tiruvannamalai

---

well hello from tiruvannamalai 😊 it has been a week and half since i have last written- so i have a bit to catch you all up on so here goes...

keith and i bid a fond farewell to hyderabad and took the overnight train to bangalore. i am of the opinion that overnight travel is best done on a train. many people say some of the deluxe buses are great- but after my overnight bus from mcleod ganj to kurukshetra i don't think i will ever do another overnight bus again! the trains have bathrooms and drive on a straight track- versus all over the road- and there are beds that lie horizontally. very key for a good night's sleep i think. but another thing that is key- peace and quiet- is something that is hard to find on the trains here in india. yes there are those who like to talk into the late hours- and have no consideration for others who may be sleeping- but that is not what i am talking about. i am talking about the snoring. never before in my entire life have i heard choruses of snoring like those found on the indian railway system. it is non-stop and LOUD. i am a light sleeper- so i frequently found myself wanting to scream and/or cry when the loudest snorer in our car was sleeping right across from me. i wanted to reach across and pinch his nose shut to make him stop. a few times i tossed my blanket at him so that it touched his leg- and it would kind of sort of wake him up and he would stop snoring. for about 2 minutes. then he would start again. needless to say i did not sleep well on the train to bangalore 😞

so we get to bangalore and need to find a bus to tiruvannamalai. i looked up bus schedules when we were in hyderabad and it said there was only one bus at 6:30am- which we would have barely made if our train was on time (which it wasn't- they never are here). so i was hoping for the best. we ended up finding out there were several buses and we hoped on one about an hour after we got off the train. just goes to show you- don't believe what you read or hear- you need to find out for yourself in person!

the bus ride was only 4 or 5 hours (you lose track of time easily when you travel by bus) and wasn't bad. we got the front seat so we had room for our bags in front of our legs. the bench that we sat on was a seat for 3- despite the fact that it really only comfortably seats 2 with a small child. there was another guy who had the seat next to me- so all three of us squished together there with keith and my bags on the floor. the guy next to me was admiring my nike watch that i have hanging from my backpack- and he asked to try it on. i let him- and this little voice in my head said to give it to him. i thought 'yeah- great idea!' but then another louder voice boomed over that one and said 'hey it's your nice nike watch! you NEED it!'. this conversation went on in my head for a while- i am ashamed to say- before i finally shut the loud voice up and told the guy that he could have it. he seemed shocked! and he kept trying it on and looking at it. when we finally got to our destination he gave it back to me and said he couldn't take it. i was suprised but said okay. and we parted ways. later on though i was looking in my purse at my money and found that 500 rupees were missing ($11). halfway through our trip i had noticed that the top of my bag was open and the money belt was half falling out- but i thought it was my own fault when i took my cd player out of my bag. but it turns out he took the money! i think my trying to give him my watch made him feel guilty about what he had done. maybe he learned a lesson. who knows? i was just trying to figure out what lesson i was supposed to be learning from all that...

so once in tiruvannamalai we ran around checking out hotels. we found one that we thought was doable- but found out later it was gross! the communal kitchen had grease and gunk from ages on the dishes and the counter. the sponge to wash the dishes with wreaked! and our bathroom was horrible- with a drain that didn't drain well and it stunk. oh- and the bug net was brown. it was supposed to be white. enough said. we spent one night there- nauseated and grossed out. and we were out of there by the next day. luckily we met a nice guy- ceenu- who had a travel agency and shop. he said he knew of some nice places. we specified that we wanted a kitchen, a rooftop with view of mount aruchanala, extremely clean with a garden as a plus. we ran around on our own and looked a bunch of places that ranged from disgusting to mediocre to okay but not the one. then we went with ceenu and he showed us 'the one'. this apartment- although smallish- was brand new and painted with whites and soft blues. it had lots of windows, a rooftop to do yoga on with an amazing view of the mountain, and it was a ways away from the main town so that it wasn't in the center of all the activity. it was perfect! oh- and the price? only 3200 rupees per month. that would be about $75- split between the two of us. not too shabby!

