Trekking in the Himalayas...oh yeah, babeeee....

Oh Nepal, you are so wild and crazy!

Your mountains are amazing yet so shy! Monsoon season...with your endless clouds and shifting winds, hide your majestic beauty more times than not. And then, quite literally out of the blue, sparing a peek at your peaks!  Rivers, lakes, lush valleys, infinite stone pathways.. high and low...across the raging river on the creepiest bridge I've ever seen or felt beneath my feet!  ...And a crop of leeches, the likes of which these eyes have never seen. These little vampires searching for blood honestly tormented me a day or two (..or six)!  The paranoia with each step wondering if I was being drained of my life energy somewhere deep in my sock,  kept me on my toes for days. Continually scanning my shoes for these suckers ...menacingly inching up to find their oblivious host... Yikes! I missed one or two and found a blood drenched sock later in the night...

What interesting people I have met along the way...Japan, Malaysia, England, Spain, and Australia seem to be the homes of most the travelers I met. Nary a one from the good ol' U.S. of A.  I was an oddity in more ways than one, I am sure. We spent many evenings comparing leech bites and stories of the places seen along the way. Our guides gathered somewhere off in the kitchen comparing entertaining tales of the touristy-trekkers they effortlessly guided through their home turf. That's okay, laugh at me if you will...I made it back to Pokhara in one piece, much wiser for the journey...much less blood, but in good spirits physically and mentally. 

Thank you dear Rami for an amazing trek in the Himalayas. You are a wonderful guide and I shall never forget this magnificent journey. See you next time ready to tackle Mount Everest!!!...okay, at least the trek to the base camp!

And now for the long adventure back to Kathmandu... Ciao!

I am so happy and grateful I am pure Unconditional Love

Jhinu- Day Two

"Australian Camp" where we spent the last night of the trek

Fun things about Nepal so far...

You know you're in for a treat when you're in a time zone that is ___hours and 15 minutes off from the rest of the world. I mean really. What's up with that?  

Most street vendors sell face masks. In all sorts of pretty colors, even.  Hmmm. I don't even know what to say about that. 

Monsoon means everything it sounds like it does. Mud. oh, and wet shoes....Often. 

What is a sidewalk? Nothing, when motorcycles drive on them. It's like their own personal HOV lane. Watch. Your. Ass. 

Even the bicyclists will run you over. Funny, I always thought of cyclists more on the "pedestrian-friendly" side of things.  Here, their horns are louder than the vehicles. 

Lots of cool hippie clothes for sale. None of the locals wear them. Only tourists are hippies? 

Nepalese don't like veggies as much as the Thai. Damn. However, the veggie momo's are awesome, although I'm not 100% convinced they don't have meat in them....? 

I mean come on...who doesn't love a good mystery dumpling?

Oh yeah...they have gigantic mountains here.  Unfortunately as it turns out, I am completely ill-prepared to climb them on this journey. I'm just gonna stare at them and do some yoga. 

Smile even bigger! The Nepalese are even nicer!!! Seriously. 

And how can you resist when everyone is constantly saying "Namaste" to you??? I love it! 

-Namaste

Mantra of the day: I am so happy and grateful I am always surrounded by beauty. 

Fun things about Thailand...

No matter what quality of accommodations you find...don't eat your snickerdoodles in bed. There are ants. Everywhere. A lot of them. And all their friends. Apparently they come with the room. 

Amazing food grows wild. Bananas, papayas, and coconuts oh my...they grow like veritable weeds around here! Yay!

Your shower is your entire bathroom. Don't forget to remove your tp and bath towel. Yep..learned that one the hard way. And yes, the bathroom floor and your toilet seat are permanently wet. 

Oh yeah..."the bum gun".... It seems like a weird idea but you get used to it. There is hardly ever toilet paper, but almost always a bum gun (you know, it looks like the sprayer thingy next to your kitchen faucet but conveniently appears next to toilets or toilet-like holes in the ground). I found them annoying at first but I know one day I'll miss them. 

Flip flops are suitable footwear for ANY and ALL occasions  in the country and everyone here knows it. Why bother bringing anything else? I've worn my sneakers a total of...never. 

(I know that will change because I'm going Trekking!)

In Thailand you have bills with 1,000's on them. So what if it means you have about 30 dollars. You feel like a zillionaire. 

