Adventures in Southeast Asia

Heart Meditation retreat or 'WHO AM I?'

2009-06-29T05:11:00.000-07:00

I am a wanderer making a home in my soul
The Divine is my shelter and my warmth
The stars are my decorations and the sea my music
The wind is my companion and guide
With these eyes I see the world and with these feet and hands, I touch it
With God I know it
In Love I dwell, in Love I stay, in Love I live
I have just finished a ten day silent meditation retreat on Koh pha Ngan with Agama yoga schoo. It was such a beautiful experience. We were maybe 50 people in the retreat, women and men separated in the yoga hall where we sat for hours a day attempting to find inner stillness and the grace of God in our hearts. We sat, we did Hatha yoga led by our Retreat leader, Claudiu and were told inspirational quotes, stories and poems from the masters like Ramana Maharshi and Rumi and so many more. I rented a bungalow on the beach for the occasion and spent the break time swimming and rocking silently in the hammock. what a beautiful experience and so hard to describe. I really enjoyed guided meditations and new techniques as they helped me to really feel love radiating from my heart, feel my heart, feel stillness and painfree body after hours of sitting. one morning I sat in constant stillness and it was so profound and natural and I have been trying to get back to it since and finding my mind fight with me on that a bit...
I felt inspired and wrote in my journal about the meditations, wrote some poems and wrote a lot of notes on the lectures. The last night we had 'sharing' of our experiences, people sang, read poetry and cried telling their stories. We were all there in totally different journeys and it was amazing to witness and take part in. Amazing how HARD it is to quiet the mind, that stubborn and often restless ego doesn't like to surrender to the heart or to the stillness that our true 'self' IS. so worth the attempt:)
Now, I am getting ready for an ashtanga teacher training course and back in the world of talking and being and people. It is a bit of a shock and I feel tired now that I am not meditating and doing yoga for 11 hours a day! ha... soon I will be starting classes at 6am daily for chanting and yoga and learning the ins and outs of teaching yoga and learning more about the body and ... Ayurvedic Medicine. I am thrilled! I know the struggle to pay for the course is worth it... I am reminding myself daily that all is well in this perfect and complete universe and that money is just energy to exchange and comes when needed and is spent accordingly! I am really looking forward to the opportunity as the experience promises to be mind and heart fulfilling!
I will be living in the jungle close to the school and will have two kittens for company:) and Shai will come out often to stay as well.

Around the world in 80 days plus procrastination

2009-06-01T22:05:00.000-07:00

It has been ages since I last caught up the blog. A lot of travel has been done in that time period... and many oceans crossed.
I started at the end of February with a flight to Bangkok and then through Tokyo to California... a very long flight. During my stopover in Tokyo I met a bunch of US military who were on my flight from BKK and sat with them while they drank rum and coke and told them about meditation and yoga:)
I went directly to MCH from the SFO airport and really loved seeing the staff and of course the children again... so much that I came back the next week to assist at park play. Anuhea informed me of the changes that had happened, such as picking a new favorite teacher, her sister attending the school and her new watch:)
I visited Carmel and SF and Novato and Napa... a lot of driving within short distances, seeing childhood friends and newer friends, one meeting was done during my friend's weekly shopping trip to Rainbow market... very north american pace.
Next, I spent a lovely and quick paced week in Bisbee, AZ with my mom, meeting her many new friends, massaging some of them and popping over to Mexico for dinner one night!
The last week of my American travels was spent with the Gordons of the Pacific Northwest:) I stayed with Angel at his home, now converted into the Noesis Temple and was fortunate enough to celebrate the full moon with them. My dad joined me up there and we drove to Luke and Kate's home where I met Alia and played with Asher all weekend.
THEN.... for the European adventure, I started in Dublin with my former neighber from the island, Aisling. She showed me the seaside, introduced me to her friends, took me out in the city and offered me a few guinness beers to change things up a bit from my yogic diet:)
From there, I returned to Torino, where I used to live in 2004 and stayed with my former student and now, very good friend, Anna, who is now in Koh Pha Ngan visiting! I became friends with my former boyfriend, Alessandro. I went to Alba during the trip to see another old friend and got to spend a nice weekend in the Piemonte Hills and in precious Alba, which was having an international film festival.
Finally.... back to my beloved Paris! I stayed with Sophie and from her place, took the metro and walked all over the city like I love to do... got to visit my friends from there and was able to come to a French burner body painting party too! A family from MCH, the Robbins, are currently living in Paris and I met up with them twice and got to see a new side of the Luxembourg gardens, the children's park!! amazing! Just as my appetite for French bread and cheese and crepes was starting to blossom, I left Paris and flew across the Mediteranean Sea to....
ISRAEL... my first time in the holy land. I met up with Shai, who I have been dating on the island for some time now and he picked me up in Tel Aviv and we started a one month fest of eating, visiting with his enormous family and visiting his friends. There was holiday after holiday in April there... starting with Passover, then memorial day and independence day... somewhere in all the down time and bbq's we managed to spend 5 days in the North of the country, visiting Haifa, CARMEL:), Rosh Hanikra, Sfat, the sea of Galilee and the pools of Bet Shan! Beautiful country!!
Jerusalem was where Shai grew up and where we spent most of our time, venturing into the tunnels to see the Western wall in more of it's entirety and wandering through the Shuck (market)... spending Shabbat in different synagogues and eating Shabbat dinner with his wonderful Sister, Michal... enjoying Kosher restaurants for the first time and seeing a JEWISH state... crazy...
Before returning to Thailand, we flew to London where we met up with Shai's good friend, Sharone and got to spend time with him and his lovely wife and children, walking in the parks, enjoying pic nics with other families and finally seeing the Tate Modern museum too.
Thoroughly ready to be back in one spot, we flew to Bangkok and spent a day shopping (Shai for the business and me for SEWING) since I carted my sewing machines through a few continents to bring them to Thailand! And now, we are settled back on the island, in the bungalow in front of the beach, pool hopping and yoga-ing a lot like usual!

