India... I Fell in Love

After almost 5 wild and wacky months I have left India and will be starting my new adventure touring around SE Asia.  Leaving India wasn't easy.  The date approached quickly, without really giving me much of a chance to realize that I would soon my boarding a plane on my way out.  It didn't seem real that I would actually be leaving India, and it still almost doesn't. 

My last few days in India were spent in a French colonial town in south India called Pondicherry.  Here I met up with my easy going Kiwi friend, Jules, where we rode scooters out to visit an interesting society called Auroville, shopped for last minute items and ate chocolate croissants.  Just yesterday we boarded a local bus, hot and sweaty as always and took off to Chennai, a large city where I would be flying out of that night and Jules the next morning.  I had to get in one last yummy yummy Indian meal.  So of course I ordered a veg curry and garlic naan... mmmm.  But when Jules' iddly came out (fermented rice cakes served with various coconut chutneys and yummy soupy mixtures) I got jealous and ordered that as well.... so I had TWO last meals! 

Then it was time to figure out the train system to get to the airport.  After standing in line for about 15 minutes I was informed I was in the wrong line and was sent off to the other end of the tracks to get my local train ticket.  So there we are standing on the platform waiting for my train to arrive and me to be whisked away to the place that would take me entirely away from India.  As I started to have feelings of sadness about leaving India, I said to Jules, "I don't know what it is about this place", she agreed.  Neither one of us could quite put our fingers on what has made us love India SO much.  As we were pondering this, the train started to wizz by, so Jules and I gave our typical backpack to backpack hugs, wished each other well in our next adventures and hoped to see each other sometime in the future, whenever our paths may cross again.  Now I had been a little bit sad that up until this point I hadn't seen any trains completely overfilled with people to the point of them spilling outside the doors and just short of having people on the roof.  I realized I have not ridden enough local trains out of big cities!  I got pushed through the crowd of people and squeezed myself and my second person of a backpack onto the train settling in for the half hour trip to the airport.  As I sat down (I know... I got a seat!) I looked around the cart at the faces staring curiously and creepily at me and the ramshackle space called a train.  Then the rain started... not quite monsoon yet, even though it was suppose to have started... but i realized it's just simple times like these that I love India, it's just so India!

Some may hate it... the noise, the touts, the way you get ripped off and cheated.... And while that's not all that much fun, it's part of what makes India India.  Maybe it's the people, the culture, the food, the spirituality or the ability to feel completely free.  India allows you to be you, with no judgements, there are to many people for anyone to care what the person next to them is doing!  Maybe it's the endless opportunities that India gives to try something new, different, challenging and often outside your comfort zone.  Maybe it's those moments where you sit, people watch and see the most amusing/ confusing scenarios taking place.  Maybe it's those quick interactions between strangers that leave you smiling and wondering what exactly just took place.  Maybe it's the ability to look around you, realize that nothing you see seems typical to you, and then you remind yourself you're in India, and that's as good enough of an explanation.  I don't know what it is.  India is a feeling, a feeling you can't describe or create, it just happens.  When you visit India, and you get that feeling, you know.  I know I fell in love in India, with a massive country and about 1.3 billion people.

As my plane took off my eyes did well up with tears as I had expected they would, but not out of sadness surprisingly.  Instead, as I thought back to all the life changing experiences and lessons that I have had over the last 5 months, my eyes got watery out of happiness.  I'm so amazingly thankful to all the people and places that took me in along the way allowing me to grow and learn new aspects about myself.  It also made me realize how lucky I am to have been given this opportunity to experience the places I have been experiencing.  And for this I am thankful for all my friends back home who have been so supportive along the way, my siblings who I miss terribly, but have been there to offer words of encouragement to keep me from getting homesick, and above all my amazingly loving parents. They have raised me in a way to be curious, to question, to be independent and smart and without the attributes and morals they have instilled in me, there is no way I would have even begun this amazing journey 8 months ago.  So thanks.

Now looking forward to see what new experiences, challenges and "ahhhh" moments SE Asia will be offering.

10 Days with Just Me

Vipassana... an ancient Buddhist technique of meditation, but with no actual religious affiliation, making it a universally appealing form of meditation.  I have heard of Vipassana over the years from friends who have tried it at various centres around the world, and whenever someone had described what it entailed my reaction was, "My God! 10 days in silence?! Hours and hours of sitting still?! I could NEVER do that, but I don't know why I would want to anyway."  I'm not sure what it was... my quest to continuously find new challenges for myself on my adventure, the spirit of India gripping my curiosity or just plain naiveness, but here I am today having just completed something years ago I said I could NEVER do. This just encourages me more to believe in the power of yourself, knowing that you really can do anything you want to do, you just might have to work for it. My first week of India I met up with some great friends from back home.  Three of the four of them were getting ready to complete their first Vipassana course in a couple of weeks and they started to plant the seed in my head.  For once in my life, after hearing again about what it would entail I finally said, "I think I might like to try that."

After separating from them I applied and was accepted to participate in an April course in the beautiful and pleasantly climated Dharamasala up north.  Well when I got there I learnt that the Dalai Lama would be giving a public teaching at the same time.  I had a tough decision to make, but decided that seeing the Dalai Lama in person was a unique experience and decided to forgo my Vipassana challenge for the time being.  I decided that if I was meant to do it, I would find a way.  Thomas and Emile, my friends from home had already completed their course when I met up with them in Dharamasala to do some trekking.  They talked a lot about it, the good and the bad.  They made sure to warn me that I was in for some hard work, but the hard work would pay off.  I was starting to get a little nervous about this, I had already heard this from others as well. 

