It’s been more than a year since I left Sri Lanka. Since then, I spent about a year back in the valley. I feel like this was another bardo chapter in my life, not knowing exactly what to do next. I knew that I wanted to work more towards natural building. I spent the year substituting, being with family and family, and facilitating a meditation group. Eventually, sometime in June, after the school year ended, I had the thought that rather than travel to learn natural building and then coming home to make money, I ought to just move out to a place I could do both. Upon doing some research, I found the best place to do this would be Taos, NM. I chatted with a friend of mine in Santa Fe and serendipitously got the chance to house sit in Taos. This would serve as a 3 week period to research the area to see if it was conducive to moving there.
The drive to Taos was long. I left from San Antonio. There are a few routes to take to get there. The nicest part of the Texas drive was between Junction and Eden, after that, the hills cease and there are less trees and greenery. There were many oil rigs and fields with pivot irrigation systems. This part looked desolated. I made a detour through Roswell and checked out the UFO museum. The town is odd.
I’d been to Taos about 7 years previously to work on earthships. The town is quaint, and at the same time there is a lot happen in and around it. I found a lot of resources and communities to plug into. Veterans off-grid is an organization that builds natural structures out on the mesa, the area west of Taos, past the Rio Grande Gorge, that is a high flat plateau, that has amazing 360 views of the Rocky sub-ranges. I have worked on a couple of natural builds, including a hyper-adobe house out on the mesa. There are a couple of dharma centers in the area. There is a famous Pueblo, Taos Pueblo, that is a living Native American community and one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in the US.
I stayed in a yurt during my house sit, and cared for Penny, the dog, and Anakin, the kitten. After the three week house sit, I decided I would move here. I went back to Texas to pack my things and returned three weeks later.
There is a beautiful and famous ashram in town, the Neem Karoli Baba Ashram. People travel from all over the world to visit. It’s an amazing place to meditate. They offer seva, selfless service, opportunities. People can work in the kitchen to help prepare vegetarian food, much from their own organic garden, which they prepare for the public three times a week. This is such a beautiful and inspiring place to be. The ashram is always offering something, whether it be meals, chai tea, fruit, nuts, dried fruit, or flowers. The temple is a kind of embodiment of continuous generosity.
Taos is most famous for its art. There are constant artist festivities in the summer and some in the winter. Despite having a population of only 6,500 people, it boasts 11 museums and countless art galleries.
Two of the main building projects I’ve been working on have been a wooden palate shed and a straw bale house. I still haven’t created an exact prototype of the home I want to build for myself, but I feel like it could be a hybrid that includes features from each of these.
I’ve been so fortunate to have friends in and out of the state come visit me!
After Ella, I headed over to Nuwara Eliya. I’d originally wanted to take the train. The train ride from Ella to Nuwara Eliya is one of the iconic things to do here. Unfortunately, there was a train strike on my travel day there, so I took the bus. Upon arrival, I had a look around town and happened to meet up with Zane and Ryan at a local grocery store.
Ryan had to leave the next day, but I would end up traveling with Zane for the next few towns. The next day, we walked through tea fields. We were a bit ambitious with this trek/stroll, deciding to walk 8 kilometers. About 20 minutes into the walk, I realized the scenery wasn’t going to vary much for the duration of our trek, and so we started to look for shortcuts. At one point we cut across a thin path in a tea field that eventually dissipated into no path. Eventually, we made it back to the outskirts of Nuwara Eliya, where we proceeded to climb Lover’s Leap waterfall.
While at Nuwara Eliya, I stayed at Laughing Leopard Hostel. This was a fun hostel. The reception area turned into a DJ booth at night, just about every night. It was fun, but sometimes the loud music wouldn’t let up till 2am. Just north of the hostel I had the best dosas I’ve ever had at a hole-in-the-wall place called Gaayathri Mess.
After Nuwara Eliya, we headed over to Kandy. The train strike was over, so we took it there.
I imagined there would be more to do here, but it turned out to be a city you could see in a day. We headed over to lake near the center, then up to the see the giant Buddha statue that overlooks the city. I was surprised to find another grandchild tree of the Bodhi tree behind the giant Buddha. The atmosphere was breezy and calm.
Later that afternoon we took a bus to Sigiriya. We were back in nature. The town is basically one road with loads of hostels and restaurants, the massive rock everyone goes there to see, and some back roads that go through farmer fields and lakes.
After exploring the area by bike, we eventually headed to Pidurangala, a large rock with views of Siguriya and the surrounding ruins.
Siguriya was chill, but my time in Sri Lanka was running out and I wanted to spend some time in Auradhapura. This town is known for its many old temples and ruins. Among them is Jaya Sri Maha Bodi, a tree grown from a sapling of the original Bodhi tree in Bodhgaya. I was stoked to see it, but upon getting to the temple, I noticed that there were so many walls around the tree. A person is not able to get a good view of the trunk. The perimeter was covered with sand, not the most accommodating floor for meditating. In addition, there were many ficus religiosa trees, the same species as the Bodhi tree, growing near and around the Bodhi sapling tree. It was kind of a confusing, inconvenient, but also somewhat magical place, because everywhere you looked within the temple walls, you could see ficus religiosa tree branches and leaves. This is a beautiful and special tree whose leaves make a distinct sound in the wind. The day Zane left on to his next destination, I went back to this temple alone and spend the majority of the day there. In the depths of the serenity and calmness there emerged an experience I could only describe as deeply profound that left me tearfully grateful for life. The great kindness and effort demonstrated by all the various beings was amongst the foremost realizations that hit me.
