Indian Summer

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After an incredible time picking apples in Queenland Australia, a made a wee trip around Aus to visit some mate before living my dream, and going to India and Nepal. India was alwasys on the top of my list of adventures I wanted to embark on, and for my 25th birthday, I decide to make it happen. My 25th itself, was beautiful in hte Indian way. Nothing to much happened. I spent most of it on a train that I took from Delhi to Kochin in the south of the country. The train was 50 hours, but the last day of it landed on hte 13th of May. I awoke on hte top bunk of hte second class sleeper surounded by Indians washing up and starting their day. A train for that long is like temporary home,and everyone onthat compartment knew eachother well at that point.
As I awoke, I heard beautiful music. I opened my eyes and seen a man playing the accordian... he was blind, and the music seemed to be sweeter and more magical than the usual busters on the trains. I just laid in my bunk and let the music flow over my body and fill me with the sounds of Indian gypsy music.... that was hte best part of my day. It was MAGIC. I few people I met on the train (who were from england) invited me to their home in Kochin when we arived. The baught me an amazing breakfast of steamed dosas and coconut chutnet with chilli... and that was AMAZING aswell!! The couple showed me around Fort Kochin and I spent the day gazing at hte people, tasting the food and smelling all the pleasent and discusting things around hte town. I watched a beautiful sunset on the beach and had some Kingfisher beers on the blacony of my friends home. A simple, but pleasuable birthday!!

I spent some time around Kochin, going on wee boat rides through the palm tree forests in out into the tea mountains in the clouds and speraticaly decide to go to a placed call Gokarna, about a days travel North... So even though I had made a huge trip to get south, I started hte journey north quickly...I had a month before Jordan arrived in Delhi.

Gokarna was, yet again, AMAZING!!! It was a holy Shiva town. Shiva being one of the most holy gods in India. He is hte God of Destruction, but not in a bad way. When it comes to the top "super devi" gods, there is Brahma, the creator, who is in a constant state of meditaion...... Vishnu, the sustainer... Krishna and Rama are incarnations on him, and hten there is Shiva, the destructor. Life could not exsist without all three of them....
Anyway, Gokarna was a peacful, slowmoving town for India. The streets are small with little shrines in random little corners and beautifully painted temple around hte city. The town is right on the coast and the beach hte city is on is considered holy. Just a short climb over the mountain us another beach called Kudley, which is magic as well. And beyond that is Om beach.... Magic as well, and then there is Half Moon beach and then Paridice beach... All of which are quant and cozy and filled with groovy travelers swimming, and drumming and being creative in all kinds of ways... It was specacular. I befriended two Italians... one of which I fell for.

I left That magic town when all the people I had grown to know so well in a short period of time had decideed to move on, and I went to another special placed called Hampi. This town is ancient and is filled with old ruins and perimids. The energy here was very different from the strong vibes of Gokarna, but still amazing. The monkeys had taken over the temples. It was REALLY hot, at least 40 degrees, but hiking through the temples was special.

I had been taking my time traveling around, but knowing that my best friend at the time was arrive on a date set in stone, I realized that I had to get back on the road to get to delhi on time. So I took a few buses, and a few trains, met a few Kiwi friends and arrived in Bombay(mumbai). It was a big shoke compared to the shanti villages I had spent all of my time in. We arrived at 5 am and were bombarded with taxi men trying to swindle us into paying WAY to much for a ride. I had heard that Bomay was hte most expensive place in the country, and I wasn't lied to... A man tryed to charge us 800 rupees to get from the train station to the salvation army (the cheapest place to stay in the city... 600 rupees a night, when a mornal place will be no more than 200...later on down the road I was spending betwen 50 and 100 rupee a night). The Kiwi kids and I toured through the crazy polluted mess of bombay abd seen some horrible sites... There were buffalo farms with skinny as bony buffalo all chained up... with their babies tied to their legs being shat on... it was really bad... the slums werent so prety, but they have a certain magic about them, and the rest of the city was tourist driven and mordern.... not what I wanted to experience in India..... so I left!!!

By then I had only a week until Jordan arrived in delhi, so I went to the capital of Rajastan to the city of Jaipur. This is where I hit my first breaking point. Even though India is full of Greatness.... there is a major cultural differance... and after a bit of time, some things really start to get a traveler. The Caotic crazyness of it all can be a bit overwealming, with people shouting at you to come with them, or buy a chai, or go into their shop, or get in thier taxi...and then the heat, and hte pollution on top of that... it is easy to break down and say ""FUCK OFF".. even though its better not to. If a person can get through a trip to India without getting fustrated, annoyed or flustered in anyway... they are on the path to total enlightenment... because it can get hectic, especialy in Rajastan when its 45+!!!

