ALS Ice Bucket Challenge: Short Film.

So the viral craze hit Tattered Passport and I was nominated by two mates in one day, so a BIG thank you to BabyMicko and Matt Collier. I accepted the challenge and here is the result.

Like most people, I didn’t know anything about ALS so this campaign has done much more than raise funds for ALS it has raised awareness. Everyone that you speak to now knows about the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and I guess that is half the challenge.

The Tattered Passport ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Bucket.

I thought that I wanted to know a little about ALS so cue. “Internet Search”. I found the ALS website and some helpful information. ALS or as most know now it as, Lou Gehrig’s Disease after ending the career of one of the biggest names in baseball’s history. ALS’s full name is Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and in the spinal cord. In Australia we know the disease as Motor Neurone Disease and the local organisation here in Western Australia is the Motor Neurone Disease Association of Western Australia or MNDAWA, along with the Motor Neurone Disease Association an Australian organisation.

From my ALS Ice Bucket Challenge I will be donating $2 from every like this video receives on YouTube in 24hr to the MNDAWA. I also would like to draw some attention to some other charities that I support.

The ALS signs

BeyondBlue: I along with my wife and friend Melissa, hiked for 20 days up to Mt Everest Base Camp in support of beyondblue. Beyondblue assists those suffering from anxiety and depression.

RSPCA: The RSPCA work to prevent animal cruelty by actively promoting their care and protection. Locally you can adopt an animal, Ruby the Kelpie X that featured in this film is a RSPCA puppy. We adopted Ruby 5 years ago and she has been a great family member.

Cancer Council of WA: The Cancer Council of WA works with the local community to reduce the incidence and impact of cancer. My mother June Ness has been shaving her head every year for 7 years and raising much needed funds for the Cancer Council of WA, I have also been known to shave me head.

I would like to thank you for stopping by Tattered Passport and watching my Ice Bucket Challenge. For every like this film receives in 24hrs on YouTube i will donate $2 to the MNDAWA. You can find Tattered Passport on Facebook, Instagram and of cause YouTube.

One Life, One Search,

Peace Out,

Shane

Special Episode: The Trekking Party.

Special Episode:
The Trekking Party.

We make it Ghat and get to celebrate our trek with our Sherpa’s and Porters. They treat us to a night of Traditional Music and dancing. We all had such a great time, a night we will never forget.

Than you to all you amazing World Expedition staff, Sherpa’s Porters and Chief for a your amazing food. You surprised us every day with what you could make in the middle of nowhere.

Thank you for stopping by Tattered Passport, if you have liked this post please feel free to LIKE, SHARE and FOLLOW. You can also find Tattered Passport on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube

One Life, One Search.

Peace Out,

Shane

You Are A Monkey I am A Monkey. Daily Vlog: 20

Daily Vlog: 20

Namche to Ghat.

Saying Farewell to one of my favourite towns in Nepal

We wake early and hit the trails heading down the massive decline from Namche to Ghat. We walk passed a stone building that I watched getting built when we passed through on the way up the mountain only a couple of weeks ago. It was impressive to see how fast the local Nepalese people had built this Tea House, the fact that it was built by hand was amazing. I have been in the building industry for a while now and I have never seen something built so fast. I think that us Australian Trades People need to take a leaf out of the Nepalese book here and pull our heads in. These people had hand built a two story building in a couple of weeks with no power tools and equipment other than hammer and chisel. We have all the equipment under the sun and take 6 or months to build a single story house??? That is with out taking into account that they are at a massive 3500m above sea level.

Hand Built Tea House

 

Altitude Kills. A real Warning

I have absolutley loved being up in the Himalayas, being in a remote natural environment is where i feel most at home. Looking out over the mountains and not seeing any big sky scrapers, no pollution, you can see for miles, is just refreshing. However one thing that really annoys me up here is the rubbish. This area see’s a huge amount of trekkers and adventure travellers, which you would think come to this region for the natural environment, you think they would be a nature love, an environmentalist or just want to keep the place beautiful so that there children could visit and it will still be amazing? But for some reason this is not the case. There is rubbish everywhere, trekkers please pick up your rubbish! The entire way up the mountain there are rubbish bins, they are clearly marked and on the paths, so use them. The day that we returned to Gorak Shep from Base Camp we picked up 2 full bags of rubbish in an 2 hour walk, that included the huge hessian bags we used to carry the rubbish. So please I urge you to keep this magical place clean, keep it beautiful for generations to come, keep it natural and breathtaking.