My final stop before leaving Sri Lanka was Negombo, a small neighboring beachside town to Colombo. My stay here was short and sweet.
Sri Lanka was really incredible. Not unlike my experience in Nepal, I received more than I expected. The fellow travelers I met on my journey really highlighted this leg of my journey. The best parties I experienced since the start of my trip were here. If you look on a map, Sri Lanka looks like a beating heart. I don’t think its a coincidence.
After Nepal, I headed to Sri Lanka. I flew into Colombo, the capital. Colombo is on the west coast of the island nation. I discovered hoppers, a rice flour crepe that can be topped in different ways, but usually with an egg. They are simple and good. On a wander through a local grocery store, I found environmentally friendly utensils and one time use food containers. I found many items derived from coconuts including this syrup called coconut treacle made from the sap of the flower.
The main point of interest in this city is the Gangaramaya temple. A Buddhist temple that has a tree grown from a sapling, that came from a sapling, that came from the Bodhi tree!
The vibe here is reminiscent of the Bodhi tree in Bodhgaya, impenetrably tranquil. I had to come back a second time just to spend the day here. Before I left Colombo to explore the rest of Sri Lanka, I got some locally sourced linen and had a tailor make me a custom made shirt for the sun. I took a train to my next destination, Weligama. The train ride was fun. The windows were open. Some of the doors were missing, so you could hang out of the train as it moved.
Weligama is known for it’s ideal waves to learn surfing. Weligama was amazing. The day I arrived, I booked a hostel outside of town. I took a bus into town to explore. Entering the bus was like entering this casino, night club, Shiva realm. That was bizarre.
The next day I explored my neighborhood and got caught in a downpour that lasted about an hour. It was monsoon season when I went.
The beaches were nice but I needed to be in a place with more people, so I moved to a hostel closer to the city center, Backpacker’s hub. This place was great. I met so many lovely people! My days here were spent surfing, going to the local club, the Doctor’s House (so fun), and experimenting in the kitchen with various coconut derived products.
I want to mention two things that were percolating in my mind for several weeks at this point. 1) It’s vital to take responsibility for what we consume. Most of you know by now what a big advocate of eco-bricks I am. I’ve been making them as I travel. The bricks have been accumulating in my bag as I plan to put them into the adobe wall I’m building back home. Carrying this extra weight is certainly a burden. I was recently pondering if it was absolutely necessary doing. Eventually I came to the conclusion, after many hours of meditation and consultations with trusted sangha members, that I would pack what I could and toss what would be considered beyond a moderate effort that would cause a significant inconvenience. Overall, the more moderate perspective I adjusted to, allowed me to relax the stringency of having to do everything cleanly and perfectly the first time. I felt I had a little more wiggle room.
2) The abstinence of eating meat to diminish the harm I cause in the world was being perceived as the likely culprit for the lack of vitality I sometimes feel. Again, after meditation on the topic and consultation with invaluable sangha members for which I am so grateful for, I came to the conclusion of taking a more moderate lifestyle in regard to consuming animal protein. Overall, I realized that all of us are always creating some degree of harm in the world. The best way to proceed is to recognize that harm, reduce it to a manageable degree that doesn’t become obsessive, and use what vitality you have to work hard to benefit others. I feel this is like a kind of debt you take on. Work hard to use the resources you get and do something beneficial and useful for humanity. Don’t stop working toward this end.
After Weligama, I headed to Ella with my newly acquired hostel friend/driver, Zane, Australian, in his tuktuk rental. We planned to meet up with friends we had met in Weligama. The drive through the country side was lovely and green. Just before reaching Ella, we stopped at Ravana Falls.
It was a joyous reunion meeting up with our Weligama hostel friends in Ella, although the new hostel we occupied was riddled with nuisances. The local club, Journey, was fun!
I spent my birthday in Ella celebrating with this charming crew. The morning started out with jog over to view the famed 9 arches bridge.
In the afternoon, I headed over to Little Adam’s Peak. The view here was just boundless. I felt so inspired and fortunate to be here, the accumulation of all my life’s choices and where it had brought me.
The hike up was also pretty. I came across a lounge that was built out of bamboo, such an impressive structure.
The evening concluded with a modest meal with friends at a local restaurant.
The next day we headed over to Diyaluma Falls. This place was amazing. It was a natural water park. There were various levels to the waterfall. There was a picturesque place, a place to swim, a place to cliff jump, and even a place that had a rock water slide. We did some slacklining too.
“The real way to build a sense of well-being in the world is to love and be loved by others. If we don’t recognize the fragility and interdependence of our samsaric identities, we will never achieve a genuine sense of confidence, because all of our hopes for happiness will be focused on maintaining an identity that doesn’t actually exist in the first place.” -Traleg Kyabgon 💖
After Everest, I returned to Kathmandu and stayed for about 2 months. I met a lot of wonderful people. I feel like whatever I put down here wouldn’t do justice to the time spent and the special interactions I had with my fellow travelers. I’m so grateful for my time with them.
