More fun things about Nepal...

As far as I can tell, nearly every door that locks, in every hotel, has a giant skeleton key. That's right. I said skeleton key.  I didn't know those things still existed...until now. And, what's even more fun, is that they all come with a huge metal plate inscribed with the name of wherever you are. Try carrying THAT get-up around in your bra all day. (Of course you men don't know what I'm talking about...your clothes all have pockets.)

My current skeleton key and its unnecessarily ginormous brass plate is inscribed with the words "Jesus Block". I asked if I was put in this room because I was from America. She laughed and said, no,  that's just a bonus.  Who knew you had to come this far to find Jesus. 

Every time someone asks where I'm from and I say, "The United States", the immediate response is, "Oh, are you from California?"  And then I was told that they should know better than to ask that because when people from California are asked where they are from, they say "California". No one, and I do mean no one, knows where Georgia is.  

That's okay...I didn't know much about Nepal either....

It's a jungle out there. Literally. Somehow that's not how I pictured Nepal. I ignorantly thought I would be in a barren cold valley surrounded by Everest-like snow covered mountains. It's lush and tropical even....(with lots of monkeys!) seemingly fruitless, but tropical feeling nonetheless. Huh. Go figure. The big snow covered mountains are lovely too, although you rarely catch s glimpse of them during monsoon season.

Now here's something important to discuss...

There's a whole lot of spitting that goes on around here. Seriously. I have no idea. Maybe it's the air quality in the city. I have theories. And not just light little spittle spitting either...the full on, gather everything from the gut up to the nasal passages kind of spitting. I cannot tell you how many times I have actually been awakened in the morning by this disgusting sound. Really people, must you do that outside my open window? At 5:30am? Do some pranayamas for heavens sake. 

 

Bathrooms. Now I know I was mystified in (several) other countries, but the bathrooms in Nepal take the cake. There are so many spigots (literally, not including the sink, I have three in the bathroom where I am now...you know... Jesus's place). There are always buckets, big bins, and other accoutrements that make me think there is something way more complicated that is supposed to be going on in here. I never knew washing myself could be so confusing. 

Am I doing it wrong by picking one faucet, turning it on and standing (more of a crouching really) underneath it??? 

And what's wrong with shower curtains? Or heaven forbid a shower stall? Why must the entire room become your shower? I cannot think of any reason why this is a good thing except when your are cleaning the bathroom. Because the whole thing gets wet. And with 653% humidity it never dries. Ever.

 Maybe that's why there is always a pair of flip flops in every bathroom. 

Speaking of bathrooms...the bum guns are back!  Yay! It must be an Asian thing in general. And thank gawwd because the toilet paper here....well let's just say that perforated tissue is a good thing. I don't know who invented perforated toilet tissue but their idea didn't take off here. I don't know why. Without it you end up with...well, it's not pretty. 

Yes, bathrooms shall forever remain a mystery in more ways than one. 

Tired of discussing bathrooms? Ok, how about food? My other favorite subject...

White rice. It grows here, ya know. It's really beautiful to see actually...terraces of this emerald green grass up and down the mountainsides. 

All I know is there MUST be some kind of secret nutritional value in white rice because every human (sage and fool alike) on this continent eats a shit-ton of it.  At every meal. Every day. Morning, noon, and night...forever. And likes it. 

It's growing on me. 

Ooowheeee Nepali's like their spice!! I have developed a new taste bud in my mouth. It's called FIRE. And you have to live here a while to develop it. And you douse the FIRE with...you guessed it. White rice. 

Oh yeah, and tea! It's lovely. I know the English (and yes of course many others) have been doing this afternoon tea thing for quite some time, but I'm beginning to like it. Tea anyone?

Well, now that I have discovered some of the important mysteries of Nepal, it is time to move on. India, here I come....

My experiences in Nepal (food, bathrooms, and customary bodily functions aside) have been amazing.... The flora and fauna, the majestic mountains, the mystical and spiritual energy of this sacred land have all captivated me. Of course it is the people that make up a land... The people of Nepal are truly special. They are kind and loving and so many have touched my heart. Thank you beautiful Nepal for a magical adventure I shall not soon forget. 

I am so happy and grateful I am open to new adventures in life...

The 11 days that changed my life...

Its true! I joined a commune and found Jesus! 

Of course it was the name of the building I was staying in, but I found him alright. Ok, so I was only in the commune for eleven days, but I lived a lifetime there. Really. I have had the pleasure of stumbling across an Osho meditation center in this sacred land they call Nepal. 

12 days ago I would have told you that I had been meditating for years and knew what I was doing. Now, I realize I didn't know shite from shinola and meditation is so much more than I ever thought. And...at times more difficult for hours on end than I ever though possible as well. 

When I would hear people say "Meditation is the answer to everything" I honestly didn't really understand what that meant. I certainly don't have it all figured out, but after the first week of vipassana (silent meditation), I began to have a clarity that I have never felt before. I understand how mediation effects EVERY aspect of life...physically, spiritually, emotionally...in every plane and dimension. For me, it has especially helped center and ground...helped me stay in the present moment, come back to the present moment more quickly when I have wandered off, and more frequently. 

My creativity has skyrocketed...  I wrote so many pages in my journal about new ideas, thoughts, and perspectives...I see the value in keeping my reality spontaneous...less limited by past habits and mundane routines that keep us in that safe (but boring!) comfort zone.

By learning to become awareness itself...being the "watcher", I can see the gaps between thoughts happening more and more. In that stillness is peace...A tranquility that no material object or money could ever equal. 

This meditation commune has been the most beautiful gift. Living in a community full of peaceful beings (I mean seriously peaceful beings!) that share the same mission of consciousness and the desire to share that gift with the world has effected me greatly. Days filled with a variety of quiet meditation as well as sessions full of dancing, shaking,  humming, jumping, "cathartic noise making" and a variety of other powerful transformational activities...

.....Dancing every night to joyful beautiful music with a room full of people so happy to be there celebrating together...smiling faces as big as the moon...the air filled with incense that takes you instantly back to an ancient civilization...the nightly Osho discourse filling your soul with love and understanding... And of course the yummy SPICY Nepalese vegetarian meals... I shall take this amazing gift everywhere I go and share it with as many souls as I can find. 

Thank you Thank you Thank you! I love my life! 

Meditation does not have to be the chore as many uninitiated people believe...contorting yourself into the Buddha-in-lotus position ...mentally torturing yourself by fruitlessly attempting to empty your mind.... Ok...there are a few moments of that in a week long vipassana...but I anyway....  At least I was sitting comfortably (my lotus needs a little work) and a couple of sessions I actually used a chair! Of course at first it felt like cheating (but its not!)...it is more important to be RELAXED. That is the key. Relax, be comfortable and just watch. Watch your breath at first. Then watch your body. Is there a pain or an itch? Try just watching it, as Osho would recommend. The itch disappears. The pain releases. (Ok, maybe not the pain from the lotus position..where was I...?) These are all simply distractions. ...Huh?...

Ahem...as I was saying...These are all distractions. See?

Watch your feelings. Watch your emotions. Be "the watcher on the hill" Osho would say.  This practice... this discipline some might call it, leads to the ultimate freedom. Peace. When you are at peace, you are free. 

Try it. I double dog dare you. It might just change your life as well. 

I am so happy and grateful I am always at deep peace. 

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.