Since then I have made quite a tour around and I have found myself in the very deep, hot, premonsooning south of India.  I applied and was accepted to start a 10 day course in Chennai beginning June 6th and ending June 17th.  I arrived to Chennai at 6am after a series of buses and overnight trains from Munnar.  Tired, hot and likely stinky I waited it out in an Internet cafe until I began my bus journey to the centre around noon.  I had been warned that the auto rickshaw drivers in Chennai are the worst in all of India.  After hearing that I wasn't to keen to learn for myself so after a couple hours of transfers and nice people showing me the way I arrived at the centre via bus, walking up with a nice Indian gentleman who was getting ready to complete his second 10 day Vipassana course.  After checking in, being told the rules and having everything repeated to me twice (something I would find to become a trend in the Vipassana teachings) I settled into my room. 

Finally, a bathroom, a shower.  I'd been waiting hours for this!  First I try to flush the toilet... no go.  This is something I've gotten used to in India and have come to accept that pouring water down the toilet is the best form of flushing, no biggy.  I was boiling hot and wanted to turn on the fan, nothing happened (realized later there was a switch outside that needed to be turned on). Then realizing I've completely drenched my clothes in sweat from carrying my heavy backpack around in 39 degree heat, it was time for a shower.  I take my clothes off to hang them on the hook only to be greeted by a family of spiders hiding in the corner.  One of the first precepts of Vipassna : no killing anything.  Alright family of spiders, you enjoy your corner webs, spiders don't bother me to much anyway.  Longing to be cooled down by a cold shower I turn the knob only to be drizzled with three weak streams of boiling hot water.  No problem, looks like bucket showers are the way to go for me, something I'm not advert to.  Then, it must have been the little bits of water trickling into the drain, but all of the sudden about 8 or 9 MASSIVE cockroaches came spilling out of the drain.  Of course this is what gets me and I scream running out of the bathroom leaving the colony of cockroaches and family of spiders to have their fun.  So there I am, dripping wet (mostly sweat rather than the little bits of water dribbled on me) standing in the middle of my room covering myself from the beady eyed stare of the cockroaches.  Now I have dealt with cockroaches in India so far, but NONE that were ever that size and that many at once.  I throw my hands in the air, chuckle to myself and think, "ok Uninverse, so you're telling me this isn't going to be easy."  I gather the courage and sweep the cockroaches out of my room while my nearby lady neighbour laughs at me as I tell my unwanted friends they are not welcomed back.  I didn't have to many more problems with these pests; just a couple here and there and one strange looking mutant cockroach in the middle of the night one evening, I just pretended I didn't see it and went back to bed.  However one night the cockroaches did accidentally cause me to break my noble silence when I came back from a meditation period and there were two on my bedroom floor. "We had a deal!" I hissed quietly, the deal being that they were only allowed to be in the bathroom, but I soon realized these were outside cockroaches not toilet cockroaches, so I apologized for getting angry and swept them back outside.

Noble Silence, what's that you ask?   Well for the duration of 10 days we are to keep completely silent, with no form of communications or even eye contact with the other members participating in the course.  Oddly enough, I didn't find this to be very difficult.  I know, who would have thought that I would be able to keep quiet that long and actually enjoy it!  After spending 8 months travelling, and practically all that time with other people, it was nice to finally just be alone with myself.  Some good quality time with ones own mind is a good thing and I was well over due for some me time. Turns out I'm not so bad to hang out with. Some of the other rules we were to follow was no writing, no reading, no yoga or exercise, no meals after noon and zero communication unless it was with the teacher.  We also followed a strict schedule that began with the wakeup bell at 4am, consisted of 10.5 hours of meditation, 2 meals/day and lights out at 9:30.

All sounds like fun, right!  Well it was tough to say the least, the first few days dragging on the longest, leaving me to question "why am I here? What am I learning?"  The teachings of the course slowly began to unravel, revealing some pretty amazing lessons and lots of "ooooooh I get it" moments.  I don't want to spoil it all for those who have not completed a course and are thinking about it.  I believe the best way to go in is to know that it will be tough, but worth it and have no expectations.  Plus the teachings are far to complex for me to even try to explain, I am still trying to process it myself and figure out what I have learnt.  Some of the main points that are stressed are that we are to eradicate all misery from our minds and in order to do this we must purify our minds by seeking truth; easier said than done.

My greatest challenge was and is shutting my mind off.  Boy did I struggle with this one.  I would sit there for hours trying to force my brain one way and it would go the other.  I daydreamed like you wouldn't believe, imagining everything from what SE Asia will be like, how good it will feel to hug my family when I go home, who my roommate will be, what job will I get.... EVERYTHING!  This is clearly something I will still need to work on, but I am excited to see how I will be able to incorporate Vipassana meditation into my everyday life.  Not just through the actual meditation itself, but how I will bring the lessons learned into my life through out the day.  Time will only tell....

