, a a house caught on fire in the middle of the

733
00:43:10,319 --> 00:43:13,680
night. And the same thing, like, one of our guys, our head guy actually went

734
00:43:13,680 --> 00:43:17,359
over and, like, helped them. You know? He walked over to it in the middle

735
00:43:17,359 --> 00:43:21,135
of the night and helped them. I guess get I guess everybody's okay.

736
00:43:21,135 --> 00:43:24,095
I didn't really get filled in on any of the details, but, you know, it's

737
00:43:24,095 --> 00:43:25,935
just that he didn't even think about it. He just woke up and he saw

738
00:43:25,935 --> 00:43:29,750
it, and he went over and helped out. Right. Yeah. No, like, fire

739
00:43:29,750 --> 00:43:32,950
department to call. It's just like everybody kinda sees that there's a problem and then

740
00:43:32,950 --> 00:43:36,595
exactly. It was intense to it. That's that's really cool. So can you,

741
00:43:36,835 --> 00:43:39,475
tell us a little bit too more about, like, the specific work that you were

742
00:43:39,475 --> 00:43:42,515
doing there? You said that you were going to help rebuild houses. What did that

743
00:43:42,515 --> 00:43:45,220
look like? Were you able to, like, build the whole house in a week? Like,

744
00:43:45,300 --> 00:43:49,060
what what was that like? Yeah. So I I didn't know showing up what

745
00:43:49,060 --> 00:43:52,740
was what it was gonna look like. All I knew was we were going to

746
00:43:52,740 --> 00:43:56,515
rebuild these homes in a way that would have some

747
00:43:56,815 --> 00:44:00,575
reinforced steel and concrete so that if there was another well, not if, but when

748
00:44:00,575 --> 00:44:04,210
there's another earthquake, they're not gonna come crumbling down. And we got there

749
00:44:04,210 --> 00:44:07,809
and the 2 sites we were working on were already started. The foundations were kinda

750
00:44:07,809 --> 00:44:11,335
dug out. All the stones from the previous house were kinda sitting on the side,

751
00:44:11,415 --> 00:44:15,175
ready to be used again. Some of the rebar was already in place. And for

752
00:44:15,175 --> 00:44:18,935
the 1st couple of days, we broke rocks, actually. We just smashed rocks into

753
00:44:18,935 --> 00:44:22,069
smaller pieces to use for the concrete. Right? Because they need you need rocks to

754
00:44:22,069 --> 00:44:25,430
make concrete, and you can buy them or you can make them. Right?

755
00:44:25,430 --> 00:44:28,974
So, it was actually a good group activity because it, you know,

756
00:44:28,974 --> 00:44:32,655
there's 5 of us at each site at once, and we actually got a

757
00:44:32,655 --> 00:44:36,115
bunch of rocks broken up, which saved them from having to buy them. Right?

758
00:44:36,720 --> 00:44:40,400
And, when the head guide, Steve is

759
00:44:40,400 --> 00:44:43,839
his name, he was pretty funny. He he used to work in a

760
00:44:43,839 --> 00:44:47,105
jail. I remember one day he was like, man, if my inmates could see me

761
00:44:47,105 --> 00:44:50,945
now. But it was fun

762
00:44:50,945 --> 00:44:53,940
because we got to talk to each other and have good conversation while we're doing

763
00:44:53,940 --> 00:44:57,780
this. And, yeah, that that part was nice. We also moved the

764
00:44:57,780 --> 00:45:01,435
rocks too, which felt a little more useful because we would

765
00:45:01,435 --> 00:45:05,195
form a line and we would carry these heavy rocks distances. So that felt

766
00:45:05,195 --> 00:45:08,890
like we were being of use a little bit more. And then we also helped

767
00:45:08,890 --> 00:45:11,610
pour the concrete. So they would mix the concrete up on the ground. They would

768
00:45:11,610 --> 00:45:14,570
put it in these kind of tray things. And, again, we would form a line

769
00:45:14,570 --> 00:45:18,005
and kind of, you know, bring it over and and pour it into place. And

770
00:45:18,005 --> 00:45:21,765
I think that was my favorite day because I could see the progress we made.

771
00:45:21,765 --> 00:45:25,505
Like, we poured a whole slab concrete in one day, and it felt

772
00:45:25,505 --> 00:45:29,074
like we, you know, we actually did help here. Right? And it wasn't just us

773
00:45:29,074 --> 00:45:32,645
working there. They had the local people who were doing the job as well, who

774
00:45:32,645 --> 00:45:35,125
were working, and we were just kind of working in addition to them. So we're

775
00:45:35,125 --> 00:45:38,665
kind of giving them a kick start to this home building process. Right?