The National bird of Nepal, Himalayan Monal

The day had us walking over many suspension bridges, one of which would have to be the highest suspension bridges I have ever crossed. We were lucky enough to see a Himalayan Monal the national bird of Nepal, it was so beautiful and just peacefully sitting high in the trees. We had a giggle in Phakding a small village that had a Reggae Bar, something that is vey popular in Nepal. The sign out the

“Let’s Get Together and Fill Alright”

front said “Let’s get together and fill alright” Now I am a fan of Bob Marley and “One Love” is a great song, but I don’t think this is quite correct? however I can’t say much about mixing up words in foreign songs. The traditional nepalese folk song “Resamm Phiriry” or as most trekkers know it as “The Trekking Song”, which I am certain we all butchered that song, we were saying “You are a monkey, I am a monkey Resamm Phiriry” but somehow I don’t believe that is correct? But the Nepalese are just way to nice to correct us even when we asked them to. We finished off the day with a little surprise to our incredible Sherpa Guides by serving them all dinner, they loved it and it was a bunch of fun, a nice little way to say thank you for looking after us for the last 18 days.

 

Thank you for stopping by Tattered Passport if you have liked this post please feel free to SHARE, LIKE and FOLLOW. You can also find Tattered Passport on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

Have you trekked Nepal? Have you heard the Trekking Song?

I will be posting a “Special Episode” very soon, special footage from the Party in Ghat. It has some great and some not so great dancing as well as a bunch of Traditional Nepalese songs. It was such a great night and a great way to finish off our trek.

Thank You.

One Life, One Search,

Peace Out,

Shane

Yeti Scalps and Chanting Monks: Daily Vlog 19.

Daily Vlog: 19

Deboche to Namche.

Prasant’s Easter Yak Pak start the day in good spirits, we are all high on oxygen now that we are at 3770m and on our way down to Namche which is at 3500m and we all know what is waiting for us in Namche, a shower, Oh Yeah!!! The day starts with a steep decline down through the beautiful flowering Rhododendron forest.

Walking through the the rhododendrons.

Everyday whilst trekking through the Himalaya’s the scenery changes and you are always treated to something new. Today we had to dodge getting “poo’d” on by Yaks that were above us using a suspension bridge, not something that comes to mind when planning a trekkingholiday???

We visit a school in a village called Khumjung, it was a saturday, the only day that the kids do not go to school bugger. However it was great to walk through the school grounds and pay our respect to Sir Edmund Hillary. He is pretty much considered a “God” in these parts and built this school. In 1960 Sir Edmund Hillary asked his Sherpa People friends what he could do to repay them for everything they had done for him, they wanted a school for there children, two years later Khumjung School was opened for its first class.

Khumjung Monastery Scripts

We visit another monastery the Khumjung Monastery (Khumjung Gompa). The monks were chanting, the sound was incredible I let the the wash over me, the sound touches your soul, it was beautiful. This monastery has an unusual tourist attraction, which also has an interesting story. The monks now proudly display, for a small donation their prized Yeti Scalp, yep you did read that correctly, a Yeti Scalp. The story goes something like this, the villagers received the scalp as a gift and were so displeased that they kicked it along the ground their entire way back to the village. Only to realise some years later that western tourist were interested in it and would offer a donation to see it?

http://instagram.com/p/nsyMLpg5um/?modal=true

 

Thank you for stopping by Tattered Passport, if you have enjoyed this blog please LIKE, SHARE and FOLLOW. You can also find Tattered Passport on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. 

 

Have you seen the Yeti Scalp in Khumjung? What do you think?

 

One Life, One Search,

 

Peace Out,

 

Shane