Smile. Everyone here is nice. That's right. Everyone. 

The best part? Thai people love veggies! Thank gawwd! The food is AMAZING! Curries, coconut soup, fresh herbs, chilies...don't even get me started about Tom Kha...yum yum and yum! 

Oh Thailand, I love you so.  Thank you for all your magic, warm waters, stunning sunsets, laid back-totally chill vibe, and your super kind-friendly faces. I will be back some day for sure!

Now, I prepare to transition to the next adventure...  (Dramatic music...) Kathmandu, Nepal!

Mantra of the day: I am so happy and grateful I trust in the universe!

White girl. No really. W.h.i.t.e. girl

One interesting observation about the Thai culture is the ever present desire to make the skin lighter. You can witness this  by the vast number of skin bleaching products for sale in any small market including the pervasive 7-11's.  I found this astounding. Especially the variety of these type of products on one shelf alone.  One woman told me she carried an umbrella at all times, not in case of rain, but to keep the sun from darkening her skin. This is smart really, but not for the reason she gave! This same woman told me how beautiful she thought my skin was. 

Although I cover my skin with clothing and sometimes sunscreen to keep UV rays  from damaging my skin, I no longer do anything to make my skin darker like I once did as a teenager. I would have told you (a month ago) my skin was so white I glowed in the dark....And used words like pasty, pink, or pale.  I never really saw its' pale color as beautiful. I would have easily traded it for any one of the hues of these gorgeous Thai women. However, in this quest in the mastery of self-love I have decided to change that perspective. I love my skin! It's exactly....well, perfect. And goes with everything...Thank you wonderful Thai woman for showing me how green the grass can be right here, where I am. I think I will stick around and see what other gifts are waiting to be discovered on this side of the fence...

Mantra of the day: I am so happy and grateful I have a fresh, new perspective exactly when I need it. All I have to do is choose it. 

See? This amazing coconut doesn't have a problem with white skin either. I ADORE coconuts and their silky white flesh! I think I might just be addicted to this tropical treat! 

Look at what I found on the beach today!

Beautiful stunning coral everywhere! I am quite sure I look like a complete lunatic trying (unsuccessfully) to talk myself out of filling my bag (my once-was-very *light* bag) with rocks, sticks (oh the magic wands I have found!), seashells, and coral! Yes, out loud.  Yeah, yeah, yeah travel light. Alright. I'll put them back...At least this time. I guess I will just take pictures of them all. (Sigh...)

Pictures, eh? 

So here are some photos of my little piece of paradise I have stumbled upon....

My adorable little beach bungalow

The view 5 meters away from my adorable little beach bungalow in both directions (above

And below) and all for the price of a fairly cheap meal in the states.  I love Thailand! 

Mantra of the day: I am so happy and grateful I am always surrounded by great beauty!

Things I see from inside a train (or two) in 21 hours.

It is interesting to experience the continuous newness of each moment yet blissful monotony that occurs while staring for hours outside a dirty train car window.....

Oh the lotuses! Literally thousands. Many thousands. They grow along the train tracks like weeds. Huge white and pink flowers that you can almost smell from inside the speeding metal tube.  Imagine! a self sustaining "ditch" along the side of the tracks nearly across the length of a country filled with lotuses! Oh my, what a gift. 

Rice paddies.  In neat rectangles.  Squares.  Snaking along in river like formation. The freshly planted stalks in endless rows, patiently standing at attention.  And green! Green that only exists in real life. It is almost neon. Contrasting with the brown water they are standing in. 

And the Corn. I have recently come from the land of giant corn ("choklo" is grown all over Peru) to the states where corn has always been to me, "normal" sized, which I now  realize was only my perception of "normal", because now I am in the land of tiny corn. Anyone who eats Asian food will understand tiny corn, which of course here, is ....uh...normal. I can only imagine what native tiny corn eaters must think of Peruvian choklo. However, I digress...

...Bananas. And coconuts. Yummmm. Surely a blissful meal or two in the making. My mouth waters thinking of all the delicious Thai dishes made with all this rice, corn, bananas, and coconut I see!  Mmmm. Yellow food. Mmmm.

But that is not what's on the menu today... Train food: not for the persnickety. 

