Paul Joseph Drielsma

mahadev

Paul Joseph Drielsma

“Traveler, there is no path. Paths are made by walking”
Antonio Machado



Asia October 7th 2023

The idea is to die young, as late as possible Ashley Montagu Know that you are the perfect age. Each year is special and precious, for you shall only live it once. Be comfortable with growing older. Louise Hay Buddha was asked: What have you gained from meditation? He replied 'Nothing. However, let me tell you what I have lost: Anger, Anxiety, Depression, Insecurity, Fear of old age and death'. And then one day you find ten years has got behind you No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun And you run, and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking Racing around to come up behind you again The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older Shorter of breath and one day closer ... read more
Across the lake with Sam and Lake View Hotel at the right
View from 'my room' looking north
View from 'my room' looking down to the lake below

Asia » India » Rajasthan » Pushkar January 15th 2023

Pushkar, Rajasthan Feb 14th With "five rupees" for paper and strings You can have your own set of wings With your feet on the ground You're a bird in flight With your fist holding tight To the string of your kite David Tomlinson, Dick Van Dyke, and The Londoners Long you live and high you fly Smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry And all you touch and all you see Is all your life will ever be Pink Floyd Blackbird singing in the dead of night Take these broken wings and learn to fly All your life You were only waiting for this moment to arise John Lennon/ Paul McCartney If I had wings no one would ask me should I fly... I can see in myself wings ... read more
Pop up kite street stall
Babu showing his moves on the corrogated roof of his old family house
Babu's 'gang' have hauled up hired serious sound equipment for all day maximum volume techno music.... along with every other rooftop nearby

Asia » India » Rajasthan » Pushkar December 27th 2022

Empty phenomenon rolling on. Anagarika Munindra Zen teaches vigilant carelessness and detached involvement. In a more high-sounding phrase, it teaches transcendental ordinariness. In a simpler, more sympathetic phrase, it teaches nothing but ordinariness. Yoel Hoffman Awakening is ordinariness awakening to ordinariness Ama Samy The Self is here and now Ramana Maharshi Be the Buddha now Adyashanti You are perfect as you are and there is always room for improvement Shunryu Suzuki Today a friend of 40 years died here in Pushkar, Rajasthan. Naryan was a simple man who, as far as I know, may never have ventured far from this place in all his 73 years. His life's work was a pakora wallah... a man who made fried vegetable snacks and so... read more
Chai on the road
Tibetan nun
Prahlad the Silver Maker

Asia » India » Uttar Pradesh » Sunauli December 17th 2022

Sunauli Dec 13th2022 “Few are those among men who have crossed over to the other shore, while the rest of mankind runs along the bank. However those who follow the principles of the well-taught Truth will cross over to the other shore, out of the dominion of Death, hard though it is to escape.” Buddha “Smile, breathe, and go slowly” Thic Nath Hanh For reasons that I am yet to comprehend, when I received my one year/ multiple entry Tourist Visa for India in Sydney, Australia, it had a stipulation that I was only allowed to spend 90 days maximum continuously in India. That meant that although my visa was valid, I had to leave India and return again after 90 days if I wanted to continue my travels. Not only does the sense of this ... read more
Nepalese Immigration at Banbasa
The Nepalese 'crisp and clean' rule
The boss at Nepal Immigration trying to work with no internet connection

Asia » India » Himachal Pradesh » Kullu September 29th 2022

Gyaghi, Inner Seraj Valley “Throughout this life, you can never be certain of living long enough to take another breath.” Huang Po “What day is it?” asked Pooh. “It’s today,” squeaked Piglet. “My favourite day,” said Pooh. A. A Milne “You only lose what you cling to” Gautama Buddha “We were right, we were giving. That's how we kept what we gave away” Neil Young, Comes a Time. Three nights ago at around 9pm, just one km up the the road from where I stay, a tourist bus driving in the rain, and containing 17 people, missed a corner on the steep road coming down from Jalori Pass (failed brakes and failure to use gears for braking on a wet dark road in unrelentless rain) and fell into the ravine below. Seven people died there and ... read more
Anshu
The Himalis in the distance
Sirthi

