Touring Athens

ATHENS June 21 - 24, 2009

We welcomed Athens with open arms, and the mood was reciprocated. After getting a cab with relative ease to our hotel, we were able to navigate the public transit (with assitance from our hotel desk clerk) to an area not far from the hotel where we had an amazing dinner with, as expected, excellent wine. We also realized that the 80s style is back in a big way, as evidenced from the hot pink tights this young woman was sporting.

Having been pretty spent from ferry-traveling, we retired early that night, and admittedly, did not figure out how to pay for the use of the bus until the next day.

On Monday (the 22nd) we tried without success to enter the new Acropolis Museum. Though it was officially open to the public, we needed advance Internet reservations, which we didn't have. Bummed but determined to enjoy the beautiful day, we headed over to the ancient Acropolis (which is the name of the ancient Greek city) to see the Parthenon (which is the temple).

We didn't take a guided tour of the Parthenon, but highlights were the Dionysus Theatre and the Herod Atticus Theature. I won't go into a lot of the history here, but instead will let some of the pix speak for themselves.

Goddesses I loved this.

Parthenon view.

Senor felt at home here.

Having our trusty guidebook, we tried to find the Temple of Zeus, but first wandered up a small trail to the Philopappou Monument. I cannot remember what greatness Philoppaou is known for, but the view of the Parthenon from his monument was pretty grand.

After trying, in vain, to get an employee at the Acropolis to guide us to Zeus' Temple, we wandered around in other areas known for their spectacular ruins and called the Ancient Agora (what we thought was Zeus' Temple most of the day from far away views). This was the heart of ancient Athens for years and years and where political gatherings, debate, elections, theatre, athletics, religious occasions, and trading took place. However, it was repeatedly plundered and destroyed over the years, and it was last excavated in the 19th century with more effort going into it beginning in 1931. Having a great lunch after leaving the Ancient Agora, complete with Mythos Beer, we continued our journey until we finally came upon yes, you guessed it, ZEUS' Temple!

Lib holla-ing at Zeus' Temple!

It wasn't nearly as rad as we had hoped, but it still was pretty great, and we also got to see Hadrian's Arch. From their we wandered in the beautiful National Gardens where we came upon some delightful old men playing chess and a wild turtle. Soon, we came to a road that we discovered was in front of the President's residence, and just as the Changing of the Guard was taking place. A small group of men were filming some sort of TV show of the process, but we never did figure out what that was about. Being a huge nerd, I needed a photo with the guard. I am pretty sure he hated me, and all others like me who pose for such photos.

After my photo opp, we made it to the original Olympic Stadium that was re-used in recent years.

By now though, it was time for happy hour where we made it to a delightfully decorated watering hole. After our drink though, I hit the wall, and wanted nothing more to rest up for the night, and we soon ventured back to the hotel.

With only two days left in Athens (and the last day of holiday for Lib) we took the day fairly easy, doing some shopping and of course sampling more great food. The highlight was an open-air concert at the Herodeion at the Acropolis which featured a classical music concert by Thanos Mikroutsikos and was part of the Athens & Epidaurus Festival. We did end up leaving before it was over, partly due to the fact we had been there for three hours and partly because we had our fill of entertainment by the extremely enthusiastic woman in front of us who was overprotective of her seat cushion and had a little too much love for Thanos.

It was sad to send Lib off in her taxi to the airport, but I was so happy to have spent the time traveling together and took such great memories away from our trip! I was also lucky enough to get into the Acropolis Museum my last day in Athens, and it was very impressive, featuring tons of Greek sculpture. Including this Half-Faced Man.

Athens was a great city, but in comparison to Istanbul it didn't hold quite the same allure to me. I did wish we would have had time to go to Marathon though, the city where Pheidippides, the man who was said to have run the entire distance from Marathon to Athens to declare that the Athenians had been victorious over the Persians in the Battle of Marathon, started his fateful journey (he died of exhaustion after relaying his message of victory). I was thinking, maybe it would make me faster in the half-marathon I had coming up in a few days.

