I never though I would say it, but i genuinely miss the seasons right now.

Growing up in the Midwest(Michigan & Ohio), fall was always such a gorgeous time of year.  You could literally smell winter coming as you gazed around at the semi-barren tree branches and heard the crunch of dead orange and deep red leaves underneath your feet.

College football Saturdays on a brisk fall day were some of the best days of all time.  Maybe it is the grass is always greener mentality which I have been accused of before, but as I sat on my couch today watching Michigan Football in board-shorts, I began to actually miss Ohio for the first time in 5 years.

Well, maybe it is Ohio or maybe it the mountains, or maybe its just the restlessness I get in my soul after staying in one place for too long.  Everyone has certain elements of their youth that brings back a rush of memories.  For me they are freshly cut grass, the smell of a hockey rink, morning in the mountains and the smell, look and feel of a perfectly crisp fall day in the Midwest playing football in my backyard.

OK, enough reminiscing, something has to give, gonna have to get some real fall weather in my life real soon…..

I am 27 years old, and after this trip I wonder why I waited so long to finally go to Yosemite.

The place is awesome and the whole valley looks like a postcard.  You can literally see exactly where the Glacier came through and carved out the valley.  Yosemite is also home to 3 famous mountains.  El Capitan and The Sentinel are great mountains, but we were here to conquer none other than The Half Dome.

Now most people will start around 6 am and hike through the day to summit and then come back down in the afternoon/evening.  We decided to take a little different approach.  We started just after 9 pm and got to the base of Half Dome around 3am.

We camped out below the dome until we couldn’t take it anymore and finally scaled the remaining thousand feet or so by cable to get to the top just before sunrise.

It was definitely a surreal moment looking down a vertical mile to the valley floor on either side of you as you hold on to an old steel cable attached to the top of a rock.  Its a rush and even more so at night, but absolutely worth it when you get to the top and look around a gorgeous valley below as the sun starts to peak over the eastern mountains.  I highly recommend it.

I usually try to tie all my adventures and trips into business somehow, but for this post I think I will just leave it at this.

Go see some damn nature, you’ll feel better.

Mat

If you ever think you have seen a big wave, go to the north shore of Oahu, Hawaii during a big winter swell. This was a small day and they were still 8-12 feet Hawaiian.

If you have never been, the best part about this wave is that it literally breaks about 40-50 yards from shore, so you can feel everything just standing on the beach, very cool.

The right hand wave is the famed Banzi Pipeline and the left hand wave is called The Backdoor. Enjoy

Pipeline

Surfing Pipeline – North Shore Oahu, Hawaii from Mat Robar on Vimeo.

Backdoor

Backdoor at Pipeline – North Shore Oahu, Hawaii from Mat Robar on Vimeo.

Bangkok is one of my favorite cities in the world.  The people are warm and inviting, the city is clean (all relative of course) and everyone loves the King.  You can pretty much see anything you want there and the curry is unreal.  I suggest staying out of Soi Cowboy and checking out Jimmy Wong and getting tattoo.   If you have not been to Bangkok, Pack you bags and go.

P.S.- when you get there refuse to take a cab and only ride in these tuk tuk’s, the fear of death ads to the experience.

So I figured it was time to invest in a high quality HD camers for you folks so you can see my world through a HD lens.  I must say the difference is pretty incredible, shoot me a comment and let me know what you think

This video was shot at seaside reef in Solana Beach, CA.

Ok, so its time to expose one of my biggest fears.

Being average

It terrifies me that I could somehow go through this one life and not experience all that life had to offer, positively affect everyone I came in contact with and not leave a legacy that will live on long after I am gone. This video is for everyone who feels “stuck” in their current role or life, I urge you….

TAKE ACTION, now, this very minute!

Today is the first day of the rest of your life.  Enjoy

If you have never been, go, it is worth a trip to China for sure.   Think about the sheer amount of human labor it took to build something like this across the top of a mountain range!  Staggering.   Also, be sure to run at a group of aging tourists and scare them, always good for a laugh.

More Travels from Asia to come, stay tuned and subscribe above…