At the end of the course we have now finally been given the chance to talk to one another.  It's amazing, you spend all day, everyday with a room of 20 women and have not a clue about any part of their lives.  When silence was first broken I didn't really know what to do with myself.  I felt awkward and unsure of how to socialize again.  I retreated to my room to gather myself and my thoughts.  The ladies however, were curious to get to know me, where I was from and what I do.   I had left my door open to not totally shut myself away from the others.  A young woman named Ganga around my age walked by, we made eye contact and then the conversation carried on from there.  She's a recent law school grad and works in research at the Law school in Bangalore.  This was also her third Vipassana course and she does it often to keep up her practise.  Then my neighbour who laughed at me the first day came over saying "hello Rachel" and introducing herself.  It's amazing how we create these different perceptions about people by just looking at them, and then once we get to actually talk with them our ideas completely melt away and prove us wrong, very wrong.  The two girls that sat on either side of me for the entire course were both from Chennai.  One works in the Kindle department for Amazon.com and the other is a freelance children's book writer.  What cool jobs!!

I really enjoyed getting a chance to converse with Indian women throughout the last day over lunch and tea.  It's been hard to find a chance to sit down with a group of local women here and have such meaningful conversations.  I found that the women here were very well educated and had such great insights into so many things regarding Vipassana, as well as certain issues in India.  It was an amazing opportunity to get to sit down and ask them all the questions I had been wondering about.  And just hearing their conversations amongst each other was so delightful, just getting to understand the typical way of Indian living, a lot of it being not so different from the sort of female chatter we would find at home.

One woman at the end of the last meditation came up to talk to me and tell me that she had admired me." Me?! You admire me?!" was my reaction.  I had been sitting behind her the entire time and saw that she NEVER would move out of her cross legged position.  Over a two hour sitting I would change positions more than a handful of times, but she would not move even once.  I admired her strong will and determination as this had been one of her goals of the course, I know how incredibly difficult that must have been for her. But she said she had admired how I was able to come from Canada and adapt so easily to the food, the culture and the climate, especially while doing Vipassana.  She said she was observing me over the course and saw that I never showed any signs of discomfort.  She clearly had no idea what was going on in my head, there was definitely discomfort.  She understood the difficulties as she is from Chennai but has been living in the US for the last 5 years.  I took this as an extreme compliment and was humbled by her opinion of me.  It was also another lesson.  We know that people will obviously be observing us and passing judgements on us all the time.  We often assume that the judgements people are making about us are going to be negative judgements, our minds don't work in our favour.  But once again I was wrong, and should be more open to people actually thinking positive judgements rather than jumping to negative conclusions.  I tend to think of myself as a positive thinking person so this was a bit of a kick in the butt sort of moment where I realize I might not know myself as well as I think I do, learn something new everyday.

As we all left the center we said our good byes, exchanged emails and made plans to keep in touch with our new friends who we had been able to speak with for only one day, but had gotten to know in a different sense for 10 days. 

Vipassana was an amazing experience, something I wouldn't change and would definitely do again.  But it was tough, knocked me down a few times and than somehow I came back to my feet.  I look forward to the next time I will be able to complete another course.  This is a technique that I cannot master in just 10 days, I often felt overwhelmed with all the information coming at me.  Therefore I look forward to when I get the chance to complete a course when I get back to Canada in order to go deeper into the meditation, hopefully giving me a chance to grow further. If anyone wants to join me, feel free!

Heaven on Earth

(Around April 18th)
Throughout my journeys I kept hearing about Kashmir, "Heaven on Earth" as people from there would say.  They are so proud of where they're from.  So given all this fantastic publicity, we decided to check it out for ourselves to see what all the hype was about, I was interested to see what Heaven on Earth looks like.  As we were on our way into Kashmir, Anthony and I had to get out of the bus and fill out some paperwork because we were foreigners going into Kashmir.  You would expect the boarder guard of Kashmir to be rather ridged and intimidating, but this man was different.  He chatted us up, asked all about our countries, and then scolded Anthony when Anthony had said he was thinking about leaving Kashmir before I was going to.  "You cannot leave your friend alone, how will she travel alone just as a single female. No no no you cannot do that, you must stay with her."  It is common for Indians to be surprised and concerned when they hear I am travelling alone, because that is something that Indian women would just never do.  But it seemed an even greater shock to residents of Kashmir.  Anthony did stay with me the entire time, but NOT because I needed it, it just worked out that way.  On our way back out of Kashmir once again we had to stop to fill out paperwork and were greeted by the same guy, asking us all about our adventures of Kashmir with a big grin on his face as we told him how much we loved his home. 

We arrived in Srinagar, famous for Dal Lake and the houseboating it offered.  It was our plan to stay on a house boat but after looking at the prices we opted for the cheaper room just off the lake.  Kashmir was of course, full of Kashmir... Everywhere I walked, the only time a local would talk to me was when he was offering me " ma'am, scarf, shawl, carpet, come loooooooooooook. Ma'am come into my shooooooop, come looooooooook what I haaaaaave."  On principle, because I was getting so annoyed with all the shop owners I only went into the shops where they didn't ask me to come in.  Other than that, I mostly got ignored, especially when I walked around with Anthony, all I heard was "Sir where are you from, sir this, sir that." HELLO! I'm here too! But that's often the way it has been when I travel around this country with men.  It's just not in their culture to address a woman first, or at all if a man is present a lot of the time.

Early on our second morning we left the hotel at 5 am and boarded a shakara, a canoe like boat with a comfy bed and cushions and little canopy cover.  Our shakara driver took us to the floating vegetable market where smaller, less fancy shakaras were filled with piles of vegetables.  In an area of the lake, every morning you can hear the clunking and bumping of the boats as these men meet to exchange goods.  Anthony and I bought some fresh Saffron and then started on our way back while sipping chai and enjoying the absolutely breathtaking sunrise over the lake.  It was at this moment that I really understood what the locals meant by "Heaven on Earth".  The quiet of the lake, combined with the stunning view of mountains and fluffy clouds reflected in the calm glass like surface of the water put me entirely at peace.

