During my time here I had to write some university scholarship essays and fill out applications, which in some ways was a pain, writing essays on “vacation”, but it got me into a good routine. I really started writing them in Savannakhet, a nice, although crumbling, un-touristy, town with lots of old, colonial French houses and buildings. I would split my time there between slowly walking through town to restaurants, in my guesthouse meditating, writing rough drafts, editing, and reading short stories, and on the internet typing the essays, and sending them to invaluable friends and family for second opinions. Savannakhet was an ideal place to get the bulk of the work done. There weren’t a lot of distractions: not many things to do around town, so not a lot of tourists, which although it may sound boring to be there for a week, it was great. Savannakhet was probably my favorite place in Lao, and the only attraction I saw was a one room dinosaur museum. It was the feeling of the town there.

After Savannakhet I started my multiple trips in and out of a more modern, and touristy city of Pakse. I’m now in Pakse for the third time, but besides finishing the university things here, there isn’t a lot here that got my attention, it was the trips away. First I went to a small town called Tad Lo, famous for a couple of waterfalls. It was an enjoyable couple of days, reading, swimming in the river/waterfalls and eating. One waterfall was nice in the sense that you could go behind it by crawling around on the rocks next to it, and then under the overhang it poured off. It was fun to watch the world go by through a waterfall.

Then I visited Champasak (via Pakse), where there is an old, ruined temple, sort of in the jungle. It was a nice visit, nothing big, less than you were led to expect. But besides the letdown there, I’m now even more inspired to go to Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Seeing old stones, submerged in greenery, and thinking of it on such a large scale makes me very excited for Cambodia, where my first stop is going to have to be Angkor. I can’t wait.

My personal reward/motivation for getting all the essays and applications finished was 4000 Islands. The name says it all really; it’s the Mekong river delta-ing out to form a lot of nice islands, maybe 4000, I didn’t try counting! For a little adventure, I decided to hitchhike from Champasak to where I caught the ferry, which was a little over 100km. It went pretty well, I didn’t walk to far down the road before an older Lao man stoped and picked me up on his little scooter. Through my lack of Lao and his lack of English we somehow managed to communicate where we were going (the same town) and we slowly puttered off into the horizon. It was really nice to watch the countryside go by, sitting on the back of the scooter. Unfortunately I had no sunscreen, so as my shirt sleeves fluttered in the wind, my extremely white upper arms burned, and one blistered. At least I had a hat so my face was more or less spared. So I spent my first two full days inside my little bungalow, reading. When I did make it out to see the islands it was really great. Early morning (before the sun could get me) going around seeing waterfalls, and surreal “riverscapes”. The water was low, so bit’s of islands were coming up out of the water that were usually submerged, so all the trees bent one direction, good fun. I also enojyed the brilliant sunsets and sunrises, where oranges to purples to yellows to deep reds lit up the skies, and river. Electricity went out at 10 or 11pm so the stars and moon were incredible as well.

Now I’m back in Pakse for the third and final time, and tomorrow I’ll go to Thailand for a few days. So that my visas don’t run out the rest of the trip I can’t enter Cambodia until the 10th, so I’ve decided to take advantage of the free Thai visa, and visit a little corner of the country instead of melting into my hammock somewhere in Lao.

Photos:

Vientiane and Savannakhet: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=57799&id=664254042&l=37d20

Pakse, Tad Lo, CHampasak, and 4000 Islands:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=60840&id=664254042&l=24487

I also finally got some photos up from the past month.

Varanasi II: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=54191&id=664254042&l=f7b21

Kushinagar: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=54196&id=664254042&l=0c920

Amritsar: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=54199&id=664254042&l=830aa

Jaipur: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=55346&id=664254042&l=b9896

Agra: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=56505&id=664254042&l=df66a

Mathura: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=57793&id=664254042&l=302cf

Delhi: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=57796&id=664254042&l=b40b8

Vientiane and Savannakhet: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=57799&id=664254042&l=37d20

enjoy!