Jaipur wasnt to exciting. Although I did have quite the mystical experience there. I ended up meeting this Indian dude while I was trying to escape the sun and people. He baught me a chai and we talked about Astrology and the mentalities of Indians. He told me about this "Yogi" who was an Aura reader. "Come with me on my bike and I take you to him for a reading" the man said. But I hesitated. Nothing is for free in India, there is always some underlying trick to geto you to spend your money. I said no, but after a long chat, I decide that he seemed harmless and I jumped on the back of his bike.
He took me all over the city to see the sites and temple and told me all about them. There were bombings just a week before and he showed me some of the ruins and blood stained streets and told me stories of the locals who had be killed. It was very sad stuff. Eventually, after many more cups of hot chai in the hot sun, he took me to the Yogi. We arrived at a wee shop filled with crystals and Gems of all kinds. The shop was glowing with twinkles and sparkles. The man took me to the rear of the shop and pulled back hte curtain. Infront of me was a glass case filled with larger, even more beautiful jems. He told me to have a seat and the Yogi would be in shortley. I took a seat and my friend said, "when the yogi sits down infront of you, theres no need to speak, he will tell you everything you need to know with out asking yu a single question".
As I waited, I started to Image this yogi... I thought he would be this wie looknig old man with long grey hair and a bindi painted on his forehead. When he enterd, I was a littl dissapointed. He was a normal, mordern looking Indian with glasses and short groome hair. He sat infront of me and said "Why have you come to see me". I was surprized to hear him ask me a question. I said "I came to get some guidence". Then he started. He told me all abou my pst adn the troubles I've gone through and how they are affecting my life in the present. He told me about my lack of a relationship with my father and my relation with my siblings. Then he told me about my relationship with my Mother, and how beautiful and important it was for myself and for her. After a while af listening to the reading, I realized it wasnt about me anymore, but about my mom, and how I can help her in her life. The facts he told me were more than true, but a bit scary and filled with warnings. He then went back to me, and my physical self, the problems I have with my bodya nd how I shoudl start to help myself. Then he went into my energy body. He told me lots about myself, most of which I knew, at some level, but it was helpful to hear it from someone else. Over all, it was an extreamly personal experience that definatly infulence my life.

The next day I decided to leave, but to my disapointment, there was a transportation strike, and all trains and buses were not leaving Jaipur. I was stuck for day because of the protecting. Buses were burnt and protesters we killed.

I made it to Delhi the day before Jordan was arriving. I spent the day in Delhi collecting little treats and trinkets for her. A few hours before I had t go to the airport to get her, I set up all the Leechies, Mangos and other giftson the bed for her to see when I rought her to our little abode in Pahara Ganj. We spent he whole evening talking shit about what we have been doing over the last year.. it was great.

We spent a few days in Delhi, which Jordan didnt really like, andten took one for the magical trains to Varinasi, another holy Shiva city, along hte Ganges. The train ride was rough for her, but we survived it. The sun was HOT, and Jordan had just gone through a Canadain East Coast winter, which is very cold. Varanasi was a wonderful place filled with little street allyways and all kinds of "holy men" bumming around the city offering all kinds of drugs, jewlery, messages ect... I had a 2 Brahman message me one evening along hte river while Ariti was being preformed.

I ended up havinga day on the toilet due to dihydration, and probably some bad food, and hte next day we made the journey up to Nepal. Jordan was a bit overwealmed with the crazyness of India. 2 days of buses got us to Katmandu. There were no problems at hte border at all. Katmandu was fun, filled with cool funky shops that any traveling gypsy would love, and awsone western style cafes with healthy food. There were some beautiful temples ther as well,a nda view of hte foothills of the Himilayas. Jordan wanted to go on all these tours and expensive trecks that were WAY ove my budget, and after a few wee fights Isaid yes to a river rafting trip to hte town of Pokerha. The rafting was cool. We got awsome fiews of the foothills,a nd it was nice to get a little peicefulness after beingin India.

We arrivedin Pokerha, and it was beautiful. The town was based on a little lake that ws filled with purple lilies. Unfortuatly, because t was rainy season, the clouds were low, and we couldnt see the snowy peaks. We ended up doing a week long treck throught he mountain and only seen the mountains once... for about 7 minutes... before the clouds rolled in again... But those few minutes we amazing. The sun was just rising behind the peaks, and we were hih enough in the mountains to feel like we could just jump off the roof top and cling on to the mountain peak! The walk through the Nepalese Jugle was beautiful... and filed wth THOUSANDS of leeches!!!

