Surreal. It’s the word that comes to mind over and over again as we circle the globe on our Wedding World Tour — four weddings in four vastly different cultures.

At the moment I’m sitting outside an old colonial style mansion in Kenya. It’s Monday, presumably February 21, 2011. April is napping after our overnight journey from Bangkok, I’m drinking an ice-cold Tusker beer, there’s a slight breeze, the temperature is ideal, the dog is chasing the warthogs, and several giraffes are eating from the trees a few feet away. We’re at Giraffe Manor — former home of “Out of Africa” author Karen Blixen — and life is heavenly. (Cell phone picture of the closest living being to me is below.)

Neither of us can believe that we’ve only been gone 1 week, and the experiences have been so unreal that, sitting here with the giraffes, we look back on activities only a day old and wonder “Did that really happen? Is THIS really happening?” As unreal as it feels, though, we are enjoying every moment like a wonderful dream you don’t want to awaken from.

After about 30 hours of traveling, we arrived in Bangkok on Tuesday last, and immediately flew to Chiang Mai in the north. With our amazing Emirates flight, we were actually pretty well rested and feeling healthy, so we hired our airport taxi driver, Josh, for the rest of the day (800 baht, about $24). We first took a “nap” (finally!!), and then took the tourist’s tour of Chiang Mai: the umbrella-making shop (colorful and interesting, but not so culturally authentic), then a jewelry store (turns out the taxi drivers get free gas if they bring you there, we later discovered), and a silk store. The silk shop tripped is out: inside were covered baskets with, we figured, product in them. But lo and behold, when we opened one up it was a writhing mass of worms and their silk cocoons … they were actually making silk. The scarves were of the most beautiful fabric and colors I have ever seen, but were quite expensive (around $40/each) by Thai standards.

(At this point on my writing, Lynn came over. Lynn is a 15-year old female Rothschild giraffe, about 16 feet tall. She first ate from my hand. Then, her 16-inch long tongue reached out and took from my mouth –

(and at this point, we had even more activities, all good … to be continued…))

It’s now late night on the 17th of February, and not only is internet access sparse out here, but having time and electricity to sit at a computer is also nearly impossible.

Tomorrow is our Thai wedding (the second of 4 ceremonies in our Wedding World Tour), and we have to be up in 6 hours. I’m beyond exhausted, but I’m trying to somehow keep up on this. I know that when we go out into the Mara in Kenya we won’t have any internet, so there will be a big gap. I owe full explanations for everything — which I will do by separate posts — and lots of pictures. But for now, here’s a recap of where we’re at as well as a few unedited pictures.

Day 1 & 2: amazing flights on Emirates, blogged about earlier.

Day 3 (Feb 15): First day in Chiang Mai … took a sightseeing tour, visited the most amazing, spiritual place either of us have ever been to, Doi Suthep.

Day 4 (Feb 16): Another experience-of-a-lifetime: getting to know an elephant, cleaning her (him in April’s case), riding him to a pool, swimming with elephants in the pool (absolutely amazing!), an incredible lunch, then riding back … plus spending time with a 5-day old baby elephant, born on our first wedding day.

Day 5 (Feb 17): Today was a Thai cooking class, very fun! Then the journey to Lampang, where we met up with Mom Marcia and Jack. We got fitted for Thai wedding outfits, which was outrageous. I felt like a King, and April a Thai Princess.

Here are a few unedited pix of above:

This was the pre-flight champagne. She was amazing, we got to talk a lot and will keep in touch I’m sure… fantastic Emirates service!

All I can say was that their food was great … yes, that’s seared ahi.

I think we were REALLY lucky to get in to this temple after dark. It was amazing, more later:

The elephants were like begging dogs after lunch, because they knew that they would get our sticky rice and bananas. It was pandemonium (in the best way) as they rushed our hut to get food:

The elephants playing in the water, just feet from where I was standing:

Baan Orapin, our hotel in Chiang Mai:

Us in our Thai cooking garb at the cooking school:

Yes, I look terrible after a long day’s journey … but the suit will be amazing for our wedding tomorrow… and you’ll just have to wait and see April’s!

More as I can, leave those comments!