The Turkey/Greece leg of my adventure was certainly full of surprises, happy memories, and tons of fun. All the same I was very excited to be heading to England to meet two friends I had met on my southern India tour and oh yes, run a half-marathon.

Onto England!

Journey to the center of the earth

Or rather, the center of Turkey and yes, that IS Constantinople
June 10th - 13th, 2009

From Istanbul, Libby and I took an overnight bus to Central Turkey. As you might imagine, overnight buses are not chock-full of amenities, but we reached the conclusion that it could have been worse, despite the lack of sleep. We had booked this leg of our trip through a travel agency in Istanbul, thus we had a tour guide for the day named Alli when we arrived in Cappadocia, and we turned out to be his only clients for the day; thus, a private tour.

Cappadocia is an area unlike anything else in the world; volcanic eruptions some 40 million years ago left the landscape of the region littered with thousands of rock formations which have been dubbed "fairy chimneys". I'll let the photo speak for itself:

Panoramic view of C-docia.

Fairy Chimney + Flowers = Fabulous.

A cluster of shroom-ish fairy chimneys.

The rock formations were multi-purpose: they lent themselves as cave homes and people lived in these all the way up to the 1960s; the caves also housed lots and lots of churches, of which we were able to see some beautiful paintings on the walls done over the past centuries; finally, the caves were also home to our feathered friends the messenger pigeons and you can still see the holes for the pigeon houses in many caves.

Pigeons in their house.

Alli drove us around the area and we also went to a large handmade pottery studio where I realized that, alas, pottery is not my calling, as you can perhaps discern here; I was told not to shift career tracks.

You want me to smoosh what?!?!

Later in the day, we visited Goreme which is a large open air museum featuring several cave churches. I met this fine gentleman there:

Who knew I would meet my fro-soulmate at Goreme?

However, it was scorching hot and Lib and I were dragging from bus, church, cave, and heat fatigue. Alli called us out on it when he pointed to a painting and said to me "Who did I say that was?" And I answered "Jesus". I mean, we were seeing like 80 churches, it had to be a good hunch.
Nope, Wrong Answer. Constantinople was the man. At that point, Jesus seemed close enough, and we just wanted to learn how to say "Best Meatball of my Life." Needless to say, after we asked him how to say that in Turkish, he brought us back to the hotel so we could nap.

Goreme!

Somehow, I had never heard of this region previously; however Budget Travel magazine had, as that night Alli took us to a neighboring village to a restaurant called "Old Greek House" (that's right, Old Greek House in Turkey; there is much Greek influence here) which was featured in BT magazine earlier this year.

After another great meal with excellent wine and lots more kofte, we got in Alli's car once again and traveled just out of the town to see a performance of the Whirling Dervishes at a nearby castle. The Whirling Dervishes perform traditional Turkish dance featuring all male dancers. Lib really enjoyed it, but after running around all day, I must admit to napping for a bit mid-dervish.

The next day, we ventured out early as we had something on the itinerary I was really looking forward to, as it was a first-time experience for me: a hot air balloon ride over the Cappadocia area. The pictures, again, can speak for themselves:

Ballooning it up, up, WAYYYY UP in Cappdocia

Notice I am extremely excited even afterwards when presented with my certificate of flight.

The best part of this photo is the dude on the left fixing his hair.

We continued another full day by seeing some more rock formations with a different guide, and getting accosted by a salesman that wrapped our head's in a turban like concoction (we did not buy one).

I like to accesorize, note the matching green travel shirt.

From there, we trekked through the Red Valley, taking in pigeon holes in the caves, more churches, and then we stumbled upon a man selling tea seemingly in the middle of nowhere, concluding that he has The Best Job in the World.


Our hike was cut short because we needed to meet another girl who was to join us in the afternoon, and so we headed off to have more kofte and meet her, and then drove to another small town which has an underground city which I think was called Meskendir. Despite my claustrophobic tendencies I handled the underground city OK, but preferred the outdoor, open-air activities. Before our tour day ended we caught a panoramic view of the valley and the Ortahisar Castle, and sampled some organic Turkish Viagra (almonds, corn nuts, you know, the usual).