776
00:45:38,885 --> 00:45:42,185
When we left, the homes were not done, not not even close to being done,

777
00:45:42,440 --> 00:45:45,800
But we helped kick start it and get it off on, you know, a stronger

778
00:45:45,800 --> 00:45:49,640
foot. And they told us another 5, 6 weeks worth of

779
00:45:49,640 --> 00:45:53,465
work would complete the homes. So whose homes were they

780
00:45:53,465 --> 00:45:57,065
and and where were the people that used to live in there? Yeah.

781
00:45:57,065 --> 00:46:00,710
So Manju, the guy I referenced earlier, one of them was was his

782
00:46:00,710 --> 00:46:04,550
home. The other thing, you know, people may ask like, well, the earthquakes

783
00:46:04,550 --> 00:46:08,165
were in 2015. Why are you still rebuilding? And it didn't necessarily

784
00:46:08,305 --> 00:46:12,065
level all the homes. So Manju's home had damage to it. There's a big crack

785
00:46:12,065 --> 00:46:15,265
on the wall. And over time, crack got worse and worse. And eventually, it was

786
00:46:15,265 --> 00:46:18,710
unstable. He couldn't live in it anymore. So he was living in some friend's

787
00:46:18,710 --> 00:46:22,470
house temporarily, you know, while his home was gonna get built. And

788
00:46:22,470 --> 00:46:26,015
he actually worked for the trekking company that we were with, and he was the

789
00:46:26,015 --> 00:46:29,855
main guide last year on the trip. And he

790
00:46:29,855 --> 00:46:33,615
actually got in a motorcycle accident in Kathmandu and hurt his knee, so he couldn't

791
00:46:33,615 --> 00:46:37,120
do it this year. So we had a different guy. But he he was one

792
00:46:37,120 --> 00:46:40,800
of the recipients. Another guy, we didn't really meet as much. He

793
00:46:40,800 --> 00:46:44,175
didn't know English as well. He was just the guy in the village

794
00:46:44,175 --> 00:46:47,775
that they deemed needed. You know, they just kinda look at

795
00:46:47,775 --> 00:46:50,335
everybody's homes, and the 2 people that need it the most are the ones that

796
00:46:50,335 --> 00:46:54,099
get the homes. So is this, like, an ongoing thing that, like,

797
00:46:54,099 --> 00:46:57,539
the Sierra Club will be back next year and and keep doing it? So they

798
00:46:57,539 --> 00:46:59,880
think next year is going to be the last trip.

799
00:47:01,865 --> 00:47:05,065
And the the reason, I guess, I should explain the reason we're connected with this

800
00:47:05,065 --> 00:47:08,445
village was because of the trekking company, Crystal Mountain Trekking.

801
00:47:08,905 --> 00:47:12,560
They started in that village, and a lot of the people lived in that

802
00:47:12,560 --> 00:47:15,920
village who worked there. And the assistant guide,

803
00:47:15,920 --> 00:47:19,355
Cheryl, has been doing treks in in Nepal, guiding them since

804
00:47:19,355 --> 00:47:23,115
1992. And she, you know, got to get really close to all these people because

805
00:47:23,115 --> 00:47:25,915
every year she would come and do a trek and and she would meet them

806
00:47:25,915 --> 00:47:29,280
and come back and see them again. And she had just this deep connection with

807
00:47:29,280 --> 00:47:33,120
with these people. And and after the earthquakes, they kinda just posed

808
00:47:33,120 --> 00:47:36,080
the question, said, hey. Would you guys be interested in doing a trip like this

809
00:47:36,080 --> 00:47:39,654
in the village? And they were like, yeah. Definitely. So from

810
00:47:39,654 --> 00:47:43,335
then, they they started planning it and and doing all the things.

811
00:47:43,335 --> 00:47:46,700
And and, yeah, that's that's how it got started.

812
00:47:47,480 --> 00:47:51,080
That's pretty cool. So basically, like, one person wanting to do

813
00:47:51,160 --> 00:47:54,795
help some people that she felt connected to. Yeah. Yeah. That was

814
00:47:54,795 --> 00:47:58,475
that was another one of the coolest things, which is seeing how seeing

815
00:47:58,475 --> 00:48:02,060
her connection to this country, to these people, and how much they

816
00:48:02,060 --> 00:48:05,820
respected her. They called her Didi, which is like older sister. And they were just

817
00:48:05,820 --> 00:48:09,445
so kind and and grateful for her. You know? Like, she

818
00:48:09,445 --> 00:48:12,965
has made such a change and, you you know, such a positive influence on all

819
00:48:12,965 --> 00:48:16,165
these purpose. And and same to her. Like, they've made such a positive influence on

820
00:48:16,165 --> 00:48:19,800
her and changed her life in such a beneficial way. It was just this reciprocity.