My first stop after Varanasi was Kushinagar, where the Buddha died. It was a quiet little town, with one street, and a few temples, and a big pile of bricks. The bricks are the remains of an ancient stupa, on the spot where Buddha was supposedly cremated. For me it wasn’t the most interesting of Buddhist pilgrimage sites, but it was definitely fun. Going there I completed my semi-accidental circuit of the big four Buddhist sites in India and Nepal. It’s fun to have done that. I stayed in a monastery that seconded as a guesthouse for two nights, and then I was off to Amritsar, about halfway across (horizontally) the huge country.

Amritsar was a really nice place. The beautiful Golden Temple, holy to followers of the Sikh religion, is the main attraction there. The Sikh’s really know how to take care of people. In the temple complex there is a free dorm for foreigners. (free place to stay! yes!) and my favorite experience there, free food (free food! even better!) for the thousands of pilgrims who flock to the temple. Free food for anyone and everyone, at any time of day or night, as much as you can eat, and the food was great! To get this delicious free food, you get in line for a plate, bowl and spoon, jostle and line up with everyone else, when one of the huge dining halls opens up you, and maybe 1500 others swarm in and sit in rows on the floor. then volunteers come by, serving chapati, dal, veg curry, sometimes another veg curry, sometimes rice, rice pudding or jalabis (deep fried sugar dough, more intense than the comparatively meek funnel cake). It was so much fun to be eating all that good food, with my hands, among the thousands of others. I ate there every meal for three days. Oh, and the golden temple was beautiful as well! I also went to the India Pakistan border closing ceremony, where I couldn’t decide to laugh or cry. It was national pride in a college football mentality and atmosphere. Bleachers on either side of the gate, guards high kicking and doing long “war calls” or something, with the crowds cheering and screaming, in “my country is louder than yours, therefore we are superior” insanity.

After that I went to Jaipur, for a rushed tow days. I didn’t really get a real sense of the “pink city”. the monuments were all too expensive to go into, but the views looking over the city were nice. Someday I’ll be back there and have more to say about it.

Then I was off to one night in Agra. Agra. It was nice to see the Taj Mahal, one of the wonders of the world, and for good reason. It was beautiful to be there, late afternoon, in the setting sun, reflecting golds and pinks onto the magnificent white building. Although you can see it in the pictures, it was really fun to be there, walking around and experiencing the legend.

Next on the crazy itinerary was a small town called Mathura. It is where, according to the stories, Lord Krishna was born. Because of that there are loads of Krishna temples, as well as a collection of Hare Krishnas. I went to the Hare Krishna temple, and although I don’t know really anything about their philosophy, and shouldn’t judge, the seemed like an odd lot, very happy while they sang, but I got a weird vibe. Maybe it was the little kids with the Hare Krishna haircut that made it seem cult like, but I’m not sure. Someday, not now, I’ll figure out what they’re all about and give a full opinion. Mathura was also my last taste of rural India, and I went on a really nice walk for a couple hours around the town, as the sun was close to setting, very nice.

My last train ride in India (sniff sniff) took me to Delhi, which I actually really enjoyed. I think because I had finally (after four months) gotten used to India, so that Delhi wasn’t quite as much of a shock to my system as it would be, and as Mumbai was for me, first arriving there. During my last days in India, I went to the place where Mahatma Gandhi was killed, and where Indira Gandhi was killed (coincidentally five minutes walk from each other). Mahatma’s memorial was very moving, with concrete footsteps marking his last walk to the spot he was shot. I also visited the place Mahatma Gandhi was cremated, also moving, and a Modern art Museum. The art inside was an interesting compilation of blatantly western inspired works (I would have believed they were Picasso’s if it said they were) and interesting original artists, such as Nandalal Bose, who I liked. I also went to the movie theater and watched the movie I was a extra in in Mumbai. It was AWFUL, undoubtedly the worst movie to ever hit the screen, in the history of film and camera. It had a plot weaker than any early nineties, low budget, hollywood baseball movie. It had worse acting than most second grade plays (I know, they are cute, but most not the best actors). And what was worse than sitting in the theater for close to three hours, paying more than I paid to spend the night in my guesthouse, and eat two meals? They didn’t even use the one clip I was in.