Quite the pad

This man was only selling NATUREL Viagra.

After two packed days in Cappadocia we again headed off to catch another overnight bus the same night, this time to Pammakale. This overnight bus was a little more brutal, and despite my best efforts some of my B.A. was becoming exposed. However, later that day it had passed.

Pammakale is in Central Anatolia, known as the land of the rising sun. Ancient Greeks first settled here for about 200 years until an earthquake destroyed the city, then Romans came and made it a center for health and trade. There was a huge Roman amphitheatre there as well as natural hot springs we were able to bathe in (which was surprisingly pleasant even though it was hot out; no shower + an overnight bus = hot springs are awesome).

Roman Amphitheater. Drew quite the crowds back in the day.

The main draw to Pammukale though is to walk across this large area of limestone which is quite stark in comparison to the rest of the landscape and quite beautiful, though the barefoot walk is not like walking on shag carpet by any stretch of the imagination.

The barefoot journey in Pammakale.

This time our tour group was about 10 people, with a mix of Australians, Indonesians and a few others. We again had too much for lunch (on these tours most of the lunches were in large mess hall places with a generous buffet) and were again exhausted by the time our approximately 21 year old tour guide dropped us back at the hotel. Before another bus ride (this time an evening ride, not an overnighter) I was able to take a dip in the pool where we were storing our bags, which is always a pleasure. By the time we reached Kusadasi (a western Turkish city) that night, I was exhausted but looking forward to more sights the next day.

Stay tuned for a summary of a trip to the Virgin Mary's house and a Turkish Bath...

Bier Kofte Lutfen

One Meatball Please
June 6th - 13th

1979. The year of my birth.

2009. The year I turn 30.

Two milestones, if you will, for me. And since my current (mostly) Indian adventure is taking place during the year I bid my 20's goodbye, my close friend Libby and I had planned for quite some time to celebrate in style (she, too, will welcome her 30th year this August).

Thus, we decided to embark on an Excellent European Adventure of sorts. Initially planning to hit five countries, we narrowed our scope to just two: Turkey and Greece.

Our expedition launched in Istanbul, Turkey, where my friend Abdullah from my Indiana University days lives. A gracious host, Abdullah took us in and for four days showed us his city.

He resides on the Asia side of Istanbul, so we bounced around from Asia to Europe and back again more than a few times via ferry (and you could consume tea on the ferry, so it was all the better). It was once again so nice to feel like a visitor somewhere rather than simply a tourist, and the first day, after a delightful nap on his couch, we saw octopus, ate sardines, walked through the Taksim tourist area of the city, ate kofte (meatballs!) and picked up Libby at midnight from the airport.

Apo and I at about 2 a.m. trying to get a bus, a taxi, anything. Bright eyed all the way!

Having reunited with Lib in Istanbul of all places, we hit up many of the major must-sees the next day, going first to Topkapi Palace to see a centuries old Harem, the Spoonmaker's Diamond, an impressive throne room, and people reading the Koran for 24 hours straight inside, non-stop.

Me at my hang out.

We next headed to the Aya Sofia church that I believe used to be a mosque. From the photo you can get a small understanding of its beauty.

From Aya Sofia we went directly across the square to the Sultanahmat AKA the Blue Mosque which also was breathtaking, with hundreds of people filing in and out, we spent some time sitting outside listening to the Call to Prayer.

The Blue Mosque

Having sufficiently hit up major tourists spots for much of the day, we spent the rest engaging in my favorite past times, eating and drinking! We tried some baklava (delicious), Turkish delights (very sweet), and Turkish coffee (you read your fortune out of the cup after you drink it) and even were privy to witnessing a Barack Obama made out of baklava as well; not the run of the mill thing you might expect in Turkey.

