Traveling...

Coming Home

2007-05-16T15:50:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, after eight long months I've finally returned to the states. It's been a great trip, but it's also great to be back. I'm staying with Amelia in Brooklyn for about a week and should be back in Seattle in a few days. I'm having a fun time doing all the things I haven't been able to do like go to baseball games and eating hot dogs and all that. Everyone that's in Seattle this summer, I can't wait to see you, it's been quite a while.

Angkor Wat

2007-04-29T02:04:00.000-07:00

Outside of Siem Reap is an area refered to as Angkor Wat. It's an amazing place full of acient temples and ruins; as you walk around you feel like you're within the Mayan ruins/the jungle book. Jordan and I rented electric bikes and cruised around the temples for three days.

Entering Cambodia

2007-04-29T01:55:00.000-07:00

The border between Thailand and Cambodia was a breath of fresh air after our experiences with the Myanmar borders. Though the road on the Cambodian side was consistently the worst road I've probably ever been on. Our driver (of our very small, falling-apart, leaky bus) told us of a rumor that certain airlines are bribing the Cambodian government to keep the road in disrepair. From what little I've learned about the Cambodian government this seems altogether possible. We were welcomed to the country with a huge storm (too bad for the people next to the window), but then came one of the most magnificent sunsets I've ever seen.

Sunset

2007-04-19T00:56:00.000-07:00

From our porch.

Relaxin

2007-04-19T00:49:00.000-07:00

Ah, back to Thailand

2007-04-19T00:42:00.000-07:00

Though Thailand may not have all of the bureaucratic thrills of Myanmar, it's great to be back. This picture was taken from an amazing view point. That little beach down in the left-side corner is where I was staying. A really nice quite place with awesome snorkeling.

Happy Kids

2007-04-19T00:36:00.000-07:00

I got lost while biking through the rice paddies around Inle, but I stumbled upon some of the happiest kids I've ever seen.

Inle

2007-04-19T00:30:00.000-07:00

The beatiful Inle Lake. They produce more potatoes here, on floating gardens, then all the rest of Myanmar put together. These people are almost always winging while working if there alone.

Monklets

2007-04-19T00:24:00.000-07:00

Fun Loving monks enjoying a day in the sun. They play everything from football to army, just like kids back home. On the trek was Jordan, me, and a nice Irishman named Tommy. We all had a good time playin' around with the monks.

Train Station

2007-04-19T00:19:00.000-07:00

On our trek from Kalaw (a small town southeast of Mandalay) to Inle Lake we walked through a small village where pace of life life went from next to nothing to full boar at the arrival of a train.

Yangon

2007-04-19T00:15:00.000-07:00

The beautiful Shwe Dagan in Yangon. Itself a crazy city; a striking contrast of India and South East Asia.

email dated 4/04/07

2007-04-04T21:44:00.000-07:00

Hey,I'm am now in Inle Lake, which is magnificent. Jordan and I just finished a three day trek here from Kalaw, a small town about 50k away. It was so beautiful the whole way through. I got a lot of pictures so I'll put them up once I'm in Bangkok. We'll spend about four nights here, then go back to Mandalay; from there we will fly to Kengtung (still in Myanmar) and then enter Thailand from the nearby town of Tachilek. I love you all.Jesse

email to dad dated 3/28/07

2007-03-31T11:18:00.000-07:00

Hey,So Jordan and I are in Mandalay and either tomorrow or the day after we will head out for Bagan. We are going to purchase a small boat and paddle the whole way, it should take about three to four days. There are villages the whole way so we'll be able to find places to stay. Should be really fun, we'll sell the boat when we reach Bagan. After we see bagan and Inle Lake we will go back to Mandalay and fly back to Chiang Mai in Thailand. I'm glad to here Amelia got her job. Say hi to the boys for me.Jesse

update on Jesse and Jordan's travels

2007-03-25T21:31:00.000-07:00

Hey mum!We landed safe and sound in Yangon yesterday. This place is really cool, it's like a cross between SE Asia and India. It makes a really neat mix. Unfortunately, though, there really isn't very much internet in Myanmar and when there is it quite slow. So I won't be available quite as much as before but I'll be sure to keap you updated. Tomorrow we are taking a bus from Yangon to Mandalay, the old capital. After that we plan to go to Bagan and Inle lake. It looks like we'll also have to fly out because you can leave in the south by boat to Thailand, but first you have to fly south anyways and that's more expensive than just flying to Bangkok. Love ya, and I'll email again from Mandalay.Jesse

Trekking in Northern Thailand

2007-03-17T04:53:00.000-07:00

Jordan and I just back from our three day trek today; it was entirely awesome. On the first day we drove for about 2 hours and then hiked in the jungle for about four or five hours, but mostly all uphill. We spent the night in a hill tribe village in this beautiful bamboo hut. The next day was pretty easy, we only walked for a few hours, but we went swimming at a waterfall to cool off. The last day was awesome. We hiked for a while and then we rode elephants for about an hour. Riding the elephants was so much fun, they're way more comfortable than camels. We'd go up and down these steep parts and you just thought you were going to fall off, but somehow no one did. After that we went river rafting. It was white water rafting, but it's hot season and there's not so much water right now. It was super fun although Jordan and I think we might have to go back to Chiang Mai to raft again in May when the water should be a lot higher. Then we rode bamboo rafts down the rest of the river where it was calm. Altogether there were about ten of us trekking together. It was a really fun way to meet other people.
Now we're going to hang out in Chiang Mai for a while, try to explore the city a little bit, hopefully on bicycles. Then we will go and see about getting into Burma at Chiang Rai. It looks like if we enter at Chiang Rai we will still have to fly a domestic flight within the country, so we're looking at all of our options right now and deciding which is cheapest. It was definitely worth the bus ride up here just to go trekking, though, even if we have to go back down to Bangkok to fly to Burma.