Udaya, my travel companion to Everest base camp, invited me back to his home village, in Phalelung Tanglepa, southeast Nepal. That was a unique experience and truly inspiring to witness how he was received by his family and community upon his return from his Everest summit. He was the first person from his district to do this. On arrival to his home town, we were greeted by a parade of dancers, musicians, and village folk. His cousin hoisted him onto his shoulders, where we then marched back to his home to receive tikka and celebrate. It was really heart touching to see this reunion with his mother, it was after all, a dangerous trip. I met one guy on Udaya’s expedition who died, along with his sherpa, and another man who got frostbite on all his fingers and toes, which led to amputations. In his home, we received tikka, blessings from his family and community, which consisted of placing numerous fabrics (katas) and flowers around our necks and smearing colored powder on our foreheads and cheeks. We were sat behind a table which had three cakes. Each person came up individually to offer blessings. It seemed that each person who did so, managed to lean over one of the cakes, while offering tikka, smearing the cake a bit. I witnessed this one older man who managed to neatly get some frosting on the inside of his suit coat, without noticing, during his offering. After about 45 minutes of this, my face and clothes were saturated with pink powder. I had countless articles of fabrics and flowers around my neck. The cakes were only partially ruined.
Most of my two months after Everest were spent going to the local rock climbing gym. I had, for the past several years, since I was last in southeast Asia, wanting to spend some period of my life where climbing was my priority. This was that time and it was good! I thoroughly enjoyed the sport and the daily routine. The staff at the gym were affable.
This guy was an amazing climber. Just as he was scaling the hardest route in the gym, the most appropriate music came on. It’s beautiful, boisterous, and magical when the phenomenal world puts together the auspicious coincidences to demonstrate the spectacle of some merit.
While in Kathmandu, I searched for the answer to some lifestyle questions that had been plaguing me for several months. They were on the topics of meat consumption and of the consumption of materials that are environmentally unsustainable. I went to a monastery near Buddha stupa (the white monastery) to find a Llama (a high teacher) to answer my questions. Unfortunately at the time I went, the Llamas were traveling. Although I didn’t find what I was looking for there, I was glad to be in the Buddha stupa vicinity. This is one of my favorite spots in Kathmandu. The vibe was peaceful. I visited several times during these two months. On two occasions I saw special events happening. One was a three day world peace gathering. I really resonated with this event. I feel like if you are going to dedicate your energy to something, dedicate it to something positively constructive rather than trying to deconstruct something that is viewed as negative, although I do think this is sometimes necessary. I think this is a more effective way of accomplishing something beneficial.
I’m so grateful for my visit to Nepal. It’s been almost 8 months (minus the time spent in India). I feel like I received so much more than I anticipated coming here.
I was hanging around Kathmandu for about a month before heading out to hike to Everest. The month was spent meeting new friends from my hostel, wandering the city, and rock climbing at a nearby gym.
The normal way to start the Everest base camp trail is to fly into Lukla, but I opted to start the trail by land. I took an 8 hr jeep ride from Kathmandu to Phaplu. The village was small and quaint.
Then next day, I took another jeep, 6 hr ride, which was supposed to take me to where the road ends in Paiya, but the road was blocked by rocks. It looked liked they were blasting the cliff sides, perhaps as a kind of avalanche control, thus starting my hike earlier than anticipated. That first day of hiking ended at Surke. The next day I hiked till Phakding, then to Monjo. Typically, people will hike from Phakding to Namche in one day, which is a bit farther than Monjo, but my backpack’s weight was starting to take a toll and I had an additional day before I had to be in Namche to meet up with a friend. The hiking up to this point was slowly gaining in altitude. There were many lodges (tea shops) and restaurants along the way. The path was shared with groups of donkeys transporting goods up the mountain. The donkeys follow an alpha leader. The hiking was lovely. There were sites of clean rivers, waterfalls, bridges, and Tibetan text etched into boulders and mounds of stone tablets.
After spending the night in Monjo, I hiked a steep 3-hour uphill trek that lead to Namche. I would say this was one of the hardest parts of the trek, but I think that’s only relative to what was prior to this part of the trail. The rest of the trail was arduous as well, just in a different way. Namche was a surprising town. At this point, being so far along in the trail, I expected the villages to get smaller, but Namche was actually a bigger town than the previous villages. It had a grand entrance with a fountain, multiple giant prayer wheels being spun by a stream, and a stupa. The town had upscale lodges, restaurants, and shops. I met up with Udaya and his expedition team here. Udaya’s goal was to summit Everest.
While on the Everest base camp trail, you have to stop a day to acclimatize in two places. Namche was the first. During this “rest” day, we hiked up to an Everest view point. Everest is the mountain in the middle. It is not easy to view as it is surrounded by other mountains.
The next stop was Deboche. Just before hitting Deboche, we passed an intriguing monastery at Tengboche. I’d come back later to explore. The forest at Deboche was just lovely. It reminded me of the moss forest over at Therapati, the kind that grows around 3600m altitude, magical!
After Deboche, we headed to Dingboche. We spend another acclimatizing day here. During this “rest” day, we hiked up to get a view of the surrounding the mountains. The views here seemed to just go on and on.
Our next stop was Lobuche. Arriving in Lobuche, I began to experience my first signs of difficulty with the altitude. My chest felt tight. It could have been because I tightened the straps on my backpack too much, whatever the case, the discomfort subsided within a few hours.
The next day, we arrived at the Everest base camp. On the way we past Gorkshep, the last village before hitting the base camp. It was really incredible to be able to spend a night at the base camp and to be able to meditate the next morning in front of the literal highest form of relative wisdom on earth. It was quite a powerful experience.
Before leaving, I asked a Sherpa to take me across a glacier to a mountain just in front of Everest to make an offering. I once heard from a shaman in Ecuador, that when in the presence of a holy mountain, we should offer chocolate.