Blessed by the Swami

2009-02-06T05:39:00.000-08:00

Yet another month on Koh Pha Ngan has breezed by. Another month spent focusing my attentions to perceive subtle vibrations of energy in the area of the crown chakra and the other six major energy centers of the body.
The third month of Agama led up to the 'yoga aspirant exam' otherwise called the 'red sash' exam after the red cloth we receive at the final ceremony if successful. During all 12 practices, we continued to stay longer and longer in our asanas, perform pranayama breathing meditation together and learn new asanas and kriyas as well. Our teacher would encourage us to practice the harder techniques at home, like staying in one of 4 positions of our choice for TEN MINUTES without moving and staring at a black dot against the wall without BLINKING for 5 to 10 minutes, Trataka. The test, although not actually making one closer to enlightenment, serves as some sort of gage to our 'progress' and lets our teachers know if we are indeed performing certain asanas correctly and becoming sensitive to our chakras.
Nervously, we took our exam, some standing on their heads
for 10 minutes for 'bonus points' and other in sitting forward bends or laying on their backs with feet over and behind the head. We answered 25 multiple choice questions about which asanas stimulated which chakras and then sublimed our energies under watch of the teacher. Then, we listened to a piece of music and had to pinpoint the chakra it worked on through meditation. Some stared at the dot, the rest of us performed sun salutations and chanted the 12 sacred names of the sun out loud. Once finished with the list of tasks, we had a pot luck near the beach and then all met up for the 'final ceremony' at Ananda Resort.
We all packed into the yoga hall and watched some 60 or 70 people receive their first month yoga intensive diplomas. Then, my class went up to receive our red sashs... and after us, more people for orange sashs. The ceremony was about 3 hours long because each person kneeled before our founder/teacher, Swami Vivikenanda Saraswati to receive sacred ash on our foreheads, a blessed and prana infused food (cup cake! ha), a protective string bracelet tied with mantras, a flower garland and .. a red sash:)
This week, I am taking Agama's famous Tantra workshop. The class is being instructed to rewire the neural pathways and become more sensitive and aware of our bodies.
February 19th, I say goodbye to Thailand for a marathon of travel to see friends and family for six weeks, ending then with a month in Israel and back to Koh Pha Ngan to return to my new community of yogis here and get ready for a teacher training course this summer.
Wishing everyone well. Hoping to see my loved ones soon!!!

Yogini Rules

2009-01-06T06:15:00.000-08:00

Now I have my computer here with me!!!! YAY!!!!It was put to my attention that I should update my blog. I have been here on Koh Pha Ngan for over a month now and time moves both slow and fast. The last month, as I mentioned before, has continued along the same theme, an inner journey. Lately I have been skyping, and so happy to do so!
Yoga courses continue to be interesting, inspiring and at times challenging. Quieting the mental monkey can be very rough for someone as airy and flighty as myself, constantly wanting to move around, change positions and in general restless. It has been a good test of will power and mental concentration to stay in different asanas, or positions, for up to 10 minutes at a time, thinking about a certain effect, energy and chakra the whole while.
The second month of Agama was lovely, taught by a sweet couple of yogis with a lot of heart and energy. We had music meditations, chanting, and plenty of new techniques ranging from simple to extremely overwhelming, not because they are difficult, but because they generate surges of energy like being plugged into the cosmos.
On a personal level in that business, I maintain my practice at home, trying more and more to see the 'pillar' in my stomach, a hard technique and purification in which one sucks in the stomach while holding the void (no air) and then sticks out only the center muscles and then waves them through the abdomen like an ocean wave... I may arrive soon:) Years of sit ups has hardened my muscles but kept them stuck together too!
We learned to chant with vowells for different energetic aspects and everyone loved the practice.
Socially, there are more and more people on the island and I am making friends in the yoga class and school in general. There was a Christmas Bhajan (devotional singing) and more than a few vegetarian and alcohol free yogi pot lucks and shakti gatherings (aka women's night). The beaches of the island fill up to celebrate the black moon, half moons, full moon and recently Shiva moon as well, so there are plenty of foreigners from all over the world, here, drinking, dancing and partying together. They wander about and also, more dangerously, drive their motorbikes, so there were a lot of bandages being waved around in the last few weeks.
I have been learning how to make jewelry by hand and finally get to swim again now that my own motorbike injury has healed! hehe... although I was funny enough at a stop in sand and the bike just fell over and I hurt myself lifting it!
Life is good, trying every day to remind myself more and more and more to stay in the present moment, to love myself, send love to all beings and keep my connection to the universe wide open.
More soon:)

Tales of an Island

2008-12-09T05:10:00.000-08:00

After a nice two week trip through Cambodia, ending with 5 days in the south on the beach, I had several days of travel to get to the south of Thailand to Koh Pha Ngan again. Since the Bangkok Airport was closed, the alternative was to take a bus from Sihanoukville (on the beaches) to the border and then to Thailand. I had bad travel advice and went to Koh Chang, realizing just before getting on the ferry to that island that there was no connecting ferry to the south as I had been told. So, I went to Koh Chang for the night and then took another ferry to mainland and ANOTHER all day bus to Bangkok.. where, by the way, I saw no riots.. they are only in the airport area and life is AS USUAL in the city itself. Although, there was excitement over the King's birthday and lots of decorations were being put up. Pictures of the King everywhere, flags and yellow ribbons, lots of beautiful lights. Also, there are a lot of 'winter' decorations for Xmas at the malls... funny, there is no snow, nor is there cold here... but commercialism carries on indeed!
One more bus, took me all night with stops meant to interupt my sleep schedule even more, at 2am and 5am. Then, a very tumultuous ferry ride where half the passengers got sea sick and spent the ride hanging over the railings (including myself... a first!). Thank goodness for yogic techniques to calm me down and keep me less sick!
Now, back on Koh Pha Ngan, for the third time. First time without Cash. And I felt his energy strongly for the first few days here and had to meditate a lot to release that energy and keep up the energy of sending us both love, happiness and strength.
Two nights ago I had an amazing healing session called Theta. I invite anyone to look into this amazing technique wherein programs are changed and the cells respond. It took me back to my birth, into past relationships and past lives as well. I felt so good during and after the session and am feeling the effects of the change in me daily.
I have learned to ride a scooter and have been riding around the island, mainly to the Agama school to check into the second month which just started yesterday and I was lucky to have popped in just in case. The other two times, the information wasn't yet available... such is quiet and slow island life! ha
Easing into life next to the beach, crashing waves blessing my ears and eyes and sun kissing my skin. It is beautiful and peaceful here.... even if the rushing wind at 20km per hour on the bike is still a bit scary and liberating! Soon I will be able to focus on the road AND THE VIEW! Maybe even tackle the ENORMOUS hills ... who knows?:)
Not much to report, since the journey now is mostly internal. Processing, letting go, rebuilding, moving on... not just in the heart, but in my head and lifestyle too.
I am once again hearing the twang of the Thai language (which sounds like one of the characters of the King of the Hill television show at times!) Sawadee Kahs and Kap con Kaaaaas, beautiful dark hair and Thai faces with full lips and little noses like the statues. And superhuman strength from the Masseuses... feeling the soreness from today already!!
In for the tourist season to start back up... with all the unrest in India and Bangkok, there are much less people around and the shops and restaurants are hoping for change SOON!

