Tag: asia

After Sri Lanka

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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!

Beating Heart

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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.

Sri Lanka

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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
💖

Sacred Caves

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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.

Utopia

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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:
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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:

  1. 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.
  2. Auroville will be the place of an unending education, of constant progress, and a youth that never ages.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.

C’est la vie.

The Showers

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The past few weeks have been pretty eventful, as all other weeks. The construction of the dome has winded down, although bits of work were done and are still left to do.
The camps construction crew’s attention has turned to the building of new outdoor showers. The design is like a sigma E. The main structure went up relatively fast. We received new volunteers to help with the project. At one point, we hired contract masons to plaster the showers. It was good to work with them and see their techniques.
I also got an intro to plumbing thanks to Haribol, the construction crew’s lead!

The dome had its floor installed, made up of leveled gravel then cement. We would have done an earthen floor, but there was a deadline to meet.
Parts of the wall kept falling off. A cow dung mixture was applied to those parts and the entire inside was treated with cow dung wash to smooth out the cracks. After drying, we applied 2 coats of lime wash.
The door and window frames were fit into place and secured with metal rods that were hammered into the walls then bolted to the frames.

The food at camp continues to be amazing.

I continue to enjoy the strong sense of community that is intrinsic to Conscious Impact. They host meetings and workshops frequently. Its incredible to see the impact the organization has on the community perpetually unraveling before my eyes.

I took a bus to down to Kathmandu to meet my friend Carol, who would come to visit for 2 weeks. On the way down, the bus got a flat tire. Fortunately, all my luggage was on my lap. I walked out of the bus, crossed the street, and flagged down the next bus passing by. It’s liberating being able to travel light and easily. While in city, awaiting Carol’s arrival, I checked out the Saturday Sherpa Farmer’s Market. It was pretty sweet, a kind of loungy/ pedestrianized/ expat hangout scene with lots of novel artisan crafted goods.
I also met a fun girl from my hostel, Sophie.

Carol arrived and we hit the tourist sites in Kathmandu: Monkey temple, Boudhanath, and Durbar Square. We also went to the cremation grounds and saw an Aarti, a worship ritual dance using fire and incense.
There’s much to be said about about my time with Carol, but I’ll highlight the most memorable.
The time at the cremation grounds was powerful. I felt the heartbreak of the deceased family members as my own. Carol and I got into a heated discussion the next day primarily concerned with how differently people perceive their experience of reality/ life.
Also powerful, was the meditation time we had in a temple behind Boudhanath stupa. At one point I gazed right into the eye of a statue of Padmasambava … penetrating.
Before we left Kathmandu, we stopped by Sami Croissant. The owner is a food scientist who makes croissants out of bamboo cells. I had a “ham and cheese” croissant that was entirely vegan, pretty interesting place.

After Kathmandu, we took a 10 hour tempestuous bus ride to Pokhara. Pokhara was just lovely. There are numerous cafes on the lake side with cozy venues and awesome menus. Up on the mountain tops, you can see a giant Shiva statue and a peace pagoda.
The peace pagoda was pretty special. I felt a deep calm, the kind I achieve only after a concentrated one hour meditation, achieved in less than 10 minutes.
One evening, Carol and I stumbled upon a full moon ritual. I thought that was quite auspicious.
Before we left, I witness what was perhaps the fattest dog I’ve ever seen. I pointed it out to Carol, who commented that I was hurting its feelings.

We returned to Kathmandu for a day to transit over to the Conscious Impact camp. While in Kathmandu, I caught up with friends in the area.

It was great to have Carol experience the magic that is the CI camp. Below are pics from a community dinner we had at one of the staff’s (mama’s) home. “Mama” is Nepali for “uncle”.

I returned to Kathmandu to see Carol off and to fly out myself. My visa expired and so I left to India, but I’ll be back soon to continue working on more natural building projects.

The trip was nice. It is like being in some kind of time warp these past 3 weeks, transitioning from place to place. It calls to mind a quote on groundlessness from Chogyam Trungpa, “The bad news is you’re falling through the air, nothing to hang on to, no parachute. The good news is, there’s no ground.”

Life is dream-like, everything is due to its causes. ♡