I left Udaya at the Everest base camp to prepare for his expedition as I set out back down the mountain, alone once again. The way down was a kind of literal decompression. The hike up after Namche was so intense and fast, keeping up with pace of the expedition group. I was glad to be able to trek down at my own pace. I spent a bit of time at the lovely Deboche forest and visited the monastery at Tengboche. The decompression was really quite powerful. Its hard to put into words. I felt like I underestimated the rigor of this journey at the onset, and now that I was on my way back down, it was like something was catching up with me. It was definitely an emotional trip back down. I don’t think there can be a separation between the physical and psychological. In a way I felt like what I was seeing on the way down was looked upon with new eyes. Three days after leaving the base camp, I made it down to Surke. After that I took a jeep to Salleri. It was good to be back in a place that wasn’t so remote. While there I saw an ayami chicken! I’m beginning to think with all the sightings of this bird on my journeys, it’s my spirit animal.
The next day I made it back to Kathmandu. The trip took 15 days, although time had a kind of non-existent quality while on the hike. I was glad to have the comforts of my being at my hostel again. I feel like if I said, “This was the hardest thing I’d ever done.” it would feel a bit contrived and tawdry, so instead I’ll just say, “That was quite a journey.”
After Nakote, I headed back to the CI camp. On the way back down, I saw the devastation the rainy season brings with it to the buildings near the rivers. Erosion and landslides are common yearly occurrences.
It had been about 6 weeks since I was last at the CI camp. It was delightful to see the transitions spring had brought with it. The showers were complete and the new earthbag dormitory was underway.
Soon after I arrived, CI received their 3rd Greek group of the season. CI receives groups of Greek volunteers each year. This group was about 30 in size. It was a family camp, so there were people of all ages. They brought a lot of their own food, which was lovely, two things in particular, the Turkish delight and the smoked olives. The Greeks remind me of Italians: loud, vibrant, and loving to cook. They also like to dance. It was good to be and work around family energy. It is grounding and nurturing. My plan was to go back to CI to collect my things and head back to Kathmandu to do some other projects I’d in mind. I stayed a few more days in CI than anticipated because I was intrigued by the Greek group. The night before I left CI, I was feeling a little under the weather, with low energy and a hurting stomach. While the Greek food was amazing, it was sparing my body no moderation, as every meal had gluten, dairy, and deep fried things. Just before the Greeks arrived, I had a spicy tomato based curry, so my digestion was slowly going down hill after that, however, the endurance and stamina my body was able to withstand after panchakarma treatment in India made a huge difference. I was able to survive about 3 days of eating just cheat foods at every meal, while before, I could do one cheat food maybe once a week. It was good to test my new limits. So I was walking around before dinner on the last night feeling kind of sick and a bit sad. The CI experience these past months have been just incredible. I came to Nepal to learn a specific skill, and what I got was just way more than I could have imagined. I was just utterly filled with gratitude and at the same time a bit of sadness, stomach sickness, and a headache. I also felt ready to leave, and that my time there had come to an end. It was a swirl of emotions. I took an evening walk alone and past a corner I’d past many times before. There were tall bamboos hanging in all directions. Up to this point it was a casual site I took for granted but at this vulnerable time, it kind of struck me. It was like the whole of my experience at CI was captured in that view of the bamboos. Hot tears dropped down, mostly my right eye. After about 2 minutes they stopped. I enjoyed my last meal with my CI clan and the Greek group. The next morning I headed out on the earliest bus to Kathmandu.
I’ve been in Kathmandu since, planning for events to come. I joined a rock climbing gym. That’s been fun. I continue to meet new and old friends in and around my hostel. Holi was celebrated a few days ago. It is a Hindi festival that’s celebrated on the Feb/Mar full moon. It celebrates the victory of good over evil and the transition of winter to spring. People throw colored powder and water on each other on the streets. Life is rich here.
After I arrived back in Kathmandu, I headed back to my usual hostel, Yog. I arrived just in time for Shivarati. It’s a Hindu festival celebrating Shiva. There are celebrations everywhere, but especially at the Pashupatinath temple. The facilities are big. There is a river that runs through where bodies are cremated. I met new, and old, friends at Yog and went to the temple around 12am. It was quite a scene. There were Baba (yogis) scattered about, giving blessings and huddled around fires. There was a psytrance party on one area of the complex. This is the only day of the year that non-Hindus are allowed into the main temple.
The festivities started in the early hours and lasted all day. Later in the day, there were gatherings in the streets. People cooked and distributed food to passer-byers. Children blocked some roads with ropes/chains. They asked drivers for money in exchange for letting them pass. There were bon fires in the street throughout the city. The next day, I went back to meditate at the Boudhanath stupa. This place is powerful. While doing Tonglen, a practice of taking in the suffering of others and sending out light/relief, a bee stung my finger and died. I think there was a mind training message here of being able to practice Tonglen while being attacked, a feat only attainable at the time because I was in the middle of the practice and I was in a special place. I aspire to be able to practice achieving the same mind state outside this kind of protected environment post-meditation.
I left Kathmandu to go do a short trek with a Nepali friend, Udaya. We took an 8 hour (bumpy) bus ride to Nakote. On the way there I saw two black Ayam Cemani chickens (the second time in a 2 week time span)! We arrived in Nakote, checked into a guest house, met some others travelers, and were off in the morning. Our first destination was the Padmasambhava cave, just on the north edge of a quaint village named Melamchigaon. Padmasambhava was a Buddhist Vajra master who lived in the 8th-9th centuries. He is accredited with bringing Buddhism to Tibet. Meditating in his cave was probably the highlight of the trek. Powerful. It had a similar quality to the temple behind the Boudhanath stupa in Kathmandu, although it was slightly different.
