Dalama Adventures Tale of two corporate types ditching their jobs and traveling the world for 14 months... check out all photos, blogs & interesting tid bits at http://www.dalama.net

After 16+ years in the corporate world, one is well versed in the skills of multi-tasking. Take for example my past employment environment which took the multi-tasking culture to the extreme. Your days filled with meetings, it was expected that you were continuously available via a variety of communication mechanisms, 7x24. In meetings, looking around the long conference table, everyone had their wireless laptops out, preparing powerpoint presentations for their next meeting, wile simultaneously instant messaging replies to urgent requests demanding their attention. At the same time, each had their blackberry in one hand, flipping through emails, pounding out cryptic emails, while listening to voice mails on their bluetooth wireless earpiece - all at the same time they were expected to pay attention to the person presenting in the meeting and actively participate. It was even more extreme for those participants dialed in on conference call. While invisible to the audience, some would fast and furiously type on their computers without the mute button on, and others would push the "hold" button instead of the mute button, giving way to the generic "hold music" that would further disturb any attention of participants. This type of compulsive disorder, fueled by todays corporate culture that aims to squeeze out every productive drop from their employees, transcends the work environment and flows directly into the home - how many times do you find yourself brushing your teeth, while making the bed, at the same time you're on the cellphone? It's taken me a good 9 months to start to kick the habit. Had we only gone trekking in Nepal, immediately after quitting our jobs, it would have been a more fast acting cure, the trek serving as the cold turkey method. Today's trek of 6 hours brought this so clearly into focus. We began at 7:00 am, heading from the little village of Chomrong toward our days destination of Himalaya Hotel. The trail descended steeply, and narrowly through a deep cliffside, over thousands of slate stone steps of all sizes... some loose and breaking free under the pressure of our feet, others holding firm. The distance between steps was irregular and required such focus and concentration to maintain footing on the slope. We crossed rivers over narrow make-shift bridges of loosely tied together logs, covered with mud and crumbling slate stone, revealing large gaps with views straight through to the swiftly moving and sometimes raging class V rivers below. Now, full concentration wouldn't have been so tough, but the views surrounding us were spectacular and also competing for our attention. We climbed from 2100M to 3100M, the mountain passes growing steeper - close to 80 degree slopes and sometimes near to vertical. Some sere sheer cliffs. Waterfalls cascaded thousands of meters, giving way to avalanche passes still covered with thick snow. Bright red/fuscia rhododendron sets the thick forest ablaze with radiance, and stunning snow covered peaks rise majestically through the clearing clouds. How could one possibly focus on each step when such stunning scenery abounds? but as the rain comes and goes, the trails become increasingly muddy and slick, with leeches lurking in the pools of water, ready to latch onto our legs and suck our blood. We had no choice to focus all our attention on the task at hand, keeping each step solid and safe, and listening to and managing our pulse rate and breath to ensure we weren't putting ourselves at risk of getting altitude sickness by climbing at these elevations too quickly. Picture moments would have to be made by defined stops we realized, after tripping up when we would point out cool sights to each other mid step. The other sketchy areas needing total concentration were those crossings of snow covered avalanche passes just before the town of Himalaya Hotel. The slope was at 75 degree incline and covered with thick/icy snow. We crossed a stream and directly led us to the snowy slope. Any misstep would send us in a free fall toboggan ride down the steep slope into the class V rapids that loomed below, pitching over large boulders... not to mention the water would be freezing cold. We have learned to completely focus for hours, quite a huge departure from the conditioned corporate multitasking behaviors.