But most of my time in Delhi was trying to squeeze as much out of India as I could in my few remaining days. I ate all the curries I enjoy, lot’s of chai, street omlettes, lassis (a yogurt like drink, but much better than that) galab jumans (sweet, soft balls of dough, saturated in sugar syrup). I took in the chaos and color of the streets, and regretted leaving so soon. To make the India experience complete: on the way to the airport the rickshaw I was in got a flat tire, and after driving for a minute and a half, the spare went flat as well. But somehow, in the spirit of India, I made it to the airport with time to spare.

Now I’ve been in Laos for about a week. I had a rough time adjusting to it at first, but now I’m sinking into a groove. The streets in Vientiane, the capital where I flew into, were so clean, and the traffic so orderly, following most traffic laws, it was unnerving at first. I’ve been enjoying the remains of French colonization, mainly good baguettes and good coffee. Most of my time so far has been spent in “big” cities, I’m now more southerly, in Savannakhet, writing college scholarship essays, but hopefully soon that time will end, and I’ll get back to enjoying where I am, this yet undiscovered Laos.

The trip from Kathmandu, Nepal to Bodhgaya, India was going to be exhausting at best. Over twenty four hours if all went according to plan, but of course it didn’t. We had to ride a small bus for fifteen minutes to get from near the center of Kathmandu, to the main bus stand on the outskirts of town, so all the baggage went on the bus with us, instead of tying it onto the roof, or putting it in the trunk. I put my backpack in the front of the bus, on top of a few other bags (as I normally do in that situation) and sat about halfway down the bus. A couple minutes later my friend dragged his bag back to our seats, and I decided that it might be a good idea to do the same, have the bag a little closer to me. When I got to the front of the bus, my bag was gone. Almost all of my possessions were gone. Fortunately all the things I couldn’t replace, journal, camera with photos, and things that would have been an extreme hassleto replace, passport and bank card, all that was still with me in the small bag I have. But all my clothes, besides what I was wearing, all my backup medicine supplies (I was left with about 10 days worth, but fortunately, with lots of help from my parents, all my medicine has been replaced) my new backpack, my water filter, things I was borrowing from friends, books, mosquito net, sleeping bag liner, some souvenirs and Christmas presents, all that was gone. But in a way it’s kind of freeing not to have the huge backpack, and so many things that I wasn’t really using. I’ve bought some more clothes, but I think that when I buy a new bag, it will be a lot smaller.

So before the engine had even started, the rest of the trip was in a way doomed. We were eight hours late getting to the India/Nepal border due to a protest that stopped traffic to the crawl of a dying, cancerous, 372 year old turtle, and to make it a bit too stereotypical, and very comical, a flat tire. Getting to the border so late meant there were no more buses until that night, so me and my friend Fernando, from Mexico, hired a taxi to get us to the next major crossroads, in the hope that we could then get a bus. But we were always too late and ended up taking the taxi all the way to Bodhgaya, costing us the unheard of price of $40 a person, and arriving at 4am.

Bodhgaya was a really nice place, very powerful. I spent a lot of time at the Maha Bodhi temple (the main (only) attraction of the town), with the Bodhi tree, where the Buddha attained enlightenment, and a nice temple and gardens surrounding it. I spent Christmas day meditating for a bit in the complex, on a hill watching Tibetan monks doing prostrations, and Thai pilgrims circumambulating the temple on the three paths surrounding it. The place was even nicer at night, when the hustle and bustle crazy energy leaves with the pilgrims and tourists, and only a few folks are out. A image that has stuck in my mind is that of a solitary monk, doing prostrations in the dark after everyone else had left. I could barely see him, under some trees, but it’s stayed in my mind, maybe the devotion he showed or him being alone while during the day there are hundreds of people, I’m not sure.