821
00:48:20,100 --> 00:48:23,619
This sense of witness was amazing. Mhmm. Yeah. That's really

822
00:48:23,619 --> 00:48:27,025
cool. Yeah. So, I mean, there's

823
00:48:27,085 --> 00:48:30,845
probably many more questions I can ask, but kinda come to the

824
00:48:30,845 --> 00:48:33,320
end of our time, but there's still some more things I wanna ask. So I

825
00:48:33,400 --> 00:48:36,780
kinda prepared these, quote unquote rapid fire questions.

826
00:48:37,000 --> 00:48:40,540
Uh-oh. That maybe you could try to, like, answer as succinctly as possible.

827
00:48:40,805 --> 00:48:43,685
Sure. But just some other things that, like, I'm curious about that don't really have

828
00:48:43,685 --> 00:48:47,285
any, like, order or anything like that. First one would be, did you bring any

829
00:48:47,285 --> 00:48:51,020
cool music back? Did you get, like, any music? Because usually, like, when I travel,

830
00:48:51,020 --> 00:48:54,640
I like to, like, find the music of the area. Absolutely. Nice.

831
00:48:55,099 --> 00:48:58,835
The first night in the village, we went to sleep in our

832
00:48:58,835 --> 00:49:02,115
tents. Right? And I just I don't know how much of this was real life

833
00:49:02,115 --> 00:49:05,555
and how much of this was a dream, but I remember I remember just falling

834
00:49:05,555 --> 00:49:09,310
asleep to this droning music of drums and just this rhythm

835
00:49:09,310 --> 00:49:12,850
and not so much lyrically or vocally, but it was just this

836
00:49:13,230 --> 00:49:17,065
amazing music that was just you know, it was like 10, 12, 15

837
00:49:17,065 --> 00:49:20,425
minute songs that you thought transitioned to another song, but then it would come back.

838
00:49:20,425 --> 00:49:24,210
And it was this really, really cool music. And I

839
00:49:24,210 --> 00:49:27,970
don't necessarily I couldn't I didn't really grab any of that stuff.

840
00:49:27,970 --> 00:49:31,815
It's just traditional Nepali music. Like playing it or were they? Yeah. Like, someone's home

841
00:49:31,815 --> 00:49:35,015
is just playing the music, and you can softly hear it throughout the whole valley.

842
00:49:36,455 --> 00:49:40,040
But we actually did grab a a song One of the days we were working,

843
00:49:40,100 --> 00:49:43,540
I mean, it was a day we're pouring the concrete, and this song was playing

844
00:49:43,540 --> 00:49:47,035
while we were taking a break. And then we passed out all the

845
00:49:47,035 --> 00:49:49,995
concrete, the whole pile of concrete. We came back and was still playing. And then

846
00:49:49,995 --> 00:49:53,755
someone in the group did the Shazam or whatever and and got the song. So

847
00:49:53,755 --> 00:49:57,069
we were able to find it on Spotify afterwards. And Oh, wow. That's awesome. And

848
00:49:57,069 --> 00:50:00,109
it's such a good song. Yeah. Maybe link it if you want, but it's Yeah.

849
00:50:00,109 --> 00:50:03,230
Yeah. Pretty good. Do you have, like, a playlist or something you started? I should.

850
00:50:03,230 --> 00:50:06,444
Yeah. I I kinda did, but there's only a couple songs on it. But,

851
00:50:06,905 --> 00:50:10,744
also, one of the guys in the in the tracking company with us,

852
00:50:10,744 --> 00:50:14,204
he one of our guides, he wrote a song about

853
00:50:14,510 --> 00:50:18,270
about all the village. And they tried to explain it to us and

854
00:50:18,270 --> 00:50:21,765
what it meant, but it was it was basically, like, how the village meant so

855
00:50:21,765 --> 00:50:24,724
much to all of them and the ups and downs of life and and that

856
00:50:24,724 --> 00:50:28,345
kind of thing. And and he has it on YouTube. There's, like, a 150

857
00:50:28,789 --> 00:50:32,390
1,000 views of that or something like that. So, yeah, we have that as well.