Tuk Tuk? Tuk Tuk?

2008-11-25T00:02:00.000-08:00

The Calcutta airport is an interesting, simple, dirty and a bit of a sleazy place compared with other airports I have been to. I arrived very early on Sunday the 16th of November to find that there were less than 100 people in the entire tiny airport and only two morning flights, little need for security and long waits to wait. The food shop before passing security was less expensive by a comical amount than on the boarding side!
Arriving in Bangkok, the airport is beautiful, huge and bustling with people. Bangkok feels like the Disneyland of Asia, to quote an Aussie fellow traveler I met. The streets are clean, the buildings large and ultra decadent and modern, the traffic is comprised of nice, new cars, no cows walking through the streets or anything. And, THE STREET FOOD!!! is clean, and lively and bright and delicious, mangoes, jack fruit, watermelon, papayas.... sooo good:) I went to a beautiful Thai cinema and saw a dumb action movie, Tropic Thunder, the previews lasted 30 minutes, during which, was a long ad with the national anthem in which everyone stands up to salute the beloved Thai king... finally a people that really LOVE their leader! Hopefully America will now follow suit!
Two days later, up early again, I got on a big bus and headed in the trails of Lara Croft from Tomb Raider, to the border of the Kingdom of Cambodia, famous for Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, the killing fields and the bloody 1975 slaughter of 3 million Cambodians by the Khmer Rouge Empire. The first part of the journey was air conditioned and smooth, the second half was hilariously bumpy and deviated because there are few real roads, but one can see them being slowly constructed from the dirty windows of the bus.
There are two classes here, the INSANELY rich, who drive jeeps, Lexus and Mercedes and eat at great restaurants, and the AMAZINGLY poor, who are sleeping in the streets, working in the streets and begging in the streets. The country had many mine fields over the bloody revolutions and coups and it is common to see 'survivors of mines' people playing music to make money and finding other ways to make money by begging. The local people LOVE pyjamas and I have seen all varieties on the women, teddy bears and hearts and you name it, kids and adults wear pyjamas everywhere. Bicycles, tuk tuks and motorbikes seem to be the main mode of travel, much like the rest of Asia, people pile by families of 4 onto the bike to commute to their destinations.
Here, people are constantly on the tourists to SELL anything and everything, mostly I hear the phrase 'TUK TUK TUK TUK' when I leave one building and step out onto the street. It feels like a way of saying hello at this point, although it annoys me greatly as well.
I am staying at a place on the riverside of Phnom Penh, this city, the capital, has its charm but is nothing like the beautiful Siem Reap, where the atmosphere is thick with the ancient and the holy, beautiful temples, smiling people, and a friendly place called, Old Market, where dozens of tourists have set up well decorated and delicious (and inexpensive) restaurants. I have been blessed to find a stellar vegetarian restaurant in Siem Reap (Chamkar!!) and took a cooking class there!! Today, finally managed to find K'nyay, Phenom Penh's vegetarian and Vegan hidden haven. Thank god for Vegetables and creativity!! I feel less like running out of this strange city now.
There is a huge French influence in this country, since it was for a long time a French colony until a few decades back. It is interesting to see the familiar Rue de France and Rue Pasteur street signs and see menus in French and English. Although, during the Khmer Rouge, the majority of educated people were brutally massacred, so it seems like people here are not as bilingual as one might think. They are beautiful, thick lipped like the buddha statues, dark haired, thin and overly accommodating to tourists though, hoping to make litterally a buck... they use American dollars here more than their local Reals! Strange to have Washington in hand again! Signs and campaigns are posted everywhere not to give money to beggars, not to come for sex tourism, not to touch the children... a sad state of reality indeed. And yet, what about adult prostitution? I see men and women alike, all dressed up and ready for the night scene here, older foreign men pretending to give company to the dolled up local girls. The money industry mixed with tourism and poverty makes me very sad here!
The tourists seem to be all stoned and drunk, and the locals seem to be the same.. at least near my guest house, which, funny enough is run by a police man! They offer all types of drugs here and it is frankly an odd vibe. I am excited to leave here for the Cambodian beaches and am craving my return to beautiful, natural, tranquil Koh Pha Ngan where I hope to find a temporary sense of home, purpose and routine. Give me a bungalow and a yoga course:)

