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Saved: November 29th 2019
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5 trips including the ones to Hawaii!!!
- November 2005: Kauai, Hawaii
- July 2006: Maui, Hawaii
- August 2006: Porland, Oregon
- September 2006: Milpitas, California
- October 2006: Mountain View, California
Since these travels were all for meetings, the official hours would be from 9am -5pm. 5pm-10pm was just to roam around and enjoy!!!
- Kauai trip was for 2 weeks and it was great !! I had an awesome plugfest gang to give me company as well. We rented a car and drove all around and also went trekking in the Napali Coast.. fantastic experience (dont miss my Napali coast trekking snaps)!! And I will never forget our evenings.. we used to sit around the pool till midnight and have free maitai's 😊 And.. also the evening out with the DLNA gang. We went to this place where they killed a pig, burnt it, buried it and then took it out and cooked the same.. yuckk!! but that is celebrated like a fest and finally followed by Hawaiian dance! I enjoyed the dance anyhow 😊
Then ... the Iraivan temple visit .. there is this beautiful Hindu temple in the
middle of Kauai formed by Swamys who are Americans converted to Hindus. The Shiva temple was being built in between acres of lakes and trees and each and every carving of the temple was shipped from India and assembled at Kauai. 20 sirpis from Bangalore went to Hawaii to complete the temple. Some history..Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami had a dream that there was a huge shiva linga buried in a place in US. He then sent his disciples and they really found the linga at that spot. This same linga is placed in this temple now. If possible do visit their website: http://www.himalayanacademy.com/ssc/hawaii/iraivan/
I picked up 100s of rudraksha beads from their rudraksha garden which were just fallen on the ground and plan to make a garland for my pooja room in my new apartment 😊 .. and thanks to my American and Finnish DLNA friends for helping me pick up the beads 😊
- The highlight of my Maui trip was my Cycling Tour - "Cycling down Haleakala mountains after having a breaktaking sunrise view from up the hill". I had to finish the tour before 8am as I had to go for my meeting at 8.30am.
So I decided to go for the Sunrise Tour ... The Bike company van picks you up from your hotel at 3.30am... and it was freezing cold. We then drive to the company office where we picked up our cycles and jackets (without the huge jackets we would have frozen up the hill). They drove us up the hill and we reached there by 5am. Pitch dark, freezing cold, at the peak of the mountains 10000 feet above sea level!! We waited there for 20 minutes and then the sun slowly started to rise. We could see the sun come out through the clouds (note: we were above the clouds!! 😊).. what an experience!! All we could hear was non-stop photography clicks .. 😊 After the sunrise, we all picked up our cycles and started cycling down the Haleakala mountains. We could see the whole of Maui all through the path and I just couldnt concentrate on the road 😊 ... A "Must Do" thing for everyone who visits Maui!!
Apart from the cycling, one more amazing thing about this place is the way the hotels are located 😊 All the 5 stars are in a circular manner positioned around
the beach.. Our meeting was in an expensive resort so I took a cheaper one a km away. But every evening I could just walk along the awesome beach from the meeting to my hotel.. and it was beautiful!!
- Porland in my view is very different from the other cities I have visited in US. Luckily I travelled there during those few days when it didnt rain 😊 so I was able to explore the place quite a bit. I just loved the trams passing through the roads and the gardens (u get to see every possible fruit/tree in these gardens and the gardens are huge and unique!!!) Also got a chance to see the country side .. thanks to Abdul who invited us for dinner over to his place. The only thing I envy about these people is their huge and lovely gardens at home.. wish I could have one!!! ... But the best part of my Portland trip was the view from the flight.. I never ever imagined that a flight journey would be exciting.. but here it was!! You can see volcanoes and mountains from so close and that too for miles. Also the
view of Iceland from the flight is amazing!!! If you even fly to Portland.. DONT sleep in the flight 😊
- The next 2 trips were to California.. Milpitas and Mountain View. Since these 2 places were close to Neer's place, I reached there 3 days earlier itself 😊 Neer would take me to her music classes, friends places, shopping , etc. etc and drop me at the hotel on the day of the meeting 😊 Arun, Neer and I also went to Lake Tahoe.. one place we missed during my honeymoon... and we won 150$ in the casinos there!!! 😊 will never forget the way we played.. hahahh!!
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Shambhavi
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About rudhraksha beads
Do you have some extra rudhraksha beads? I have been looking for some real seeds for a while now. I live in New Jersey ,usa. Thanks.