Obama Baklava

We rounded out the evening at a pub in Taksim, an area teeming with bars, restaurants and tons of gorgeous Turkish people. We tried some Raki, a traditional Turkish alcohol that tastes like black licorice (not my favorite thing), and were treated to the live music stylings of a duo of a guitar player and flutist, which alone seeing the flaunting male flutist is enough to garner up my desire to visit Istanbul again.

Cheers to Turkey!

Before boarding the bus back to Asia, we spied a restaurant named Pink Kofte (AKA Pink Meatball). We did not get to eat there on this trip, but this, too, builds my desire to return to Istanbul. It also sparked my desire to learn the useful Turkish phrase, Bier Kofte Lutfen (One Meatball Please).

At our favorite restaurant that we did not peruse.

Abdullah is a professor at Marimar University, and the next day we went to see his campus and met people in his department (some of whom I think were bewildered that I quit my job to go on this adventure, but they also mentioned I could apply to their PhD program). We then headed to the famous Grand Bazaar, one of the largest Bazaars in the world where you can find everything from Turkish lamps to tacky t-shirts. I loved it.

Awesome lamps.

After a coffee and spotting of a Turkish television star who Abdullah knew (we totally got his pic with him, oh yes), we walked a bit and I finally lived my dream of eating sweet corn from a street vendor (does not compare to Iowa sweet corn, however). A short stop at a travel agent lined up our journey for the next few days to central and western Turkey, and then we continued our theme of eating by loading up on more Kofte and also Turkish bread from some street vendors. We hit up the Spice Bazaar, too, where Libby bought many spices and I bought some Love Potion; I will keep you all updated on the odds of how that is working out.

My new secret weapon.

We continued our marathon-tour day by buying a large block of white cheddar cheese which we proceeded to eat off of for the next few days. This is no joke; I have been in cheese withdrawal and it was super tasty, plus the guy cutting the cheese was smoking a cig as he sliced it. Classy. We then headed to the Rustem Pasa, or tiled mosque, for a quick view inside.

Pseudo-burkas at the Tiled Mosque

We then hopped over to the water's edge and took a mini-cruise on the Bosphorous in the evening. Taking in the city from the water while sipping fresh-squeezed orange juice and gnawing on a block of cheese was a true delight.

After the cruise I fought my fatigue and we journeyed over to Galata Tower to see the sunset on Istanbul. Galata Tower was built in during the Byzantine era under Emperor Justinianus. It's 61 meters high from ground and 140 meters from sea level and was captured by The Turks in 1453. As you can see we enjoyed taking in the history.

Holla for TURKEY!

You are my setting sun, Istanbul.

That night continued with good food and drinks as we ate ice cream you had to cut with a knife and fork and also hit up a small bar on the seventh floor of a building that played music from around the world--walking into the sounds of Amanda Palmer from the Dresden Dolls I knew we had hit upon a gem.

After our action-packed tourist day, the next morning I went for a jog (training for a half marathon while traveling is not highly recommended, I must add) and then we sorted out our travel details for Greece while Abdullah treated us to a traditional Turkish breakfast of Borek, a tasty flaky pastry. We finally moved out in the early afternoon and after running to catch the ferry and narrowly evading falling flat on our faces on the ferry due to an unexpected boat lurch, we headed to a small restaurant near the Aya Sofia and the Blue Mosque to have the Water Pipe (AKA Hookah). Smoking the apple hookah and drinking Turkish coffee while listening to the call to with two good friends--I could get used to this.

We said goodbye to Abdullah after a delightful dinner and knew we would miss him as we boarded our night bus to head to Cappadocia in central Turkey. Having not seen him for nearly six years it was great to reconnect and we saw more in Istanbul then we could have mustered on our own.

If you got through all of this, you can tell we packed in a ton of stuff in just a few days. Istanbul is a city with a lot of charm and is tourist friendly (though I am very grateful we had Abdullah to guide us). I highly recommend a visit!