Asia » India » Himachal Pradesh » Rewalsar September 22nd 2022

Rewalsar, September 22nd2022 “When you do something, if you fix your mind on the activity with some confidence, the quality of your state of mind is the activity itself. When you are concentrated on the quality of your being, you are prepared for the activity” Shunryu Suzuki: Zen Mind Beginners Mind “When the mind goes out to an object, it's suffering The mind going out to an object is the arising of suffering When the mind has no object, that's the end of suffering Withdrawing the mind from all objects, that's the path to the end of suffering” Pandit Bikkhu “Everything changes, nothing remains without change” MrGuatama (aka The Buddha) “Plans are things that change” Fujio Cho I didn't plan to be exiled from India for four years. But that's a long story (and a lo ... read more
The Overhaul
Bike Puja for Safe Travel
Back to Glory

Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Wamberal July 3rd 2021

Dear all Apologies for you getting an email alert about a blog a while ago today..... I was asked to share this old blog (2010) with some motorbike buddies, one of whom had ridden in India... When I viewed the original blog I realised there were some glaring typos ... I corrected them and then the only way to get it back up there was to publish it .... and 'voila', I did that before I realised you'd all get an email alert as if it were a new blog. Oh well.... hope all is well. Obviously I am locked down in Australia, not traveling (as most of us are not) and not inspired to blog. Hopefully one day again ... soon please. _()_ Om gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi sva ... read more

Africa » Morocco » Tangier-Tétouan » Chefchaouen March 1st 2020

February 26th2020 Chefchouen Morocco “You cannot travel the path until you have become the path itself.” Gautama Buddha “Virtue shuns ease as a companion…It demands a rough and thorny path.” Michel de Montaigne "To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily. To not dare is to lose oneself." Søren Kierkegaard “....there's no need for turning back 'Cause all roads lead to where we stand. And I believe we'll walk them all No matter what we may have planned.” Don McLean From a previous blog ( https://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Tangier-T-touan/Chefchaouen/blog-1031614.html ) : Chefchaouen (35.1695 -5.2685) was founded in 1471 as a small kasbah fortress to fight off the invading Portuguese. It is 113 km south-east of Tangier and is nestled at the base of the Rif Mountains (bes... read more
Route from my hotel .. clockwise direction once in the gorge
My starting point
Breakfast point looking at the gorge from where I had come

Africa » Morocco » Tangier-Tétouan » Chefchaouen March 12th 2019

Chefchaouen, Rif Mountains Morocco February 2019 “Blues is a tonic for whatever ails you. I could play the blues and then not be blue anymore.” B. B. King “No water, no life. No blue, no green.” Sylvia Earle “The birds they sang at the break of day, Start again I heard them say. Don't dwell on what has passed away. Or what is yet to be.” Leonard Cohen, Anthem Chefchaouen (35.1695 -5.2685) was founded in 1471 as a small kasbah fortress to fight off the invading Portuguese. It is 113 km south-east of Tangier and is nestled at the base of the Rif Mountains (best known as for the production of Moroccan hashish). After the 1492 Spanish expulsion, many Jews settled in Chefchaouen. It was also part of Spanish Morocco from 1920 until the independence in ... read more
Bab Suk outside my hotel room on market day
Neighbourhood fountain Chefchaouen medina
Dutch Peter on our trek above Chefchaouen

Africa » Morocco » Meknès-Tafilalet » Meknes March 11th 2019

Meknes, Alto Atlas, Morocco January 2019 “When you do something, if you fix your mind on the activity with some confidence, the quality of your state of mind is the activity itself. When you are concentrated on the quality of your being, you are prepared for the activity.” Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind Beginner's Mind “The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection.” Michelangelo “Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it.” Salvador Dali “Ethics is the activity of man directed to secure the inner perfection of his own personality.” Albert Schweitzer Meknes (33.89352 -5.54727) is located in northern central Morocco close to Fez and is one of the four Imperial cities of the country. It was established as a military site by the Almoravids in the 11th century and ... read more
Master furniture maker
Tile artisan at work
Wood carver at work




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