TRAVEL GUIDE OF EXPLORATION AND LIFE EXPERIENCES.

Aug. 9, 2022

A TRAVEL GUIDE FOR LIFE Chapter 1 : GOING TO SOUTHEAST ASIA.

This moment is part of the second day of 1992. Walking and realizing that it is most important to live in the moment. It is the present moment that we can be certain of. Nothing else is as certain as this. Still, I make my plans. Focusing on ones experiences will clarify what the present moment is. For me, traveling is a great way to do this. Of course, one does not need a hobby to experience and understand each moment of reality. We can do it at work or reading. It is just easier for me to do this when I am traveling because there are less mundane aspects of life that cause me to take daily activities for granted. I tend to spend a lot of time fretting about the tedious aspects of life with work and the paying of bills or having to shop for things that have been used; wishing that I was somewhere else. When I am traveling, every aspect of life is centered around where I am and who I am. Life is circling all around us at all times and we really do not know what will come at us at any given time. We should always be feeling this but it is easier for me while I am traveling because it is so obvious that I really do not know what will come at me at any given time. When I am planning trips, I am living in the moment because I have no idea if I will actually reach the place I plan to visit although I am completely concentrating on planning that trip. The year was 1992, I was planning a trip to Southeast Asia. This would bring me to a much warmer climate where there would be no snow to contend with. The plans were being refined. I would leave on the 19th of November. First, I went to Michigan to visit Abigail and her parents in Traverse City. It cost me around $200 to fly to Detroit. For the second leg of the trip, I flew to Hibbing Minnesota to visit my Grandma Cicchi. Then, on the 28th of November, I flew to Los Angeles to meet my sister. We spent time in Los Osos California where she lives. After three days, I returned to Los Angeles to meet the Korean Airlines flight to Seoul Korea.

Crunched crackers yet sitting in a plastic bag. Crunching dried leaves walking on grass and cement. 19th of November was the next day. That day was the day of my departure. Sampai jumpa lagi.

I must live in the moment. Do not let the planning and the waiting drag on. I should remain calm of mind. Remain calm of mind in all works of nature and man. Yet it sometimes occurs to me that the distance between one point of time and another seems quite often to be an unearving obstrocity, from waiting for the arrival of a certain point in time in order that I may witness the fulfillment of an expectation. Thus, I needlessly expend energy. I must admit that against my better judgement, time is often thought of as a dread obstacle. We are but specks of dust and time is an eternity. As such, I must understand that any excitement and impatience felt by me is verily quite obstruous.

It was 2:50 pm Duluth time 20th November. I was sitting in the Greyhound Bus Station. A Duluth Transit Authority Bus would bring me to Virginia MN. The bus would pick me up at 5:00. I went to the Public Library since I had such a long wait for the bus. I also practiced my Tai Chi Chuan. I have now practiced Tai Chi Chuan in Duluth; damp cement, rainy, sprinkling, with snow falling just west of Duluth soon to arrive here too. I had my green shoulder bag with me.

There was a bus running from Virginia MN to Hibbing MN in the morning. I was at the bus stop. There was a man there who had been at the bus stop since before I had arrived. He has a childish mentality. He spoke like a child who was playing child games. He was drinking sodas and it looked like he was on his fourth soda. He also had a few bags of chips and a candy bar. After an hour or so he was still there so he was probably also waiting for a bus.

