http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Rubix/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Rubix en-us Sun, 20 Dec 2009 10:34:19 +0000 Sun, 20 Dec 2009 10:34:19 +0000 A sunny Sunday morning and my last day off in my yoga teacher training before I complete the course next weekend... I have just been for a massage that involved having Tibetan singing bowls placed on each chakra and hot herbal compresses on all my joints which was pretty blissful after 3 weeks of an average of four hours of yoga a day. My body feels pretty thankful for some attention. After a some http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Himachal-Pradesh/Dharamsala/blog-387809.html And so back to Coromandel it was with my new found friend Hippie a delightful man with an enourmous heart magic ogre feet that rarely see shoes a loud obxnoxious voice twisted sense of humour and tendency towards uncouthness making him my perfect companion.Wilderlands is one of the oldest communes in New Zealand that's been going on since the 60s and encompasses wild bush extensive vegetable http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Coromandel/Whitianga/blog-377112.html Kiwi Burn was magic. Almost ridiculously so.The magic started on the journey there when Roey and I stopped off on the way at a friend's house who lives on a festival site which previously was a plant nursery and so is full of magical mature trees and wooden stages and structures. I got really high and wandered around mesmerized by it all tapping in to all the different energies and feeling so ove http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Auckland/Waiheke-Island/blog-377069.html The night before leaving to Kiwiburn and I am sitting in Rowenarsquos living room eating toast with peanut butter and drinking a glass of wine while the crickets chirp outside. My soul is so in need of Kiwi burn. Months of not letting my hair down properly have taken their toll and a dose of debauchery uncouth behaviour dancing and frolicking and being around my kind of people is well and trul http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Hamilton/blog-369415.html I arrived in Coromandel almost two weeks ago after taking a bus to Thames and then hitchhiking from there up the peninsula me and the hoop all orange and sparkly in the sunlight both of us a sight to behold at the edge of the road waiting for a ride....which was no problem at all to find. After a drive along the coast wit the velvet green mountains and rolling hills along side us I was droppe http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Coromandel/blog-363166.html Who needs debauchery when you can wake up with the sun in your own little caravan walk 5 minutes down the road to the beach and have a half an hour hoop followed by a skinny dip and all before breakfast Not me it seems. Waiheke is a small island a 45 minute ferry ride away from Auckland and feels almost like it's own little country. It is full of idyllic little beaches mangrove swamps bush an http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Auckland/Waiheke-Island/blog-359240.html Hayfever at Christmas time is just wrong. So is listening to Elvis Presely singing Christmas duets with the sun shining outside. But then again the moon is upside down and the stars are inside out and and and...it's all rather confusing and peculiar.But it does remind you that you are living on a planet. In space. In a solar system. Galaxy. Universe. Rah.'Tis a good thing I think.So my first chapt http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Hamilton/blog-355876.html A new country a new continent a new part of the planet.After having spent so long in a city like London building up constant barriers to protect myself it's a strange process letting myself unfold...peeling away layers letting my surroundings under my skin. I suppose we humans are in constant interraction with our environment...we breathe in oxygen we ingest nutrients and liquids even our ski http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Auckland/blog-353140.html Sigh... Life. 'Tis a funny thing eh You trundle along one path expecting one thing and it becomes apparent that life has different plans for you...I know this sounds completely ridiculous but I was most definitely not coming to India for adventures. Most certainly not. This was meant to be serious business. Work to do. Things to learn. Progress to be made. AhemI seem to have spent a large po http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttarakhand/Almora/blog-349601.html I was awoken today in my hotel by the ubiquitous ringing of bells and mantra chanting. Laying in my bed my good old stolen British airways blanket draped over me to protect me from frosty morning air I had to smile... not so many places in the world where you are woken up this way. I am starting to recognise many of the mantras often find myself subconsciously humming them. Yesterday in our fina http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttarakhand/Rishikesh/blog-346791.html As I sit here with a belly full of delicious pizza after having watched the sunset over the Ganga in Freedom cafe surrounded by gaggles of Israelis getting stoned I muse about how different the turns that life take are from what we expect. And thank God.Am starting to realize that my journey is going to be so different from what I anticipated as is the nature of my learning ... Being ill with a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttarakhand/Rishikesh/blog-344020.html It feels like the past month has been a kind of introduction to my real trip which starts now with my arrival in Rishikesh. Yesterday I said my goodbyes to Adam after a month of travelling together and got on a 20 hour train to Haridwar then a one hour bus to Rishikesh.To be honest I have not really enjoyed the past month so much... although it has had it's moments travelling for travellings http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttarakhand/Rishikesh/blog-340518.html Spent a few days in Auroville an International intentional community founded in 1968. Auroville wants to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony above all creeds all politics and all nationalities. The purpose of Auroville is to realize human unity runs the first public message of the founder of Auroville Mirra Alfassa or 't http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Auroville/blog-336896.html Pondicherry which used to be owned by the French is really rather agreeable. There is a long promenade along the beach with palm trees and the odd cafe all the streets are named highly unusual and are all in French and are full of beautiful greenery and trees and although there are the odd noisy parts it is generally quite peaceful. You can even have a croissant for breakfast. And find good c http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Tamil-Nadu/Pondicherry/blog-334611.html On a whim after Adam seeing something mentioned on an Indian cooking programme whilst staying in Bombay we ventured to the Mavalli Tiffin rooms last night for dinner unsure what to expect except that it was very cheap but extremely popular often frequented by MPs and other well to dos as the food is so good.The restaurant is over 70 years old and encompasses a network of rooms and a waiting roo http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Karnataka/Bangalore/blog-333520.html Sometimes I can't quite believe that I'm actually here...I think about how many years I've been wanting to leave London 4 about how me being here is why Josh and I broke up and me being here indirectly then caused that whole heart breaking chain of events post break up and how here I am and it better all be worth while . And so to get away from the polluted noisy ugliness of Bangalore and spe http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Karnataka/Mysore/blog-333247.html It was the smell that hit me first when I got off the plane in Mumbai. I had had vague memories of scenes incidents that had happened on my first trip here 11 years ago but I had forgotten the smell and suddenly it all came back. Walking the streets of Bombay you are constantly smelling something... a constant stream of insence sewage spices smoke gas rotting waste...unlike anywhere I have e http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Karnataka/Bangalore/blog-332559.html