Well, the program has been over for a few weeks now. Near the end of the program we all did a community stay, we lived and participated in one of the many communities with in Auroville. I stayed at Sadahna forest. Its a reforestation project based on the outskirts of Auroville. They've been planting trees and creating a sustainable home there for the last 6 years. It's run by an Israeli couple who are really amazing people. There are all kinds of things going on at Sadahna besides tree planting. They have permaculture gardens, water saving practices, solar energy, bike-generators, green architecture, and all kinds of stuff. I worked mostly on a project of creating a spirulina pool. Spirulina is "the food for the future" they say. It's super nutritious and easy to grow. First I was helping build a natural experimental pond made from sand, clay, soil, lime, ash, and fermented cactus juice. It was a recipe created by this guy Jesus who has studied Mayan architecture. He was a really interesting guy! He also did my Mayan astrology reading, neat. So yeah, that was really hard work, but it was pretty fun playing in the mud! Speaking of mud, There was a huge mud pool at Sadahna where most people went daily to wash up! haha, yeah, thats right... bathing in the mud made you "clean"! Sanitary? sure... Anyways, so after working on the construction of a new pool, I worked with Gilles, to harvest from the existing pool. Gilles is a french guy who has been going around the world for the last 20 years building spirulina pools in impoverished areas. I was great working with him, I learned so much! How to care for and grow spirulina. How to harvest spirulina. If anyone wants to build a spirulina pool let me know! :) Other then spirulina, I helped cook a few meals, everyone takes turns in the kitchen. All meals there are Vegan. One week I had the delightful task of "poop stirrer". Yep, I got to stir the poop in the composting toilets! Wahoo! haha, not as bad as it sounds. Overall Sadahna was Awesome.
After Community Stays, we had just one week left of classes. Mostly we just wrapped up things and talked about reverse-culture shock... which I think is still to come. There were times in the program when I really didn't even know why I was doing it, times when I thought it was stupid, but I'm so glad I chose this program. I learned more then I even know I've learned... if that makes sense?
After the program Me and bunch of people went to Chennai, where we put a few people on planes and we all went our own ways. Me and Jamie headed for Hampi. We took a train to Guntakal and then went to the bus station to continue onwards. We were so out of place at the bus station! At first a couple beggars came up to us, then came a few guys trying to "help" us find our bus, and after a few minutes we were surrounded by about 15 curious locals, all trying to talk to us. We must have looked pretty pathetic, because soon this girl Shruti, came and asked if we wanted to sit with them. Her mom and her were so nice! She only knew a little english, but they were also going to Bellary so they helped us get on the bus. We had to fight our way onto that bus, it was made for 24 passengers, but at least 50 were crammed in there. What a trip. After That bus they helped us on a second bus and long story short we finally made it to Hampi. Hampi is really beautiful. We were there during the hot season, so few tourist. We hiked around in the boulder strewn landscape and investigated the hundreds of temples scattered throughout. We ran into a few people from Auroville. We also Met up with Matt and Vika, from our program, and we all rented mopeds for a day. So much fun!
After Hampi the four of us went to Goa. Sadly Jamie had to leave after just one day because of some family stuff. We spent about a week staying in these tree house hut things, right on the beach. One day me and Vika hiked up this random trail into the jungle. After an hour or so we happened upon this huge banyon tree that had prayer flags and stuff wrapped around it. When we got closer we realized it was a little Shiva Temple, in the middle of the rainforest? There was a guy living there too! So random. He was probably 50 or 60, wearing all orange, with huge dreads, pretty much exactly what you'd imagine he'd look like! haha. He told he'd been living there off and on for the last twelve years!
Okay, well, after goa, me and Vika took a two day train to Dehli. There we stayed with an Italian guy, a father of one of Vikas friends. He was great, and he introduced us to his friend/neighbor Mr. Bashir who was so welcoming. The fed us, a lot, and told us where to go and what to do, and they invited to there home anytime. Nice people. After a few days in Dehli we wanted headed North to Dharamshala. We got sooo ripped off on our bus ticket! But the good thing was we happened to get on the same bus as our friend from Auroville, Kalsang, who runs the Tibetan Pavillion (the place I lived in Auroville). The bus sucked though. About an hour from Dharamshala the bus ran out of gas, then the clutch broke, then a tire blew. Ahhh! But we finally made it, and Kalsang got us a really nice room in this guesthouse run by a Monastary. Dharamshala is where the Tibetan government resides, the Dalai Lama and all that. Its a nice little city with a view of the Himalayas! So we've been here for four days now. Were not really sure how much longer we'll stay, and there's so many places to visit in India.
Hope everyone is well back in the motherland! e-mail me!
Monday, May 25, 2009
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Back in Auroville
We got back from our trip last night after a 13 hour bus ride. It was a great 3 weeks! wow. First we took a night train down south. Had the best masala chai on the train. Once in tirvandarum we took a bus to the Sivananda ashram. What a place, hahaha! 5:30 wake up, 6:00 Satsang (meditation and chanting mantras, ugh, I think they should call it brainwash hour instead!) 7:30 tea, 8:00 yoga, 10:00 brunch, 11:30 karma yoga (cleaning toilets, not joking...), 2:00 lecture, 3:30 yoga round 2, 6:00 dinner, 8:00 satsang round 2, 10:30 lights out. whew. What a trip. I'm not gonna lie, at the time it was hell. If I have to sing Jaya Ganesha Shree Ganesha again, I might puke. The yoga was intense! I can know hold my breath for like 2 minutes and do a head stand. In retrospect however, it was a great experience. I learned a lot, and honestly I would do it all again. One of the coolest things that happened was one afternoon after lunch I went for a walk across the dam and saw some crows attack an owl nest. I saw the crows drop a baby owl so I rescued the little guy and brought him back to the ashram. That little guy got me out of yoga and satsang! he was so cute! That night we took him back and hoped his mom would take him back. So neat!
Also on the day off we went on a trip to kanyakumari. the southern tip of India. We visited like 5 temples with Swami G, and swam in the ocean. It was so beautiful. Its where the Bay of Bengal, the Indian ocean, and the Arabian sea all meet up. Pretty sweet.