By the end of the hike, I was really raving Indian life again. I loved the friendly people who allways want to stop and talk. I love the smells of sweet and bitter, I loved the colors and the markets and the cows eating the mass amounts of rubbish! I loved t all,even the little things I would get fustrated at. Jordan loved the peaceful atmosphere of Nepal, and hte open nature with no building or polution, andht modern feel behind hte country,a nd wasnt a big fan of hte crazy energy of India. But we jumped on a bus and spent 35 hours getting to the most holy of citys in all of India, Hariwar.

This place was great. The loud crowded street got me excited again. Cows everywhere, shouting, bartering, eating and praying... ahhh... I felt at home again! HArdiwar was nice for me. The tourism there was mainly forIndian. Almst all Hindu make a pilgrimage to this place to take hte holy dip in hte Ganges. All of the shop keepers we giving us hte same prices they were giving the other Indains. It felt nice to be treated as an equal. And by this time I had picked up enough Hindi to impress the locals. Jordana nd I went up to this Holy Shivatemple on top of a mountain. We waited two hours to get on hte goldola up there, just to realize we could have walked. Then we spent about another hour waiting to get into the temple...... 3 hours of waiting, and we were pushed and shoved through the temple, throwing down our offerings (puja), being blessed and pushed out, in about 3 minutes..... It was strange to see these whole people puting next to no thought into their prayers. It seemed like it was a chore for them. I had a .05 second moment of beautiful energy when a brahma blessed me....

We decide to go to a spot I had heard about for years. Rishikesh. Some special people in my life have told me about the magic of Rishikesh, and I found it. Jordan wanted to stay up the mountain at hte backpackers haven, and after a day there I decided to find an ashram to stay at and learn some yoga. Jordan didnt seem to keen to go, but she said she would. I told her that it was something that I felt strongly about doing, and that maybe I should just do it independantly. I didnt feel like she wanted to do any yoga, and anytime I had brought it up before, she didnt really hae any excitment for it. So I told her I was going to move my stuff into the Ashram, and come back up the hill to have dinner with her. When I wen back up the hill, she was gone. She left with some random girl to Dharamsala. We had had a few fights and disagreements, and we was bringing me down a little, so I wasnt to upset, just disapointed that she tok off without a work to me.

But the MAgic of Rishikesh was strong, and I loved everything about it. I spent a few weeks in the ashram. 6am wake up for an hour and a halfof stretching and meditating, then the same amount of time for yoga, then a one hour break, thena two hour lecture on everything from Indian culture to yoga techniques and other spiritual teachings. We then had 3 hours o our selfs. I would usually walk around and chat to differnt sahdus (holy men who have given up all their posesions to seek enlightnement) and give puja at the temples. I loved the streets of Laxman Jula and Ram Jula... i gives me the shivers to think of it agan! Then in the evening we had a chanting meditation for 1.5 hours and the same amount of time fo yoga. The other students and I would chill by the holy Ganga and play music and talk about all we were experiencing........................ MAGIC!!!

Earlier in the trip, I had told Jordan that I really want to take part in a course called Vipassana. I had been want to take the course nor for years, and what beter place to do it in than in the holy country it came from. We signed up and applied for the course in Dharamsala, the home of hte Dhali Lama and a Tibetan settlement. But we were put on a waiting list because the course was full. I had a feeling that everything would work out, and I decided to go and se if I could get in. A girl a studyed with in the Ashram was also on the waiting ist and we went on a wee adventure to Punjab, to the Golden temple of the Sihks, and hten made it up the mountains to Dharamsala the day before the course. The Vipasana center was out of the city in the mountains surounded by pines trees covered in Monkeys. It was high in energy, like Rishikesh, but ina totally different way. I had just been getting really into myself through Hindu meditation and yoga, and reaching new levles of conciouness, and I was about to do it all again, but in a completly different way, using very different techniques. 10 hours of meditation a day, for 10 days........

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Photos

Train Cuddles
The men in India dont mind getting to close... yet you'll never see a man and wife like this

Ganesh Temple
Ganesh is hte son of Shiva

Feeding the cows
Cows are holy, especially in a shiva town. Im feeding her Pinaple

Entering Hampi
with the cows

Trains of Bombay
Packed Full!

Comments

[elisa]

such an eye!
love those pics!

[kamlesh]

very hot
try to avoid summer in India specially middle area. Its very hot and U may suffer from dehydration.