858
00:50:32,390 --> 00:50:35,269
That's interesting. Which is pretty cool. And he I guess he wrote the lyrics to

859
00:50:35,269 --> 00:50:37,695
it, and he it's the only song he ever wrote, and he he wants to

860
00:50:37,695 --> 00:50:41,055
write another one. And, yeah, it's cool that music is such a big piece of

861
00:50:41,055 --> 00:50:44,820
the culture as well. Like, you know, a lot of people played music or or

862
00:50:44,820 --> 00:50:47,380
sang. They danced. Dance is a really big part of it too. They have this

863
00:50:47,380 --> 00:50:51,140
really unique dance that all of them know, and it's yeah. It was

864
00:50:51,140 --> 00:50:54,545
really cool. That's really interesting. Alright. Next

865
00:50:54,545 --> 00:50:56,965
question. Give me a food memory.

866
00:50:58,465 --> 00:51:02,089
Food memory. Well, so I it's

867
00:51:02,089 --> 00:51:05,869
funny because when I lived in Jackson Heights, I was exposed to Nepali food

868
00:51:06,250 --> 00:51:09,654
pretty pretty well. So I I had a lot of the traditional dishes, The

869
00:51:09,654 --> 00:51:13,414
momos, obviously, are the Tibetan dumplings. And having it

870
00:51:13,414 --> 00:51:16,855
over there and kind of seeing that it was pretty similar to what it was

871
00:51:16,855 --> 00:51:20,070
in Jackson Heights, it was like, oh, okay. There's some authenticity to the food in

872
00:51:20,070 --> 00:51:23,750
Jackson Heights. Like, you know, it was it was it wasn't like I was

873
00:51:23,750 --> 00:51:27,095
experiencing it the first time, but I was experiencing it, and it tasted very similar

874
00:51:27,095 --> 00:51:30,455
to how it was in New York. So that was kinda cool. What

875
00:51:30,455 --> 00:51:33,815
about, thoughts on, like, long term travel

876
00:51:33,815 --> 00:51:37,550
now? As far as just taking trips, like, wanting to

877
00:51:37,550 --> 00:51:41,250
do it more or, like yeah. Well, I definitely removed

878
00:51:41,310 --> 00:51:44,855
the any fear barrier from it. It's like, you

879
00:51:44,855 --> 00:51:48,454
know, I think a lot of times you may have these perceptions of of

880
00:51:48,454 --> 00:51:52,160
places or things that you've never done before, and I think that's totally

881
00:51:52,160 --> 00:51:55,840
removed. Like, I wanna experience I wanna go to different places and and experience this

882
00:51:55,840 --> 00:51:59,525
again. And and I think just going to smaller

883
00:51:59,585 --> 00:52:03,345
cultures and and villages like that, I think you just learn so much

884
00:52:03,345 --> 00:52:07,090
just by being there. And it's it's just really, really a privilege to

885
00:52:07,090 --> 00:52:10,530
to be immersed in that. And I I absolutely would love to do it again

886
00:52:10,530 --> 00:52:14,050
if I had the opportunity. So you would go back? Absolutely.

887
00:52:14,050 --> 00:52:17,865
Yeah. Yeah. It's it's it's funny. I was asking Sheryl

888
00:52:17,865 --> 00:52:21,625
about the first time she went to Nepal, and I think it was, like,

889
00:52:21,625 --> 00:52:24,825
86 or something like that, she said. And she said it was a bad trip.

890
00:52:24,825 --> 00:52:28,200
Like, she had a horrible time. Everything went that went wrong, coulda went wrong. And

891
00:52:28,200 --> 00:52:31,720
she went home, and, like, 6 months later or a year later, she kept thinking

892
00:52:31,720 --> 00:52:34,460
about it. And she's like, man, I need to go back and do it right.

893
00:52:34,655 --> 00:52:38,495
And now to see how, you know, immersed she is with this country, it's

894
00:52:38,495 --> 00:52:41,535
like it's it's kinda funny. It's almost she she even said in her own words,

895
00:52:41,535 --> 00:52:45,000
like, it kinda drew me back, you know. And I kinda wonder how that's gonna

896
00:52:45,000 --> 00:52:48,760
be for me. Right? Mhmm. Yeah. Yeah. Like, we're saying earlier about, like,

897
00:52:48,760 --> 00:52:52,404
certain places, like, when I first went to Death Valley, I saw, like, a couple

898
00:52:52,404 --> 00:52:55,965
of the national parks too, like, this road trip. But Death Valley is the only

899
00:52:55,965 --> 00:52:58,925
place that I've been back to multiple times now, and I keep, like, thinking, like,

900
00:52:58,925 --> 00:53:01,405
when's the next time I'm gonna go back there? Yeah. For sure. And then, like,

901
00:53:01,405 --> 00:53:04,690
we went on that trip that back there. So Mhmm. Yeah. It's it's interesting how,

902
00:53:04,690 --> 00:53:08,450
like, different places kind of affect you and pull you in. Mhmm. And

903
00:53:08,450 --> 00:53:11,484
then, so another rapid fire question.