After that we went to Ammas Ashram in Amrita. the drive there has nice. The ashram was cool, it has the tallest building in all of Kerala, 16 stories tall! haha. Amma is really amazing. She is a living saint. they call her the Hugging saint. She has hugged millions of people. She builds hospitals, tsunami relief housing and helps soo many people. She lives her life just loving everyone. I know it doesn't sound like a big deal, but can you imagine spending everyday of your life hugging and serving those around you. I cant even do her justice with my description, look here up.
From there we took a boat on the backwaters. It was amazing. We arrived in allopy and then the next day bused up to Perriyar Tiger Sactuary. No, we didn't see any tigers :(. But the landscape was lovely. A few days there, then we bused again to Kodai Kanal in the western Ghat mountains. We stayed an hour out of Kodai in a picturesque terraced landscape. We were at about 7000 feet elevation so it was pretty cold. We all slept in this shack overlooking the terraced farms of carrots and beans and I don't know what else. We hiked to a waterfall on our second day, and most of us got killer sunburns. It was the first time we had worn tank tops (shoulders are pretty scandalous in India) and the elevation plus our pasty blades didn't add up well. Our Amma Vasanta was a great cook, and we had camp fires every night. Frederick and his son Hero were our hosts. Frederick is basically the original pioneer of Auroville. He arrived in 1966 to see the Mother in Pondi, and he never left. He joins my list of certified bad-ass Aurovillians. 73 and still doing his thing. He has some amazing stories, as does his son. Our third day there we picked out spots in the forest to do our solo and then day four, we headed out, each with matches, some warm gear, and water. My spot was great. I was on the edge of a meadow (it reminded me of the meadow where we watered horses up at elk camp (bear spring meadow?) to give some of you a feel for it). So yeah, our solos were a time for us to be completely alone, no distractions, to think about... everything. Everyone should do this. 2 days at least but I think 3 would be better. It was so cool. 2 days of no talking, not seeing another human, no food, no books or tv. Its weird the things you think about. So after that, we all met back up at camp. two more fantastic days, and then back on the bus to go back to Auroville. The ride was crazy. going from 50ish degrees back down to 110+ degrees is ridiculous. We got back about 10 pm. Everyone was so excited to take showers. hahaha. 8 days of dirtiness is too much for some people, but most of you know I have low standards.
So now we have another week of classes, then two weeks of community stay, and then our final week. Only a month left, wow.
(pictures soon I hope)
xo
Also on the day off we went on a trip to kanyakumari. the southern tip of India. We visited like 5 temples with Swami G, and swam in the ocean. It was so beautiful. Its where the Bay of Bengal, the Indian ocean, and the Arabian sea all meet up. Pretty sweet.
After that we went to Ammas Ashram in Amrita. the drive there has nice. The ashram was cool, it has the tallest building in all of Kerala, 16 stories tall! haha. Amma is really amazing. She is a living saint. they call her the Hugging saint. She has hugged millions of people. She builds hospitals, tsunami relief housing and helps soo many people. She lives her life just loving everyone. I know it doesn't sound like a big deal, but can you imagine spending everyday of your life hugging and serving those around you. I cant even do her justice with my description, look here up.
From there we took a boat on the backwaters. It was amazing. We arrived in allopy and then the next day bused up to Perriyar Tiger Sactuary. No, we didn't see any tigers :(. But the landscape was lovely. A few days there, then we bused again to Kodai Kanal in the western Ghat mountains. We stayed an hour out of Kodai in a picturesque terraced landscape. We were at about 7000 feet elevation so it was pretty cold. We all slept in this shack overlooking the terraced farms of carrots and beans and I don't know what else. We hiked to a waterfall on our second day, and most of us got killer sunburns. It was the first time we had worn tank tops (shoulders are pretty scandalous in India) and the elevation plus our pasty blades didn't add up well. Our Amma Vasanta was a great cook, and we had camp fires every night. Frederick and his son Hero were our hosts. Frederick is basically the original pioneer of Auroville. He arrived in 1966 to see the Mother in Pondi, and he never left. He joins my list of certified bad-ass Aurovillians. 73 and still doing his thing. He has some amazing stories, as does his son. Our third day there we picked out spots in the forest to do our solo and then day four, we headed out, each with matches, some warm gear, and water. My spot was great. I was on the edge of a meadow (it reminded me of the meadow where we watered horses up at elk camp (bear spring meadow?) to give some of you a feel for it). So yeah, our solos were a time for us to be completely alone, no distractions, to think about... everything. Everyone should do this. 2 days at least but I think 3 would be better. It was so cool. 2 days of no talking, not seeing another human, no food, no books or tv. Its weird the things you think about. So after that, we all met back up at camp. two more fantastic days, and then back on the bus to go back to Auroville. The ride was crazy. going from 50ish degrees back down to 110+ degrees is ridiculous. We got back about 10 pm. Everyone was so excited to take showers. hahaha. 8 days of dirtiness is too much for some people, but most of you know I have low standards.
So now we have another week of classes, then two weeks of community stay, and then our final week. Only a month left, wow.
(pictures soon I hope)
xo
Saturday, March 14, 2009
In India
Hi everyone! I know I haven't been keeping this updated at all. Sorry, but its so busy here all the time, and I don't have much computer access. And it's a pretty busy right now, so sadly this entry is going to be short and no pictures...
We've been having a great time over here! The weather is getting pretty hot. A few days ago there was a reverse monsoon, since it was heating up too fast there was too much moisture in the air and there was a huge thunder storm. It was so amazing because we hadn't seen rain in over 2 months.
