10 day retreat starts today...will let you know how it goes! [View Full Entry]

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Arrived over the border from Nepal. Bus to Gorakpur, then overnight train to Pathenkot. Bus to Dharamsala and then onward to McLeod. Indian cooking course, Hindi lessons, yoga, walking, Tibetan cooking, meditation, reading, teaching a bit of english etc [View Full Entry]

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Pokhara - beautiful lake, some swimming, hiking etc. Lumbini - birthplace of buddha. Buddhist temples from around the world. Hot hot hot! [View Full Entry]

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Looking for some sort of meditation retreat, I booked myself on the Vipassana course in Kathmandu. It was for 10 days and with over 10 hours of meditation a day, it was quite a challenge. 4am starts, complete silence, no reading or writing, segregation of men and women etc. After a little more of adjustment to the 'real world', I will see how it affected me! The technique of Vipassana Meditation is taught at ten-day residential courses during which participants learn the basics of the method, and practice sufficiently to experience its beneficial results. Vipassanā (Pāli) o [View Full Entry]

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Crossed from Tibet into Nepal today and traelled about 3.5 hours to Kathmandu. [View Full Entry]

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We spent about 7 days in Tibet, finishing at the border with Nepal. The situation currently with Tibet is you need to have a Guide and book some sort of tour as permits etc are required. Excluding food and accommodation, the trip cost about 250 GBP per person which was much more reasonable than many trips. This price is based on our group being 7 people. 'Sim's Garden Guesthouse' in Chengdu is really a great place to book a tour and find people to do the trip with. 27th - Leave Chengdu around 9pm 28th - Train 29th - Arrival in [View Full Entry]

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Heading on Saturday evening - Tibet, Nepal, India. The tour is about 9 days and it's about 45 hours on the train from Chengdu to Lhasa. [View Full Entry]

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Visa extension, chores, booking tour to Tibet. The only way it seems possible to get through Tibet is with an organised tour. The hostel in Chengdu (Sim's Cozy Guesthouse) is really good to help organise it so am going with 6 others. Not that keen on tibet because of all the silly rules and have seen a bit but it's a passage to India. [View Full Entry]

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Having finished the hike, I've now had a few days and am recovering from the altitude sickness and general 'malaise'. I'm in Lijiang and trying to think what to do next. India overland via North China...China, Pakistan, India? South East Asia? and then India? Generally by brain is like mush so a few days of recovery are required. [View Full Entry]

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For 13 days I trekked with a French guy I met in Dali the Kawa Karpo pilgrimage route around Kawa Karpo mountain. With mountain passes upto 4800m, it was very demanding. With a little altitude sickness thrown in... Staying in Tibetan homes and seeing diverse and beautiful scenery was amazing. Meili Snow Mountain or Kawa Karpo (6,740 m) is a sacred mountain in Deqin County, Yunnan, China. It is sacred to most Chinese Buddhist people. It is the highest mountain in Yunnan. Kagebo is the highest peak. The mountain is known as a meditation site. Kawa Karpo is part of the [View Full Entry]

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