Full Circle back to Calcutta

2008-11-15T05:11:00.000-08:00

Ten days later...:) the adventures have slowed down with the last two destinations. Travel by train was a major blessing, not only was I able to lay down, even SLEEP on the long night journey from Dehli to the holy city of Varanasi, I also met other foreigners to continue on with. Of the six beds in the 'compartment' we were all foreign, from the foreign train ticket quota given by the Dehli train ticket office.
Arriving at the busy train station, four of us, two Australian girls on their gap year and an exporter from Uruguay who lives part in Switzerland and part in Mallorca, took an auto rickshaw into the old and holy river city of Varanasi and searched for a guest house together using their thick lonely planet guides. We found a 'nice hotel' on Assi ghat, meaning door to the Ganges river, in the quieter area of town and commenced exploration of the city... Varanasi is famous for its cremation centers... the Ganga is a holy river capable of purifying one's soul, so I sat and watched bodies burning and relatives receiving mantras and blessing their loved ones, dressed in white with newly shaved heads. I was spellbound watching this intensely private family experience happen in public.. there is no privacy in this country, people seem more real in that way, because they don't hide.
We found a guest house the next day, more my style, large and spacious, utterly simple, inexpensive, and cozy, with us filling the place for the week:) A morning boat ride at 5am let us see people doing their morning rituals and bathing in the (very dirty) Ganges waters, we even saw a dead cow floating by and were instructed that children under 15 are thrown in with a stone and not burned like everyone else, that animals make it into the river, as well as trash, sewage and flower offerings.
The town was intense... beggars everywhere and very overly attentive vendors of 'anything' waiting to divert your attention and empty your pockets as soon as one steps out of a restaurant or store or guest house door! I did enjoy my long walks along the busy city and although it was not easy to see so much death, I also saw a lot of love as well and a lot of people seeking spirituality.
My last week in India has been spent in Calcutta. The weather has cooled and is perfect, no rain, not as hot, not as humid. My hotel is comfortable and homey by my new standards, and one of the cleaner places I could find as well. Again, I met Australian girls to Guest house search with. I revisited the family I know here and shared a simple meal and a few hours of baby holding and chat about my impressions of India.
I did a bit of touring finally, not volunteering as last time. The Sri Ramakrishna mission was a beautiful place with gardens and Indians meditating! a first for me to see! and the boat ride was crowded and fun to the Kali Temple along the water...Quiet week, even went to see the new Bond movie and today, a Hindi film complete with song and dance and silly laughter to help me follow the film since the language is foreign!:)
I say goodbye to crazy, beautiful India for a few months.

The Craziness of Solo travel in India

2008-11-04T21:47:00.000-08:00

My lovely time in the quiet mountains of Almora finished Saturday night in an overcrowded jeep. We were 14 people in one jeep for a three hour BUMPY road down the mountain to an insanely busy bus depot. Several people, including me, got carsick, although only one person vomited in the car. I was lucky to get in the front seat of an a/c bus to Dehli after a quick but very nice meal of dahl and tandoori roti. I arrived in Dehli at 5.30am and was very confused by the early morning and of course, every rickshaw and taxi driver is trying to sell me their ride and tell me I am further away from my destination. I turned and walked the other way, finding fairly easilya local city bus to take me to ANOTHER bus depot to continue on to Jaipur, this time on a normal bus, in a seat with two other people and my bag, among others, obstructing the center aisle.
Six hours later, I found myself in the capital of Rajistan, the desert of India, again with lots of taximen selling their services. I thought I chose rightly by hiring a prepaid government taxi and went to the ONLY guest house I had written down from a lonely planet guide I had seen in Darjeeling...it was full and from there, I couldn't rid myself of the taximan!They get commissions for showing tourists to hotels and I let him showme one before getting my friend in Jaipur on the phone and telling me where to go. I was in Jaipur to meet an Indian girl I worked with only by internet during my college days in AIESEC. I met her and her boyfriend for a nice dinner in a fancy railcar themed restaurant and we went to a hindi film about the Bombay fashion scene.
The next day, I took a city tour as per my friends' suggestion and was all day in an out of the bus, visiting museums, fortresses, taking photos of monuments and temples, mingling with the other tourists from all over that were taking the tour and in general,enjoying a rare 'tourist' experience. At around 5pm, I was done and separated myselffrom theothers for somemeditation and asanasbefore walking downthe fortress stairs andhaving some foodwhile waiting for thebus... well, the bus parked somewhere different andI DIDN'T findit. Luckily, I had one of the guy's number and someone was nice enough to let me put my sim in his cell phone because, of course, my battery was dead. I was picked up a half hour later and returned to the tour, a bit nervous, but thankful for the reunion. Five of us had gone missing at that fort and only three made it back to the bus to return to Jaipur city again. Too tired to leaveJaipur thatnight asplanned, I stayed again in my guest house and when taking a shower, realised, someone was spying on me from the service stair area through my bathroom screen window!I told the manager about it in the morning and said it was very upsetting, which it was, he returned my room fare to me and apologized. I was shocked that he did that, but grateful thathe acknowledged there being something wrong. Sexuality is highly repressed here and foreign women are always stared at unfortunately.
I took an early local bus back to Dehli yesterday morning to meet another Indian friend I knew through my interest in the Bocconi University years back. She was coming through Dehli for an interview and we were to meet. I couldn't get ahold of her until late afternoon, once already in the city and frazzled from the long and perilous trip. The bus driver had hit a tractor carrying a large quantity of red bricks about 2 hours from the city and the tractor turned over, pinning the driver below... I had dozed off a bit and awoke to the crash, then another crashas we were hit from behind by another bus, breaking our back windows, harming only one person slightly, thank God, and disfuguring a few rows of seats. We all filed off the bus and many men attempted unsucessfully to take the tractor off it's driver. Everyone else was unscathed and my seatmate led me to theother side of the road where traffic had been diverted and we got on a new bus and agreed about how lucky we were to have escaped unharmed from that disaster. He invited me to his sister's wedding in February if I should be back in India then and wished me asafe journey.
In the craze of Dehli, I took another hour long bus in heavy traffic, stuck against the other 50 standing passengers in yet another local bus and arrived in the middle of the main bazaar area. An Israeli tourist led meto the Chabad house, kind oflike a local synagogue, where I can come for peace or leave luggage safely and eat dinner or study Torah:) I checked into the tiniest room I have seen and headed with him for lunch and the train station...taking the train the next two big travels!!! I leave tonight for Varanasi, where I look forward to staying for 5 days, hopefully more peacefully!
I met three tourists from the Gran Canaria island (at the reservation office) and went with them in a fun, cramped rickshaw, hanging half out of the window to fitin! We went to some beautiful sites, a mosque and a huge red fort, taking photos of the sunset and being taken photos of by Indian tourists (very common). Then we all went out for a fabulous dinner and several laps around the inner circle of a commercial center before finding our way again.
My neck is sore in the muscles from the accident, but I slept well and am happy to be healthy, alive and constantly finding good company!I am also THRILLED that Obama is the NEW PRESIDENT!!!! YAY

Yes, but WHO is I AM?