904
00:53:12,345 --> 00:53:16,025
What what does your focus feel like now coming back, like, thinking about how the

905
00:53:16,025 --> 00:53:19,870
trip affected business and, like, thinking of, like, levels of

906
00:53:19,870 --> 00:53:22,770
importance? Like, has that changed from the trip?

907
00:53:23,550 --> 00:53:27,065
Yeah. I mean, I think it definitely added some

908
00:53:27,065 --> 00:53:30,605
perspective. It gave me some room to breathe and kinda look back on it,

909
00:53:30,985 --> 00:53:34,665
and it gave me a break from it as well. I mean, you

910
00:53:34,665 --> 00:53:38,360
know, like, working for yourself, it's like it it never shuts off. And I

911
00:53:38,360 --> 00:53:41,560
think that was, like, a nice time to shut off and just not think about

912
00:53:41,560 --> 00:53:45,325
it as much. So coming back to it with fresh eyes and and clear

913
00:53:45,325 --> 00:53:48,924
head, it's it's it's definitely been beneficial. It's kind of like, you know, when you

914
00:53:48,924 --> 00:53:50,684
walk away from a problem, you come back to it and you're like, oh, that

915
00:53:50,684 --> 00:53:53,450
was simple. Why I struggling with that? It's almost a little bit of that in

916
00:53:53,450 --> 00:53:57,070
a sense. Mhmm. Yeah. Definitely. Were there any

917
00:53:57,210 --> 00:54:00,955
things that you took, like, culturally away from it? Because, like, everybody's culture is

918
00:54:00,955 --> 00:54:04,315
different, but were there any, like, certain pieces of their culture that you'll take

919
00:54:04,315 --> 00:54:07,775
back? Yeah. That's a good question.

920
00:54:08,200 --> 00:54:11,960
I just think that so many people here are just kind

921
00:54:11,960 --> 00:54:15,480
of racing around trying to get as much done, trying to be productive, trying to

922
00:54:15,480 --> 00:54:19,285
do their side hustles and all these things at once. And I just

923
00:54:19,285 --> 00:54:23,125
think that that doesn't really exist over there. It's it's everyone's more focused on themselves

924
00:54:23,125 --> 00:54:26,720
and not themselves, but, like, the well-being of themselves. Right?

925
00:54:26,940 --> 00:54:30,619
And that it's it's just like it's commerce, and it's making money

926
00:54:30,619 --> 00:54:34,204
over here, and it's it's trying to just be successful or whatever that means.

927
00:54:34,585 --> 00:54:38,424
And over there, it's just that doesn't exist. It's it's just, you know, people

928
00:54:38,424 --> 00:54:42,180
are more concerned with their well-being. And and I touched on it earlier that

929
00:54:42,180 --> 00:54:45,859
they all look so youthful too. And and and it they just look wise too.

930
00:54:45,859 --> 00:54:49,635
Right? Like, no one's looks jumpy or I don't know. Like,

931
00:54:49,635 --> 00:54:53,474
anxiety probably doesn't exist as much over there. Right? Like,

932
00:54:53,474 --> 00:54:57,050
it's they're just that is an important thing

933
00:54:57,190 --> 00:55:00,870
in their culture that is not really well represented in our culture. Yeah.

934
00:55:00,870 --> 00:55:04,535
That's that's a good thing to touch on. I literally just had a

935
00:55:04,535 --> 00:55:08,155
similar thought that I've had my subset last week talk about.

936
00:55:08,215 --> 00:55:11,335
Because I I kept, like, running into these Mondays where I was just, like, overwhelmed

937
00:55:11,335 --> 00:55:14,760
with how many things that I wanna do, being productive, being mad at myself for

938
00:55:14,760 --> 00:55:17,799
not being productive, and basically just being, like, frozen all day long and not getting

939
00:55:17,799 --> 00:55:21,400
anything done. Mhmm. And that was happening again, and then I decided to,

940
00:55:21,400 --> 00:55:25,065
like, ask myself, like like, keep asking why, like, I

941
00:55:25,065 --> 00:55:27,625
felt like this. Then I got to the point where I was, like, why am

942
00:55:27,625 --> 00:55:31,005
I putting so much value on being productive? Yeah. Like, what why is that important?