We also opted on one of the days to be tourists! We hired a autorickshaw to take us around for the day, and take us around did he ever! We visited something like 5 or 6 gardens, my favourite being the tulip garden which had hundreds of tulips (go figure) in an area surrounded by the most beautiful mountains (next to the rockies of course).  I think if the driver said we were going to one more garden Anthony would have exploded, so luckily after that we took off the visit some mosques.  The first we saw was the Hazratbal, where a piece of hair from the prophet Muhammad is housed.  I stayed outside the main walls with the other women as Anthony went inside with the men.  It was interesting being on the outside with the women.  Some came up to me, tucked in the bits of my hair that were peaking out the bottom of my head scarf, held my hand, all while smiling and nodding to me.  Then they left me alone so that they could go pray themselves.  I sat, prayed and observed, at times confused.  Some women sat swaying, others sat weeping, and there were some who were at the wall leading into the Mosque wailing and pounding on the walls surface.  Anthony said it was a similar experience inside.  The next mosque we saw was they Jama Masjid of Srinagar.  Its an old and beautiful mosque, the first in Srinigar, with it's front and inside decorated with hand painted paper mache.  We weren't allowed in, but were able to look in from an outside window while a nice old man explained different things to us and answered any questions we had.  They also spotted my large turquoise ring which they loved, and after finding out what sort of great deal I had gotten on it they didn't believe it was real.  So I had to take it off for the men to examine my ring closely with their eyes, fingers and tongue... yes one of the men licked the gem stone... but they concluded that it was real and we were off again.

Another one of the days we took a day trip a couple hours away to Gulmarg, which is a ski resort.... in India.  Upon our arrival we were greeted by MANY workers asking us if we wanted to ride one of the hundreds of malnourished horses... no thanks.  We got into the massive line to the gondola, and to say there is a line in India.... well it's a bit of and overstatement.  But I did rather enjoy watching all the Indian tourists in their rented winter coats and boots (all circa 1980) all slipping and sliding in the snow! Likely the first times they've seen snow.  Up top it was the same story.  It was cold, windy and raining, but everyone there seemed so excited! I was excited to see snow too as I had missed it this year.  I had many offers to try sledding, skiing and snowboarding.  I politely refused and when one instructor said "what? you don't know how? I can show you." I responded with, "I know how, I'm Canadian, but would you snowboard in this slush?" he smiled, did a little Indian head wag and agreed that these were no conditions to be snowboarding in!

Srinagar was enjoyable and beautiful but it was time for us to head on a zig zagging bus ride back to Jammu for us both to catch planes to our next destinations.  It was a tearful good bye for Anthony and I at the Jammu airport, well Anthony cried, not infront of me, but I'm sure he shed tears once boarding the plane realizing he was leaving without his trusted flute playing travel companion.

I was off to Jaipur, Rajesthan where I would meet up with my good friend Ryan who is from Vancouver, but we met in Kenya. We're still yet to be together on our home continent.  Soon to come, the adventures of touring in 43 degree weather!

Buses, Bumps and Buddists

(sometime late March) As we arrived in the quite mountain town of Mcloed Ganj , home of the Tibetan gov't in exile, just north of Dharamasala, I immediately noticed a drastic difference from the other Indian cities I had previously been to.  While people had told me this place was much calmer and quieter than normal Indian cities I found it almost to quiet, and we soon learned why.  Two days before we arrived, a young Tibetan had self immolated himself in Delhi in protest of the Chinese government's visit, bringing attention to what the people of Tibet are having to deal with in their country.  Around the town hung graphic and heart wrenching photos of the Tibetan engulfed in flames running through the streets.  Obviously a somber and mourning feeling hung around the town.  Later that day, all foreign tourists were invited to participate in a peace march through the city streets leading to the Dalai Lama's temple and residence.  We all wore signs showing our country, carried our flags and chanted together such phrases like, "We support Tibet, we support the Dalai Lama," and "Stop the violence in Tibet."  I felt almost weird at first, I don't know why, but as we marched through crowds began to surround us.  Tibetans bowed to us in appreciation, while Tibetan women had tear streaked faces watching.  The next day the body of the young man was brought back to Mcleod Ganj to be cremated.  People lined the streets as cars paraded through supporting Tibetan flags leading the ambulance that was carrying the body.  Behind the ambulance were dozens of motorcycles with the drivers and passengers yelling things in Tibetan that I couldn't quite catch. Watching this gave me a feeling I really can't describe. I was confused, angry and sad with this community all at the same time.  It's clearly an issue that requires people to be more aware and for other foreign countries to step in and try to help in some way.