2008-10-31T01:37:00.001-07:00

More time passes, and although the days are filled beautifully with a newfound sense of time and space, getting to internet is not always so easy. After finishing a one month yoga course intensive, I left for Almora with a few other travellers, from the course and from my thai massage school. Funny how life brings people back to the same places, even a set of tiny towns like Almora, Kassardevi and Paparsali. Here, days are sunny and warm, with the sun rising on one side of the mountain and setting on the other. Having stayed in two different guest houses, one without a hot shower and one with:), I know the outside temperature differences between sides of the mountain ridge.
Mornings are filled with yogic ritual, setting up my own asana routine has been a blessing and I am enjoying the energetic effects of holding postures and meditating and just being in this beautiful natural place on earth. There are few restaurants and stores, luckily where I am now, WITH the hot shower, there is a small restaurant and a grocery store, both staying open as LATE AS 8pm... wow, eh?
The first guest house was in a lovely secluded spot, boasting a kitchen and a large balcony with an amazing mountain view. The hotel manager made hot buckets of water for showers and gave free filtered water as well:) very kind! Also, the first night, since the restaurant closed as soon as I could see it from 100meters away, he was nice enough to let me use his kitchen to make a quick dinner of egg and instant noodles!
My friends are staying in Kassardevi, a 45minute walk up the hill, in a guest house called 'Real Place' which, again, is also a secluded spot, but not from other guest houses and also has a lovely large balcony and shared kitchen with a GREAT view... from there, one can see the snow peaked tops of the Himalayan mountain range.. maybe I am seeing the Anapurna circuit from there, where Cash has reached the top of the pass and is having a lovely and inspiring time so I hear.
Tomorrow, I will leave the tranquility of this spot with good memories of Diwali spent here. Several nights of surprisingly strong firecrackers and firework displays in the streets and a memory of being part of a 'foreigner's''dinner with Tara of Tara's Guest House, Grocery store and restaurant. I was honored to be invited to the dinner and had an idea of eating with the family and a few other guests, instead, Tara sat with me and 9 other foreigners, half travelling through, half permanent residents. We chatted a bit, had a lovely Thali like dinner and wonderful sweets and Chai and then all returned to our perspective rooms by 8.30pm:) The days leading up to Diwali, I was asked several times if I 'liked bombs' by the other local grocer. If I had replied yes, I am told he would have led me to the back of his store to purchase firecrackers (which are not supposed to be sold I believe!!). My friends' milkman was injured in the eye by some firecracker or sparkler and was walking around with a big bandage on it yesterday, saying 'no worry, I will go to the hospital TOMORROW!' It is a quiet place here, and the last few nights have been 'exciting', with such a spectacular view of the valley, I can see the local neighbors from kilometers away doing their own light shows to celebrate this festival. The night sky is cloudless and BLACK, with tons of stars viewable... amazing place!
I met a meditation and spiritual leader this morning, trying to awaken my state of presence... working on it, thinking on it and feeling on it now. Was an experience I had hoped for, to meet a spiritual leader. I am not sure of the after-effects as yet, but am happy to have started a new attention focus for myself.
Tomorrow, I leave by local bus for Dehli and will travel to Jaipur by train from there to meet an India woman with whom I know through AIESEC, the NGO I worked with in college:) looking forward to that. Then, maybe Varanasi a few days and back to Calcutta to fly to Thailand and await my dad and Jeannie!

Yogic thoughts

2008-10-13T05:46:00.000-07:00

The holy city of Rishikesh celebrated Durga Puja during the first week of my yoga course...this meant that women were dressed in even more beautiful and rich colors than normal, people were playing more music in the street and praying to the statues of their gods and goddesses, AND... our teachers were giving us sweets of fruits and pastries in the morning after lecture.

My last two weeks make me feel like I live here. The routine is: morning yoga practice and introduction of a new asana or position, break during the afternoon during which I either do massage exchanges with a friend from my Thai course, go to the Ganga beach or just relax, afternoon practice and then lecture until who knows when. Busy, busy learning the keys to my state of samadhi, or self realization, otherwise known as enlightenment.

In the past few weeks, I have been doing morning purification techniques like scrubbing my mouth with salt after using a tongue scraper, clearing my sinuses with a netty pot and recently drinking a liter of water to regurgitate it out after. There are more techniques to come and I am grateful to be healthy and energized... I was sick with the initial start of the course and have hung in there and have been very grateful for the full return of my health as of one week. Tomorrow, we have all paired up to do intestinal cleanses.

Animals are fascinating here. A classmate ushered me over one day to see a newborn calf and told me that he watched a man come up to the cow and pull the calf straight out!! I saw a fresh calf on the ground in blood and plasma! was amazing!
The other day, while crossing the Ganga on the Laxman Jhula bridge with a bag of vegetables, a monkey made a swipe for it. I saw the Indian pedestrians moving away from me and then all of a sudden I was protecting myself from a monkey!!!!
Also, of the many cows and bulls wandering free and pooping in the streets (they are holy and so it there sh*t, hence the term, holy sh*t) one bull likes to headbutt walkers by. He has tapped me once in the leg and once in the bum, gently luckily, but he has good aim!
Been enjoying the course, the meditative aspects and the many focuses on opening my heart:) thinking of all my loved ones and sending you all good energy.
Photos to come eventually, here in Rishikesh, computers are slower and the shop owners don't want us to download. The past few days with the full moon came power outages, a big storm and the server down several times.