For the last month our schedule has basically been wake up at 6, do an hour of Yoga and 45 minutes of meditation, then breakfast at 8. Then we all go off to our seperate jobs from 9-1 and then lunch and from 2-5:30ish we have group activities or seminars or something, Then Dinner at 6:30 and sometimes more activites in the evening. Busy, Busy, Busy! I've been working at a nearby farm called Windarra. It's been so fun (and really sweaty)! I was working with 7 Tamil people and 1 german guy. The farm is based off of Rudolph Steiners biodynamic agriculture principles. Basically its an organic farm that functions as a system, trying not to require any outside imputs, and things like the moon phases, earth rotation, planetary positions are taken into account for the actions of the farm. Its really interesting and it seems to work really well! (Dad, you might want to think about it... I'll school you when I get home). I got along really well with the workers. They took me to a local festival and invited me to meals at their houses. At one point I'm pretty sure they were trying to set up a marriage between me and one of their sons. Kind of awkward, but I've really mastered being awkward since I've been here. hahaha. I am done working there now. We are leaving tonight for three weeks of travel, mostly in Kerala. We are going first to an Ashram where we will be doing a yoga bootcamp! We have an 8 day regimented program. Each day we have 4 hours of yoga class, 2 hours of meditation and in between we have lectures and service work and 2 meals a day. hahaha! I'm surprisingly excited for this! Its going to be so intense. They have a very strict dress code and lots of rules including: no onions, eggs, or garlic, no non-spiritual reading materials, no hugging in public, no talking during meals or class times, etc... It'll be quite an experience. After the ashram we are taking a ferry through the backwaters and going to a wildlife reserve. We are also camping in Kodai and going to AmmaChis ashram.
Auroville in general has been really... interesting. I go through phases of love and hate. This place is amazing, contradictory, confusing, odd, intriguing, and so many more adjectives. Theres are so many great things being done here, and I am constatly meeting unbelievable people. Much of my lifestyle is being questioned while I'm here, which is good, but can be pretty upsetting at the same time.
Well, thats all I have time for right now, but I will update when we are back from travel.
Hope everyone at home is doing great!
xo
We've been having a great time over here! The weather is getting pretty hot. A few days ago there was a reverse monsoon, since it was heating up too fast there was too much moisture in the air and there was a huge thunder storm. It was so amazing because we hadn't seen rain in over 2 months.
For the last month our schedule has basically been wake up at 6, do an hour of Yoga and 45 minutes of meditation, then breakfast at 8. Then we all go off to our seperate jobs from 9-1 and then lunch and from 2-5:30ish we have group activities or seminars or something, Then Dinner at 6:30 and sometimes more activites in the evening. Busy, Busy, Busy! I've been working at a nearby farm called Windarra. It's been so fun (and really sweaty)! I was working with 7 Tamil people and 1 german guy. The farm is based off of Rudolph Steiners biodynamic agriculture principles. Basically its an organic farm that functions as a system, trying not to require any outside imputs, and things like the moon phases, earth rotation, planetary positions are taken into account for the actions of the farm. Its really interesting and it seems to work really well! (Dad, you might want to think about it... I'll school you when I get home). I got along really well with the workers. They took me to a local festival and invited me to meals at their houses. At one point I'm pretty sure they were trying to set up a marriage between me and one of their sons. Kind of awkward, but I've really mastered being awkward since I've been here. hahaha. I am done working there now. We are leaving tonight for three weeks of travel, mostly in Kerala. We are going first to an Ashram where we will be doing a yoga bootcamp! We have an 8 day regimented program. Each day we have 4 hours of yoga class, 2 hours of meditation and in between we have lectures and service work and 2 meals a day. hahaha! I'm surprisingly excited for this! Its going to be so intense. They have a very strict dress code and lots of rules including: no onions, eggs, or garlic, no non-spiritual reading materials, no hugging in public, no talking during meals or class times, etc... It'll be quite an experience. After the ashram we are taking a ferry through the backwaters and going to a wildlife reserve. We are also camping in Kodai and going to AmmaChis ashram.
Auroville in general has been really... interesting. I go through phases of love and hate. This place is amazing, contradictory, confusing, odd, intriguing, and so many more adjectives. Theres are so many great things being done here, and I am constatly meeting unbelievable people. Much of my lifestyle is being questioned while I'm here, which is good, but can be pretty upsetting at the same time.
Well, thats all I have time for right now, but I will update when we are back from travel.
Hope everyone at home is doing great!
xo
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Vannakum!
Ok ok ok, wow this blog thing is a lot of work to keep up! this is gonna be a long one... Our time on Koh Yao Noi was awesome. Its a pretty big island in the middle of Phang Nga bay, but it is not very touristed at all, for now that is... The Locals are fantastic, since they have not yet 
gotten into the business of taking advantage of tourists. On the ferry boat through the bay they let us sit out on the front and take in the beautiful view. We passed a Muslim fishing village which was built over the water, and we also saw the "James Bond" rock from The Man with the Golden Gun. After setteling in at Sabai Corner we walked around a bit and proceded to play cards and drink the rest of our sketchy Thai Whiskey. We hung out on the beach for quite a while, and a few b
ottles later we decided it was bedtime, however it was already way past bedtime for Kendra... haha, we carried her part way down the beach and then these Thai boys came up to us and carried her for a while (until she was violent that is) and then I piggie backed her the rest of the way... hahaha funniest night ever, and the pathetic part is we were in bed by 9.
One of the best parts of our stay was when we were walking and an old man from the ferry boat recognized us and invited us to ride on his motorcycle with him (it had a kind of side car attachment) into town. He didn't know any English and all we could say was "khap khun kha" (thankyou). With all our extra weight his poor little bike would only go about 7mph, but it was so fun! all the people we passed would laugh and wave, and many of the passing motorists would slow to chat with the old man about who knows what, but it often ended in laughter and we assumed they were joking about us... Eventually we motioned for him to drop us off since we didn't want too long a walk back. We ate some food, and the timing worked out perfectly because as we left our friend was driving back as well, so we caught another ride! The next day when we were shopping for food for our kayaking trip we ran into him again, and of course he offered us a ride but we had more shopping to do. What a nice guy! So yeah, we bought lots of food at the local market, rice, potatoes, carrots, oranges, and so on. Kendra bought a sarong, it has just about every color on it, I wish I had a picture to post so you could see how "attractive" it is... haha sorry Kendra! But even better Kelly bought a hat that said "hip hop". Yeah, she would...