Top Ten Things I loved about Istanbul:
1. Kofte
2. Bread
2. Tea in the glass tea cups
3. Ice Cream
4. Corn from the street vendors
5. Lights in Taksim
6. Flutist
7. People fishing all over the place
8. Hookah
9. Call to prayer
10. Turkish coffee

Yes, I realize seven of the ten things are food/drink related. :)

My favorite lights on a street in Taksim.

A few days more in Mumbai and my Bollywood Debut

Saturday May 30 - Friday June 5

Arriving back in Mumbai it was just as hot as we left and having not had access to much news or e-mail while in Nepal we spent a significant portion of our first day back at the Internet place.

The next day though we traveled outside the city about 2 hours to an area called Panvel for the latest Hash running club outing.

We started around 10, and it was all trail running this time, combined with the heat, it made for a tougher journey than normal. Bryan was a good sport though, and sat on the ice like a champ.

Siblings on ice.

That night some of the girls who I volunteered with at One! International came over one last time to the infamous Sea View Hotel on Juhu Beach to say goodbye as Becca was heading back to England and Vikki and Lu to Southeast Asia. Our oldest student, Sunil (the one I tutored to a passing score on his computer exam) also joined us.

Kickin' it at the Sea View on Juhu Beach

I had joked with my friends back home that my main goal in India was to be an extra in a Bollywood film; I'd been hoping to be cast as Tall White Woman #1. As I checked my email I noticed a posting from the Bombay Expats listserv that they needed extras for a shoot on Monday June 1st. Bryan and I figured, why not, so we made it over to the Court House in Bandra neighborhood early Monday morning to join the rest of the westerners who piled on a bus to go a few hours out of town to where an old airplane was stationed in an amusement park parking lot.

It was already nearly 100 Fahrenheit by the time we started, and after the wardrobe guys assigned us our costumes we didn't have it easy--I was wrapped up in jeans, a jacket and scarf while Bryan had to wear a most fashionable plaid suit. Note our Bollywood photo below.

Our Bollywood Attire

Our role as extras was to sit on the airplane and at one point, even look for seats! Sooooo exciting. Bryan did get to sit right in front of the actress though. We think the movie will be released in December and is tentatively called Jihad. This is the IMDB.com link a fellow extra found and sent me.

We got free lunch and 500 Rupees (about $10 U.S.) but more than anything it was fun being on the set and though I am not sure I would do it again (unless I get to watch a dance sequence, then I totally would), it was fun for a day, though it was possibly the hottest bus ride back to the city I have been on my entire time in India.

Bryan left the next evening, and we had dinner with Sunitha and Ashwyn (my friends I stay with in Juhu) before he left. It was a great time, and surprisingly, we did not come (too close) to killing each other as we traveled together. I know though he was looking forward to getting back to Texas and specifcally visiting a certain restaurant that has a lot of meat.

So, we wanted some ice cream while he was here. We got it.

The next few days I spent packing and catching up on last minute travel plans for my upcoming trips to Turkey, Greece, England, Ireland, The Netherlands, and London. I also caught Monsters Vs. Aliens (good movie, but I had bummer 3D glasses) and hung out with Sunitha and even got a free makeover at a mall, much to her amusement! Since I had to be at the airport at 2 a.m. on Saturday, June 6, I joined some of the Hashers on a short pub crawl Friday night, June 5th, (on a doubledecker bus) and stayed up until I reached the airport. The pub crawl on a bus was a good idea, one I may have to pass on for our Denver HippoPUBamus this year.

Riding high on the double decker pub crawl bus.

From the pub crawl it was straight to the airport and onto Turkey. Gobble Gobble!

Ye Ol Farter

Meditation, misery, and a monkey mind
Wednesday, July 15 - Sunday, July 26th

I just got finished serving time.

Granted, I volunteered for my imprisonment; I even applied for it.

The past 10 days (which were, really, technically 12) I spent completing a Vipassana Meditation Course at the base of the Global Pagoda in a northern suburb of Mumbai.

I had to surrender my valuables: phone, money, passport, even the beads I wear around my wrist. I handed over all my goods, and walked outside, surveying the garden of the place that would be my latest temporary home.