I finally made it to the Ashram where the Beatles stayed! I arrived near sunset and received a personal tour, seeing their cone shaped rooms from the outside and experiencing a beautiful sunset from high up on the water building.

The Beautiful faces of India

2008-10-03T09:30:00.000-07:00

Time and space seem to be different here. There is an amazing way in which people co-exist that is unlike any other culture I have met. The streets of Calcutta are filled with trash, which is meticulously hand sorted each morning and the sidewalks are hand swept and drains unclogged with little metal pieces. Traffic looks like permanent gridlock and sounds like a horn symphony due to a law that if you are going to pass another car, you MUST honk. However, even on a busy bridge such as the one I walk across daily in Rishikesh, Ram Jhula, motorbikes pass the people walking, Cows frequent the bridge and, here is a new addition, so do Monkeys!
After a week and a half spent in Calcutta with the volunteer organizations and making kind-hearted friends here in India to give their time to others without asking for anything in return.... I went to Darjeeling, a hill station with a Himalayan view. It was a lovely town, still amazingly crowded for it's size and of course, altitude and difficult roads. The air was crisp from the mountains and fog came in and out all day long, sometimes allowing brief and spectacular views of the mountains. Instead of trekking, I spent the time at my lovely little hotel, retreating from the former over stimulation of Calcutta with a cold and a stomach bug. The retreat was quite nice, good blankets, nice room with a view and a geat crisp climate that stimulated the desire to cuddle up and read or go have tea and watch the sunset from the upper floor restaurant.

Cash headed to Bhutan in the North and met up with me when I got sick and we both went to Calcutta for a day. I headed to Rishikesh and he is went to Dhaka and is now in Nepal.
Since arriving a week ago in Rishikesh, I have made some very nice friends of yogi foreigners who live in Koh Pha Ngan, met back up with an Israeli friend from my massage course and hung out with the motorbiking French and Australian fellows from my guest house.
The first few days were tranquil since we were all in a little hotel tucked up the hill in a quiet forested location. There was a yoga studio NEXT door to my bedroom and I was happy to practice with the nice teacher. I got to motorbike with my friends to a beach on the Ganga and go or a swim... legend is that it rids you of evil deeds, nice! We also went to a lovely walking trail with several waterfalls along the path and a village up top. I have been exploring both sides of the bridge and enjoying the incredible energy of the place, which has changed a lot since the Beathles came here to meditate with the Maharishi. The tourism is rampent and the people are more businessy than spiritual, but the energy from years of hard-core meditation has left an imprint on the place.
I will be here, taking an intensive yoga course with Agama yoga (trika here) until late October, and then..... plans yet to be decided.
Wishing everyone well.

2008-09-16T02:27:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks have flown by. I spent a week more in Chiang Mai and was sick with the flu, Cash stayed at the Wat meditating until day 12 and then came down the mountain thinking I was already gone and flew to Koh Samui the next day. I left by train to Bangkok and flew from there.

We met Alexys and her family and her young baby boy. We stayed on the touristy beaches of Koh Samui where everything is 3 times more expensive than the other islands or anywhere else in Thailand but still less expensive than California and the ocean water is WARM! We lounged and swam and enjoyed a relaxing reunion together and with Cash's friends. Then, we found our way to a ferry and stayed on Why Nam beach on Koh Pha Ngan... we had to take a taxi boat to this private beach that only has one 'resort' or rather two women who run a restaurant and have several beach front bungalows with hammocks and porchs and ants in the bathrooms:) Enjoyed paradise, Cash dealt with back pain and I swam in my new heaven.
Walking trails connected the three private beaches, Haad Tien (a place called the Sanctuary is a haven for people wanting to eat healthy or fast and detox and relax) and Haad Yuan, a slightly larger, still quiet beach with restaurants that play films in the evening.
Cash left earlier than me to return to Bangkok before our flight to Calcutta and I left my passport in the safe of the hotel and had a big day of running around since I only realized the mistake once LEAVING and on a boat away from Koh Pha Ngan.. all was well.

CALCUTTA!!!! this place is like no other place I have seen... intense poverty and overcrowding, overpopulated streets. Everything has a schedule for the people sleeping in the streets and over a cup of chai, one can simply observe. We met Madison and Spencer Kwan's Aunt Daisy, cousin Rebecca and her baby Mattias and husband Anand! Amazing people, very kind and amazingly helpful to show us great places in the city!!
We have met the most amazing people, all with fantastic reasons to be in Calcutta or India and great travels behind them as well. We have joined the community of volunteers and been 'working' at the Daya Dan Mother Teresa charity house, me for a week and Cash for several days before getting a bit sick and shocked.

We visited an amazing charity that takes in people from the streets, educates them on nourishing their children properly, gives general health education, medical treatment and runs a school. It is called CALCUTTA RESCUE and will soon have a website up. I am thoroughly impressed with them and hope to find a way to support them soon!!!

A typical day includes breakfast and prayer at Mother House at 7, two crazy local buses to the center and then bathing and dressing children with Down's syndrom or cerebral palsy, some very deformed! Then, a few hours of massaging, giving attention, talking to and singing to the kids before feeding them lunch by hand. At noon, we take the metro back to Sutter St, have lunch and spend the day either chatting amongst ourselves, visiting the New Market or simply trying to walk around and take it all in. I have been nervously and excitedly anticipating India for some time and am happy to say that I AM strong enough to be here, happy to help people and dealing with the culture shock well!
Cash and I have parted ways again. He left for Siliguri last night and may go to Nepal, I will go to Darjeeling and Sikkim with some other volunteers tomorrow. Hoping that both of our travels continue to be amazing. We are blessed to be here, seeing this different world and culture from our own and have been happy to be of some help, although the need is so great.

