vipassana, dharamshala, the taj mahal and into nepal

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Ah so it has been a while I know, but I have been doing a lot and haven't had the motivation to write it all down yet. But I am here in Nepal now, and have walked for 20 minutes to find an internet that doesn't charge you diamonds to use it so I figure now is as good a time as ever.
So... I left Delhi at the end of April. I said goodbye to a new but dearly loved friend, and to an amazing adventure. I strapped on my pack and the memories that I would now be carrying alone again. The load felt a lot heavier. But after a 13 hour bus ride, including 1 flat tire, and a physical altercation between a passenger and one of the guys working on the bus, I arrived in beautiful Dharamsala with a smile on my face!
The atmosphere there is truly out of this world, especially comparing it with the rest of India. The sky is clear, the air is clean, and while there is still garbage collecting in every ditch, it is at least not spilling out onto the streets. The people are mostly all Tibetans, who fled their land and found refuge in the Indian foothills of the Himalayas. They are very different from Indians, more peaceful, less harassing, and with much better style.... and a lot fewer mustaches. The mountains here are incredible and you can still see the snow caps jutting into the crystal blue sky in the distance. My first day was really incredible. We arrived about 7:00 am, I found a guest house, got some brekkie, and went on a walk. I wondered around the tiny town for a while, until I stumbled upon a temple, accidentally walked well past the entrance, but found a tiny path lined with prayer flags. I followed the trail of hundreds of multicolored flags, and painted rocks deep into a thick forest. There I came upon long rows of Tibetan prayer wheels where the wall of trees broke, revealing an incredible view of the valley below. And I realized where I was, and what it took to get there, and I felt absolutely complete.
After, I went to get a coffee and relax, when a woman came up and sat at the table with me. We began to talk and I strained to decipher her words through her thick yet graceful German accent. We talked for a few hours about Vipassana, since she had just completed her third course and I was starting my first the next day. She calmed many of my fears and prepared me for what I had awaiting me. I was beginning to get cold feet before I talked to her, so I took it as a sign to push my fears aside and go try the course.
The next day I woke up early, with my stomach in knots from excitement and nervousness. Ahead of me waited 10 days of complete silence, 110 hours of seated meditation, 4:00 am wake up calls, and I barrage of painful emotions. I thought I knew what to expect, but realized after that I actually had no idea what I was in for...
The days started with bells and gongs harassing you away from your dreams. The incessant ringing in your ears lasted far too long for 4:00 in the morning, but after pealing myself out of bed I would casually roll into the meditation hall and prepare for two straight hours of concentrating my mind. And the days continued on that way with only 4 hours of breaks and 8 more hours of meditation. For three days all we did was observe our breathing. Without changing it or reacting to it, we just sat... and breathed, and swatted away the millions of ridiculous thoughts that tried to pull us away from our meditation. And then the pain would start. First your back lights on fire, then it feels like someone is poking a screwdriver between your shoulder blades. Then your knees start to ache, and feel as if they've been twisted backwards. Then your hips ignite, and you fight back the tears and try to stay in your position. And then the anger comes. At the teachers for making us sit for such an unholy amount of time. At yourself for putting your body and mind through such a painful experience, then at everyone that you have ever met in your entire life for not being in as much pain as you.
Soon enough though, as the meditation progresses, you find your comfort in sitting. You understand how much of the pain is created in your head, and you begin to be able to concentrate at an unbelievable level. And you start to get into the heart of the teaching. I will not blog about the emotional battle that went on because it was such a personal experience, or what the course did for me, but it was something beyond words. By far the most difficult, yet life changing experience of my life, but I would recommend that every person alive take the step and complete a course. Understand yourself a little better.. and it is free so you really have nothing to lose.
So after the course I stayed for a couple weeks in Baghsu valley, right below the Vipassana center. I was such a beautiful place with a amazing quiet vibe, and more Israelis that Jerusalem. If I got handed a Hebrew menu and opened it backwards and upside down one more time....! But it was really great time, and perfect for coming out of the course. A friend and I got a guest house with a kitchen, and I took a couple cooking classes and had a momo party for our new (Israeli) friends. Which actually led to our eviction from the guest house over a broken blender, but that is a whole other story my fingers don't feel like typing out right now. I spent the rest of my days, between reading, yoga, and meditation. I felt so centered my head could barely balance. A really incredible place, and without a doubt my favorite area so far.
So then I left en route to Nepal. I went back to Delhi for the third time, then headed to Agra to see the Taj. The journey was long and at times unbearable, but the giant marble reward made it completely worth it. I entered the Taj just after they opened at 6:00. There were very few people when I first arrived and it felt really romantic. I kept finding my fingers accidentally interlocking in embrace. Walking into the gate and seeing the image that had stared back at me from thousands of postcards in my life was something incredible. Surreal. Breathtaking. And then after walking up closely, seeing the millions of perfectly inlaid precious stones I understood just what made it what it was. The Taj is beautiful, but without each of those stones, it would just be a big white building that leaks when it rains. And without the building and the precision of their placements, each stone would just be another colorful gem. But together their harmony creates magic. Stories and stories of beautiful marbled magic.
So I left the Agra and the Taj after spending a day with some incredibly cool Aussies. The morning began at 6:00 am heading off to the train station. After a LONG train ride, some really good Indian food given to me by the family sitting next to me, and about 20 minutes of nap, I arrived in Gorakphur at 10:30 at night. I needed a place only till the early morning when I could catch a bus top the Nepalese boarder. Unfortunately every single guest house I checked was full. EVERY ONE! And so I calmly flagged down a rickshaw along the crazy busy street, dogging motorcycles and drunk Indians as I did so, and trying not to freak out. I had no idea the layout of the town, all I could see was that after the row of hotels across from the train station, the full ones, there was pure darkness. No street lights. No shops. No people. Just a dark abandoned Indian street. So the rickshaw starts down it, the potholes in the road almost knocking me off the back as he peddled over them. And then it started to rain. Just lightly at first, and then it started pouring. After racing down the street, water flying out from under the wheels, and coming to no hotels or open shops, I had convinced myself the driver was taking me somewhere to rob me. But alas he wasn't!!! After 20 minutes the bright light of a hotel lit up the sky like a heard of angels. We arrived at what ended up being the most expensive hotel I have ever stayed at, and coincidentally also the most disgusting. But I curled up on the bed, hungry and tired, and listened to the cockroaches chew away at.... well I don't know what it was but it could have been a goat with the size of the roaches in that place.
But the next morning I caught a bus to the boarder, walked across it through the thick cloud of pollution flowing out of the hundreds of trucks in queue to cross as well, and made it to NEPAL! I had a wonderful Tibetan lunch waiting for my bus and then met two more Aussies on my 10 hour ride to Pokhara. And now I am here, sitting lakeside with views of peaks reaching a massive 6000 m high. They put the Rockies to shame and blow me away each and every time the clouds part revealing their snowy peaks. The weather here is perfect. It rains every other day massively for an hour or two, so we duck into a cafe, have a cold beer, play cards, and watch the streets turn into rivers, and then back into streets. It was worth the trouble getting here and after taking a row boat on the lake at sunset, and riding bikes around the beautiful town filled with the most beautiful people, I have fallen in love with Pokhara. We hiked to a Buddhist temple at the top of a hill to see a panorama of the valley, stopping every five minutes to pull the leaches of our legs, and saw the entire Annapurna circuit range. So beautiful!
So next stop in Kathmandu and then back to India through Darjeeling, and on to Thailand!
Thanks for following my adventures. Till next time...

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