Myanmar Take II and a bit of India



After hanging out with my Kawasaki in Yangon for the first few days, Josh and I hopped on a bus to Inle Lake. We rented a boat that took us out to Indein for a few hours, then stayed at a nice little hotel on the lake.

A few novice monks who took us up to see some nearby ruins

Indein

Our hotel on Inle Lake

The weekly rotating market in Indein

Bagan again

Josh trying to float


An example of the architecture in Yangon


Our bike ride outside of the capital


More Yangon

And now to India!

Sunset in the Thar desert outside Jaisalmer


Josh's camel

Inside the Jodhpur Fort

Josh overlooking Jodhpur

On the Way Home

Josh and I are enjoying our last day in Rishikesh. The computer, however, is not really letting me type without constantly changing things into Hindi characters instead of the English I'm typing. Oh well, too much technology, what can you do? We might visit the Beatles' ashram that is pretty famous here, this afternoon. Otherwise, we're packed and ready to go. The yoga course certification ceremony was last night. With the puja, concert, and handing out of the certificates we were sitting from 3:30 till about 9:00pm. I realized that a straight hour of sitar (even when the musician is quite talented)is a bit much for one sitting.

Tomorrow at 4:30am we're taking one last walk across the bridge over the Ganga and heading to Hardiwar by cab and then to Delhi by train. We will be in the air and headed to Detroit by early Tuesday morning. Looking forward to seeing all of you on the US homefront soon, and all of you everywhere else in the near future! Will write more when we get back and have my own computer again. I promise photos will be posted as well.

Leaving Varanasi

Hi everyone. Josh and I are just finishing up our last afternoon in Varanasi, and preparing for a 17 hour train journey to Kolkata this evening. Hopefully the train is only 17 hours. Our train from Agra to Varanasi ended up being four hours late because of a coal cargo derailment at the Varanasi station. It messed up all the traffic in Northwestern India.

Varanasi is a very interesting city. We came in on the night of a festival where Krishna tosses a ball in the Ganges, wades in after it, and ends up fighting with and taming a naga (multi-headed snake). Our guide got us a boat and we watched the spectacle from the river. It was a mess of boats tied together making a boat-island that people ran around on top of for the best view. After that, we headed down river to watch a nightly 45 minute ceremony to Mother Ganga (the river) where the Brahman priests waved around incense, peacock feathers, flaming naga candelabras, and something akin to a golden Christmas tree of fire in graceful motions. It involved a great deal of bell ringing as well.

Our next stop is Kolkata and the end of the northern portion of our tour. We'll be flying south in 2 days, into much warmer weather. We hope all is well wherever you may be reading this from. Sorry for the lack of photos, we made a photo DVD, but the old computers we have internet access on only have CD readers. We'll try to change these google images with our own soon!

This photo is from Mamalapuram on the southern part of the tour.

And here is one from Rishikesh. Will write more soon!

Jaisalmer... finally made it to India



Hi everyone! Josh and I just finished up a 19+hour train ride from New Delhi to Jaisalmer. Can't complain, really. The train wasn't fancy, but we had our own beds and good conversation with the other people in our Intrepid group. There are 12 of us total, plus our guide Navin who is from Darjeeling. We're the only Americans on the trip, which is nice. It's better to have a wide range of people from different backgrounds on a trip like this. You learn more from each other and have a wider breadth of experience to draw from.

A view of Jaisalmer Fort over the train


The ornate ceiling in one of Jaisalmer's Jain temples


Josh and the son of the Guinness Book's longest moustache record-holder, trying to achieve the same status


Ganesh, the elephant headed Hindu god who removes obstacles, is painted on the side of a house before a couple is married, for good luck

In New Delhi at Humayun's Tomb

Inside the Red Fort

Sorry there was no proper update from Myanmar, but the government restricts what websites, newspapers, television channels, and radio you have access to. We were in Myanmar for about 3 weeks and had a really great time. After getting situated in Yangon for a day or so, we hopped on a bus to Inle Lake and spent a few days. Stayed at a really nice relaxing hotel on the lake for one night and spoiled ourselves. Josh gorged on Burmese tomato salad, and we saw the ruins and Indein in the southwest area around the lake. Due to our taxi forgetting us, we stayed an extra day in Nuangshwe (the city with access to Inle). Next up was a 10 hour local bus to Bagan. The bus ride took us through mountainous regions and many small towns. The scenery was gorgeous, and there was no need for air con on the bus. Apparently, quail eggs are a popular traveling snack since all the touts were trying to sell them to the passengers on the bus at every stop.

We stayed in Bagan for 2 days and 3 nights and toured around on Japanese mamachari bicycles. It was harder than it sounds because we managed to hit the 1 week long rainy season in Bagan and were often wading through mud troughs dragging our ever accumulating mud covered bikes beside us. Josh really fell in love with Bagan and we easily could have stayed longer, but money was tight so we headed back to Yangon. The last week was spent in the city, wandering around, looking at the architecture, trying out different restaurants, and spending time with our friends who live there. We went mountain biking on the outskirts of the city one morning with a local expat group. It was once again muddy and grueling. I think we slept for the whole day after!