We met up with Kitty and Zach the next day and got everything in line for our trip. They were so great, He is Thai and she is from Scotland. We packed our kayaks and were off. That first day of paddleing was Hell! As soon as we got out of the bay the wind picked up. After a solid 6 hours of struggle, we finally got to Kudu, a little island north of Yao Noi. We ended up setting up camp in this beautiful little cove, almost completely closed off from the ocean. When the Tide was out, the whole bottom was covered in coral. Sadly, we arrived at low tide and so had to pack all our gear across the coral. That night sucked. My arms were completely dead, and my elbows and hands could hardly bend, and on top of that I was soo sunburnt! I was not a happy camper, litteraly. The next morning was a little better. Our original plan was to kayak to Ko Mak, but based on the status of my elbows we decided to take it easy. We paddled to Ko Roi and explored a cave lagoon thing. We camped in the same place that night. We had a great campfire and made some dinner and went to sleep. That night I woke up and looked outside (I might be psychic) and our kayaks weren't on shore anymore. It was the full moon that night and the tide rose more than we expected. So anyways I was like "Oh shit" and ran out to see if our kayaks were still there. they were floating nearby (thank God) but a bunch of our stuff was being washed out to sea. I woke up Kelly and Kendra and grabed my head lamp. We waded around in the ocean grabbing the
loose items, all the while being attacked by fire ants who were apparently suprised by the tide as well. Luckily we managed to retrieve most our things, my swim top was the only lost thing, and even more luckily, I found a swim suit hanging in a coconut tree that fits pretty well! The next morning we saw a bunch of monkeys and also some hornbills attacking each other. We planned to paddle to Koh Hong, but the ocean was way to choppy and at some points the waves were completely covereing our kayaks so we camped on the east side of Yao Noi. It worked out great, our beach was amazing. We set up our hammocks and made a nice fire. We also made friends with a local stray dog.
Okay I'm gonna try to speed this thing along, sorry if I leave out too much...
So after returning kayaks and cleaning up at Coconut Corner we took a ferry over to Krabi. On the ferry we ran into a this girl who had seen us when we first returned from our kayak trip and had said how "hardcore" we were (which made my day!). It was pretty funny. We got a ride into town with this guy who was telling us about all the crazy drivers there were and how dangerous it is, all the while speeding around blind corners. We took a longtail boat to Tosai beach, where Kitty reccomended we go. It was absolutely fantastic. Apparently its the Mecca for rock climbers and so the beaches are covered with hunky tan rock climber boys. Its also a major hippie hang out, which coincides which the rockclimber thing, and so most of the beach front bars are named things like "the chill out bar" and are filled with rasta decor. Our first night there we watched a fire dancing show and were then given the practice balls to try it for our selves. Kendra was the brave one and actually did the fire dance! It was awesome. Props. The next place we went to had a slack line in the middle of the bar. We met these really cool Austrian guys who taught me how to jump on the slack line. It was so crazy, I wish we had bars like that in Corvallis, haha. The next day we hiked over to Railey and went to the famous beach from the movie "The Beach" (ironic huh) The beach was amazing and the nearby caves were cool too, but it was way too crowded. We then climbed up the hillside to the viewpoint and to the lagoon. The hike was a lot more strenuous than expected, I felt like a mountain goat for most of it. That night Kelly and I got food poisoning and spent all night praising the porcelain god. We couldn't do anything the next day, which I guess isn't the worst thing to have to lay around on a beach all day. The next day we travelled back to the train station in Surat Thani. I said goodbye to Kelly and Kendra as they boarded their train to head north. As I waited for my train I was approached by this Thai guy who was really out of it. He talked to me for like an hour straight, I only understood about half of what he was saying but he was basically telling me his life story. Anyways, I was really glad to get on my train.
My cab driver in Kuala Lumpur was so interesting. Id noticed that the people weren't too fond of Americans so I told the driver that I was from Australia. And so we had a completely frank coversation about the USA and he basically said the Bush is so stupid and how could Americans allow their government to comit such crimes in a country where the people are supposed to rule. Luckily we didn't talk about Australian government, that would have been awkward. Besides politics we talked about education, religion, economics, and many other things (it was a long cab ride). It is the best conversation I've ever had with a complete stranger.
Anyways three cabs, two trains, and two plane rides later I finally arrived in India. It was a rocky start to say the least. My Debit card wouldn't work in the airport ATM and so I had no money, and my cab driver didn't understand what I was trying to tell him so he just kept driving around. The streets here are ablosutely insane by the way. I thought Thailand was nuts but it doesn't even compare. There are cows and goats wandering all over and random road blocks and things, I can't even describe it, just Yikes. So yeah, I was in the cab with no money, and I finally convinced the driver to let me use his cell phone. After a few tries I got a hold off this guy, Nitin, who I knew was hosting one of the girls, Andi, through Couchsurfing and so I let the driver talk to him to get directions for meeting up with them. I don't know what was said, just a lot of yelling and then he hung up the phone. A few second later the phone rang and then more yelling and then he handed me the phone and Nitin told me to get out of the cab right away, this guy is crazy! And then I put them back on the phone together to try to work things out and there was more yelling and another hang up. After some extremely awkward moments of silence I asked the driver if everything was okay? He said "shhh! I must do time to find calm." So we kept driving and eventually he said that everything was fine he knew where to go. I was a bit skeptical, but two hours later we parked in front of a little restaurant and Andi came out and payed for me and it all worked out great! (breathe Mom). So that night I couchsurfed at Nitins amazing beach house in south Chennai and the next morning we drove to Auroville to see the Dalai Lama speak in front of the Tibetan Pavillion. It was really amazing. He is so contagious. When he laughs his entire body laughs. And to my surprise he is really funny. He mostly talked about human unity. After that Andi and I went to meet up with Snehal, a local Aurovillian who is on couchsurfers. He's a really cool guy who is trying to set up a gift economy business. He has this little place with a kitchen and hang out area and seperate from that he has a loft thing. You can eat and cook whatever you want and stay at his place and then you can pay whatever you feel like or leave a gift behind. The next day we met up with three other girls and went into Pondi. We ate some extremely dodgy street food and walked around and then
all five of us squished in the back of a rickshaw and came back to Auroville. That night some of the puppies that were living below our loft were really sick and were making horrible sounds and by morning three had died. It was so horrible.... I took a picture of this one the morning before. Also that night, some rats got into my bag and chewed up all my granola bars, my lotion bottle, and they tried to get into malaria pills. Sneaky little bastards.