After a lovely few days in Bodhgaya, I got on the train to Varanasi. The ride was much nicer than the previous trip (the conductor must have fallen asleep, because he never came so we rode the train for free). Varanasi is really nice, really the essence of India; Thin winding dirty streets, the beautiful ghats lining the holy ganges river, guys trying to sell you things you’d never need for three times the price they should be, auto rickshaw drivers arguing over the price, starting out much to high, acting so offended when you say the real price, insisting that its “not possible” to go for that price, you walk away, and they give you the price you were looking for. It doesn’t sound “lovely” or “nice” when I describe it that way, but being here for the past two weeks, I feel like I’ve sunk into it a bit. I’m really loving this India place. Over the past four days I’ve gotten into the routine of waking up early and taking a rickshaw out to Sarnath, where the Dalai Lama is giving a week of free public teachings. It’s a great experience, the little town has the atmosphere of a big carnival or concert, lots of excitement in the air, lots of happy people. The teachings are a bit hard to follow, he teaches in Tibetan, but there is a live, radio translation going; but as with all translations, especially from the speach of a great person, you lose a lot of the feeling, and bits of the deeper meaning. It’s a bit hard to follow it at all, but when I do, there is some really nice stuff. So even though I’m only picking up 10% of it, it’s still nice. There are monks running around giving out free bread and tea to everyone there, and as anyone who knows me knows, I’m usually won over by good free food.

My plan for my last month in India is pretty set. On the 18th of January  I’m going to do a 12-day Vipassana meditation retreat. The Vipassanais pretty hardcore meditation, I’m scared of it! they do something called “noble silence” which means no talking, no eye contact, no interactions with anyone in the course the whole time, 12 hours a day (starting at 4:30am) of meditation. If I come out of that alive, I’ll spend the last week and a half making my way to Delhi to catch my February 10th flight to Laos.

Photos:

Bodhgaya: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=50022&l=31b84&id=664254042

Varanasi: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=50024&l=345a3&id=664254042

And if you really have nothing better to do, The slightly documented stages of shaving off three months worth of beard:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=50023&l=69562&id=664254042

You DO have something better to do!

Trekking was my favorite part of this excursion into Nepal. The mountains, not to knock Colorado’s beautiful mountains, were the most incredible I have ever seen. I hiked up to Annapurna Base Camp (ABC), a relatively short trek, but still with amazing views. After getting the permit, and taking buses to a trail head it was noon. The hike started going up about 45 minutes of rough, somewhat solid, stone and rock stairs, I guess to seed out the weak or something. Then I walked up through small Nepali villages, in lush almost tropical forests, ferns, green everywhere, big trees, thick shrubs, not exactly “mountain” terrain. Eventually I got higher and higher in elevation, slightly thinning greenery, and my first morning, my first view of a majestic snow covered Annapurna South. Then it was just a process of getting closer and closer. Every two hours (at least) there was a small village with a couple of guesthouses, where you stay and eat food from their restaurant. I made it up in two and a half days, over thin, broken board bridges, up hills, back down hills, only to go up another, bigger hill. Looking over the cultivated terraces, cutting real life topography lines into the massive (and sometimes quite steep) hillsides. It was a beautiful hike. But the hike was nothing compared to the base camp. Up there at 13,629 ft. surrounded on three sides by amazing, snow covered mountains. Approaching the actual camp, Machhapuchhre (23,093 ft.) behind you, in front of you on the left, Annapurna South (23,961 ft) and on the right Annapurna I (26,700 ft.). The sunset and sunrise were incredibly beautiful (and very cold). I was planning on spending a whole day up there, but because I’m not used to sleeping at 13,000 feet, and ascended relatively quickly, I had a very un-restful night, couldn’t sleep at all. So I went back down, and one night on the trail and the next back in Pokhara. The nature was amazing, a very welcome break after so much city everywhere and the hustle and bustle of India. I hope the photos will do justice where my words cannot.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=43791&l=a2ddf&id=664254042