943
00:55:31,650 --> 00:55:34,930
Why is it important that I'm productive right now? What if I'm not productive? Is

944
00:55:34,930 --> 00:55:38,770
that okay? Like Mhmm. Maybe it is. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. And it

945
00:55:38,770 --> 00:55:42,285
was, like, such an interesting conversation that I have with myself almost.

946
00:55:42,605 --> 00:55:46,365
But, yeah, that that's just, like, something that your brain's

947
00:55:46,365 --> 00:55:49,710
always telling you that you need to be productive or you need to be successful

948
00:55:49,710 --> 00:55:52,830
or whatever that means. Mhmm. So that's that's kinda interesting that you bring that up.

949
00:55:52,830 --> 00:55:56,645
And then last question would be one memory that you didn't or, you know,

950
00:55:56,645 --> 00:56:00,265
story or memory that you didn't get a chance to talk about. Yeah. Yeah. Sure.

951
00:56:00,325 --> 00:56:03,845
So this one definitely comes to mind first. That night that I was I was

952
00:56:03,845 --> 00:56:07,480
sick, they all went out to dinner to some restaurant, and I sat back at

953
00:56:07,480 --> 00:56:10,680
the hotel because I didn't wanna be around them and spread anything. And I also

954
00:56:10,680 --> 00:56:14,515
wasn't feeling good. So I just went to the hotel kitchen, and there was really

955
00:56:14,515 --> 00:56:16,755
nobody there. I just got some soup, and I was sitting there. And one of

956
00:56:16,755 --> 00:56:20,275
the guys from the hotel who worked at the front desk came over to have

957
00:56:20,275 --> 00:56:22,890
his dinner at the same time, and and he sat at the table with me

958
00:56:22,890 --> 00:56:26,250
and he started talking to me. And he was he was really

959
00:56:26,250 --> 00:56:29,930
cool. He he must have seen he knew I was sick and the

960
00:56:29,930 --> 00:56:32,795
deal I was on the trip and all that. And he started talking to me,

961
00:56:32,795 --> 00:56:35,615
and he's like, yeah. He's like he's like, do you meditate?

962
00:56:36,875 --> 00:56:39,195
And I was like, well, I've been struggling to get make it a habit and

963
00:56:39,195 --> 00:56:42,860
get into it, but I'm you know, I like to do it, and I

964
00:56:42,860 --> 00:56:46,700
wanna get better at it. And he's like, meditation is very important. And he

965
00:56:46,700 --> 00:56:50,140
says, you know, if you don't if you can control your mind, you can do

966
00:56:50,140 --> 00:56:53,625
anything. And if you don't control your mind, it'll control you. And he tells me

967
00:56:53,625 --> 00:56:56,105
how he gets up at 3 o'clock every morning and he meditates for hours and

968
00:56:56,105 --> 00:56:59,869
hours. He goes home after work and he meditates again. And just how

969
00:56:59,869 --> 00:57:02,430
big of a part of his life it is and in the whole culture, really.

970
00:57:02,430 --> 00:57:06,210
I mean, it's just a big part of of of, you know, Buddhism

971
00:57:06,510 --> 00:57:09,595
as well. I mean, there's there's a lot of Buddhists over there, but it's just

972
00:57:09,595 --> 00:57:13,195
such a big part. It's almost like a normal part of everybody's

973
00:57:13,195 --> 00:57:16,819
life. Like, everybody kinda puts some importance to that, And I think

974
00:57:16,819 --> 00:57:20,579
that it shows how important it is. Right? Like, he he he's probably saw

975
00:57:20,579 --> 00:57:24,099
me and saw me, like, worrying about everything. And he kinda came over and was

976
00:57:24,099 --> 00:57:27,845
like, you know, relax. Like, don't worry about anything. Like, he saw

977
00:57:27,845 --> 00:57:31,525
the the energy coming off me. He was, like Yeah. Worried about the trip going

978
00:57:31,525 --> 00:57:35,050
wrong and stuff. And he was yeah. It was kind of kind of reassuring and

979
00:57:35,050 --> 00:57:38,890
nice to have a conversation with him. Mhmm. Yeah. Yeah. That is interesting. It

980
00:57:38,890 --> 00:57:42,330
makes me think of, the podcast I did a little bit ago about,

981
00:57:43,185 --> 00:57:46,145
the person I was interviewing. He has a mushroom farm and, like, he was talking