We met up with our faculty and took a bus to Mahabilapuram. We met up with the rest of the group and spent the next couple days exploring the city and doing ridiculous ice breakers to get to know each other. Everyone here is amazing. I was expecting everyone to be tye-dye wearing, kumbaya singing hippies. Theres a little of that but not nearly as much as Id thought. They split us into two cohorts and we are living in seperate places. We are living at the American Pavillion and the Tibetan Pavillion in the international zone of Auroville. Its pretty sweet. Im staying at Tibetan, which is where the Dalai Lama stayed, and he blessed all the rooms here. So far we've just been touring Auroville and having group discussions and stuff. We get up at 6 every morning and do Yoga, its so intense. This place really is amazing, I can't wait to explore more. It used to be a complete desert and then in the sixties this idea of Auroville arose and they began planting trees. Now it is covered in trees but I can't even imagine all the work it took to get it like this. I have a lot to say about Auroville, but I will hold that for another post, this one is becoming quite epic. As for me, I'm just getting over my second bout of food poisoning. Yesterday I went to the local health clinic with a temperature of 104. Today I'm feeling a lot better. I'd love to hear what everyone is up to at home, shoot me an email if you get a chance.
xo
gotten into the business of taking advantage of tourists. On the ferry boat through the bay they let us sit out on the front and take in the beautiful view. We passed a Muslim fishing village which was built over the water, and we also saw the "James Bond" rock from The Man with the Golden Gun. After setteling in at Sabai Corner we walked around a bit and proceded to play cards and drink the rest of our sketchy Thai Whiskey. We hung out on the beach for quite a while, and a few b
ottles later we decided it was bedtime, however it was already way past bedtime for Kendra... haha, we carried her part way down the beach and then these Thai boys came up to us and carried her for a while (until she was violent that is) and then I piggie backed her the rest of the way... hahaha funniest night ever, and the pathetic part is we were in bed by 9.One of the best parts of our stay was when we were walking and an old man from the ferry boat recognized us and invited us to ride on his motorcycle with him (it had a kind of side car attachment) into town. He didn't know any English and all we could say was "khap khun kha" (thankyou). With all our extra weight his poor little bike would only go about 7mph, but it was so fun! all the people we passed would laugh and wave, and many of the passing motorists would slow to chat with the old man about who knows what, but it often ended in laughter and we assumed they were joking about us... Eventually we motioned for him to drop us off since we didn't want too long a walk back. We ate some food, and the timing worked out perfectly because as we left our friend was driving back as well, so we caught another ride! The next day when we were shopping for food for our kayaking trip we ran into him again, and of course he offered us a ride but we had more shopping to do. What a nice guy! So yeah, we bought lots of food at the local market, rice, potatoes, carrots, oranges, and so on. Kendra bought a sarong, it has just about every color on it, I wish I had a picture to post so you could see how "attractive" it is... haha sorry Kendra! But even better Kelly bought a hat that said "hip hop". Yeah, she would...
We met up with Kitty and Zach the next day and got everything in line for our trip. They were so great, He is Thai and she is from Scotland. We packed our kayaks and were off. That first day of paddleing was Hell! As soon as we got out of the bay the wind picked up. After a solid 6 hours of struggle, we finally got to Kudu, a little island north of Yao Noi. We ended up setting up camp in this beautiful little cove, almost completely closed off from the ocean. When the Tide was out, the whole bottom was covered in coral. Sadly, we arrived at low tide and so had to pack all our gear across the coral. That night sucked. My arms were completely dead, and my elbows and hands could hardly bend, and on top of that I was soo sunburnt! I was not a happy camper, litteraly. The next morning was a little better. Our original plan was to kayak to Ko Mak, but based on the status of my elbows we decided to take it easy. We paddled to Ko Roi and explored a cave lagoon thing. We camped in the same place that night. We had a great campfire and made some dinner and went to sleep. That night I woke up and looked outside (I might be psychic) and our kayaks weren't on shore anymore. It was the full moon that night and the tide rose more than we expected. So anyways I was like "Oh shit" and ran out to see if our kayaks were still there. they were floating nearby (thank God) but a bunch of our stuff was being washed out to sea. I woke up Kelly and Kendra and grabed my head lamp. We waded around in the ocean grabbing the
loose items, all the while being attacked by fire ants who were apparently suprised by the tide as well. Luckily we managed to retrieve most our things, my swim top was the only lost thing, and even more luckily, I found a swim suit hanging in a coconut tree that fits pretty well! The next morning we saw a bunch of monkeys and also some hornbills attacking each other. We planned to paddle to Koh Hong, but the ocean was way to choppy and at some points the waves were completely covereing our kayaks so we camped on the east side of Yao Noi. It worked out great, our beach was amazing. We set up our hammocks and made a nice fire. We also made friends with a local stray dog.Okay I'm gonna try to speed this thing along, sorry if I leave out too much...