Rising, Falling, Sitting, Breathing

2008-08-22T18:55:00.000-07:00

Naga the snake protects the Buddha while he is meditating and can be seen all over the Wat.
Doi Suthep is a magical place, one of the most revered and spiritually revered places in Thailand. The Wat is high in the hills next to Chiang Mai and the drive to get there is completely green and forested. Along the roadside are waterfalls and smaller wats. Chiang Mai is the city of wats after all, so it is fitting that it's surroundings have wats too:) From Doi Suthep, when the clouds are parted, we can see a spectacular view of the cities down below. Amazing at day break and sunset!!!!! Above is the staircase with over 300 stairs leading up to the wat (they have a funicular as well!)
We originally wanted to go for a 10 day retreat at the beginning of August, but the International Buddhist Center was 'closed' for the week surrounding Mother's Day because many Thai people came that week to participate in the festivities and group meditations and chanting.
Thus, our longer trip to Myanmar to accommodate our stay at Doi Suthep. We arrived Saturday afternoon and each found our separate rooms across the complex from each other and promptly dressed only in white, to symbolize the inner purification we were about to start. We had an initiation ceremony and chanting in Thai after our friendly monk teacher and offered lotus flowers and incense and prostrated ourselves towards Buddha.
( Cash seeing me off)
The retreat is called a Vippassana and is traditionally SILENT, no one is to make eye contact or speak unless necessary and then, only with loving kindness. Our young monk teacher pointed out that we actually could speak, but should try to speak softly, kindly and not very often. Silence was respected the first three days and then, with only meditation as activity, we started to become friends and chat amongst ourselves downstairs with our hot chocolates. The energy was really peaceful there at the center, apart from the main wat which is covered in tourists from all over the world most of the day. The schedule is thus, wake up at 4am, meditation from 5.00 to 6.30 and then breakfast, Dhamma talk at 8 and lunch at 11am. We report to our teacher and tell him how our walking and sitting meditation is going and then receive new techniques to add on to the practice. There is chanting at 6pm which we can join in the central wat in a beautiful golden area with hundreds of Buddha images. Bed time at 9.30pm.
The whole course is 21 days and Cash is still up on the hill meditating. I left yesterday after a very good, very intense and wonderful 7 days there. Now, I will continue meditating in the South and will meet with Cash when he is finished at Suthep.
Our Monk teacher told us AMAZING stories each day about Karma, healing through meditation and yesterday about his journey to monkhood, meditations, trekkin Northern Thailand as a wandering monk for two months and finally becoming a monk permanently and now as a teacher. I have never met someone SO kind and SO giving and friendly and sharing, and I know a lot of really amazing people:)
Here is the view of Doi Suthep and the hills from Grace House, my place for the weekend back in Chiang Mai.

Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai, two paths diverged by road

2008-08-22T18:40:00.000-07:00

Been busy the last two weeks. After 12 days in Myanmar, I decided to go to Chiang Mai to do yoga for a week and eat avocado salads everyday and calm my mind and body before our meditation program. Cash went to Chiang Rai (three hour dive apart from Chiang Mai) to play pool and snoocker, watch the olympics and get Thai Massages. It was a good week to spend, preparing for separation during our meditation retreat.This is the Three Kings monument, close to the Agama center. On August 12th, Thailand celebrated the Queen mother's birthday, so the holiday is 'Mother's Day'! The streets were heavily decorated and many places were closed to observe the festivity. Wats were packed that week with novices (young monks) and people who went to meditate and do buddhist activities to fulfill patriotic obligations.
I joined Agama yoga during it's final week of a 4 week yoga program. The style is unlike other yoga practices I have tried before. Same asanas, but held for 3 to 5 minutes each while focusing on specific chakras that are triggered. Being there the last week, I heard the final lectures on topics like transcendental meditation, yoga nidra or lucid dreaming and conscious sleep and the ever changing concept on 'good and bad'. It was a fascinating and calm week spent at the new little center, shown above. We practiced in the morning for two hours and then from 4pm to 7.30pm. I felt such an amazing calm:)
Here is the juice stand around the corner. And the kids in their school uniform.

Trucks, bugs and trekking in Myanmar

2008-08-11T20:10:00.000-07:00

Myanmar unfortunately keeps a tight reign on those choosing to go in and visit. There were only a very few of us travelers there and the country only allows one to come in for 14 days. The only 4 towns your allowed to go to are: Tachileik, Mong Hpa Yak, Kengtung, Mong La. Tachileik is at the border and most just cross, get their visa stamped to stay in Thailand and go right back over. We skipped Mong Hpa Yak and had a really amazing time in Keng Tung trekking, walking around the lake near the center of town and checking out near by Wats (temples) and Monestaries. Mong La is right on the border of China and you can only use yen. At the border we turned in our passports and were given a TEMPORARY passport (photo to the right) and about 4-5 full sheets of paperwork which was stamped and used at each border checkpoint (about every 30km or so)

We went to the (black) market to change our money in Keng Tung. They spell each of these towns differently on each sign we see so looking them up can be a challenge.

Trekking included waterfalls (above), amazing food, hill tribes (Akha hill tribe photo being shown to the left) and beautiful views. The tribes

make beautiful bags, bracelets, necklaces, and other attire like really intricate head gear (hats). We did partook in some souveniers to keep the

money hopefully in the villiages. The children are so beautiful and take care of each other at a very young age because the parents are working most of the day. And the children (above & to the right) were really really nice.

The water source (the photo below) is a place where they have water captured from waterfalls a ways away and they bring it through the whole village to collection basins along the way to use for drinking, washing and cooking.

The (money) here is Kyat...pronounced JET. It is about 1100 per american dollar and Yen is at about 6 per american dollar. (FOOD) One evening we ate an amazing nut salad of about 3-4 different kinds and veggies with a bit of chilli and fried rice with a side soup that seems to come with everything and tea and the total came to about 1,500 k which transilates into $1.30.... we are proud travelers. (guest houses) Accomodations are not all over the place in a couple of the cities and in Mong La the places where rather terrible looking. In Keng Tung there is only a choice of a couple and most stay at Harry's. It is a bit pricey yet breakfast is included if you call it a breakfast and one can not stay all that long anyway. The way they tie things down is unbelievable. Below is a photo of a small toyota truck like mine at home.