After trekking I spent about a week in Pokhara, resting my awfully sore legs. A highlight for me was visiting places outside of the touristy “Lakeside”. My math teacher from sixth grade through high school, Mr. York, was in the Pokhara area maybe 15 or 20 years ago, and I got in contact with him, got some addresses of places he stayed, or taught, and went for some visits. It was a nice peak into “real” Nepali culture. Cultivated hillsides with dirt roads and small, simple houses. The people I met with were incredible warm hearted, very welcoming, food was always offered, tea was insisted upon, open arms all around. A visit to one family turned into going to a wedding, and being led around to the front of the food line, to meet the groom, everything first class. I ate meat for I believe the third time since I left home (once on the 20 hour stop in Thailand, and once at a restaurant in India). I had to return my rental bike by sundown so I left early promising to go to the mans house the next morning. I woke up, feeling a little rough in the stomach, but I didn’t think anything of it, ate some breakfast and went to his house. we talked a little, and then ate some food (at 10am). I was already full but politely took some food anyway, after about five minutes I started feeling sick and ran out to their bathroom, and puked. Embarrassing not only because of vomiting in someones house, but because of running from the table where they offered me food to do so. I think it was bad meat from the wedding. Because of the illness feeling, I missed spending the night at another Nepali families house that Mr. York stayed with. It was a good time there besides the sickness, although a bit weird to have Nepali farmers get excited when they hear the name of your former math teacher. Some photos of Pokhara:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=43801&l=48b90&id=664254042

After an extra day in Pokhara due to a transportation strike (which apparently happens every other week) , I got the bus to Kathmandu. Although the dirtiest city I’ve ever been in, it’s been a nice time. I’ve visited those big stupas you think of when you think big stupas, Swayanbhunath and Boudhanath, as well as countless roadside temples and shrines. There are thousands of them in Kathmandu. What I really like about them is that a majority of them are built for, and worshiped at by both Buddhists and Hindus. I’ve also visited the world heritage site of Durbar Square: many, big fancy temples, very nice. Also I’ve been applying to University, writing essays, filling out forms. Not any more fun the second time around. Some Kathmandu photos:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=45169&l=a4f10&id=664254042

Tomorrow night I’m getting a bus to the Indian border, and I’ll spend Christmas in India, with a couple of friends I’ve made traveling. Then it’s India until February 10th when I’ll fly to Laos.

Beatles Ashram: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=42459&l=2ecd9&id=664254042

Lumbini: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=42461&l=c8258&id=664254042

cheers!

That was my last stop in India (the first leg, I’ll be back late December), which brings me to Nepal. Just crossing the very relaxed border (they didn’t search my bag at all, I could of had loads of heavy drugs, if I ever need the money…just kidding mom!) just crossing the border it felt different. Nepal, compared to India, is very relaxed, the salesmen don’t seem so eager to have you buy something from them, they have it if you want it. The countryside is beautiful, down in the plains it’s as flat as can be, and goes much farther than the eye can see. My first stop was Lumbini, the birthplace of the Buddha. It was a very small town, with many lovely monasteries, temples, stupas, monks, and nuns surrounding. We rented some bicycles to see them all. A cool experience I had, that I never planed on, was dancing at a Nepali wedding. We heard some music from the street, poked our heads into this tent where the guests were all reveling. They were some of the warmest people, not only did they insist that we eat something, they persisted that we go up and join the festivities on the small dance floor. We danced with them, just happy, freestyle, crazy, celebratory dancing. And that’s only the beginning. After maybe half an hour there was a break, and while we watched solo performances, and smiled ear to ear to have danced at a wedding, a couple of men came up to us and said that everyone wanted the three of us to dance, by ourselves, in front of the 150 plus wedding guests. I’m not sure how, but we did. Luckily halfway through the song some people came and joined us, and saved me from repeating the same four, awkward, hippy moves for 5 minutes. It was great.