After, we continued uphill to Thadepati. Thadepati is at the top of a mountain ridge. We stayed the night there, and were greeted with a glorious sunrise. The next day we headed back down to Nakote for lunch. The high forest just below Thadepati was just beautiful. There were no shrubs or grasses growing at this altitude, just trees.
After lunch, we headed to our final destination, the Milerepa cave. Milerepa was a Tibetan siddha. Trekking down was relatively short. We passed lovely cascades and then arrived at the monastery built in front of the cave. This cave was also special and again, had a similar vibration as the Padmasambhava cave and temple at Boudhanath stupa, but again also slightly different. All these vibrations I think can be loosely connected with how a quartz feels. After leaving the cave, I checked out the temple in front of it. There were Vajrayana paintings covering the walls and ceilings. There were many wrathful deities I did not recognize.
This trek was just lovely. The places were like scenes taken from Shang-Chi and the legend of the ten rings, magical and serene.
After Vaitheeswaran Koil, my plan was to head to Sri Lanka. I wanted to stop by this experiment in human unity society/ utopia in a place called Auroville just outside Pondicherry, southeast India. Ponidcherry was a French colony. Now, being able to digest gluten, I was able to revel in croissants and other French delights🤤. The city was ok. It had a decent beach, but really, it was more of a transition point to Auroville.
Auroville was founded in 1968 by frenchwoman Mirra Alfassa.
Taken from wikipedia: —————————————————————————— The inauguration ceremony attended by delegates of 124 nations was held on Wednesday 28 February 1968. Handwritten in French by Mirra Alfassa, its four-point charter set forth her vision of integral living:
Auroville belongs to nobody in particular. Auroville belongs to humanity as a whole. But to live in Auroville, one must be the willing servitor of the Divine Consciousness.
Auroville will be the place of an unending education, of constant progress, and a youth that never ages.
Auroville wants to be the bridge between the past and the future. Taking advantage of all discoveries from without and from within, Auroville will boldly spring toward future realizations.
Auroville will be a site of material and spiritual researches for a living embodiment of an actual human unity.
Alfassa expected that this experimental “universal township” would contribute significantly to the “progress of humanity towards its splendid future by bringing together people of goodwill and aspiration for a better world”.
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The town continues to be inhabited by people from around the world. At the center of the town is the Matrimandir, a giant golden globe with a meditation space in its center. This place intrigued me when I heard about it months ago in Nepal. It seems to be version of demonstrated enlightened society, a subject worthy of researching, understanding, and manifesting. I’d had experience living in such a community (2017-2019) when I was living at the Shambhala Mountain Center, now Drala Mountian Center, and found the values/ theory to be sound, but the execution was a bit amiss. It is understandable however, the creation of enlightened society, people working for the benefit of others, is a bit complicated. I was excited to inquire about administration, policy making, trash management, energy needs, property development, and other such relevant questions for creating such an ambitious project. I am personally interesting in creating enlightened society on a small scale via naturally built communities, so when I’d heard it was (potentially) being done on a large scale, I naturally had to see it with my own eyes.
The property is 20 square kilometers. As a visitor, I only had access to about one fourth of the property. I was able to visit the visitor center, the shops/ cafes around it, the walking trail to the Matrimandir, and the Matrimandir viewing point. I was sad that I was only able to get an outsider’s perspective of the property. I think it’s necessary to spell out the boundaries between the residents that live in such a society and people who come to visit. In researching the process for becoming a resident or long term volunteer, it looks like there are agreements needed to be met. I think spelling out such expectations is a vital part of making such an idealistic community functional and even feasible.
Then entire time I was there, I got the sense there was much more to see than where I was allowed to venture. The part I did see was lovely. The walk to the Matrimandir was nice/tranquil with manicured garden areas, art installations, and buildings with interesting/ natural architecture. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to enter the Matrimandir. You need at least four days reservation notice, as the hours it is open to outsiders is limited, and there are many visitors who come everyday. The cafes had amazing pastries!
If I’d planned better, I would have opted to do a volunteer stay. I think getting a resident’s perspective would be such a different and rewarding experience. I would love to see their community dynamic. I will put this on my bucket list.
