The Rest of Everest: Episode 65

So while I've been slacking over the past week or so, enjoying some down time for the holidays and end of the year, Jon over at The Rest of Everest has continued to crank out his excellent video podcast, which has the distinct ability to both remain at a very high level of quality, but also make me feel like a slacker at the same time. ;)

Before we get to the latest episode of The Rest of Everest, Jon has another treat for us. Back in September, Jon traveled to Canyonlands National Park along with his friends Chris and Rebecca of Tips From The Top Floor fame. That blog is dedicated to teaching us all how to be better photographers and offers up some great information and insights into that process. Chris has posted two videos of the trip to Canyonlands and you can find part 1 here and part 2 here. Enjoy!

From there we're on to Episode 65 of The Rest of Everest, which takes us back to Nepal for more of Jon and Scott's adventures from this past Spring. Regular viewers of the show know that the latest episodes of the podcast are from April of 2007, when Jon and his best friend Scott Jacobs, returned to Everest for the first time since 2003. Once again, this latest episode can easily serve as a great travelogue of Kathmandu with the camera capturing the colorful, chaotic nature of the streets in that city.

I especially enjoyed the scenes in this episode where Jon and Scott interact with the street merchants near Swayambudnath, the Monkey Temple. At one point, they even run into a familiar face, as a man named Kumar, who Jon met back in 2003, approached them on the street. They return with him to his near by shop, where they are looking to purchase a "Singing Bowl" and it's amazing to watch Kumar demonstrate how the bowl works, before going going on to extol the virtues of daily meditation and keeping violence out of your life.

The episode ends with Jon and Scott experiencing a couple of taxi cab adventures, which any international traveller will tell you can be quite the harrowing affair. Especially in a Third World country like Nepal. At this point, I'm thinking that Jon should become the Rick Steves of Nepal and Tibet. These new episodes have so much to offer when it comes to navigating through the region and with great insights into the culture, that I think he could launch a new career. :)