982
00:57:46,145 --> 00:57:49,984
about how meditation basically, like, changed his life and changed the way that he

983
00:57:49,984 --> 00:57:53,650
thinks about things or, like, what he finds important. And, like Mhmm. I think it

984
00:57:53,650 --> 00:57:57,250
is important. And even go back to, like, the selfishness of it, like, spending enough

985
00:57:57,250 --> 00:58:00,210
time with yourself to figure out what you need to do. Because I think we

986
00:58:00,210 --> 00:58:02,450
all have the answers inside of us. Like, we all know what we need to

987
00:58:02,450 --> 00:58:06,165
do. It's just a matter of, like, getting rid of all the bullshit and, like,

988
00:58:06,165 --> 00:58:09,944
figuring out, like, this next actual step and, like, actually

989
00:58:10,005 --> 00:58:13,140
listening to yourself and listening to your intuition and, like, that sort of thing. The

990
00:58:13,140 --> 00:58:16,820
more that you can do that, I think, I don't know, at least for me,

991
00:58:16,820 --> 00:58:20,340
the more happiness or joy that I've found. So I think that

992
00:58:20,340 --> 00:58:23,555
meditation is a part of that. And even just, like, time with yourself, like, it

993
00:58:23,555 --> 00:58:27,315
doesn't have to look like, you know, sitting with your legs

994
00:58:27,315 --> 00:58:30,990
crossed. It could just be, like, spending time with yourself with no distractions

995
00:58:31,289 --> 00:58:35,069
and seeing what comes up. And, Yeah. That's kind of a cool

996
00:58:35,369 --> 00:58:38,955
synchronicity of something like him seeing you struggling and then being like,

997
00:58:38,955 --> 00:58:42,175
relax, bro. You'll be fine. Yeah. That's basically what I got out of the afterwards.

998
00:58:42,315 --> 00:58:45,839
Yeah. So that's really cool. So that

999
00:58:45,839 --> 00:58:49,680
was the end of the rapid fire questions. Also wanna give

1000
00:58:49,680 --> 00:58:53,440
you a chance, to, like, talk about, like, the prints that you

1001
00:58:53,440 --> 00:58:55,855
have because I know you have a print shop that people can buy prints of,

1002
00:58:55,855 --> 00:58:59,535
and you added some from this past trip. So, yeah, like, how can people

1003
00:58:59,535 --> 00:59:02,975
support you or, talk about the things that you want to be doing in maybe

1004
00:59:02,975 --> 00:59:06,560
this next year as as a photographer? Yeah. I'm, I

1005
00:59:06,560 --> 00:59:10,020
think yeah. I do have print shop up on my website. It's mc3,

1006
00:59:10,400 --> 00:59:14,215
number 3, photography.com. There's a link there. That. Yeah.

1007
00:59:14,215 --> 00:59:17,735
To my print shop. And I did add 5 or 6 photos from Nepal on

1008
00:59:17,735 --> 00:59:21,569
there. Some film photos too. Anyone's interested in that? I

1009
00:59:21,569 --> 00:59:25,170
took the film camera with me, and that was, really cool experience

1010
00:59:25,170 --> 00:59:29,005
too, getting into that. So for for this year, I guess, personal

1011
00:59:29,005 --> 00:59:32,785
project wise, for me, it's I wanna get more into the art side of it

1012
00:59:33,085 --> 00:59:36,770
and figure out how to get my work displayed and and seeing my others and

1013
00:59:37,090 --> 00:59:40,690
the whole gallery scene. How do I start to begin to

1014
00:59:40,690 --> 00:59:43,890
understand that and to get into that? And that's one of my goals for this

1015
00:59:43,890 --> 00:59:47,485
year. So and then I also have a newsletter on

1016
00:59:47,485 --> 00:59:51,015
Substack that I started using recently. I know you have one as well. So,

1017
00:59:51,619 --> 00:59:54,339
it's a nice way to kinda have a newsletter and also have a home for

1018
00:59:54,339 --> 00:59:57,720
it to live and not just kinda die in the inbox. You know?

1019
00:59:58,020 --> 01:00:01,725
So I've been focusing on showing more of my personal projects to

1020
01:00:01,725 --> 01:00:04,445
clients as well to just keep people interested. You know, if you come and get

1021
01:00:04,445 --> 01:00:07,885
a headshot done, you may not need one for a while. Right? But I can

1022
01:00:07,885 --> 01:00:11,540
still kind of have a relationship with somebody or a past client or a prospective

1023
01:00:11,540 --> 01:00:15,300
client and show them what I'm working on on my personal projects to

1024
01:00:15,300 --> 01:00:18,904
just, you know, keep the conversation going. Mhmm. Yeah.