I left Pondicherry (and Auroville) and headed to Chennai, to fly out to Sri Lanka. I didn’t care for Chennai. It was loud and full of people. The hotel I arrived was also somewhat unwelcoming. I booked my ticket to Sri Lanka almost immediately upon arriving at my hotel, deciding the faster I left the city, the better. After booking my plane ticket for the next day, I decided to take a leisurely walk about. I found myself in a place called “Writer’s Cafe”. While there, it hit me, “What are the Sri Lanka visa requirements?” Such relevant travel questions will sometimes inconveniently evade me. In a panic, I started researching and found that you have to get it in advance. The rushed E-visa was more than I wanted to pay for and upon looking at plane tickets from Sri Lanka to Kathmandu, those fare were also higher than what I was expecting/willing to pay. Sadly, with a broken heart, I cancelled the plane ticket to Sri Lanka I’d just purchased a few hour prior and booked my ticket from Chennai to Kathmandu instead. The flight, which was a 3am flight the next day (just a few hours away), had one stop over. Ironically it was in Sri Lanka. I arrived in Sri Lanka and thought I would make use of my four hour lay over to try to extend my lay over by a few days. By the way, the Sri Lanka Air flight was great, on par with Qatar and Singapore Airlines. It just puts US (and European) airlines to shame. I went to the Sri Lanka Air transit counter desk to try to get some help. Their customer service left something to be desired. They referred me to my purchasing agent, who referred me to the airline’s reservation center, who referred me to the ticketing center which was in the airport, outside security, which meant I needed a visa to get there. After telling all this to the Sri Lanka Air customer service at the transit counter, they referred me to the visa counter. But I didn’t want/ need a visa just yet, I just needed to talk with the ticketing department to inquire about possible lay over delays and pricing. The visa counter referred me to the visa special accommodation’s office. It turned out I didn’t need a visa prior to arrival. I could just get it on arrival. I had visited an annoying non government website the day before, that looked official, but was actually this kind of middle man visa purchasing agent. These kinds of websites are rampant when looking for visas in this area of the world. Sooo annoying. After explaining the story to the special accommodations visa officer, he said if I could get an escort from the Sri Lanka Air customer service transit desk, he would allow me to leave and enter back into the secured airport area, without a visa, to make my inquiry. I returned to the Sri Lanka Air customer service transit desk, explained my updated situation, and asked for an escort to the their ticketing counter. Their reply was, “We don’t do that.” There were three employees on their phones doing nothing, with no other customers around!!! I asked one more time, got the same response, smiled and left, shocked, distraught, and watching the quality of my disturbed/ irate brain/mind. My mind went to a familiar place of toggling between two places of “I should have tried harder/ longer” and “Just let it go”. Eventually I went with the latter and ended up in Kathmandu a few hours later.
It’s cheesy, but what else are we going to do in life?
Tally ho!
After Goa, I set out to find my Nadi leaf! I’d forgot where I first heard about Nadi leaves, perhaps it was on my last trek through India/ Nepal 6 years ago or perhaps earlier. The story tells of a sage/guru Agastya Maharishi who transcribed a conversation (5000 years ago) between the Hindu gods Parvati and Shiva, in which the request was asked, “Tell me the story of all my children”. That conversation was eventually transcribed onto thousands of palm leaves in the ancient Tamil language. An individual who feels inclined to search out their leaf, will find an astrologer who can interpret the appropriate leaf. On it will be their current life situation, the past lives, the current life’s past, their future, the circumstances surrounding their death in this life time, their future life, and their enlightenment. So in researching this topic, an individual will find a lot of information pointing in different directions. The best lead I had was that I should go to Banglore, the actual main reason I decided to travel south after Dehli, not because of Goa, that was just a bonus 🕺.
My doctor in Dehli told me of a friend he had in Banglore that could give me more info. After repeated follow ups, he told me that actually his friend had no idea, but he, my doctor, did a google review search in the area, and gave me the name of place to go. I took an overnight non a/c sleeper bus to Banglore from Goa. I could open the window. It was amazing. I arrived in Banglore and checked into a “hostel”. Actually it was more like a temporary residence for mostly young men studying for their masters. It was also open to backpackers. I had 3 long term roommate residents in my room. The spacious room had a private bathroom and a study room. In a separate building was the kitchen/dining room where 3 meals/ day were provided to the residents, although as a short term visitor, I could only have breakfast.
After arriving at 6am. I checked into my hostel and headed straight to the astrologer’s office/ home. I was really excited. I thought, “He must know I am coming. I’ve been wanting to do this for years. He will have a red carpet rolled out for me”. Upon arrival at his place, I did not find a red carpet, but there was a red door mat! As I eagerly awaited to see him outside his office, I suddenly got a sensation that I can best describe as a ‘crystal high’. This is the best way I know how to describe the situation and it won’t make any sense to the individual who has not worked the energies of crystals but it is the sensation you get when holding onto a piece of quartz crystal for a long time. I felt light headed. I could feel the space around my body and especially my head as a definitive bubble. My aura? Perhaps it was lack of sleep or the combination of that with the fact I hadn’t eaten since the afternoon the day before. In any case the sensation was just like a crystal high and it hit almost immediately upon being told to have a seat and wait outside for the astrologer to get ready. If you believe in/ know what the crown chakra is, then I would describe it as something activating up there. My interpretation of that is the presence of high truth. I believed there was something sacred about this space/person/ the events about to transpire.
The astrologer, Guruji, calls me in, takes my thumb print, and leaves the room. He had a kind and patient persona about him. Thirty minutes later he comes back with a leaf bundle. My instructions were simple, answer y/n to the following questions. If there was a leaf that produced in succession all y’s, then that was my leaf. This is the indexing process, the lengthiest part. He went through each leaf, reading aloud in Tamil then translating to English. He makes various statements. If I said “no” he would skip to the next Nadi leaf. Every statement must be true, then we would have located my leaf. He began. Some of the statements were immediately very specific and accurate. For instance, my mother’s name, my birthdate, and my disposition on marriage. Amazing, but unfortunately for as specific as the agreements were, they were all accompanied by a false statement. What I deduced from the experience was that people who share similar thumbprints have surprisingly specific commonalities. Sadly my leaf was not in a bundle he had. He said he would visit his ashram in a few weeks to exchange his bundles for new ones and that we would continue our conversation virtually in the future. I left his office in a ‘crystal high’ daze, and hungry. I walked toward a major street to call a taxi back home and, randomly on the way, saw a curious site, a pair of pitch black chickens. Every part of them was black. I came to find out later that these are Ayam Cemani chickens. The most expensive chickens in the world. They are black inside out. Their bones and flesh are black. They are status symbols in some countries and are believed to bring good luck, guard against supernatural forces, be a purification vessel, absorb negative energy, and associated with spiritual communication abilities.