"Excuse me," a voice asked. I turned to face the Course Manager. "What do your rings mean?"
I was wearing two rings I bought in Peru last year. They're simple, and I wear them most days.
"Nothing, just my rings," I replied casually.
She met me with a blank stare.
"Do you want me to take them off?" I asked, a bit surprised.
"Yes," she stated frankly. I handed them over meekly to the volunteer holding my bag with my other valuables.
Alright--I could tell this meditation business was not to be messed with from the start.

Some of you may be wondering, what the heck am I talking about? A brief explanation: Vipassana is a form of Buddhist meditation where you take a course for 10 days and learn the process of Vipassana Meditation.

You cannot talk for those 10 days.You cannot drink or take drugs.You cannot kill.You cannot tell lies.You cannot steal.And, you cannot have your phone, read a newspaper, watch TV, or access the Internet. You cannot have pen and paper. You cannout have books. Nothing. You are cut off from the outside world, much like a monk or a nun. Just you, and your thoughts, and you trying to calm your own Monkey Mind.

Why, you may be thinking, did I desire to venture on such a journey? A few reasons lead me to this place.
1) I had read the book "Holy Cow" about an Australian women's expierince for two years living in India, and she did a course, and her account sparked my interest. No talking? Could I DO that?Oh, a challenge! I had thought at the time.In her book, she describes some of the other students (you especially cannot talk or communicate with the other students). One was Crying Lady and the other was Lady who Brushes her Teeth a Lot. I wondered which I would be.

2) I have met people since I have been in India who have done the course, some many times, and who really were rewarded by it. I was curious. What WAS this all about?

3) I saw the pagoda in March and honestly, I was hoping to be able to meditate inside it. It has some of Buddha's relics in it, even!

4) Since being in India, I have not always been reacting to things like I wanted too--I've been stressed, snapped at people, been angry. I wasn't liking these feelings, and I wanted to see if this course would help.

So here I was, amongst about 40 other women, ready to meditate.

Or so I thought.

A rundown of my typical day:

*Wake at 4:00 a.m. (I learned to get up about 3:57 a.m. though, to run the hot water in a bucket so I had a somewhat hot bucket bath versus a very cold one).

*Meditate in the large hall from 4:30-6:30 a.m.

*Eat breakfast at 6:30 a.m. Tons of bananas.

*Nap from 6:54 a.m. - 7:53 a.m. (this was my favorite part of most days)

*Meditate from 8:00 - 9:00 a.m.

*5 minute break

*Meditate from 9:15 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.

*Eat lunch at 11:01 a.m.

*Nap, walk in the garden in circles, stare at the caterpillars, stare at the stray dogs, stare at the flowers, stare at the monsoon rain, from about 11:20 a.m. - 12:54 p.m.

*Meditate again from 1:00 2:15 p.m., in my room or in the hall

*5 minute break

*Meditate from 2:30 - 5 p.m. in the hall

*Have tea and a snack of bananas and salty snack mix until 5:14 p.m.

*Repeat after lunch activity until 5:54 p.m.

*Meditate from 6-7 p.m.*Watch a video discourse from Goinkagi, the Vipassana Guru who brought this form of meditation back to India from Burma, from 7:05 p.m. - 8:37 p.m. It originated in India with Buddha some 25 centuries ago but had been gone for many, many years but stayed alive in Burma.

*Meditate again until 9 p.m.

*Sleep by 9:30 p.m.

*Repeat. For 9 more days. 10 hours of meditation per day.

Yes, 10 hours of meditation per day.

I was starting the countdown from day one. Could I REALLY do this??

From the first evening video discourse, Goinkagi explained that we all have monkey minds, and I laughed. His explanation was spot-on for me. An example of my thoughts (mind you, a very short list):

Boys. Past, present, future. Graduate school, should I go back? Going back to volunteer for three more weeks here. Monkeys. Race car driving. London. Bananas. Would my toenails grow back I lost in Nepal? Boys again. Visiting friends in the states. Who WAS burping so much?? Going back to Denver. Was I ready? What would happen? Hiking to the Grand Canyon. Pizza. Bacon. Playing the accordion. OK, you get the idea. And this continued, etc. etc. etc.