1025
01:00:18,904 --> 01:00:22,585
Subset's been a great platform, I think, because I I've got it

1026
01:00:22,585 --> 01:00:25,785
because you showed it to me. And I've kinda almost leaned into just using it

1027
01:00:25,785 --> 01:00:29,620
to, like, just explore thoughts or, like, different things that, like, I'm thinking of

1028
01:00:29,620 --> 01:00:33,060
or going through, like, kinda just, like, putting some attention to certain thoughts that come

1029
01:00:33,060 --> 01:00:36,595
up or something that I read in the book and, like, not necessarily relating it

1030
01:00:36,595 --> 01:00:40,435
back to, like, business or anything like that, but it's cool to just, like, think

1031
01:00:40,435 --> 01:00:43,655
of I don't know. For me, it's more like the lifestyle

1032
01:00:44,490 --> 01:00:47,930
conversations or something. You know? So, yeah, that's that's a cool thing. I'll I'll definitely

1033
01:00:47,930 --> 01:00:51,450
link your subtext here. Yeah. Yeah. And then just having, you know, other things to

1034
01:00:51,450 --> 01:00:54,595
relate to people with. You know? Mhmm. You know, maybe one of my clients is

1035
01:00:54,595 --> 01:00:58,295
interested in in Nepal or interested in, you know, film photography

1036
01:00:58,355 --> 01:01:02,019
or something else that I'm working on, and it kinda just builds more of a

1037
01:01:02,019 --> 01:01:05,779
community than just having, like, a exchange service of paying you for this service

1038
01:01:05,779 --> 01:01:08,260
and then never seeing you again. I think that's just, like, a weird way to

1039
01:01:08,260 --> 01:01:11,234
do business. Yeah. It certainly doesn't feel good. Yeah.

1040
01:01:12,335 --> 01:01:16,175
So that's cool. That's awesome. So, I think we gotta end this episode

1041
01:01:16,175 --> 01:01:19,990
at some point. So, thanks for sharing all of

1042
01:01:19,990 --> 01:01:23,530
your experience with travel because I think travel is so, like, such an important thing

1043
01:01:23,990 --> 01:01:27,555
that you can do to learn from, and everybody doesn't have the access

1044
01:01:27,555 --> 01:01:30,595
or ability to do that. So I think it is a cool way to, like,

1045
01:01:30,595 --> 01:01:33,875
be able to share the lessons that you've learned with other people who can listen

1046
01:01:33,875 --> 01:01:37,560
to a free podcast. So thanks for being vulnerable and honest with

1047
01:01:37,560 --> 01:01:41,160
your experiences and taking your time to come on and talk to

1048
01:01:41,160 --> 01:01:44,955
us. And, I guess we'll have to have you on another year, and

1049
01:01:44,955 --> 01:01:48,235
see where you're at. Yeah. Thanks for having me back on the podcast. I I

1050
01:01:48,235 --> 01:01:51,920
really appreciate it. It's been great having a conversation and sharing stories. And and

1051
01:01:51,920 --> 01:01:55,680
like you said, just being able to kinda share these experiences with other people

1052
01:01:55,680 --> 01:01:59,140
or the photos with other people or just, you know, try and just relate,

1053
01:01:59,525 --> 01:02:02,325
you know, human to human in another culture. It's like that's kind of the whole

1054
01:02:02,325 --> 01:02:06,165
point of things. Right? It's like it's easy to kind of judge another culture

1055
01:02:06,165 --> 01:02:09,619
or look down on somebody, but when you get to know them on a personal

1056
01:02:09,619 --> 01:02:12,900
level, it you're like, oh, they're just people just like us. You know? Like, that's

1057
01:02:12,900 --> 01:02:15,235
that's the whole point of everything. Right? Yeah.

1058
01:02:16,815 --> 01:02:20,575
Yep. Thank you for listening to Working Towards Our Purpose. If you liked

1059
01:02:20,575 --> 01:02:24,420
today's episode and are interested in more, you can sign up for my Substack

1060
01:02:24,420 --> 01:02:28,260
newsletter with the link in the show notes, where I share thoughts, tips,

1061
01:02:28,260 --> 01:02:31,640
and ideas that I'm learning along my journey to help inspire

1062
01:02:32,285 --> 01:02:35,025
you. The show was produced by Pleasant Podcast at pleasantpodcast.com.