It was 10:00 Hibbing time on the 21st of November. I was sitting and writing this in my grandmas' house. Arthur Poluzarri, who was an old friend of my grandma, was also there. As a child, I knew his sister who lived directly across the street from grandma in this area of Hibbing that is called Brooklyn. We also lived across the street from grandma but our perfectly square shaped house was four houses down the street. The house we lived in was actually a duplex. It had two garages for the cars. There were interior flights of stairs on both sides of the house leading from each garage up to the living quarters that were above the garages. It was truly the funniest looking house on the street. My grandpa Cicchi and my dad built several of the houses on this street. They did not build the house we lived in. They built small, normal looking single family houses. My dads' cousin, Peter Taramelli (he taught me how to drive a car) is a stone mason and he built many fireplaces and walls in the Iron Range area. When I first arrived here I slept long and deep. I must have been exhausted. I was now rested and ready to listen to conversations. And visiting grandma always provided us opportunities to listen to interesting stories. Arthur Poluzarri and my grandma were talking about how they were always cutting wood and how they had no television. "We did not even have a radio for Heavens' sake." Mr. Poluzarri taught high school and social studies from 1935 until 1975. He was also saying that their country yards had no grass. Their yards had gardens with lots of food growing. I remember grass in some of the yards while we were living there but my grandmas' back yard was half garden. She grew lettuce, tomatoes, garlic, and cucumbers.

I was at the Days Inn of Hibbing Minnesota. My dad arrived from Las Vegas Nevada at 8:15. I was in a double room. The morning paper is partially slipped under the door. The breakfast area had donuts, bread, cereal, eggs, coffee, tea, and juices when I went down there. There is a toaster, a microwave, and several condiments like jelly and butter. This is part of the "free breakfast" that comes with the price of the room. My dad was talking about how he sends grandma $500 every month. She says that she does not need it so he does not have to. When she passed away, I received about 20 EE class savings bonds. Some were for me, some for Rayhend, and some for Reno. I have an idea that she bought them with the money dad sent her. When grandma tells dad that he does not have to send her the money, he says; "I don't have to do anything." He laughed at that.

It was 6:30 Duluth time. 27th of November. I was sitting and writing this while watching HBO in a $36 a night room one mile from the Duluth airport. The next morning, at 7:30, I would walk to the airport to meet the flight to LAX. My dad gave me $200. Grandma gave me $50. Great Aunt Eddie gave me $10. I paid for the motel room with some of this money. At 8:30 tonight the motel room television would be showing The Golden Child on the HBO station. I decided to watch that movie and call Vanessa after it ended. Right now there is a Discovery Channel program showing the migration of Blue Whales and Grey Whales. The Grey whales were migrating from the Bering Sea down to the tropical waters of Mexico.

The UCLA campus was my base of operations. I took naps in a few areas of the campus. I also took photos of a few buildings on the campus with my one time use throw away cameras. I was storing my green shoulder bag in a storage locker at the Engineering Building where I spent a lot of time. I was able to store my bag there while I walked around various neighborhoods of Los Angeles. I walked past the Roxy Theater on Sunset Boulevard. I noticed that there would be a show there the next night and I thought that I may go there but I never did.

It was during this stay in Los Angeles that I first visited the ISKCON temple near Venice Beach. It is also known as New Dvaraka. The original Dvaraka was the city where the family of Sri Krishna ruled. They were the Pandava Dynasty. I walked several miles and rode busses between the UCLA campus and the temple. (In the dark ages there were no cell phones nor UBER). 3764 Watseka Avenue is the address of New Dvaraka. After the darshan and a meal at the temple restaurant (Govindas'), I took an extensive walk up Robinson Avenue to Beverly Hills then into West Hollywood, into Santa Monica, to The Sunset Strip, and areas that looked like little Thailand and little Israel. I was too tired this time to walk throughout Hollywood like I had the day before so turned back and returned to UCLA campus. Near the campus, I discovered a First National Bank building that had at least one empty floor. I did my Tai Chi Chuan in an empty room there where carpet did not yet exist on the cement. I had no fear of the streets and empty rooms of Los Angeles.

 Every time I return to the campus I get lost. One time it took me half an hour to get out of the Neurophysiological Science Building! This campus is a labyrinthine city!?! The next day I was to fly out of LAX so I had no time to completely figure out this campus. That was too bad because I was getting reasonably close to doing so.

It was 7:58 Los Angeles time.

I was a little sleepy but I

I did sleep off and on but I watched movies too. So, by the time we got to the ICN airport, I felt sleepy and I had no idea what time it was. I remembered the lights of Tokyo Japan which were bright white covering a massive expanse of land. The city lights of Seoul Korea are an amber color.