I was a bit dissatisfied not finding my leaf so sought out another astrologer. This next one was younger. As we went through the indexing process, he seemed a bit more frustrated. Perhaps it was due to my not easily understanding his accent, or that he had to explain his statements in more detail. Some of the statements were quiet broad and undefined. It turned out he didn’t have my leaf either. I couldn’t find any other suitable astrologer in the city. Upon some overdue research, I came to find out that actually the main place, and birthplace, for Nadi leaf readings was a place called Vaitheeswaran Koil. It was a 9 hour bus ride away. I booked an over night bus and was off. The journey to the departure point was a bit disorderly. According to the app in which I booked the bus ticket, the departure point sent me to a location that in a dark alley, with no signs of a bus stop, located next to a major street. I asked at a nearby petrol station. A taxi driver joined the conversation I was having with the petrol attendant. He offered to take me down the road to the supposed location. He dropped me off in front of another petrol station and assured me the bus would stop there. There were many buses passing by. None were stopping at this point. I was a bit distraught at this point, as the departure time was nearing. Fortuitously, three young ladies/ angels, offered to help. They called the customer service number, which only could have been done from an Indian SIM card, and likely could have only been understood by someone who spoke Hindi. They walked me around the corner to another busy street to another bus stop. There after some time, a tardy bus arrived. I was so grateful that the universe sent the timely necessary help I needed to get me to the proper departure point, because there was no way I’d have made it there on my own.
I made it to Vaitheeswaran Koil the next day at 5:30am. Surprisingly there were people out and about. It was a small town with a surreal quality to it. I checked into a desolate hotel, walked around a bit, then returned to nap. The town’s center is the large Vaitheeswaran temple. There is a purification pond in the temple that is reputed for curing all diseases for those who bathe in it. The water was a bit unsanitary looking, nonetheless, there were people bathing. I stuck me feet in for a moment then pulled them out almost immediately, fearing I’d get some kind of infection. Using a variety of means, I began my search for an astrologer. This part was exhausting. There were a lot of scammers about. At one point, I was in one astrologer’s office who supposedly found my leaf. At that point though, I had divulged so much info about myself through the y/n question process, that when he had found my leaf, I had no reason to believe that what was being said was anything other than regurgitated info. I explained to him that I didn’t believe he had my leaf and walked out. That was kind of a surreal moment too. He potentially had my leaf in hand, but my intuition was completely unconvinced. I went back to nap at my hotel and resumed the search that evening. I found one astrologer who seemed somewhat convincing other than the fact he was trying to discretely snaffle more money from me (unsuccessfully) at opportune moments. It was not to say that his reading was not accurate, because objectively, a lot of the indexing process was spot on. Despite this, the quality of his reading was debased by his pilfering attempts. Its like making a palatable delicacy with high quality ingredients then ruining the whole thing by squeezing a bitter lime over it. Tragic. I left his office with a sense of alleviation, not because I had confidence in his reading and that I found my leaf, but because it was over. I could, at least in some superficial temporary way, let it go. Chasing after some item that supposedly has your whole story/ destiny on it can be cumbersome and an easy/burdensome attachment to acquire. I emerged, in a kind of blissful, relief. I wandered aimlessly back into the Vaitheeswaran temple, looking at the details on ceiling, watching people make offerings, and watching the men in ceremonial garb play loud instruments as they paraded through the temple. It was kind of like another world, an older time.
After Carol left, I left Nepal. My visa expired and I decided to do a panchakarma treatment in Dehli.
Panchakarma translates into “5 karmas”. It’s an ayuverdic prodecure that can involve up to (and more sometimes more than) 5 treatments. Read more about them here. I thought I’d try it to address the digestive intolerances I’ve had for the last 8 years.
Although I was advised against it, I took Indigo airlines. The trip was short and relatively pleasant. I was surprised with the amount of leg room I had for being a cheap flight. I was also surprised to find that the lines at the Indian customs was quick. Anirudh, my friend that I’d be staying with in Dehli, said India had changed a lot since I was last here 6 years ago. After landing, I noticed that all of the advertising boards in the airport had a short video of a white woman sporting a white trench coat. The ad wasn’t advertising any brand. It just simply said “style”. This ad was everywhere. I guess this was like some kind of rebranding strategy. The airport was clean and had people movers.
It was good to see Anirudh again. I would be staying with him and his family for the 11 days of my treament. It was also good to see cows on the street.
The second day I was in Dehli, we met up with Addi, a fellow earthbag workshop participant. That was fun. We took the metro for part of our travels around the city. The metro was modern, clean, and cheap.
After getting some preliminary tests done, blood and such, the ayuverdic doctor prescribed my 11 day treatment. The treatment involved oil massages, steam baths, other treatments, and eating “kitchery” everyday, a mix of rice and lentils, which is supposed to be good for the gut. It remains to this day a simple favorite I’ve had almost everyday since. I am so thankful to Anirudh’s mom for cooking for me during this time.
Those 11 days seemed to go on for a long time, but it wasn’t bad, just long. I stayed in the suburbs, in these residential towers on the 20th floor. One of my favorite features of being out there was the accessibility of fresh produce. There was a daily market right outside the apartment complex in the mornings and one down the street that opened at nights.
The healing process that happened was like magic: seamless and multilayered. The only way I know how to explain it is through my perspective which is that all sickness is psychosomatic, so its necessary to also talk about the readings that came up and my observations at this time.
My readings had to do with the insubstantiality of mind. Prior to reading this, they had to do with the insubstantiality of the phenomenal world. So although it seems logical that this should follow the preceding, its actually pretty challenging for me to properly understand/ embody this teaching in anything other than a superficial conceptual level.
