I haven't written in a long time, but I have a good excuse... I've fallen in love. A few of the things I've fallen in love with are Pokhara, monsoons, and a Kashmiri scarf salesman.
Before you freak out, mom, it's really not so bad. I've decided against moving to Asia and becoming an elegant Kashmiri housewife.
So, here's the story: Long, long ago in a land that's now far, far away (I'm in Malaysia now) I was trekking through some Himalayas. On this trek, I met a crazy old English army man named Phil. Phil (like most travelers in Nepal) had come to Nepal on some kind of self-discovery journey. Whatever it was that Phil had set out to discover about himself, he figured it out in Pokhara. So, as long as I knew him, Phil went on about how beautiful Pokhara is saying that "Pokhara is a place to be in love." Naturally, I got very excited to go to Pokhara. So, I cut my trek short by 2 weeks, promising myself that I would continue trekking after just a short rest in Pokhara.
And then... I spent the best 2 weeks of my life in Pokhara. If it were my choice, I wouldn't have left. I tried desperately to postpone my flight to Malaysia. Unfortunately, things in Nepal don't run very smoothly, and there's basically nothing I can do. Sigh.
Anyway, back to the story: After many long days of walking in the mountains, I was mentally and physically exhausted. So, I went to a yoga/meditation retreat up in the hills outside of Pokhara. This is me taking a steam bath there.
This is the hotel I stayed at during the retreat. It was a beautiful place with a nice garden and an amazing view of the city. When you're living in a place like this, there's no way not to feel excited and refreshed every morning.
This is the view from my bedroom window.
This is where we did yoga, meditation, breathing exercises, and chanting every day. The program was pretty ridiculous. I learned how to pour water in one nostril and watch it flow out the other. After pouring water up your nose, you flap your arms like a really angry chicken and exhale forcefully. Then you meditate for a while, repeating "so hum" over and over. After that, we all get drums and bells and sing some songs in Sanskrit. My favorite one goes like this:
Om Bhurbhuwashwa
Tatsa Vitur Varenyama
Bhargo Devashya Dhilmahi
Dhiyo Yona Prachodayat
It means "we meditate on Ishwara's glory, who has created the universe, who is the embodiment of knowledge and light, who is the remover of all sins and ignorance. May he enlighten our intellects." The idea is that you sing this over and over until you're in a trace-like meditative state. It's actually really fun - it was my favorite part of the whole retreat. Of course, we also did yoga, took steam and mud baths, went on nature walks, and ate really good food.
This is the view of Pokhara. Unfortunately, it was a little bit cloudy when I took this picture. When it's clear, you can see Himalayas in the background.
This is us doing Karma yoga. Karma yoga is where you do repetitive household tasks in a meditative way.
At the retreat, I met some great people named Caroline (from Austria), Pierre (from France), and Marieka (from Holland). After 4 days of questionable yoga, we went back into the city together. Pokhara is wonderful - I made so many new friends, and lots of my old friends from Kathmandu randomly showed up in town. I spent most of my days sitting by the lake and chatting with strangers. That might sound kind of boring, but I learned so much from all the people I met, and I wouldn't trade my lazy days in Pokhara for anything.
I lived with Caroline for another week in an area of Pokhara called Damside. And this is where the love story starts: Caroline had these shoes that I really liked, and she said that there's only one person in Pokhara that sells them. So, I went out to get these shoes. I found the shop where they were sold, and I stayed there for the rest of the day. The man who runs the shop is named Sahil, and he's a wonderful man with lots of great insights and opinions, so we ended up just sitting around and talking all day. Over the next week, he took me sightseeing all around Pokhara. We went hiking and boating at Bagnas Lake, out for tea and chocolate cake at nice little cafes, to some museums, caves, and waterfalls, and to the world peace pagoda.
This is me at the wold peace pagoda.
This is me and Sahil. I was really sad that I had to leave him in Pokhara, but there's good news! He's coming to Thailand in May and will stay with me in Chiang Mai for a month or so.
Anyway... Now, I'm in MALAYSIA! After a HORRIBLE flight experience from Kathmandu (Nepal) through Delhi (India) to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), I'm again thousands of miles away from anyone I know. In Delhi, I was sort of freaking out. I sat there for about 15 hours staring at the airport TV screens thinking "I have to get out of here. I could go to any of those places. Maybe Chicago? Time to go home?" Luckily, 4 am in Delhi meant that it was daytime back home, so I could be soothed by some conversations with mom, dad, and Diana. Also, I met these two guys (Mike and Will) who were having the same problem as me. They were both in the US military for some time and are now in film school. They had just been in Afghanistan to make a movie and were on their way to Bangkok to have a few drinks on their way home. Really great guys, and I look forward to seeing their movie - they say it'll be the next big thing.
Finally, I arrived in Kuala Lumpur (only 19 hours late!), and everything is WONDERFUL again. I remember arriving in Nepal - I was very scared. I felt lost, confused, exhausted, sick, and I really did want to go home. Arriving in Malaysia is different. This place is like California. There are palm tree lined boulevards with stop lights and street signs. There are McDonalds, KFC, and shopping malls. There's electricity and WIFI any time you want it. I even got to take a hot shower this morning! But the biggest thing about Malaysia that I've noticed is the people: Everyone is bubbly and happy and talks like they're singing a new kid's song for a daytime TV show. They're adorable. I originally had planned to stay in Kuala Lumpur for only a day, but I might stay for a few more just to relax before getting on the long train up north. There seems to be a lot to do here, though I've done none of it so far. So, on that note, I guess I'll go start exploring Malaysia :-)
Before you freak out, mom, it's really not so bad. I've decided against moving to Asia and becoming an elegant Kashmiri housewife.