So after returning kayaks and cleaning up at Coconut Corner we took a ferry over to Krabi. On the ferry we ran into a this girl who had seen us when we first returned from our kayak trip and had said how "hardcore" we were (which made my day!). It was pretty funny. We got a ride into town with this guy who was telling us about all the crazy drivers there were and how dangerous it is, all the while speeding around blind corners. We took a longtail boat to Tosai beach, where Kitty reccomended we go. It was absolutely fantastic. Apparently its the Mecca for rock climbers and so the beaches are covered with hunky tan rock climber boys. Its also a major hippie hang out, which coincides which the rockclimber thing, and so most of the beach front bars are named things like "the chill out bar" and are filled with rasta decor. Our first night there we watched a fire dancing show and were then given the practice balls to try it for our selves. Kendra was the brave one and actually did the fire dance! It was awesome. Props. The next place we went to had a slack line in the middle of the bar. We met these really cool Austrian guys who taught me how to jump on the slack line. It was so crazy, I wish we had bars like that in Corvallis, haha. The next day we hiked over to Railey and went to the famous beach from the movie "The Beach" (ironic huh) The beach was amazing and the nearby caves were cool too, but it was way too crowded. We then climbed up the hillside to the viewpoint and to the lagoon. The hike was a lot more strenuous than expected, I felt like a mountain goat for most of it. That night Kelly and I got food poisoning and spent all night praising the porcelain god. We couldn't do anything the next day, which I guess isn't the worst thing to have to lay around on a beach all day. The next day we travelled back to the train station in Surat Thani. I said goodbye to Kelly and Kendra as they boarded their train to head north. As I waited for my train I was approached by this Thai guy who was really out of it. He talked to me for like an hour straight, I only understood about half of what he was saying but he was basically telling me his life story. Anyways, I was really glad to get on my train.
My cab driver in Kuala Lumpur was so interesting. Id noticed that the people weren't too fond of Americans so I told the driver that I was from Australia. And so we had a completely frank coversation about the USA and he basically said the Bush is so stupid and how could Americans allow their government to comit such crimes in a country where the people are supposed to rule. Luckily we didn't talk about Australian government, that would have been awkward. Besides politics we talked about education, religion, economics, and many other things (it was a long cab ride). It is the best conversation I've ever had with a complete stranger.
Anyways three cabs, two trains, and two plane rides later I finally arrived in India. It was a rocky start to say the least. My Debit card wouldn't work in the airport ATM and so I had no money, and my cab driver didn't understand what I was trying to tell him so he just kept driving around. The streets here are ablosutely insane by the way. I thought Thailand was nuts but it doesn't even compare. There are cows and goats wandering all over and random road blocks and things, I can't even describe it, just Yikes. So yeah, I was in the cab with no money, and I finally convinced the driver to let me use his cell phone. After a few tries I got a hold off this guy, Nitin, who I knew was hosting one of the girls, Andi, through Couchsurfing and so I let the driver talk to him to get directions for meeting up with them. I don't know what was said, just a lot of yelling and then he hung up the phone. A few second later the phone rang and then more yelling and then he handed me the phone and Nitin told me to get out of the cab right away, this guy is crazy! And then I put them back on the phone together to try to work things out and there was more yelling and another hang up. After some extremely awkward moments of silence I asked the driver if everything was okay? He said "shhh! I must do time to find calm." So we kept driving and eventually he said that everything was fine he knew where to go. I was a bit skeptical, but two hours later we parked in front of a little restaurant and Andi came out and payed for me and it all worked out great! (breathe Mom). So that night I couchsurfed at Nitins amazing beach house in south Chennai and the next morning we drove to Auroville to see the Dalai Lama speak in front of the Tibetan Pavillion. It was really amazing. He is so contagious. When he laughs his entire body laughs. And to my surprise he is really funny. He mostly talked about human unity. After that Andi and I went to meet up with Snehal, a local Aurovillian who is on couchsurfers. He's a really cool guy who is trying to set up a gift economy business. He has this little place with a kitchen and hang out area and seperate from that he has a loft thing. You can eat and cook whatever you want and stay at his place and then you can pay whatever you feel like or leave a gift behind. The next day we met up with three other girls and went into Pondi. We ate some extremely dodgy street food and walked around and then
all five of us squished in the back of a rickshaw and came back to Auroville. That night some of the puppies that were living below our loft were really sick and were making horrible sounds and by morning three had died. It was so horrible.... I took a picture of this one the morning before. Also that night, some rats got into my bag and chewed up all my granola bars, my lotion bottle, and they tried to get into malaria pills. Sneaky little bastards.We met up with our faculty and took a bus to Mahabilapuram. We met up with the rest of the group and spent the next couple days exploring the city and doing ridiculous ice breakers to get to know each other. Everyone here is amazing. I was expecting everyone to be tye-dye wearing, kumbaya singing hippies. Theres a little of that but not nearly as much as Id thought. They split us into two cohorts and we are living in seperate places. We are living at the American Pavillion and the Tibetan Pavillion in the international zone of Auroville. Its pretty sweet. Im staying at Tibetan, which is where the Dalai Lama stayed, and he blessed all the rooms here. So far we've just been touring Auroville and having group discussions and stuff. We get up at 6 every morning and do Yoga, its so intense. This place really is amazing, I can't wait to explore more. It used to be a complete desert and then in the sixties this idea of Auroville arose and they began planting trees. Now it is covered in trees but I can't even imagine all the work it took to get it like this. I have a lot to say about Auroville, but I will hold that for another post, this one is becoming quite epic. As for me, I'm just getting over my second bout of food poisoning. Yesterday I went to the local health clinic with a temperature of 104. Today I'm feeling a lot better. I'd love to hear what everyone is up to at home, shoot me an email if you get a chance.
xo
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Gettin out of the City
We are now in Phang Na, but I'll back track a bit first. We looked around Bangkok some more after we packed up the morning of the 4th. We took our first tuk-tuk ride to a nearby Wat (temple type thing). Tuk-tuks are known for ripping off tourist, and we
were no exception, but the experince is worth it. They whiz around like little go-karts, racing between cars. We walked up the hill to the Wat and got a 360 view of Bangkok. It is Huge, I knew it was big, but wow! Skyscrapers in every direction. Then we walked a few blocks to where they make monk bowls. Imediatly we were harangued into the regular "Hallo, Hallo, Come, I show you, very nice, You buy?" We followed an old man through some alleys (a bit sketchy) but it was really interesting to see the living conditions of the locals. Next we went to check out The big mall downtown, it has 7 floors. We had lunch at a restaurant that was full of thai people, so figured it was good. We were pretty disappointed as we sifted through the crab shells and porkrines, and basically just picked out the peanuts and noodles. After that we headed for the train station. On our walk out we were flagged over to what were apparently some Thai radio of TV stars and they were advertising Pepsi, so we may be on some Thai commercials or something, Ha Ha, yeah we're a pretty big deal... Eventually we made it to the train station. We had an hour to kill so we just sat on the floor like everyone else, and when the clock hit 6 o'clock the Thai national Anthem (i think that's what it was) started playing on the loudspeakers and everyone in the station stood up and faced the mural of the King. Have I mentioned how much the Thai people Love their King! There are posters of him everywhere! It's kind of funny to imagine the US loving our president that much. How wierd would that be for every household to have a picture of Bush on the mantle. We boarded our train around 7:30. We sat there waiting for about 2 hours and then finally we left. The 13 hour ride was pretty close to miserable. Since we were in 3rd class we had bench seats and it was impossible to get comfortable.