But despite the rather gloomy news I walked into, I was starting a three day trek that day in the Himalayans with Thomas, Emile and a new Swedish friend Peter!  As I would learn on this trek, and various treks after, the Himalayan mountains are astonishingly gorgeous.  After our first long day of hiking we reached our first destination in a little mountain village where we set up camp for the night.  Surrounded by mountains, fresh air,  local shepherds and their goats it was one of the most peaceful places I've come across in all of India.  The morning we were greeted with a warming sunrise and some morning group yoga to get our stiff bodies going again.  The remainder of the trek consisted of more sweating, hiking, food and gorgeous views.  We were able to enjoy the scenery a few more times with treks to waterfalls surrounded by Tibetan prayer flags and an overnight right up to Triund with a local organization called Mountain Cleaners.  A group of about 12 or 15 people hiked up the mountain picking up the rubbish along the way to ensure that other hikers would be able to enjoy a clean path.  The garbage problem in India is absolutely attrotious so it was nice to help out a little bit.  And it didn't hurt that at the end of the hike, reaching the top and turning a corner we were treated to the most amazing panoramic view of the snow capped mountain peaks.  It literally felt like the mountains were smacking you in the face.  Our entire group just sat there for awhile just watching the mountains and taking in the most beautiful view of the mountains that I've ever seen in my life. Indescribable.

My entire purpose of coming to Dharamsala was to participate in Vipassana, a 10 day silent meditation course.  But after hearing that the Dalai Lama would be doing a public teaching in a near by town I decided to cancel my meditation course and attend the teachings instead.  I felt it was a bit of a once in a life time opportunity to see the Dalai Lama in his current residence area surrounded by Tibetan monks and nuns.  The day of, after ensuring we had our security passes (except for Gordon) and radio translators in hand, we took off in a bumpy shared jeep packed with monks and nuns.  I shared the front seat nussled underneath a monks arms.  It was a hot day, and of course given Indian's inability to form organized lines, it was sweaty mosh pit to get into the temple.  Slightly ironic given that we were going to see one of the most peaceful souls on earth.  But we made it in, seated on the floor outside the temple walls.  There was a rustle throughout the audience and everyone stood.  At the door of the temple a young monk came out, pushing people aside and behind him came His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.  He is such a small man, but carried such a huge grin the entire time.  He bowed to the audience, gave a wave and headed back inside the temple to begin his teachings.  Listening to the teachings was incredible, but I was more humbled by actually seeing him in person and being in his presence.  I can't really describe it, it's just kind of one of those moments where I wasn't really sure if it was actually my life that I was living. I could never have imagined that moment.  He was funny to, telling jokes throughout his teachings and then chuckling to himself about his own jokes.  But his smile never faded, no matter what he was doing he always had a hint of a smile on his lips.

Somehow, I spent 2 weeks in Mcleod Ganj because I just loved the place so much and never felt like I got my complete fill of the place.  We spent time taking in the delicious food, sushi (sans seafood) and hanging out at night at the local hot spot, Carpe Diem where the roof top cushion area would fill up with easy going backpackers, Kingfishers (beer) and guitars.  I got the chance to step outside my comfort zone and go see an astrologer and get a Reiki healing.  Both were intense experiences and offered some great insight into my life.  It's a really weird feeling hearing things about yourself from a total stranger.  The Reiki healing was probably the most intense for me as this incredible man was able to tell me things about myself based on what he felt from my personal energy, rather than what he was being told from a computer screen based on my date and time of birth (which the astrologer did).  I would highly recommend Reiki healings to anyone who may be considering it and isn't sure about weather or not to give it a go.

Mcleod Ganj also introduced me to a number of AMAZING people who I shared my time with and made my experiences absolutely incredible.  Of course there was my traveling companion Anthony (told you I would mention you again).  I also have to give mentions to my enthusiastic Aussie Gordon, the fun loving and  gentle spirited Californian Hili, care free BC cheekas Cassie and Liz, my long time and now closer compadres Thomas and Emile and of course all the crowds of locals and travelers who I crossed paths with and shared experiences with.

It was time to leave, so Cassie, Anthony and I boarded some "comfortable" and long local buses to the calm town of Kasol, still surrounded by outrageously beautiful nature.  Kasol is also known as being a hot spot for an Israeli crowd to gather to when the weather starts to get to hot elsewhere.  And of course Israelis throw the best parties.  Our last day there starting at 10am and going until 10pm loud trance music rolled through the outdoor venue.  We didn't get there until later, but with faces painted in neon colours we joined the dance floor and danced the night away, or for as much trance music as we could handle.  Kasol was a quick stop over to see the beauty of the place and surrounding temples.  But then sadly it was time to say seeya later to Cassie. Anthony and I began our long journey of 24 hours of Indian buses to Srinagar Kasmir, or as we were told several times "Heaven on Earth", which turned out to be a fairly accurate description.

Golden Temple to the Yoga Capital

After leaving Varanasi I was off on a 24 hour train to Amritsar, something that could very well have turned out to be a nightmare was actually rather enjoyable.  I conversed with those who spoke English and made hand gestures and did my best to communicate to those who didn't but were curious to know about me.  In the evening I shared the cart with a lovely Punjabi family who shared their homemade meal with me and an American girl who was also on the train.  This was a foreshadowing to how welcoming all Punjabis were to me as I was in Amritsar.