 Interesting weirdness served in pre-packaged shelf stable containers: "Spice egg stew" anyone? "Mackerels in chili sauce"? "Clams of curry"? Not a vegetarians dream lunch. Did I eat these tasty tidbits? Lets just say I did my fair share of open-minded sampling.  Thankfully there is no shortage of yummy green veggies around these here parts. The food has been scrumptious.

Elephants, monkeys, egrets.. and the trees. Beautiful, amazing trees like I have only seen in photographs! It's a jungle out there. I love it. 

Oh and the temples, my goodness...they are everywhere. Like, in every neighborhood. You will think you are in the middle of nowhere and all of a sudden a thirty foot golden Buddha appears in front of you. And the sparkly, ornate temples are the fanciest thing going on around here... They are truly a site to see. And most of them have a huge gong. Wow...Talk about powerful vibrations. Those gongs will send you someplace else for sure. 

And somewhere else I finally arrived indeed. 

Of course this was after another bus ride, a 3 1/2 hour ferry ride (with two stops at other islands), and an interesting taxi ride... another case of the taxi driver acts like they know where you want to go,  but after driving back and forth a few times, they admit they don't know and either A. Want to dump you somewhere you really don't want to be or  B. Good ones will stop and ask someone or will make a call.  Thankfully today I got the latter because the last time a taxi driver tried to dump me in the middle nowhere it wasn't pretty. 

Alas, I am here!  I am on a beautiful island off the coast of Thailand and this is the magical view I have... at least for an evening or two.  Aaaahhhhh...thank you Universe... I love my life!

Mantra of the day: I am so happy and grateful I am completely held and supported by Divine Love and Light. 

I have arrived!

No wonder this trip takes so long. We have been flying in circles!  I know, I know, this doesn't really count as a "photo".  They're coming.  But this ridiculous map was right in front of my face for the last hour or so of the flight. Did we get lost for a little while and need to backtrack? 

The good news? I have arrived safely in New Delhi, India!!!  I found my hotel and I plan on recovering here for a while before venturing out.  Between the weird time changes and being on a different side of the planet, it feels like it took many more days to get here than it did. Many, many more. 

So part of landing in a foreign country, after all the fun immigration and customs lines, is familiarizing yourself with foreign currency. I exchanged only a small amount so I could see the bills, etc.  Rupees are interesting. How can you not like money that has Gandhi on it?  It's not every day you exchange one bill for a wad of bills with "1,000" printed on them. Of course that means you have about $16.... Unless you exchange them in the airport and then you have much less.  Ha. 

Well, that's about all for now, my friends. I hope I have something more interesting to share with you other than how I flew all night and all day (with a few fun curlicues thrown in for good measure) and I (knowingly) donated money to the Thomas cook currency exchange business. But, on the bright side, airplane food is way better when your flying to India than New Jersey! Yay!

The mantra of the day: I am so happy and grateful the Universe guides me, protects me, and goes before me preparing my way.

These martian heads are something to write home about

As I pack up and prepare for my flight to New Delhi tomorrow morning, I found the most interesting things that I have collected along the way. My favorite item today by far was the giant Purple Brussel Sprout Leaf that has been delicately resting alongside other epiphanies and magical tools on my altar. 

This leaf is by far the most beautiful leaf I have ever seen. Ever. 

It's big. Like as big as your hand with the fingers spread apart, and roundish. The most astonishing part is that the midrib and the veins form a perfect and beautiful tree. That. Is. Purple.  PURPLE I tell you!  Yes, a purple tree of life in a giant green leaf. I know, pretty amazing. 

And you know what else? This leaf, of a plant typically known to produce food only from its fruit, is absolutely delicious. And of course ridiculously healthy. What amazing gifts. 

The funniest thing about brussel sprouts, (because let's face it, it's a fairly funny vegetable...I mean really...have you seen how these things grow?)..... is that my mother has always called them "Martian Heads".  Yep. Don't ask. Of course I call them martian heads too.  Don't you want to now as well?

Seriously. Well, as serious as one can get about enchanted vegetables.  It is time to honor the brussel sprout.  I now see how special and unique this strange vegetable is.

As this absolutely stunning leaf dries and withers, I can see clearly now the messages she has as well as her gifts of beauty and abundant nourishment. Day after day she looks more and more like ...well of course...a Martian Head. Thank you mom.  And thank you David Busch for growing this magical being. 