Besides my monkey mind, I had a very literal sore point: I have not tried to sit cross-legged for more than 10 minutes at a time since 1999, pre-knee injury and pre-knee surgeries.

By the end of the fourth day, I knew my title.

I had become crying girl.

My knee pain was maximizing by the minute, and at 6 p.m. on Day Four of Meditation Misery Madness, Goinkagi's voice came over the audio cassette (yes, I said cassette): "You now must sit without moving for the next hour. No moving legs, arms, no moving. At all."

I freaked out.

In my head, I wasn't strong enough for this. What, was I mad? Worse yet, I was going to get kicked out. If I didn't follow the rules, wasn't I going to get booted? And I was in an insane, insane amount of pain.

I tried to fight them back, I really did. But they came. Big, silent tears, for an hour. At one point, I could feel that one of the volunteers had come over. Obviously, my distress had them worried. They ask questiosn when you apply like: "Have you had a major life crisis?" "Are you mentally unstable" etc. etc.

I am pretty sure they thought I lied to them when I had said I was a normal, run of the mill, meditation-seeker.

So, at 9 p.m. I told the teacher my plight--instead of kicking my booty to the ferry back to the mainland, she was understanding, and said they would find me a new spot the next morning to sit.

Little did I know that spot would banish me to the back row, near others who, too, had problems sitting crosslegged (and who were mostly years and years older than me).

And it would lead me to sit next to Ye 'Ol Farter for the next six days.

The move to the back row shifted me away from Snoring Lady, who had been sitting behind me the first four days, and to the left of most of the Burpers. I had liked my old spot, but I already could tell my knees were thanking me, and my mental fears of my knee spontaneously combusting stopped.

But when the farting started, I wasn't quite sure what to do.

A main part of Vipassana says while you are meditating to make sure you are realizing that everything "Arises and Passes Away" and to fight two main feelings that make most beings miserable, Craving and Aversion.

As I sat next to this older lady whose flatulence was to be my meditation partner the next six days I pondered whether I could, indeed, avert my aversion. Some of the stinkers lingered--they did not just arise and pass away so easily.

The days marched on though, and there were other times where I wanted to run away; they make you state your deep intention to not flee at the start, but still, though Goinka-gi reminded us we were, indeed, in Meditation Prison, I knew at the back of my mind if despearte, I could leave.

But really, I didn't want to. I wanted to stick it out. I knew I needed to do this. I needed to figure some things out; I needed to see if I could alleviate myself from some of my own misery, as the teacher told us, as we inflict it on ourselves, even though so often in life we like to blame otehrs for our own negativity.

So I soldiered on. Waking at 3:57 a.m. and eating vegetarian food (which was quite good) and more bananas in the 10-day period than I have consumed in my existence to date. Then, eating the same snack mix and again, another banana, at 5 p.m. (we did not get dinner there). Not talking. Not reading. Not writing.

Just meditating, and when I got distracted, trying not to open my eyes and look around.
I found that soon the farts didn't bother me as much. Maybe this meditation DID work, after all. And I never felt any aversion to the woman; I am all for older people doing whatever they want, and though I found myself fighting back laughter when a few loud ones really ripped out, most of the time I could stay focused.

On the 10th day, we were able to be freed from our bondage and talk, and get our phones back at 10 a.m. Needless to say, no one napped that day. We got a short tour of the pagoda, part of which is being constructed for people to meditate for up to 90 days at a time in individual cells.
I will not be signing up for that.

We traded stories and made connections with each other, and I soon learned that I was not the only Crying Girl and that others, too, had really wanted to run away. Even though we had not talked to each other for those 10 days, it was like many of us were already fast friends. Going through something like this together was pretty major it seemed.