This was one of those incredible moments that I’ll remember for the rest of my life … thank you, my love.

Life, it is often said, is about the journey and not the destination. I wouldn’t quite say that’s true, as I’m really looking forward to our destinations of Chiangmai and Lampang (Thailand), Nairobi and the Maasai Mara (Kenya), Dubai (UAE), and Athens and Santorini (Greece). But thus far, about 30 hours into our trip, the journey has been our only destination so far … and I can say it’s been made a million times easier by being on an amazing airline.

By several major strokes of good fortune, we ended up on Emirates — which we were excited about trying — and Business Class, at that … which we were VERY excited about. And I think April’s statement “Wow, this is the best coffee I’ve ever had!” sums up our experience: a mini spa-day in the air, with all details attended to perfectly.

We were picked up by their Mercedes and actually arrived at the airport with zero stress … I think a first for me. They were expecting us (that, or our Wedding World Tour t-shirts gave us away), and we did a couple of photos with the crew. Once onboard, April squealed with joy as she discovered that the seat went all the way flat, and again when opening the beautiful ‘comfort kit’ they provided.

We made friends with our primary flight attendant (she was so sweet … we will keep on touch!), had 5-course meals (I particularly loved the fantastic Port with cheese selection for dessert), and slept… a lot!! (which is why we called it ’spa day’ … we finally got to relax!)

My only small quibble with them: they shouldn’t call it ‘business class,’ because it’s better then the First Class I’ve experienced on other airlines. We’ve been soooo happy and comfortable on what’s normally a tough journey.

Anyway, Emirates made the 16 hour flight (plus 4 hours in the Dubai lounge) and the following 5 hour flight pass in an instant, and was the perfect way to start — and continue, as Emirates is how we will fly to all those crazy destinations — our Wedding World Tour!

(Note: There are a couple of other pictures from our journey on this update post here.)

So we landed in Bangkok a few hours ago and have just now made it to Baan Orapin guesthouse in Chiang Mai. It was very stressful … we made our connecting flight (local hop) on a terrible regional airline by literally one minute, and had to pay an extra $40 for luggage on top of the extra I prepaid. But that flight wasn’t a total loss … we met an American and two new French friends, and have invited them to our Thai ceremony in a few days — which it looks like they will all attend (along with 10 of our family and 100 villagers we’ve never met). We’re super excited, and I will add some photos and links to this post later when I’m not updating the blog via my cell phone.

(Post updated 4 March 2011)

We’re off! The fantabulous Emirates car is taking us to LAX and we finally — finally!! — feel like we can relax. The planning for 4 weddings and an around-the-world trip — on a very tight budget, mind you — was NOT at all easy. (I’ve slept about 7 hours in the past 2 days.) It took about 40 volunteers plus all the paid teams to make this happen … and although we have loved nearly every second of it, we’re truly happy to relax on our journey, starting with the ride to the airport (on which I’m able to update the blog!). We’ll check in as we can!

Unbelievable! That’s the only word that comes to mind when I conjure images of yesterday, wedding number one of our Wedding World Tour, held at The Mission Inn in Riverside. The day “started” (for me) by going to bed at 6am as I was finishing modifications to the ceremony after a VERY rough rehearsal. My normal grumpiness after about 3.5 hours of sleep never appeared, as Feb 11, 2011 was my wedding day, and I was excited! I also knew things would go “wrong” at times, but it was mostly out of my control at that point. (That whole point, though, depends on your definition of “wrong” … we loved every moment, whether it was planned or unplanned.)

With a pickup by groosman Mark, lunch with all the boys, getting ready in the “grooms room”, preliminary photos … it seemed no time at all that it was time to head to the chapel. I had just one moment of “OMG” before the ceremony … and then it was gone, and I was ready to stand in front of my family and friends and make the largest public commitment of my life.

