India Travel Journal---Part 2

I prepped this journal before leaving on the trip with color.  I do not like to work on white pages as I find they are inhibiting.  But I do use a water reactive color so if I decide to do some painting in the journal I can lift off (most of) the color to give myself a workable surface.  The pages are watercolor paper, so using water media is not a problem.

I find ephemera along the way that is larger than the journal, so I fold them to fit and add them anyway.  I do like to come home with a fat journal.

The handsome Nepali man pictured here is my old, old friend Chheduk Man Lama.  We met in 1983 when Nonie and I took our first trip to Nepal.  Chheduk Man was our guide on our first trek and we became fast friends during that trip.  We returned in 1985 and again in 1987 for more trekking.  Since those early trips, Chheduk Man has become like a brother to me.  He come to the U.S. in the late 1980s and stayed with both Nonie and my family while he was here.  We tried to show him our country as well as he has shown us Nepal over the years, but I fear we are not the guides he is!

We were able to see him while we were in Kathmandu, Nepal, on this trip.  It's been a long, long time since we three were all together.  I worried that perhaps we'd be awkward with each other, but NO!  It was just like before.  He is a wonderful man and I am so very happy we were able to reconnect, if only for a very short visit.  I felt like we just picked our conversation where we'd left off, almost 15 years ago.

It still amazes me that Nepal has changed so much since our first visit there.  We have been keeping in contact and sharing news by email for a number of years now, where in the 80s it took at least two weeks for an airmail letter to travel between our homes.  The world is surely getting smaller!

Chheduk Man is the owner of High Camp Trekking Pvt. Ltd.  If you are thinking of trekking in Nepal, you really should take a look at Chheduk's firm, as he and his sons could provide you with the trekking adventure of your dreams.

 I like to decorate the spines of my journals with items that are related to that particular journal.  This India/Nepal journal has a prayer wheel, a Ganesh, a Buddha head and some bone beads that are representative of Indian design motifs, especially designs we saw over and over in Rajasthan.  I like how they clank together and make a happy noise.  I did not add them until I returned home, however, as it makes it very difficult to get the journal to lay flat and that would have made working in it while on the road nearly impossible.

India Travel Journal---Part 1

Here we have the first half of my travel journal for my trip to India.  It's quirky, and cobbled together with glue and string and Sharpie pens, but it is, to me,  travel memories I will treasure always,  made tangible.

I travel with a little Pogo printer that prints out 2 by 3 inch sticker photos.  I love being able to start adding photos to my journal the very day I took them.  Working on my journal each day forces me to pay attention, to really pay attention.  I find that when I am just taking photos but not writing a journal, I tend to let the camera "remember" for me, rather than investing my focus and attention on events.  I like the immediacy of writing about each day each evening, to be up-to-date.  It's a great way to focus and really get the most out of my travel experiences.

I buy postcards on my travels and add them to my journal.  You can get some very nice postcards at museums or you might find a photo card that "got" the wonderful shot you forgot to take or missed entirely.  I also get more area for writing or adding photos by using the back of the postcard.  I usually add the postcards with tape (washi tape).

I will be posting the second half of the journal in a day or two.  For those of you who could care less, come back next week!

Thanks for looking.

Finally!

I didn't think that true signs of spring might ever appear this year.  Not that we've had a hard winter.  We haven't.  But it has been gray and dreary and typical of the Pacific Northwest this time of year.  Just yesterday I noticed that my much anticipated clump of crocus is finally showing some color.  Spring must be coming!  That little bit of purple is so anticipated each year, so appreciated.  It holds the promise of great things to come.

And speaking of things to come....my India journal will be featured here in a couple of upcoming posts.  Soon.  I'm editing the photos now and I am almost ready to share.  Can you spot the India journal?

shelf of travel journals