After arriving I made my way to the Golden Temple which is the pilgrimage sight for Sikhs.  It's like Mecca for Muslims or the Vatican for Catholics.  The Golden Temple offers free accommodation for pilgrims who come from all over India and are kind enough to have a dorm area for foreigners visiting the sight as well.  I checked into there and began to immediately enjoy the experiences that come along in sharing one large building and one large bathroom with hundreds of other people.  The women's bathroom proved within the first hour to be a highlight of my experiences in Amritsar.  First I got scolded for using the wrong soap to wash my hands after using the toilet, I was unaware the soap used to clean the dishes was kept on the same sink... Making sure not to make another mistake I asked what sink I could use to brush my teeth, I was directed to one and then was watched curiously by various women as I brushed away.  Once I was finished, on of the bathroom attendants, a little Indian woman who came to about my armpit, put her arm around me and began jabbering away in Hindi.  Her friend joined the conversation and we simply smiled at each other and exchanged compliments on one another’s nose rings.  They were very excited that I had two! Then they lead me over to an elderly woman in the corner who grabbed my face, told me I was beautiful and then offered me a blessing.  It's interactions like that which have made me totally fall in love with Indian women.  Then, after my 24 hour train ride I was ready for a shower.  I was directed upstairs where I went to see an area with taps at about waist height with women squatting beneath them with their sari petty coats at their waists, bathing.  Well, I guess if this is how we shower here, I'll just join in.  Now the staring and curiosity that I love about Indian women didn't stop when I was half naked squatting beneath the shower tap taking a shower.  They would tap me on the shoulder to compliment my toe nail polish, or my anklet or to show me where I should keep my shower bag to try to keep it dry... I just had to laugh.

I spent the day in the Golden Temple and to the boarder closing ceremony between Pakistan and India which is a big production put on every night complete with yelling, stomping and theatrics.  To complete the day I took in a meal at the free kitchen of the Golden Temple.  Through out the day, the temple serves 50,000- 60,000 free meals to visitors.  It is a beautiful tradition started by one of the Gurus for a couple reasons.  First was because Sikhs believe no one should ever leave hungry, and the other reason was to shower that we are all equal.  Everyone is welcomed to dine together and it is an effort to eliminate the caste system by showing if we can all eat together we are all the same.  It’s a beautiful production with 100s of volunteers cooking, cleaning and serving.  I got a chance to see where the food is prepared, and they have a chapatti making machine that produces 3,000 chapattis per hour.  If you've ever made chapatti you would understand how amazing this is. 

I became very fond of the Golden Temple, and the energies that flowed through the place.  I would often spend my day just sitting off to the side of the courtyard watching the visitors go by and take in the beautiful energies that each person brought.  One day as I sat observing, a Sikh man named Ravi came to sit next to me.  He asked if I would like to learn more about the Sikh faith, and since I was keen I set off with him to another near by temple where we sat and chatted for hours.  He had such a lovely way of explaining things, and I learned so much about his beautiful faith.  After leaving my conversation with him I felt lighter and freer in some sense, he had said some things that really started to make me think...

Amritsar was full of fantastic experiences, which I think were all contributed to how holy the place is, and the intentions and energies of the people that flock there.  But it was time to leave, off to Rishikesh, the yoga capital of India.  Rishikesh is also on the holy Ganges River and another pilgrimage sight for Hindus. I started my adventure off by wandering the streets, listening to the Hare Krishna’s sing their tunes and then getting violently ill, so much to the point I couldn't leave the room for almost 3 days.... It's India and it was bound to happen, I'm lucky it hasn't happened more often.  A tip, no matter what other travelers may say, brushing your teeth with the tap water is never a good idea.  Once I felt better it was off to Phool Chatti Ashram with my good friend Spots (Rachel) to enjoy a week of silence, meditation and loads of yoga!

The ashram experience was a new one for me, and turned out to be one I really enjoyed.  We were a group of about 25 AMAZING people who were all on some sort of journey, looking to gain new perspectives and lessons.  Our yoga instructor Lalita Ji is a beautiful Indian woman with an amazingly calm and gentle spirit, teaching the practices that she has used for over 20 years in the ashram.  The other teacher, an enthusiastic Aussie named Chris, was a bubbly spirit, putting an amazing amount of energy into everything she talked about and taught.  Our schedule was pretty tight.  The day began at 5:30 with the wakeup gong and immediately went into meditation, cleansing, chanting, pranayama, hatha yoga, karma yoga and then a two hour meditative walk through the gorgeous and shanti surroundings of rishikesh, at the base of the Himalayans.  The morning was spent in silence, as was all meals.   This was at time difficult when the urge to communicate came about, but over all was a nice relief.  It allowed us to go deeper into meditation, and be alone with our own thoughts.  While I've always been a rather chatty one, I've always considered myself a person who "gets their energy from being with and around other people", as I have always put it.  But allowing myself to be silent, I realized I was able to recharge myself in a different way and get energy that way.  I was thinking only my thoughts, with no influence from anyone else and it helped to give a better understanding of what I am really thinking and really feeling.  I think it's a common issue in most people's lives that we constantly are wondering what others are thinking about us, how they are judging our actions and what can we do to better fit into our surroundings at the time.  Being in the ashram helped me to identify this, and start to work on being more me.  Of course I'm always myself, but I think a lot of times I allow myself to not only take on the energies of others around me, but their ideas and thoughts as well, and I don't think I am alone in this.

The meditative walks were amazing as well.  The area surrounding the ashram is out of this world gorgeous, so just being there was a treat.  But on the walks I really tried to make an effort to be fully aware of my body in the settings.  One of my favourite experiences was picking a flower from the ashram garden and walking in a line of people to the shore of the Ganges River.  As we stood in a line on the shore we began to chant together, but being in a line, it didn’t really seem all that together as you could really only hear the people next to you.  This kind of made it a very individual experience.  When we felt the time was right, we offered the flower we had picked to the river in our own special way.  Then, in your own way we would ritually cleanse ourselves in the river.  For me, this involved fully immersing myself into the water three times.  Entering the river water that runs off the Himalayan Mountains literally took my breath away.  I had to consciously calm my body's natural reaction to the ice cold water in order to really experience the ritual cleansing.