(Now is about the time you want to see a picture right? Dang. Sorry. I don't have one. However... I'm on it. I will have one and I'll put it on here someday and no one else will know what they're looking at but you will. Ha.)

Alright. See ya. 

Mantra of the day: I am so happy and grateful I easily and lovingly see the gift in all that is. 

Sugar! Good thing I'm sweet enough without it. Hey, watch it...I heard that...

No, this post has nothing to do with international travel...but I believe it merits its own post (and possibly additional subsequent posts) because it is just that important!

I am so happy and grateful that I have released myself from the jaws of sugar addiction! As of next Wednesday, it will have been three months since I have consumed any refined SUGAR, (at least knowingly). I am however, eating fruits and whole foods that contain naturally occurring "sugars" (i.e. potatoes, etc) as well as occasional small amounts of local honey, but no refined sugars, or chemical sugar substitutes. 

Label reading has become key and, well...Holy Moly! Food, at least anything processed or manufactured, typically contains some sort of sugar. It is absolutely ridiculous. I cannot say that I am that surprised by the quantity of foods that contain this insidious ingredient, but it does seem suspiciously prolific in ingredient lists.   And you can just forget "all natural" as these items are usually loaded with sugar in disguise... Evaporated cane juice???? Really? Uh, hello... This is a deceptive term for nothing but sugar. I am not a conspiracy theorist, but it does cause alarm, or at least "heightened awareness" shall we say, that such a high percentage of foods contain something proven to be more addictive than heroine. Especially now that sugar is not just simply called "sugar", but is hidden in a myriad of deceptive terms marketed to appear "healthy". If you're not up to snuff on newfangled marketing verbiage, you're pretty much doomed from the start. Just sayin'. 

In the past, I would frequently give in to the temptation (addiction) and also use sweets as an emotional pacifier.  I found myself occasionally bingeing on sugar to the point of pure illness and well...embarrassment, really (in Peru I was a "regular" at a bakery if that gives you any sort of clue!). I literally made myself disgustingly sick from sugar....regularly.  I now believe, having been addicted to something so "acceptable" in the eyes of society, that this is not only a serious challenge for a large percentage of humans, but also much more of a health factor than most people even realize. Even those people without a "sweet tooth" that consume processed foods frequently are most likely unknowingly addicted to sugar. 

Here's the good news....You too can feel better than ever! I feel as if my body has been completely regenerating itself after these past few months with no sugar.  After a lifetime of serious sugar consumption, and I do mean serious (uh, ok, knowingly)... my mind, body, and spirit feel light, lucid, and free. Weight naturally began to fall off, my energy soared, and cravings completely disappeared. I feel free. In fact, if you cannot tell already, I highly recommend it. Not sure if you're addicted? I challenge you to challenge yourself... Pick a reasonable time frame to completely eliminate sugar from your diet. How long to start? Whatever feels right... Maybe a week? A month? Does that sound difficult? Well, that might be your first clue. 

Begin by reading labels. ALL the labels...sauces, dressings, crackers...EVERYTHING...especially the things you naturally assume *should* be free from sugar. You might just be surprised how much sugar you have been consuming. Commit to your chosen timeframe. Remember, self-discipline equals freedom. Be free. I promise, it gets easier and easier. You never know, this fun-filled little experiment might just save your life. 

I welcome any questions, comments, cheers, boo's...bring it on. 

Try going sugar-free. I double-dog dare you. No, wait...I TRIPLE dog dare you. That's right. I went there. (Queue maniacal laughter...)

Mantra of the day: I am so happy and grateful I eat and crave only foods that nourish me deeply and wholly!!

Goodbye, South America...Hello, Asia!

Healing amulet with original
JJ Chambers art and crustacean
embellishment

Hello! And...well...goodbye, actually. Yes, I have returned from an amazing journey in Peru...and I am headed to another part of the planet in a week!  I am flying to New Delhi, India next Monday.  I will be flying into Bangkok within a few days of landing in India for a month long adventure in Thailand.  I have registered for several yoga classes as well as a silversmith workshop.  Magic wands are transforming and metamorphosing in other dimensions, as we speak!

I hope to have more time for sharing magical experiences with friends and family right here... so, subscribe to the blog on the top right-hand side of the page, if you wish.

I would love to hear from you...questions and comments are always welcome...
See ya later, alligator.