What do I remember? Standing outside the doors with my mom, ready to walk her down the aisle; slowing walking down that aisle and looking in the eyes of the most important people in my life, one-by-one; standing at that altar waiting for the huge double-doors to open and instantly tearing up when I saw how amazing and beautiful of a bride April is (she was a blur coming down the aisle, I couldn’t help it!); having her sit down beside me up there and seeing the majesty of the dress she hand bejeweled; and the amazing moments of our ceremony: Dani just killing (in a good way) the incredibly difficult song that she had never heard one hour earlier; the look in the bridal party’s eyes at many of the special moments; our crying officiant; the meddling mom’s and storytelling friends; seeing an audience full of amazing, wonderful people … and most importantly those moment with April: the door opening mentioned; bringing her up to the altar; looking her in the eye and feeling her love and joy as we stood there; hearing her sing “Finally” (so amazing!); the incredible moment of walking from the back of the aisle lighting candles as everyone sang “Sunrise, Sunset,”  feeling the love of the entire cathedral as THEY said their “I DOs” to us; and the three separate, heartfelt, distinct vows that April and I said to each other … and yes, of course the “I Do!”s and walking down the aisle to Star Wars … memories that are 24-hours new, and yet will be with me for 50+ years.

Following that, a heavenly reception. April and a massive team of help planned and decorated with flowers, lighting, linens, t-shirt gifts, and even items from our home on each table … plus a cake that had been made for us that was out-of-this-world: red velvet on the inside, and levels of amazing on the outside that I cannot even begin to describe here. Imagine nearly life-size suitcases coated in a pearlescent coating, with books on top, and an entire “wedding cake” on top of all that … decorated with edible sheet music, fabrics from the wedding, and ornamented with edible flowers and pearls, our initials engraved in “leather”, photos of us and our destinations, and more. Simply incredible.

Michael stood up and announced that February 11, 2011, was officially proclaimed “Wedding World Tour Day” in Riverside … wow, thank you Riverside! And the speeches by many people … touching and “real” … also a highlight of the night.

And if that wasn’t enough … there was the music. With 3 fabulous bands — and a bride who we couldn’t seem to get off the microphone — I felt that I was treated to the best private concert of my life, attended by all my friends, in a beautiful environment, with the most amazing wife I could ever imagine. I so loved to watch her “rock out” on the mic!

I’ve heard many people say that they didn’t remember their wedding, or that it was just “nice” … but I can tell you, I loved every single minute of our day, felt more love than I have ever experienced, and am so pleased that I had the opportunity to create something so wonderful with my soulmate. We are truly, truly blessed. We both feel extremely grateful to everyone who helped make yesterday (and the upcoming days!) happen … thank you!

Tomorrow starts the “travel portion” of the Wedding World Tour! We’re so excited that we get to try Emirates Airline! After hearing so much about them, we will of course give the full review after landing in Thailand in just a few days …

Next up on jasontopia… The Wedding World Tour! (unless, of course, I can find time to post some of those Richard Branson photos along with an exclusive interview transcription from my interview of him!)

Starting Feb 12, 2011, please keep your interweb tuned to this URL for regular updates on our round-the-world quest for the meaning of marriage!

I was fortunate enough to receive an invite from my great friend Michael to an event hosted by the Center for Living Peace on 4 December 2010. There, a charming, relaxed, beautiful and deeply caring Charlize Theron spent the entire day promoting her Africa Outreach Program. She spoke of her internal fears about not being able to really make a difference, on how overwhelming and emotionally devastating the problems on her home-continent can be, and of the joys of improving someone else’s live, whether it’s one person or many. She inspired me to push my charity, creativeoffering.org, even harder, and one of her partners there, Dr. Michael Bennish, helped me realize how much one can really give if we just chose to do it.

But what struck me was a strange coincidence of the Twitterverse, and my highlight of the evening began with this cryptic message from my host Michael: ”I’m picking up 2 more people,” he text messaged me, “I’ll meet you there.”

Michael had been asked by The Center to pick up two girls — Portia and Senzy (at left and right above) — after quite an amazing story arose suddenly from amongst the 1.5 million Tweets about this event today. To excerpt from the CEO of the organization that funded their scholarship:

A prior email had told a little of their story, and requested (at the very last minute) that they could attend this event.

thanks again so much for being so helpful in trying to get the two young South African girls … to attend today’s event. The two girls are Senzy from Swaziland and Portia from South Africa. Both have lost their mothers and are like millions of children and youth in Africa that are struggling to cope with life in a poverty-stricken environment.

