Stuff the bags

The travel packing challenge. I originally anticipated keeping everything to the absolute minimum for my travels. However, as I am also a volunteer, I’m not only fending for myself.

The primary items included:

1. Medical supplies to the village in Nepal.

2. My stuff for Nepal

3. Stuff for family in Taiwan. If you’re Asian, you understand. As usual, this included a Vitamix blender and 7 bottles of vitamins.

First, the allowance on EVA is 2 x 50lb luggages. Of course, the carry-on provides wiggle room.

Nepal:

About 30 lbs of medical supplies, the majority from MedShare

Packing all medical supplies into categories and packing it down with ziplock bags

Toothbrushes for the kids

Stationaries and multimedia. Thanks, Tiff for the donations. The entertainment/educational value of this DVD will be assessed 🙂

Ok, next, my stuff:

What I’ll be wearing onto the plane to Taiwan

MSR stove, 3 ways to make fire, collapsable cup and pot

The gadgetry serving to power my phone/kindle/camera. Thanks, Stanford gang for the solar charger (Joos orange) – it works like a charm! Thanks, Ed, for telling me about the light bulb adaptor – it works like a charm as well!

The backpacks I’ll carry on

34 and 49 lbs. Crushed the weight limits!

The clothes I’ll be wearing in Nepal

Clothes for Nepal all fit in this 10L stuff sack! Thanks, Fred 🙂

Water treatment: Sawyer system is my primary, Steripen is my secondary, and Nalgene and Platypus are containers

Northface down jacket (thanks Aunt/Uncle – this only cost me $20 after exchanging your gift!), 10F Mountain Hardware bag in the REI summit pack, inflatable pillow, silk cocoon

My own first aid kit (thanks Wilderness First Aid class and Redwood Club!), picaridin bug spray, paracord, travel pouch, mask

Packing was similar to packing for a multi-day camping trip. Except I’m going to be off-the-grid for a while, so I have a portable solar charger and redundancy in energy sources.  It was fun field testing everything 🙂

Genesis of the blog

I stole the term “project” from the climbing vernacular. A project is something you work on long term – something that’s at your limit or a bit beyond – and you max yourself out to achieve it. While my humble climbing career consists of a few indoor projects never exceeding V5, my goal for this trip is to extend the projecting spirit to my life. And hopefully my readership of 2+ (Winnie and Tiff, I hope!) will bear with me as I chug along.

Getting them feet wet

I’m starting this blog right in the thick of exiting graduate school. I’m diving head first. That’s the only way to go, right?

First to Nepal with NEIO to help develop a rural school called Nurbuling. We’ll see what it leads me to!