After doing the Vipassana course, I feel overall glad I did it. I'm not ready to say I would do it again, and I am not sure if I will keep up my practice, but I definitely feel more of a sense of peace than I did before going.

This morning (on the 11th day) we had one more meditation session in before leaving, and I was treated to a few more farts from my neighbor.

But I found that there was no annoyance, no anger; just amusement. Because much like misery and much like the monsoon rains, the farts did arise and pass away.

Arise and pass away.

Arise and pass away.

The Global Pagoda, view from the Gorai Creek.

How I felt on like Day 7 or 8.

How I felt when I was DONE!

CO Girls Reunite

Saturday March 21st 2009 and Sunday March 22nd 2009

When I told friends that I was going to India for an extended period, there were several who expressed interest in visiting, but only a few who I knew that, without a doubt, would be making the trek. My friend Jes and I met in Denver in Spring 2005 when she joined our infamous Friends of the Poudre softball team. Since our days on the ball field we’ve become great friends, and I was very excited to have her come visit.

Jes arrived on Saturday night, and we navigated to the Sea View Hotel in Juhu after a, shall we say, interesting taxi ride from the airport. Happy to have arrived in one piece, we spent a small amount of time admiring the zebra-striped pillows on our furniture before my friend Chirag and his friend Hardik picked us up to go have a few drinks at H2O bar in Bandra. Jet lag be damned, Jes was ready to brave the Mumbai night life! We spent that evening catching up with a few drinks, and enjoyed a stroll on the beach the next morning and a great breakfast at a café nearby while we planned our day.




We ended up deciding to take a tour of the Dharvi Slum, which if I remember right is the largest slum in India (maybe the world--not sure here), and where some of the film Slumdog Millionaire was shot. First though, we made stops at Fab India so Jes could buy some Indian threads, and stopped at Tewari Brothers so she could try her first ever Samosa (which she loved).

Soon after we met with our young tour leader and one other tourist from Sweden and began the 2 ½ hour tour of Dharvi (this is the short version--a longer tour is nearly 5 hours; we were not allowed to take photos while on the tour, but they did email me some a few weeks later). The tour was extremely interesting, as the slum is an epicenter for all sorts of commerce--recycling centers, bakeries, tailors, etc.

About 30 minutes into our tour, our guide excused himself to go get a friend who was late meeting us, so the three of us waited in a large warehouse, where a man brought us (in a plastic baggie) the hottest chai I have had since arriving. I assured Jes it was safe for her to drink--anything that hot would have killed any and all bacteria--but if you would have asked me a year ago if I would have been sitting on a stool in a warehouse in the Dharvi slum drinking chai with guys who worked there, I would have thought you mad. Better yet, if you would have asked Jes 24 hours earlier if she would be doing that, she would have REALLY thought you were crazy.

Our tour resumed and we weaved our way through narrow alleys and around goats and children, checked out pottery businesses, passed by butcher shops, schools, and yes, even a drunk man lying in the street (every town has one, Jes had remarked). Dharvi really is a city within the vast city that is Mumbai; we were both very glad we took the tour. Also, proceeds go towards an NGO run in the slum. The tour company has permission to lead the tours (and it is recommended by Lonely Planet, for those curious) and I felt it was a respectful and educational way to see daily life there; highly recommended if you have the chance/interest.

Notice that we are GLOWING, not sweating…

My favorite sign in the Reality Tours office

We made our way through crazy Sunday evening traffic, stopping at the Shoe Stalls on Linking Road (again, near that 3-story KFC), but this proved to be a bit straining as it was packed, and we were not quite up for bargaining. Instead, we headed back, and dinner that night was at a very tasty restaurant called Mahesh Lunch Home, where we had a very large crab (note our waiter modeling it below) and way too much seafood. After suitably stuffing ourselves, we made our way to Vie Lounge for a few drinks. A bit posh for our style (and our price ranges, drinks in Mumbai are big-city prices at a lot of places) we called it a night after that, as the next morning we were flying to Goa.