Now I’ve split ways with my friends Lillie and Cesare, and am in Pokhara. Tomorrow I’m heading out to trek to Annapurna Base Camp. “Trekking” in this sense means: hike all day, find a guesthouse and spend the night. No camping out and cooking my own food, but hey, this way I only have two small bags to carry, and the spectacular mountain views will be the same.

First, in the town of Rewalsar lake, we hiked up into the mountains a little bit to a cave where Padmasambava (the yogi who brought Buddhism to Tibet) did his thing, meditating, yoga, whatever a yogi does. We went to his cave and meditated up there, we started chanting his mantra and the whole experience got really heavy. I don’t know how long we were there chanting, I lost all sense of time, which maybe is a way of being in the present (?). That was very powerful for me. Then, leaving Rewalsar, I rode on top of the public bus for about an hour, that was incredible. The early morning view of misty mountains, it looked like they went into an white cloudy ocean, plus the general view of the surrounding countryside, amazing.

The next stop was Chandigarh; which was an incredible weird place. Built as a completely new city after partition, they had the architect Le Corbusier design the it, and it doesn’t feel like India any more. Orderly, squared off streets, loped off into “sectors”, basically square kilometers. There were strip malls, the first western grocery store I’ve seen since home, it was like a nondescript European or American city. We went out at night and ate in fancy restaurants with leather chairs, and blue lights. The few beggars and homeless sleeping on the streets were like the scraps of “real India” left behind from before they built the city. To add to everything there was an absolutely incredible rock garden. When they cleared out the area to build this modern city, there was lots of rubbish left over, this man, Nek Chand, started collecting some of it and turning it into art. Big sculptures, small mosaic people and animals, water works (streams, waterfalls, ponds). And the place was huge, many many acres, it took hours to go through the whole thing. An image from there, that I have a picture of; there is a fairly big open area, on one rounded side there are big swings in the archways of a two story tall structure, on top of this structure are big, white mosaic tile horses, all facing the same way. In one swing are two small Indian school children, and to complete the trip, watching the scene are two christian nuns eating ice cream cones. I was smiling ear to ear, wondering what was really in my breakfast of butter toast.

24 hours later, we were in Haridwar, I was experiencing the Ganges for the first time, at a Hindu, light offering, daily puja ceremony. It was wild; torches, singing and clapping, everyone gathered on the banks of the river, in the dark. An experience for sure. By the time I got to Rishikesh the next day, I collapsed. And I still haven’t really gotten up yet!

PHOTOS:

McLeod: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40141&l=1ca7e&id=664254042

Rewalsar: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40147&l=e0f4b&id=664254042

Atop a Bus: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40279&l=e696d&id=664254042

Chandigarh/Rock Garden:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40281&l=f2faa&id=664254042

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40284&l=d5cc1&id=664254042

Haridwar: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40287&l=53e41&id=664254042

I’m now slowly making my way towards Rishikesh with a couple of friends from McLeod. Lillie, an American girl traveling indefinitely in Asia, and Cesare, an Englishman taking a break from teaching in the UK. Our first stop brought us to Rewalsar Lake, a holy lake for Buddhists, Sikhs, and Hindus. It’s a lovely little town, less touristy than McLeod, but still with a Tibetan Buddhist scene. There is a huge (50 or 60 foot) statue of Padmasambava (the Indian yogi who brought Buddhism to Tibet) on the hill, watching (looming?) over the town and lake. I’m staying in a monastery with my friends, they rent rooms out.

There is a very interesting mix of religion around this small lake; on the shore there are: a monastery (where we’re staying) and a few stupas, a couple of Hindu temples, and a Sikh temple, all coexisting within a five minute walk of each other. (sorry but I don’t know the “real” names of the Hindu or Sikh “places of worship”, get back to you on that).

We’re hopig to do some meditation sessions throughout the next two days we’re planning on staying here. I say two days but this place has a nice vibe, we’ll see!