since we got the apartment we have been fixing it up with all the kitchen things we need as well as other little comforts. i love this place- and i love being able to cook for myself whatever it is that i am in the mood for. it feels like home 😊

the rickshaw guy that took us from our yucky hotel to our new apartment with all of our things saw my nike watch on my bag and said he liked it and asked if he could have it! i was so suprised he asked this- as i have gotten the impression that indians aren't that forward about asking for things. at first i didn't want to give it to him because i was kind of annoyed he asked for it. but then i thought about it and realized that this was part of my lesson (still not sure completely what the lesson is) and that i had already given it away once! so i gave it to him. he was all happy- and he took off. a few days later he came by the house to talk to me- and i came home to find him talking to keith. he needed to know how to work the watch- so i showed him. then he began telling me this story about his wife in the hospital and how he needed money- and i thought 'boy this guy is amazing!'. i told him no- and he left and that was that. weird.

so south india is great. it reminds me so much of hawaii- where i grew up- it is wild! synchronistically a hawaiian uncle of mine wrote me and asked me if had found any traces of my polynesian roots here as the theory is that the hawaiians passed through here before making it to hawaii. this does not suprise me at all! the energy is similar here to that of hawaii. and there are all kinds of plants here i have only seen in hawaii- plumerias, taro, etc... they have mynah birds here and aloe vera plants all over the place. and indians even run on 'indian standard time'- kind of like 'hawaiian time' which in essence means that no one wears a watch and don't expect your bus/meeting/movie to start on time because there is a 99% chance it won't. i didn't get this feeling in norther india- only in the south. it began in hyderabad when i walked into a shop that sold dresses that looked just like muumuu's- and since then all kinds of things come up and suprise me! i really like it here 😊

i had a banana leaf thali when i first got here- one thing the south is famous for. it is an all you can eat meal served on a banana leaf. it includes rice, veges, dhal, chutney, fried roti (like a pita pocket) and tons of other stuff. it was yummy- although really spicy. and it was only 17 rupees- about 33 cents. can you believe that????

i met with a nice siddha doctor in town to talk about my ayurvedic imbalance. nothing serious but i could do with some nice herbs to balance the dryness in my constitution. dr manovick and his wife were so nice! i had emailed them before coming to tiruvannamalai because i saw them on the ramanashram website- and when i arrived to meet them in person mrs. manovick already knew she loved me based on the style of my email! she and her husband have invited me over for lunch- and dr manovick wants to show keith and i his herb plantation. very nice people 😊

well i guess that abouts sums up my last week and a half. oh- i have to mention one more thing. the mosquitoes. boy are they cunning here. i have never in my life met such smart mosquitoes. they hide! they hide out all day and come out at night to bite you in your sleep. and we do a thorough search of all crevices and cracks for these little buggers before bed. they have taken to hiding inside my suitcase, on keith's towel that is black and they blend in, under the bed, etc... we have to do a wild mosquito dance to get them all out of their hiding places before bed. it is crazy. i know i am into yoga and ahimsa (non violence) is one of the parts of the eightfold path- but i have not been able to stop myself from killing the mosquitoes. even with bug spray on they find the one patch that got overlooked and they bite me. they are so annoying!!!

anyhow- enough ranting and raving. i wanted to catch you all up on my travels- and to let you know i am taking a hiatus from the internet. so for the month of february i won't be doing a travel blog. i will be staying here in tiruvannamalai that entire time- but i want to focus on my yoga and meditation. so you can expect to hear from me come march. if you need to email me i will be online the next few days until february 1st- so feel free to shoot me an email!

also- if any of you feel like sending me some mail you can send it to:

c/o post master
sriramanashram p.o.
tiruvannamalai-3
606603 tamil nadu
india

if you do send me something- shoot me an email so i can be on the lookout for it 😊

hope all is well with you! talk to you in march...

---