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The Age of Enlightenment: Ages 23 to 30



Wallabies and Walkabouts
Aboriginal Adventuring in Australia
A reverent bond with the Earth is a hallmark of the Aboriginal people of Australia, and few guides articulate this connection like Neville Poelina. Based out of his Oongkalkada Wilderness Camp, east of Broome in Western Australia, Poelina's Uptuyu Aboriginal Adventures takes visitors on a journey into the mystical and geographic heart of the country. His 14-day 4WD expedition into the Kimberley region ($210 a day, including meals; www.uptuyu.com.au) leads you across vast desert, river, and coastal wilderness. A typical trek traces historic paths that link communities along the Fitzroy River, ventures into the Gibb River Gorges, with their waterfalls and pools, and reaches the Indian Ocean at the Dampier Peninsula. Along the way are stops at old trading posts, thermal springs, and little known caves filled with rock-art galleries. Camping by night and gathering "bush tucker" (wild berries, seafood, perhaps wild duck or turkey) by day, Poelina demonstrates the practical skills of his ancestors. More important, he interprets Aboriginal culture and its fundamental world view that "everything needs the other to exist." As the name implies, each Uptuyu (pronounced "up to you") journey is customized, but Poelina always stresses the values of his ancient culture. "It is by touching, tasting, feeling, and seeing firsthand," he says, "that insights are realized."
 

Monks and Mysticism
Temple Trekking in Tibet
The erstwhile homeland of the Dalai Lama is saturated with the sacred, but its deeper nuances can elude average guidebook travelers and even those who sign on with Western outfitters. Few escorts embody the bicultural sensibilities of Tenzin Bhagen, a native Tibetan and practicing Buddhist who has lived in the U.S. for 11 years. A Scenic Mountains Trek with Bhagen ($4,785 for 15 days, including a round-trip flight from Chengdu, China, to Tibet, and all meals, fees, hotels, and permits; www.tashidelektravel.com) is as much an experience of Tibetans as it is of Tibet, of the soul of the country as much as its landscape. "It's a spiritual cleansing just to go there," says Bhagen, who contends that, to find the essential Tibet you must go beyond Lhasa. A two-week journey with Bhagen culminates in a four-day, 50-mile (80-kilometer), yak-supported camping trip through the U-Tsang region. The walk starts at Ganden Monastery near Lhasa, plies two 17,000-foot (5,182-meter) passes (by then you're acclimatized), visits numerous temples, passes by lakes and through alpine forests, and ends at eighth-century Samye Monastery, Tibet's oldest and home to the revered Guru Rinpoche—the man who first brought Buddhism to Tibet, in a.d. 774. The expertise of this homegrown guide and his ability to arrange authentic and meaningful interaction with locals along the way are the big difference between Bhagen's itinerary and most others. "The world has much to learn from the culture of Tibet," he says. "So on my treks, we don't just tour temples, we interact with monks, which has to be done privately." Bhagen, of course, translates. "We even visit their quarters, drink tea with them, learn how they live and how they practice spirituality." You'll also encounter villagers and nomadic herders. "We meet people who possess almost nothing but their animals," Bhagen adds. "Some of them barely have bowls to share with their guests. But their smiles create a really special experience."

Anxiety  |  Conquest  |  Enlightenment  |  Innocence  |  Reason  | 

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