We took a bus from Surat Thani to Khoa Sok where we booked our bungalow hut thing, it had an amazing view and was surrounded by the sounds of the rainforest. We also got an hour long thai massage, pretty awesome for $7. Khoa Sok National park is the biggest rain forest in Thailand, and has a huge lake. We took a tour of the lake, which was beautifully bordered with limestone cliffs, and had a tour of some nearby caves. Our guide Po (spelling?) was like the real Moguely from the Jungle Book. He swung around on vines and made gibbon and sacaida calls. The caves were amazing, and there were absolutely no safety precautions, which made even better. We followed a stream down into a crack in the cliff with nothing but our headlamps. Walking along we saw some awesome rock formations and bats that covered the
ceiling. There big frogs in there too, the picture is of "budda frog", he's playing dead. In one stretch Po stopped to show us a Huge spider and the ground was crawling with crickets... ugh! That was my least favorite part, but the best part was when we climbed down into the stream and had to swim across, so fun! We hiked through the jungle back to the boat. Our ride back to the bungalows was in some guys truck. He didn't really speak english so it was fun. I was resereved shotgun, i don't know why? It was really funny actually. there were six people sitting in the bed and four squeezed in the back seat and Kendra went to sit in front and the guide stopped her and motioned me to sit there, wierd? Anyways, the guys truck was really nice, and it had a screen on the radio that showed the words to the song (like karoke) so all of us were singing along and the driver thought it was the funniest thing ever. Then the people in the back knocked on the window and so we stopped at the 7-11 (they're everywhere) to buy beer and snacks (which made the karoke even funner). We knew our bungalow people were annoyed with us since we didn't book our tour through them, and these suspitions were solidified when our dinner meal of green curry arrived extra extra spicey! It is probably the hottest meal I've ever eatten, and it burned on the way out too... TMI. Anyways the next day we did our own hike in the jungle to some waterfalls, it was really nice, but I was sweating buckets. Then we retrieved our backpacks and walked out to catch the local bus to Phang Na.
Wow, this post is getting long... Well, last night we stayed at a hotel in Phang Na for $2! So Amazing! Our standards have sure adapted to the Thai dollar. Now we're like "$6 hotel, pshh, we can get it for 2, and $1 pad thai, thats outragous, lets walk down the street and get it for 60 cents!" hahaha, gotta love it! This afternoon we are catching a boat over to Koh Yao Noi where we're going to rent kayaks and paddle around the bay and camp on little islands and stuff. Should be awesome!
Hope everyone at home is doing well!
xo
were no exception, but the experince is worth it. They whiz around like little go-karts, racing between cars. We walked up the hill to the Wat and got a 360 view of Bangkok. It is Huge, I knew it was big, but wow! Skyscrapers in every direction. Then we walked a few blocks to where they make monk bowls. Imediatly we were harangued into the regular "Hallo, Hallo, Come, I show you, very nice, You buy?" We followed an old man through some alleys (a bit sketchy) but it was really interesting to see the living conditions of the locals. Next we went to check out The big mall downtown, it has 7 floors. We had lunch at a restaurant that was full of thai people, so figured it was good. We were pretty disappointed as we sifted through the crab shells and porkrines, and basically just picked out the peanuts and noodles. After that we headed for the train station. On our walk out we were flagged over to what were apparently some Thai radio of TV stars and they were advertising Pepsi, so we may be on some Thai commercials or something, Ha Ha, yeah we're a pretty big deal... Eventually we made it to the train station. We had an hour to kill so we just sat on the floor like everyone else, and when the clock hit 6 o'clock the Thai national Anthem (i think that's what it was) started playing on the loudspeakers and everyone in the station stood up and faced the mural of the King. Have I mentioned how much the Thai people Love their King! There are posters of him everywhere! It's kind of funny to imagine the US loving our president that much. How wierd would that be for every household to have a picture of Bush on the mantle. We boarded our train around 7:30. We sat there waiting for about 2 hours and then finally we left. The 13 hour ride was pretty close to miserable. Since we were in 3rd class we had bench seats and it was impossible to get comfortable.We took a bus from Surat Thani to Khoa Sok where we booked our bungalow hut thing, it had an amazing view and was surrounded by the sounds of the rainforest. We also got an hour long thai massage, pretty awesome for $7. Khoa Sok National park is the biggest rain forest in Thailand, and has a huge lake. We took a tour of the lake, which was beautifully bordered with limestone cliffs, and had a tour of some nearby caves. Our guide Po (spelling?) was like the real Moguely from the Jungle Book. He swung around on vines and made gibbon and sacaida calls. The caves were amazing, and there were absolutely no safety precautions, which made even better. We followed a stream down into a crack in the cliff with nothing but our headlamps. Walking along we saw some awesome rock formations and bats that covered the
ceiling. There big frogs in there too, the picture is of "budda frog", he's playing dead. In one stretch Po stopped to show us a Huge spider and the ground was crawling with crickets... ugh! That was my least favorite part, but the best part was when we climbed down into the stream and had to swim across, so fun! We hiked through the jungle back to the boat. Our ride back to the bungalows was in some guys truck. He didn't really speak english so it was fun. I was resereved shotgun, i don't know why? It was really funny actually. there were six people sitting in the bed and four squeezed in the back seat and Kendra went to sit in front and the guide stopped her and motioned me to sit there, wierd? Anyways, the guys truck was really nice, and it had a screen on the radio that showed the words to the song (like karoke) so all of us were singing along and the driver thought it was the funniest thing ever. Then the people in the back knocked on the window and so we stopped at the 7-11 (they're everywhere) to buy beer and snacks (which made the karoke even funner). We knew our bungalow people were annoyed with us since we didn't book our tour through them, and these suspitions were solidified when our dinner meal of green curry arrived extra extra spicey! It is probably the hottest meal I've ever eatten, and it burned on the way out too... TMI. Anyways the next day we did our own hike in the jungle to some waterfalls, it was really nice, but I was sweating buckets. Then we retrieved our backpacks and walked out to catch the local bus to Phang Na.Wow, this post is getting long... Well, last night we stayed at a hotel in Phang Na for $2! So Amazing! Our standards have sure adapted to the Thai dollar. Now we're like "$6 hotel, pshh, we can get it for 2, and $1 pad thai, thats outragous, lets walk down the street and get it for 60 cents!" hahaha, gotta love it! This afternoon we are catching a boat over to Koh Yao Noi where we're going to rent kayaks and paddle around the bay and camp on little islands and stuff. Should be awesome!