Meanwhile, what I was observing “at home” was Indian family. Anirudh lives with his parents. His sister and brother-in-law, who both also work remotely, come over everyday. His mom has a beautiful shrine that she adorns with flowers and other offerings daily. She or one of her children chant some mantra/sutra and ring a bell as part of daily chanting. There is a lot of love in the home. I think the witnessing and participating in this type of environment was also a necessary part of my healing.
I’m glad to report that the treatment was effective! I’m able have many of the foods I couldn’t eat prior to the treatment, in moderation. It really is still somewhat unbelievable. There are no words for the gratitude I feel for my doctors, Anirudh, and his family.
The day after my treatment ended, I took a trip to visit the lotus temple. It had been more than 10 years since I’d been to this place. I remember it being more magical than it was this time around. The architecture is amazing, but at this time, there seemed to have been more regulatory control on the lines and moving the people. The temple has these marble seats that are nice to look at, but not so nice to sit on.
After Dehli, I decided to embark on a few things I’d been wanting to do in India for a while. They weren’t major, but I figured since I was in the area, I might as well do them.
First, Goa. I just wanted to dance. (And actually at any given time of my life this always hold true, its like my prayer). The conditions pave the way for action. Its just somewhat unusual for the conditions to bring about that kind of action in my life these days, but having just left Delhi, I was in a kind of prolonged elated state.
My arrival in Goa was marked by a sense of surreality, continued elation, and joy. I arrived at hostel called “Spaceland”. Actually, I had intended to stay on the northernmost beach in Goa, Arambol, but because of careless planning, I booked my hostel in Mandrem, the district just south of Arambol. Goa is quite spread out. I was told multiple times that I should rent a motorbike/scooter to get around. The first day there, I walked up to Arambol to see if a bike was really warranted. I spent the day walking through residential paths, getting to Arambol, checking out potential hostels to move to, checking out the shops, then looking for a good party. I actually found that there were a lot of good venues/ bars along the beach front as the sun went down. When I mean “good” I mean I would potentially dance to that music. Sadly, no one was dancing, just drinking and eating. I walked south back toward my hostel.
There I met up with my roommate, Swaroop. He invited me to this “tribal” fire party. The event was put on by this association called “Trip Foundation” which is comprised of mostly Russians. There are a lot of Russians and Israelis in Goa. When I arrived, the fire show had already begun. There were staff, poi, and other misc fire performers. The performers were quite good, particularly the poi performer. There certainly was a lot of fire. At one point, two girls came out with a flame thrower in each arm, firing into the air. The grand finale included several performers dancing at once then lighting a chain link fence on fire to spell out “trip foundation”. After the performers were done, the dj started playing. At first, the music hit me and I was like, “oh yes”, but moments later I was like, “oh no”. That’s really the best way to describe it. I think the circumstances were such that it masked the heavy, dark, irregular beats for its initial moments so as to be perceived as enjoyable. Perhaps it was because the performance I’d just witness was in some ways incredible… in other ways a bit much. At some point I decided the music was definitely not worth dancing to. I exited to get a drink. The bar was full of people speaking Russian. I walked up. The bartender served everyone besides me. Then he served the people who came up after me. He didn’t make eye contact with me. At some point after he served another customer, I interrupted him, money in hand, and asked for a water. He said he didn’t have water, then he said, “oh wait”, he looked down, and picked up a bottle. Then he asked for exact change, or to take two. I found and gave him exact change, pretty irate at this point. I’d seen him handling cash with other customers. I took my drink and left. I headed to the fire performance area where there were still people playing with fire. The air was thick with the smell of fuel and smoke. My eyes were beginning to burn. The music was awkward. I couldn’t find a reason to stay so I left. That was a strange turn of events and a weird night. It really had the makings of an epic party but turned south on a dime. A fine lesson in detachment? A cosmic joke at play? If I was the orchestrator of such a joke, I would certainly would be amused.
The next day I woke up for my morning routine, then took a nap after breakfast, and slept and slept and slept. Wow, the exhaustion of the previous day hit me. I could see why people use bikes to get around. I woke up again around 4pm, rented a bike, and drove down to the southern beaches. I found this one bar that had great music, but no one was dancing and the drinks were a bit out of my budget. These kinds of scenes happened to me a few times here. Tragic. Eventually, I ended up at an open air club/bar called Anti-social. The music was hit or miss, sometimes having some pretty epic songs. I chatted up a guy I recognized who was also staying at Spaceland. Eventually he left. The music was good enough to stick around for. By this time I decided I would dance regardless if I was the only one. I’ve hit this point before in my youth. Glad to be here again 🙂
The next day, on the full moon, I decided to go to a Circular Connected Breathing workshop. Wow. That was powerful. The facilitator guided the international group of participants through what I can best describe as a kind of hyperventilation technique in conjunction with moving the pelvis. The effect is the uncovering of subconscious trauma. After I had lovely chat with some of the participants at the resort’s cafe.
Later that night, most of the participants met up at this full moon cacao ceremony that included some ecstatic dance and a singing circle. That was fun.
The next day I went to a contact improv jam! Its been ages since I’ve been to one. It was so good to be in that environment. After, I went to a venue where one of my workshop peers was performing. He’s actually kind of a celebrity. He (Nader) is the drummer for the German band Nena, best known for their song “99 luft balloons”.
After this I decided leave Goa. Goa has a lot going on, always, but once you take a step back, you can kind of collect yourself and move one.
bodymovin.net 