Feb 2, 2007
I have to admit, I was a bit apprehensive. I was finally en route to the Wat Pa Luangta Yanasampanno Forest Monastery in Kanchanaburi, Thailand, better known as the Tiger Temple. It is a Buddhist monastery which cares for orphaned and injured animals, especially tigers. The place is unique because it allows visitors to hold full-grown tigers on a leash and walk with them under a monk’s supervision. On the one hand, I was excited to get the opportunity to be with a tiger up close and personal but, on the other hand, I was a little concerned because of all the stories I had heard about the tiger’s unpredictable nature.
The signs at the entrance to the monastery didn’t make me feel any better. They warned visitors not to wear any hot colors such as red or orange since those hues might provoke the tigers to attack! The signs also warned against wearing perfume. Fortunately, I was safe on both accounts. I also had to sign a waver stating that I would not hold the monastery liable for any injuries.
My purpose in going to the Temple was not only to meet the tigers, but also to ask the head of the monastery, Abbot-Pra Acharn Phoosit (Chan), for permission to do a Guinness record there. I brought along my friend, Nayak, who speaks Thai, but as it turns out, it wasn’t necessary. The Abbot spoke fluent English. I was immediately taken by the Abbot’s serenity and childlike nature. It was he who started the practice of caring for the animals when he first adopted a tiger cub after its mother had been killed by poachers. I told him about my love for animals and showed him photos of me pogo stick jumping while holding a dog and hopping with an owl perched on my finger.
Feb 1, 2007
During the three weeks I spent in Bulgaria recently, I got into the daily habit of taking a dip in the freezing cold Black Sea. I mainly did it just for fun, but the cold water seemed to help my muscles recover from my heavy training workouts. I would usually be accompanied by one or two friends and we never got tired of the thrill of that initial plunge from the beach into the icy sea. Each time we went in we would try to stay in the water a little longer. Sometimes, after being immersed for a couple of minutes, we would have conversations which might baffle a bystander:
Ashrita: Hey, Udar, that’s kind of weird, my toes just went completely numb.
Udar: That’s nothing. My toes went numb 30 seconds ago.
Ashrita: Wow! Guess what – I just starting getting these shooting pains up and down my arms.
Udar: Hey, that’s cool. Now I’m getting like this burning feeling on my back, but you know, if you keep your hands stuck in your armpits it keeps your fingers from freezing.
Afterwards, we would usually hop into the hotel sauna to thaw out. This became a regular routine, but on one particular day there was an unusual incident. Udar and a couple of other friends were already in the sauna and they were having a heated discussion (pardon the pun!) with an Austrian who was also a guest in the hotel. The fellow claimed that our group wasn’t abiding by the international rules of the sauna such as always bringing in a towel and not putting any water on the hot rocks. Now, I can understand the towel rule (are there really international sauna rules?), even though I always wear a bathing suit, but not putting water on the rocks just can’t be right. As a matter of fact, the hotel itself provides a bucket and a ladle in the sauna for that exact purpose. Ladling water onto the rocks creates steam and humidity and, as long as it’s done in moderation (two or three ladlefuls), the extra heat feels fantastic.
Jan 29, 2007
It wasn’t until I started practicing that I realized how hard hopping on one leg can be. After about 100 yards of the awkward activity, your hopping leg tires painfully and you desperately want to put the other leg on the ground. I guess, unlike flamingos, human beings are meant to support themselves on two legs! Anyway, based on the experience of my few attempts, I proposed to Guinness the creation of a new category: a hopping record for the fastest mile and at every ¼ mile you are allowed to change legs. (Even that would be a stretch, but I figured that I could manage it with enough training)
Guinness liked my proposal except for one minor detail – they decided that changing legs was for sissies! They stipulated that you have to hop the entire mile on the same leg and that the other leg must never touch the ground. Also, they added a time standard. In order to be accepted, the mile would have to be covered in less than 35 minutes.
Okay, I’m always up for a challenge, but after months of trying, I could barely hop halfway around a quarter mile track. I was getting pretty discouraged with the whole project. I mean, I love hopping in all forms – playing hopscotch, hopping in a sack while sack racing, hopping on a pogo stick, etc. – but this one-legged thing was giving me no joy. After a year of half-hearted training, I was getting nowhere and I was cursing the day I ever read that darn Russian’s fiction! Gratefully, when I went on an extended trip to Malaysia at the end of November 2005, the whole situation changed dramatically!
Jan 20, 2007
I arrived in Bangkok, Thailand a few nights ago, and seeing all the motorbikes reminded me of an incident that happened the last time I was here. I was the tour conductor for a large group on our way to Southeast Asia and we were in Bangkok for a one-day stopover . I wanted to go out for a run and didn’t feel comfortable leaving all the plane tickets in the hotel room, so I rented a safe deposit box. When the cheerful receptionist gave me the safe deposit box key, she warned me that it was one of a kind and, if I lost it, there would be a charge of $100 U.S. dollars to cover the cost of drilling open the box and replacing the lock. I smiled and assured her that there was no absolutely chance of me losing that key.
Jan 16, 2007
Doing forward rolls has got to be one of the most effective overall exercises ever invented. It works all the major muscle groups of the body and is especially beneficial for the neck, shoulders, forearms, triceps, abdominals, quads and calves. If it weren’t for the minor drawback that doing even a few rolls makes one hopelessly dizzy and nauseous, I think long distance rolling could eventually become a bona fide fitness craze!
I started practicing forward rolls more than 25 years ago and, in fact, the oldest Guinness record that I currently hold is for rolling the entire 12-mile length of Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride in Massachusetts, which I accomplished back in 1986. Whenever people ask me about the rules for that record, I always respond that the rolls must be continuous, but you are allowed to stop to throw up! I’m not just being funny ” I had a big meal the night before my unusual rendition of Paul Revere’s journey. Unfortunately, the fact that I had 4 slices of pizza -with everything on it- was no mystery to sympathetic bystanders all along the route!