Senzy and Portia each won a full scholarship in 2007 to study [in the USA] after participating in a girls choir project to raise funds for kids from poor, deep rural homes. There is a website describing that project at www.thembagirls.org. The voice you hear when you open the website is Senzy’s voice. Both girls are gifted singers and would have loved to support Charlize’s efforts tonight by singing an ‘impromptu’ Zulu song. But I do understand that it’s simply too late to arrange that!

With the event planners beyond-busy, the event nearly full, and the girls with no way to get to the event, this seemed like a near impossibility, though. Yet by hands of fate (again), the event coordinator answered her phone (one of the only calls she grabbed all day — a blocked number no less — she said, one that she somehow felt compelled to answer), made the arrangements, and got Michael to help with the transportation.

We got to spend quite a bit of time with Senzy and Portia, who were vibrant and happy … even with the “culture shock” of the move from remote Africa to Southern California, to now ending up halfway around the world in the room with a famous actor, an ambassador from the Dalai Lama, Olympic Gold Medalists, and many of Orange County’s top personalities. (At one point, the girls told me that there were more people at the reception we were at than in their home village!)

I learned that as high school friends, they had come here four years ago on scholarships and are studying accounting and art. And while they love it here, they are really looking forward to returning home to their families later this year. Although hot dogs are okay, Mexican food isn’t a favorite … and they really miss a homecooked rice, gravy and meat meal. But most importantly, they showed me again that happiness comes from the inside, not from the money in our bank nor the things we own. It sounds cliche, I know … but to see two S. African “village girls” transformed into Southern Californians and thrown into the world of celebrity fundraisers … and to hear their excitement to return home to their friends and families and to make a difference back there … it was one of those nights that helps put it all in perspective. (And yes, I do appreciate the great irony that this revelation was had at, of all places, a luxurious fundraiser. But I’ll take the learning where I can get it!)

So back to the story. In the end, the girls DID get to sing a Zulu song. The room was loud and they weren’t amplified … but they sounded great nevertheless:

I got a kick out of Senzy telling me right after that she was worried about remembering some of the words. It was in ZULU, I said, as we both laughed, realizing that likely no one there knew a word of what they were saying.

The evening ended well, with Charlize raising a decent amount (tough crowd though, even asking her to do a “header” with a soccer ball for cash at one point!), and everyone seeming to have a great time.

Congratulations, Portia and Senzy! I look forward to following your progress… And many, many thanks to The Center for Living Peace for what you are doing. They have some amazing events on schedule, so check out their site (www.goodhappens.org, brilliant name, right?) and also The African Outreach Project for more info.

All photos and video (c) 2010 Jason Niedle www.28page.com.

I’ve had several people lately ask me about my new non-profit, Creative Offering. What is it? How does it work?

I’m an artist and my fiancee is a musician. She and I wanted to somehow make a difference in the world, but we didn’t want to just send a check to charity. We looked for places where we could donate what we’re good at, and there were none. So we founded CreativeOffering.org … a place that anyone can go to make a difference in the world by donating their time or talent.

For example:

• A band could donate a free concert for the right cause,
• A celebrity or DJ could offer to plug the right charity a certain number of times,
• A doctor could (and just did!) donate his time for surgery for a kid,
• Or what I just offered is a portrait sessions for families facing a terminal illness

But the creatively conceived donations to charity  can be anything. Yesterday we had a massage therapist sign up, and recently I had a college student ask if she could just offer to read books to kids.

We’re the place that people can fulfill their dream of GIVING BACK … and in return, you not only get to feel GREAT, but you can get testimonials, resume or portfolio work, new contacts for potential jobs … and we even have contests for the highest givers. (For example, the first giver to improve 100,000 lives will get an around-the-world trip for two!)

And if you can’t think of what to offer, there’s an “idea bank” with ideas ready to just DO already.

The site is in BETA right now, meaning it’s almost — but not quite — complete. We’re in a contest with Pepsi right now to help resolve that, though. If we get enough votes here, we get $50k in funding to finish up the site and get the publicity rolling.

So please go check out www.creativeoffering.org and make an Offering of your own!

Please feel free to comment your thoughts on this idea, your offerings, or your questions.