In the nights, after evening pooja (worship) we would gather around the sacred fire and start singing and chanting, allow the energies to build in the room.  The feeling was incredible, and utterly indescribable.  Almost everyone had some sort of percussion instrument in their hand, and participated in the chants in each individual persons own way.  Everyone in the room would feed off the person next to them, until the end when the entire room would be exploding with energy, music and sound.  It was one of my favourite things to just close my eyes and not only listen to my surroundings, but really feel them, what an incredible feeling.

The last night of the week we created a massive fire down on the beach and had a wee bit of a talent show.  Each country represented at the ashram had to come up with their own little song, dance or skit that represented their country.  Me being the only Canadian there, I decided to put a little Saskatchewan twist on things.  While I didn't exactly remember all the worlds, I sang AND danced to my own version of "The Mighty Pirates of Saskatchewan". Obviously brought down the house ;) The real deals of the group was the 7 Swedes who sang a beautiful Swedish songs complete with various instruments.  Then using those instruments once everyone was done, we sang and danced around the fire to various renditions of "I will survive" and of course several ABBA songs.

I spent several more days in Rishikesh with some friends I had met in the ashram.  We did some hikes, explored the selection of chocolate croissants and took in some yoga classes.  Some of the yoga classes were amazing, allowing me to get a different perspective of yoga from many different teachers.  Some of the yoga classes were interesting... complete with swaying in the wind like a tree and bringing from the ground mother earth and bathing ourselves in her.  Not totally my cup of tea, but I'm open to new practices!  I also met a man who I dubbed my gem stone guy.  Every time I entered his shop he offered me a stone for either good luck or happiness and a cup of tea.  We would sit chatting, and he would teach me about the healing powers of the gem stones and crystals that he had in his shop.  I loved going there to just be around him because he was so calming and so knowledgeable.  My trip has really been defined by my interactions with people like him.

After an amazing, eye opening and educational experience in Rishikesh it was time to leave.  Rishikesh has so much to offer, but it could be one of those places that you almost get stuck in and will never leave.  The people I met there taught me so much, and I will never forget those experiences.  Once again I was off on an over night train, complete with mice that kept weaving over my bag.  This time I had company, an Australian named Anthony who turned out to be my travel partner for over a month throughout northern India.

Out and About in India

Oh my, I have been a slacker when it comes to my blogging, I guess that is a true sign that I am now on the move and can't seem to sit still enough to write out a post.  So here is the DL since my last post:

After the first wedding we went to I did get a chance to drape my Saree once again and step out into the most lavish wedding I have ever attended.  Driving up to the the entrance was spectacular enough with a giant archway entirely covered in flowers.  It was an outdoor wedding, with several tents set around the area for lounging, eating and drinking (yes there was an open bar).  Not to mention the entire area was completely covered in flowers as decoration, no lie, there had to have been 1,000,000 flowers used.  The main part of the ceremony did not begin until 11pm and was rather long but beautiful, despite the fact that I had no idea what was going on.  The thing I loved was that the couple took 7 trips around the holy fire as a symbol of 7 promises to one another... precious. After all that came the food! I could write an entire post about it, so let's just leave it at that....

The weekend after the wedding I ventured out with 3 of my fav girls (minus Yolanda) and went to the Corbett tiger reserve hoping to see a tiger on safari.  No such luck, but we did see elephants and barking deer (yes there is such a thing) and got to get out of the stinkiness that is Delhi for the weekend.  Once we returned it was my final two days at the school since my volunteering time was coming to an end.  It was chaos as usual in the classroom but this time for a different reason, the excitement of Holi was coming!  Holi is one of India's biggest festivals of the year where people cover one another with powdered and the not so easily removable wet colour.  We started celebrating about 4 days early (actual day was March 8) because of the children adn our host brothers who enjoyed attacking us with water balloons and colour the minute we stepped through the door.  We also had a party for the kids complete with samosas, music and colour in a tiny classroom with over 50 kids.  FUN!  Colour was being thrown in every direction, got in ever crevasse, but it was amazing, such a memorable time to spend my last day with the kids.

After our celebrations me and the girls took off again to Jaipur, which is apparently one of THE places to be for the actual day of Holi.  We got there the day before Holi and just in time for the elephant festival! Yes this is where I hugged the elephant, probably one of the highlights of my life! She was so massive and prickly, but to hug her she felt so warm and caring :) One thing I have enjoyed more than I thought I would on my travels have been my interactions with animals.  To be so up close and personal with such a magnificent animal really gives a feeling that I just can't describe, she's beautiful, that's it.  At the festival we also got doused in colour by some mischievous early celebrators and then swarmed with cameras taking our picture.  I don't know why foreigners covered in colour is so interesting, but I guess it was!  Unfortunately on actual Holi I wasn't feeling the best, but I still tried my best to participate in the throwing of colour and the free vodka our hotel had set up.  Holi really only goes on during the morning where everyone gets boozy and ends about 2pm.  We got a chance to go to a local celebration where there were dancing performances and such, but then they put on the bollywood music and the whole crowd got up to dance.  Even gotta work on some of my Indian dance moves with the local ladies and show them a few tricks of my own.