I guess I always thought I could put a lot on my truck.... not. If you think this is impressive, you should see the one of the bus that was covered on top and in back (reallly crazy). And last but not least there are a wonderful amount of incredible bugs in Myanmar. At the market we saw monkeys for sale (very sad to see), snakes, all types of spices, large larva of huge (2 inch long) wasps and much more. Below is a bug we had in our bathroom down the hall. It is about the size of my fist (4-5 inches) not counting the antenni.

Chiang Mai, Yoga, Yogis and Cooks

2008-07-29T21:52:00.001-07:00

After our Lahu Village experience, we joined up with a few of our massage buddies at the Malak guest house, were not only did we have a panoramic view of Chiang Mai from our Garden terrace and kitchen, but we also shared free internet on two popular computers.
I took a cooking course on our second day led by the 'Best Thai Cookery School', how can you go wrong with a name like that?
Perm, the instructor, was excellent in English and made a lot of very silly, corny jokes through the market tour and throughout the day. We learned to buy eggs (here there are 4 types, young, old, fermented, quail) and we learned to distinguish roots and vegetables as well as to decipher the difference between coconut juice, milk and cream... very cool.
We were led poooooon (means far in Thai) out of the city center in little red truck taxis and installed ourselves each at his or her own stove and cutting block. We learned 11 dishes in one day and even to cook with huge flames as you can see in the photo! It was very fun and rewarding, since the days to follow I was able to remake pad thai and panang curry at the guest house and enjoyed buying produce at the market.
Chiang Mai was a quieter stay for us. We wandered around, used internet and chatted with other travelers. There were a lot of great vegetarian and organic restaurants that we sampled for $2 per person for a meal! We watched a few movies while sipping banana shakes at the 'Okay Guest House' down the street and Cash found a place to play pool.
One day, we rented a motorbike and went outside Chiang Mai to a wonderful wood carving center, then two days later, up a steep and winding hill to Doi Suthep Wat where we plan to do a THREE WEEK meditation course in August.
Today, we are in the smaller version of Chiang Mai, called Chiang Rai and will be getting on a bus to Mai Sai, the border between Burma and Thailand. If all goes as planned, our next ten days will be spent somewhere in Burma.
To be continued. Wishing everyone well!

Beaches, Massages and Potholes

2008-07-23T05:16:00.000-07:00

We chose to start off our venture with some relaxing in the islands of southern thailand. Ko Pha Gnan was where we found ourselves relaxing, renting a motor bike for $4 dollars a day. Our bungalo was about 10 ft from the water at night with the high tide and about 140 ft. by morning due to the low tide. We had a hammock on our front porch, a big mosquito net and a fan. Our bathroom was constantly under attack by ants and the toilet flushed after one dumps a bucket of water in it.

We explored the island on the little bike and found all sorts of roads and fun little places to check out. We went swimming here, saw waterfalls, and even had re-initiations in Reiki.

After the island we continued up north because we had booked a two week thai massage course before we left on this trip. This was up in a village about an hour and a half outside of Chiang Mai and we were able to get there with all our packs and about 9 of us in a pick up truck bed bumping along the steep and windy roads. We spent our days being woken up by roosters, pigs eating loudly out of a trough, villiagers talking and children singing. All of which we could see through the slats in our bungalow of bamboo. Not to mention the daily several bouts of the dogs fighting with one another and the mama's yelling at them. We spent our days massaging 6 hours and eating wonderful homecooked vegetarian food, reading and playing cards. It was a simple village made of huts and satillites everywhere. People lived there, worked in the fields and had many night ceremonies to celebrate good luck and ward off bad dreams. The mama's had few teeth and mouths of red from the betelnut and the babies were carried on dads and moms backs, attached by simply tied cloths.

Until next time,
Cash and Mira

Leaving San Francisco

2008-06-30T01:11:00.001-07:00

Good byes said, bags packed and repacked, amazing amounts of 'stuff' thrown away, dispersed or stored... we are READY!

We had a lovely last couple of weeks, catching up with friends and trying to spend a few last moments with you amazing people in our lives. My school's family and staff was amazingly supportive of this trip and it is thanks to the month or so of conversations about our plans that I have been feeling so ready in my mind to start this adventure. For Cash, it is really this weekend that he realizes just how soon and how real the trip is becoming. Running a business takes a lot of energy and it is now, winding down and taking care of things to go that he has realized that he will actually be resting soon....

Our plane leaves in the morning just before noon from SFO, going through Tokyo on a 4hr stop and arriving in Bangkok on July 1st near midnight! There is a 14 hr time difference, ahead of CA.

The next post will be from Thailand!!!!!

The Plan

2008-06-11T15:36:00.000-07:00

Three weeks before our Journey continues, Cash and I find ourselves wrapping up our jobs in the city and releasing our attachments to our 'stuff'. Suddenly, this adventure that we are about to take looks REAL and is feeling REAL too!

Here is the plan:

Early July, we arrive in Thailand and have 10 days to wander and find our ways to Chiang Mai before our first massage course in the Lahu village through the Sunshine Network!

We will stay three months in Thailand (possibly less if we can volunteer ourselves in Burma!)

Then we make our way North to China, visiting the Great Wall, Dali and Kunming in the Yunnan.

After two months in China, we plan to stay one month in Nepal, and are looking at a month long Thai Massage course there as well, through 'Healing Hands'.

The last three (or more? hehe) months, we plan to be in India, visiting and staying at an as-yet-undecided Ashram. We also hope to volunteer for the Sri Aurobindo school, or another school for children.

There is talk of Bali in the winter and some chance encounters with some city friends, Cash's parents and my parents.

We don't want our travel too set in stone because you never know what will happen when you leave your own back yard and we want to stay open to all the beautiful experiences that the Universe is putting in front of us!

A bientot,

Mira