So, here's the story: Long, long ago in a land that's now far, far away (I'm in Malaysia now) I was trekking through some Himalayas. On this trek, I met a crazy old English army man named Phil. Phil (like most travelers in Nepal) had come to Nepal on some kind of self-discovery journey. Whatever it was that Phil had set out to discover about himself, he figured it out in Pokhara. So, as long as I knew him, Phil went on about how beautiful Pokhara is saying that "Pokhara is a place to be in love." Naturally, I got very excited to go to Pokhara. So, I cut my trek short by 2 weeks, promising myself that I would continue trekking after just a short rest in Pokhara.
And then... I spent the best 2 weeks of my life in Pokhara. If it were my choice, I wouldn't have left. I tried desperately to postpone my flight to Malaysia. Unfortunately, things in Nepal don't run very smoothly, and there's basically nothing I can do. Sigh.
This is the hotel I stayed at during the retreat. It was a beautiful place with a nice garden and an amazing view of the city. When you're living in a place like this, there's no way not to feel excited and refreshed every morning.
This is the view from my bedroom window.
This is where we did yoga, meditation, breathing exercises, and chanting every day. The program was pretty ridiculous. I learned how to pour water in one nostril and watch it flow out the other. After pouring water up your nose, you flap your arms like a really angry chicken and exhale forcefully. Then you meditate for a while, repeating "so hum" over and over. After that, we all get drums and bells and sing some songs in Sanskrit. My favorite one goes like this:
Om Bhurbhuwashwa
Tatsa Vitur Varenyama
Bhargo Devashya Dhilmahi
Dhiyo Yona Prachodayat
It means "we meditate on Ishwara's glory, who has created the universe, who is the embodiment of knowledge and light, who is the remover of all sins and ignorance. May he enlighten our intellects." The idea is that you sing this over and over until you're in a trace-like meditative state. It's actually really fun - it was my favorite part of the whole retreat. Of course, we also did yoga, took steam and mud baths, went on nature walks, and ate really good food.
At the retreat, I met some great people named Caroline (from Austria), Pierre (from France), and Marieka (from Holland). After 4 days of questionable yoga, we went back into the city together. Pokhara is wonderful - I made so many new friends, and lots of my old friends from Kathmandu randomly showed up in town. I spent most of my days sitting by the lake and chatting with strangers. That might sound kind of boring, but I learned so much from all the people I met, and I wouldn't trade my lazy days in Pokhara for anything.
I lived with Caroline for another week in an area of Pokhara called Damside. And this is where the love story starts: Caroline had these shoes that I really liked, and she said that there's only one person in Pokhara that sells them. So, I went out to get these shoes. I found the shop where they were sold, and I stayed there for the rest of the day. The man who runs the shop is named Sahil, and he's a wonderful man with lots of great insights and opinions, so we ended up just sitting around and talking all day. Over the next week, he took me sightseeing all around Pokhara. We went hiking and boating at Bagnas Lake, out for tea and chocolate cake at nice little cafes, to some museums, caves, and waterfalls, and to the world peace pagoda.
This is me at the wold peace pagoda.
This is me and Sahil. I was really sad that I had to leave him in Pokhara, but there's good news! He's coming to Thailand in May and will stay with me in Chiang Mai for a month or so.
Anyway... Now, I'm in MALAYSIA! After a HORRIBLE flight experience from Kathmandu (Nepal) through Delhi (India) to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), I'm again thousands of miles away from anyone I know. In Delhi, I was sort of freaking out. I sat there for about 15 hours staring at the airport TV screens thinking "I have to get out of here. I could go to any of those places. Maybe Chicago? Time to go home?" Luckily, 4 am in Delhi meant that it was daytime back home, so I could be soothed by some conversations with mom, dad, and Diana. Also, I met these two guys (Mike and Will) who were having the same problem as me. They were both in the US military for some time and are now in film school. They had just been in Afghanistan to make a movie and were on their way to Bangkok to have a few drinks on their way home. Really great guys, and I look forward to seeing their movie - they say it'll be the next big thing.
Finally, I arrived in Kuala Lumpur (only 19 hours late!), and everything is WONDERFUL again. I remember arriving in Nepal - I was very scared. I felt lost, confused, exhausted, sick, and I really did want to go home. Arriving in Malaysia is different. This place is like California. There are palm tree lined boulevards with stop lights and street signs. There are McDonalds, KFC, and shopping malls. There's electricity and WIFI any time you want it. I even got to take a hot shower this morning! But the biggest thing about Malaysia that I've noticed is the people: Everyone is bubbly and happy and talks like they're singing a new kid's song for a daytime TV show. They're adorable. I originally had planned to stay in Kuala Lumpur for only a day, but I might stay for a few more just to relax before getting on the long train up north. There seems to be a lot to do here, though I've done none of it so far. So, on that note, I guess I'll go start exploring Malaysia :-)
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