Once the celebrations were over with, we washed off the best we could and got on the bus and train again! This time Varanasi bound. Ah Varanasi, the holy of all holy cities can really agitate you when getting off a night train with little sleep and being swarmed by touts and drivers trying to tell you this and that and the wrong thing.  My patience gets tried at times... sometimes I fail.  Needless to say we made it to our hotel and set out in the holy city for the day.  It's a beautiful feeling you're surrounded by in that city.  The energy that is given off by the people and the place itself is magical and can be completely felt through your entire being of being there.  We walked the ghats taking in the random sights of watching men bath, laundry done on the banks of the river and men in loin clothes chasing cows into the holy water. We also made it to the main burning ghat.  For those of you who aren't familiar with Varanasi much of it's tradition, I'll try and explain the best I know, which isn't much.  Varanasi is located on the banks of the Ganges River, the main holy river that flows through India.  Varanasi is considered a pilgramige sight, where so many Hinus try to ensure they visit at least once in their lives.  The burning ghat is along the river bank and is a main cremation sight for Hindus who have passed.  It is considered a great honour to be cremated there.  I was humbled to be visiting a place where so many Hindus can only dream and hope to visit in their life time.  I also felt rather intrusive and out of place at the burning ghats where so many families were mourning the death of a loved one.  But we were welcomed and shown a place where we could observe without being offensive.  As I watched the workers stack logs of wood, bodies wrapped in decorative wrappings were brought in from the streets after a parade with their family and friends.  Everything felt so out in the open for everyone to see.  I think I was looking at it from a very western perspective, but I felt almost uncomfortable being in the area.  This likely has something to do with the way we have been trained to view death in Canada.  While the passing of a loved one is mourned here, I think they might have a better grasp of understanding it, and their traditions allow them to grieve in different ways.  I still don't fully understand everything that went on, and it is difficult to put into words from my experience.... it is a very powerful feeling to witness such a grand tradition in such a ceremonially rich culture. I'm rambling... I'll move onto the next experience of Varanasi.  In the evening the three of us girls got on a little row boat with a 17 year old boy, Raul.  He took us out on the waters where we flew a kite, took in the sunset and set out little paper cups filled with flowers and a lite candle.  As we sent out our flowers, we were to say a special blessing for someone we love, mom.  From the boat we could see the evening pooja on the shore, which is a beautiful ceremony lasting about half an hour complete with music, chanting and fire.  Once again I was humbled as we sat among boats full of Hindu pilgrims who had traveled from all over the country, and I got the opportunity to experience this my first time to India.  The next morning we got up early to take in the peace that is the ghats at dawn and watch the morning rituals of so many locals.

After only 1 day (not enough) in Varanasi I was off again, this time on a 24 hour train to another holy city, Amritsar.  While I've been travelling on my own since I left Canada in October, I never really had been totally alone.  My journey to Amritsar was kind of the beginning of my solo journey, or so I thought.  Being a solo traveler doesn't last long. But my journey from there will have to wait until I have refueled my brain.  I was up at 5am today to watch the sunrise over Dal Lake and the floating vegetable market.... save those stories for another post! Stay tuned!

A Wedding in India

Last night I attended my first, and hopefully not my last Indian wedding. We started the evening by getting ready in our sarees that all of us had just purchased to make sure we didn't totally stick out ( I don't think it worked). Our host mama, Mumta was a doll and "drapped" all five of ours sarees for us. It's quite the task, one that I admire for so many of the women doing it everyday. We headed out, the whole family. Mamta, her two boys, her brother and father and the five of us girls. We all crammed into an autorickshaw and headed off. As we turned onto the street where the wedding was to take place we found ourselves behind the parade carrying the groom. While he was close it would still be over an hour until he actually arrived at the building. We walked into the building and was greeted by the sister of the bride who had invited us and welcomed us with open arms. As we made our way to the food several children came up to us to ask us questions or shake our hands. Trying to get food was a struggle. While most of us towered over the women, we were being beat out of the buffet area by good ole granny, I gotta learn to hold my own around here. After loosing my place several times I was finally able to get a plate full of delicious Indian food. We stood around in our sarees eating with our hands doing our best to tear the roti with only one hand, even though I haven't quite got the nack of it yet. And of course I slopped some sort of greese on my saree and than later some ice cream like dessert (kaulfi). At one point we were lead to a room off to the side to greet the young bride. She wasn`t allowed to take part of the celebrations and was meant to sit waiting for her husband. I can only imagine how nervous and terrified she was sitting there waiting to meet her husband for the first time infront of a room full of people, and she looked it. After that we were brought onto the dance floor by some of the brides sisters and then they just left us to dance to hindi music with a circle of people around watching. None of us know any hindi dance moves, so needless to say we looked helpless so some of the women came back in to help us out. We felt a little on display, but that was only to be expected. One the groom arrived at the building the music stopped and things started to quiet down. There were several ceremonies that happened along the way from the front of the building into the area where they would be wed. The groom and bride were still not permitted to see each other. It was interesting to see all the different cermonies that went on along the way, but I couldn`t help but notice that the room that had originally been packed full of people was now rather empty and the cermony hadn`t even come close to finishing. We all also noticed that neither the groom or bride smiled at all. I thought maybe it was a tradition to stay very serious, but our host mama told us that typically isn`t the case and most couples would smile. Once they threw flowered necklaces over one another the ceremony was over, they were married and we left. The whole process was not only different from what we would do at home, but also from what I expected an Indian wedding to be. We have been invited to another wedding early next week, so I am excited to see what the differences and similiarities are going to be. Plus I get to wear my saree again!