DaveinIndia

Once again, thanks for checking in. We made it. Lela and I flew out of India on Monday. The relief we both felt was fantastic. India is an incredible place to visit and Im so glad to have been able go get there in this lifetime. AND....I am so grateful to be back in the West. The clean water, the coolness in the air...everything is so clean and so modern in comparison. We both seemed to breath out a breath that we'd been holding for a long time. And of course, Switzerland takes the cake for "clean and modern" as well. What a contrast. We spent a day at Lela's mothers place and then drove up into the Alps yesterday. After having a very light winter, it snowed a meter over 24 hours while we were ... read more

Dear loved ones, We finally made it to Varanasi. Imagine.....Imagine you are on a street that is roughly 8 feet wide. On both sides are little stores that sell various things...tea (called chai here) , beads, sweets, cooking utensils, or maybe some touristy little things. Each store is about 6 feet wide and is in the middle of about 15 or so other stores all trying to get your business at the same time. They might say, "hello" or " please come" or Yes...Please looking my shop." and "very good quality". Now imagine that while you are dealing with that barrage of new info and trying to think about what to buy... imagine that a water buffalo brushes up behind you and "moos" this blood bloodcurdling-ly loud sound that sounds almost sounds human to you...but ... read more

I just checked in to see if anyone had given my their address again and found NONE. A big fat zero. I encourage you to post it to me here in a message or a comment. I will read both. In Sri Lanka again. We have been on the go quite a lot and took 3 days in a Buddhist Meditatin Centre living in almost total silence (except for 30 mins per day) Meditating for several hours a day. My knees are sore. Gotta go...lunch at the restaurant next door is ready. Love, Dave... read more

Hello from the beach, I'm sitting in a room smaller than my office in Edmonton that has 6 tiny cubicals set up for internet service. I'm about 20 yards from the beach and can see the waves coming in as I type. I don't know how hot it is, between 25 and 30 Centigrade and wish I had some insect repellent with me because this one fly keeps on landing on my ankle. I've probably swatted him away about 10 times in the time it's taken to write this. I can't believe it. I'm about half way through my holiday. It then on to Tiru vanamalai ("Tiru". as many call it) was such a rich experience for me...a bit overwhelming and new. I was glad to be with Lela who seemed to me to be at ... read more

Greetings from Amritashram, Lela and I arrived at the ashram in Kollum on the 19th and I don't know where to begin. The ashram at the moment has about two thousand people in it. It is run on volunteer work with many "old-timers" supervising. Today I served food. Split pea soup was my job. I did the butter as well. The ashram has 3 different food centers. The Indian food is free, and the western cafes are paid, but very inexpensive. There are about 300 westerners here at the moment. The whole ashram is the headquarters for Amma. She's incredible. She's nicknamed "the hugging guru" and will hug all of the guests that are staying here in one day. When there are a lot of people here (8000) she may sit for upto 24 hours in ... read more

Hi and Thanks for checking in. Lela and I have been in Dubai for two days and on the 14th flew to Chennai, India. We were upgraded to business class for some reason and it is sensational. She and I were in agreement that a longer flight wouldn't have necessarily been a bad thing! So many movie options to watch on your own personal screen at the click of a button. Lela and I are now in Tiruvannamalai now. This is a completely different world. While Dubai was rich beyond belief, with Toyota 4 by 4s everywhere, people in India are poorer that I could have imagined. There are people lying in the dirt by the side of the road. There are women walking around in beautiful saris (the traditional dress of Indian women) while there ... read more

I'm starting this now to see if this actually works. I'm hoping everyone is able to read this and to follow along if they want to. I'm hoping to write at least once a week if I can.. Until next time.... Dave... read more