One of our last nights, we found what may be the only hotel that accepts credit card in Yangon and treated ourselves. I even ordered room service. This was well deserved because the night prior I was bitten on the leg by a street dog (one of MANY in Yangon). Don't worry, I just had my 3rd in a series of 4 rabies shots, and the dog wasn't foaming at the mouth. It's just precautionary.

Back to India...

Our hotel in Jaisalmer is stunning. Our room is covered in mirrored mosaics and sandstone lattice work shelving. We have a sweet little window seat with a huge cushion which I have made my own. We're here for 2 days, then it's out to the desert to ride some camels and spend a night under the stars around a campfire. I'm pretty excited to see the stars from the desert again, and we're really lucky to have a full moon as well!

Will write more soon, and hopefully have a chance to upload some photos. I hope you are all well!

Nihongo de, mo sugu kakimasu!

To Begin

I came across the following at yogapoint's blog .

"Below is Satyananda Saraswati's personal sankalpa (intention), may it serve to inspire us as it did him."

I am an invisible child of a thousand faces of love,
That floats over the swirling sea of life,
Surrounded by the meadows of the winged shepherds,
Where divine love and beauty,
The stillness of midnight summer’s warmth pervades.

Life often cuts at my body and mind
And though blood may be seen passing,
And a cry might be heard,
Do not be deceived that sorrow could dwell within my being
Or suffering within my soul.
There will never be a storm That can wash the path from my feet,
The direction from my heart,
The light from my eyes,
Or the purpose from this life.

I know that I am untouchable to the forces
As long as I have a direction, an aim, a goal:
To serve, to love, and to give.
Strength lies in the magnification of the secret qualities
Of my own personality, my own character
And though I am only a messenger,
I am me.

Let me decorate many hearts
And paint a thousand faces with colours of inspiration
And soft, silent sounds of value.
Let me be like a child,
Run barefoot through the forest
Of laughing and crying people,
Giving flowers of imagination and wonder,
That God gives free.
Shall I fall on bended knees,
And wait for someone to bless me
With happiness and a life of golden dreams?

No, I shall run into the desert of life with my arms open,
Sometimes falling, sometimes stumbling,
But always picking myself up,
A thousand times if necessary,
Sometimes happy.
Often life willl burn me,
Often life will caress me tenderly
And many of my days will be haunted
With complications and obstacles,
And there will be moments so beautiful
That my soul will weep in ecstasy.

I shall be a witness,
But never shall I run
Or turn from life, from me.

Never shall I forsake myself
Or the timeless lessons I have taught myself,
Nor shall I let the value
Of divine inspiration and being be lost.
My rainbow-covered bubble will carry me
Further than beyond the horizon’s settings,
Forever to serve, to love, and to live
As a sannyasin.

- Swami Satyananda Saraswati

The Next Step

The clock is counting down in my mind. It's already November, and I have butterflies in my stomach about what comes next. Next month, J and I will be heading home for a few weeks to visit our families and to see how much America is still "home" to us. There is a long list of things I am looking forward to seeing, doing, and of course eating when I get back. J mentioned the ease with which we can eat out. No worrying about what hidden delights might be put in the "vegetarian" food, and he can freely go to a steak house knowing that they are bound to have at least one veg option on the menu. I, on the other hand, am delighted to dive into the supermarket. Living here has allowed me to level-up my cooking skills. I never anticipated I would be making tortillas, pita, pesto, and veggie patties and sausages with a mini-oven and range out of necessity. It's definitely been a wonderful experience, but having a full-sized oven, a freezer that fits more than 2 ice cube trays and a bag of frozen bananas, and sweet god perhaps even a counter-top larger than my cutting board would be AMAZING. I am getting way ahead of myself, though. Before I can dream of appliances and roots, we have to plan out this next year.

The loose plan is to head out in August. Where we will lay our heads from July 31st till August 20th (besides in a tent on a mountainside) is still up in the air. Onward then, to Thailand. It's so comfortable and centrally located, you can't help but to keep coming back. This will mark my 5th time visiting Thailand, and the longest chunk of time staying solely there. Whilst J and I drown ourselves in local food (FRUIT!!), we will be taking the CELTA certification course just outside of Chiang Mai. This course is about a month long, and will both give us a kick-start back into study mode, and provide us with internationally accepted certification. Nice to have in your back pocket.

We're hoping to hop over to Luang Prabang for a few days before or after the course as well. Steveo, we will be in need of your expertise!

Soon after the course comes to an end, it's back to Bangkok and then to Mumbai (with a possible stopover in Myanmar). I'm still waiting for the dates on this one, but J and I are going to spend a month at the Yoga Vidya Dham Ashram in Nasik, India. Perhaps my dear Kara will join us, but it's a bit far ahead to know yet.

So, we'll be limber, licensed, and certified. We want to wander around India for a while after the course, to really see the country. After we have satisfied our wanderlust enough, we will likely head to Amsterdam, and possibly London (on your toes, Callaghan!) before landing safely back in Detroit sometime in December.

Nothing is concrete... things haven't been paid for or reserved yet. My goal is to solidify these plans in the next few months, and relieve some of the crazy pressure I feel right now. If anyone has any suggestions or thoughts, I would love to hear them!