Hope everyone at home is doing well!
xo
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Curry, ladyboys and tuk-tuks
Wow, so this is my belated first post. It's been a crazy couple of days. Our trip started out quite ominously. First of all, Kelly lost her passport the day before we were planning to drive up to Seattle (not too surprising for her), so we had to book it up there and get her a replacement. Then the dog ran off (which has never happened before), and then on the freeway we encountered a flying mattress (literally) which we ended up driving over at 70mph... fun stuff.
But all said and done, we've made it here safe. The plane rides were good, 12 hours form Seattle to Incheon and then 6 hours to Bangkok. Kelly, for God knows why, chose the Kosher meal option. So everytime they were serving food they first had to bring it to her so she could open the packaging for inspection and approval. Yeah, she would. This will be our second night in Bangkok. The first night worked out great, we met a few people in the airport and all shared a van into the city. The driver taught us some Thai phrases, and also let us know how happy the Thai people are about Americas future with Barrack Obama! We rented a room just off Khoa san for 430THB ~$4 a person... pretty cheap for a private room with bathroom. After dropping off our bags we headed out to Khoa san for some food and drink. We got some amazing pad thai for about 60 cents (haven't gotten sick from street food yet...) and tested out the local thai beer selection. Then finally, about 4:30 am headed for bed.
This morning we had some fruit and green curry for breakfast and then got a cab to drop of Kelly and Kendras body bag at a storage unit. By the way, streets here are insane! It's kind of similar to Moroccan traffic, cars, bikes, motorcycles and buses all over the place cutting each other off and going as fast as they can to make a red light... and apparently it's completely legal, yet spitting in the street can get you arrested, makes sense eh. Then we got a little lost searching for the metro, finally ended up on the sky tram to check out the weekend market. The Market was Massive! You can buy anything there. You could easily spend a day walking around and not have time to see it all. We didn't buy much, since we don't want to pack it around. But, I did try out some fried grasshoppers!
Can't say I'm a fan. Got Kelly to try them too (picture), but Kendra refused! Oh, hahaha and we ended up wandering into the pet area of the market and they had squirrels for sale! so random. After that we took the subway to the train station. We bought out tickets for tomorrows night train to Surat Thani. The 1st and 2nd class tickets were all completely sold out so we ended up buying 3rd class... lol, Kendra is going to hate me for this decision. It will be a 13 hour overnight ride on wooden benches. Should be pretty fun right!
After that we got lost again, and according to the locals expressions we were not supposed to be where we were. But eventually we made it out to the river and we hopped on a boat to chinatown. We bought some oranges and wandered around for a while. Then we got a cab back here for dinner (more pad thai). Now we are exhausted and cant wait for bed. I think we've gotten about 7 hours of sleep in the last few days... so on that note, goodnight.
xo
But all said and done, we've made it here safe. The plane rides were good, 12 hours form Seattle to Incheon and then 6 hours to Bangkok. Kelly, for God knows why, chose the Kosher meal option. So everytime they were serving food they first had to bring it to her so she could open the packaging for inspection and approval. Yeah, she would. This will be our second night in Bangkok. The first night worked out great, we met a few people in the airport and all shared a van into the city. The driver taught us some Thai phrases, and also let us know how happy the Thai people are about Americas future with Barrack Obama! We rented a room just off Khoa san for 430THB ~$4 a person... pretty cheap for a private room with bathroom. After dropping off our bags we headed out to Khoa san for some food and drink. We got some amazing pad thai for about 60 cents (haven't gotten sick from street food yet...) and tested out the local thai beer selection. Then finally, about 4:30 am headed for bed.
This morning we had some fruit and green curry for breakfast and then got a cab to drop of Kelly and Kendras body bag at a storage unit. By the way, streets here are insane! It's kind of similar to Moroccan traffic, cars, bikes, motorcycles and buses all over the place cutting each other off and going as fast as they can to make a red light... and apparently it's completely legal, yet spitting in the street can get you arrested, makes sense eh. Then we got a little lost searching for the metro, finally ended up on the sky tram to check out the weekend market. The Market was Massive! You can buy anything there. You could easily spend a day walking around and not have time to see it all. We didn't buy much, since we don't want to pack it around. But, I did try out some fried grasshoppers!
Can't say I'm a fan. Got Kelly to try them too (picture), but Kendra refused! Oh, hahaha and we ended up wandering into the pet area of the market and they had squirrels for sale! so random. After that we took the subway to the train station. We bought out tickets for tomorrows night train to Surat Thani. The 1st and 2nd class tickets were all completely sold out so we ended up buying 3rd class... lol, Kendra is going to hate me for this decision. It will be a 13 hour overnight ride on wooden benches. Should be pretty fun right!After that we got lost again, and according to the locals expressions we were not supposed to be where we were. But eventually we made it out to the river and we hopped on a boat to chinatown. We bought some oranges and wandered around for a while. Then we got a cab back here for dinner (more pad thai). Now we are exhausted and cant wait for bed. I think we've gotten about 7 hours of sleep in the last few days... so on that note, goodnight.
xo
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