And now for some snaps:

Chiang Mai

2007-03-13T23:56:00.000-07:00

This morning Jordan and I arrived in Chiang Mai, the city in which I was ordained. We've been wondering around the city and visited my old monastery. As far as getting into Myanmar from here, though, the future doesn't look so bright. Even though we'd been told by a government tourist agency that we could enter Myanmar from Chiang Rai (northeast of Chiang Mai) everyone here is saying that if you go in that way you can only stay for one day and that to actually enter the country you must fly to Yangoon. Well, we haven't yet figured out if this is the complete truth, but either way we're going trekking for the next few days in the highlands of northern Thailand. It should be real fun: hiking, rafting, elephants. After that the plan is that we'll head to the border and see for ourselves if we can get in or not. Worse case scenario is that we would have to go back to Bangkok and then fly into Myanmar. But the good part is that everyone we've met that has been to this illusive country have said that it's worth all the trouble it takes to get in and that they plan to return there sometime.

Visa

2007-03-13T00:23:00.000-07:00

After eight long days in the Bangkok heat and five visits to the Myanmar Embassy, Jordan and I finally received our visas today. We're getting on a bus for Chieng Mai this evening. Once there we might take a few days to trek in northern Thailand or try to head straight into Burma. Both of us are super excited to see an entirely new country.

Bangkok

2007-03-08T05:47:00.000-08:00

So now we are Bangkok for a while. Basically we have to wait for our Myanmar visas, but until then Jordan and I are doing some sightseeing. Today we went all around town in a plethora of transportation modes including the Sky Train, boat, subway, taxi, auto rickshaw, motorcycle taxi, and feet. This city really is so advanced, more so than any other place I've ever been so it's kind of fun just to wander around and see how everything so different. For instance, they sell amazing waffles in the subway stations, something you would never see back home. It was really nice to go to some monasteries and see the monks chanting from a completely different perspective than before when I was chanting along side them. We also stumbled upon Wat Po, which has one of the largest statues of Buddha in the world. He is reclining and I think over 100 feet long. Once we get our visas we're heading up north to Cheing Mai and going into Burma by land. After touring around we plan to exit the country at the very southern point. Supposedly you can take a long tail boat into southern Thailand from there. It's about 35 degrees (maybe that's around105) here and getting hotter every day. I don't even want to know how hot it's going to be in May.

Varanasi

2007-03-05T00:51:00.000-08:00

Jordan and I just finished a very nice and relaxing week up in Varanasi. It was great to see some old pals and to make some new ones. We walked in on a very unsuspecting new G-LAB group during a group meeting and gave Tracy quite a surprise. We also surprised my old tabla teacher Kailash and I was able to start taking lessons again. I spent most of the week playing tabla in the morning, relaxing in front of the ganges, and cooking food in the kitchen at Kailash's guest house. We where also lucky to be in Varanasi for the Hindu holiday Holi. It is the celebration of color and basically consists of a HUGE bonfire at night, which take place in the street all over the city (right under the electric lines). Then the next day there is a country-wide colour fight. It's a pretty fun holiday, only it can get a little dangerous for the womanfolk. All in all the whole week was really fun; it was great to end my time in India on a high note. It's wierd knowing that I'm leaving India and that I won't be back for at least a long while. I've had a great time here and I'm sure I'll make my way back to visit again. Tomorrow morning we fly to Bangkok on GMG Airlines, yeah, I haven't heard of them either, but they sure are cheap.

Family visit to India

2007-03-03T11:21:00.000-08:00

More images from our trip visiting Jesse

Family visit to India

2007-03-03T11:02:00.000-08:00

Trekking along Nepal border in view of Mt. Everest (hidden behind clouds)

Family visit to India

2007-03-03T10:43:00.000-08:00

Travelling to Darjeeling and Kangchendzonga Range

Family visit to India

2007-03-03T10:33:00.000-08:00

Jesse teaching at pediatric hospital classroom and touring the hospital

Family visit to India

2007-03-03T10:22:00.000-08:00

Visiting Hindu and Jain temples with Jesse

Family visit to India

2007-03-03T10:15:00.000-08:00

Jesse's neighborhood in Kolkata

Darjeeling and Family

2007-03-01T05:19:00.000-08:00

I was so very lucky to be able to have my parents and Chris and Pat to come visit me in the past couple weeks. We had great time going around Kolkata, seeing some sights and the hospital I volunteered at. They were amazed (as everyone is) of the crazy nature this country, but they made it through a few days in the city and we headed up north to Darjeeling. We had a really relaxing, nice, time up in the foothills of the Himalayas. After a few days Jordan made it up (after his flights had been reserved, purchased, cancelled, rescheduled, delayed, and finally departed) to meet us. We went on a really nice two day trek of which Christopher should most definately post pictures for everyone to see. After the sad goodbye, Jordan and I hopped on a train down to Varanasi. We were able to completely surprise our old group leader Tracy and also Amit and Sangamitra, our Delhi and Varanasi coordinators. Holi, the Hindu festival of colors is on Sunday and in the meantime I've started up tabla lessons again. It great to be back here and see some friends. After Holi we'll go back down to Calcutta and fly to bangkok; from there we plan to make a swift exit into Myanmar.

Volunteering

2007-02-24T04:15:00.000-08:00

My time volunteering in Calcutta has come to end. I was volunteering in four different locations, and all of them full of great experiences and beautiful people. The home four young adults with mental disabilities was always a treat to be able to visit. They were always so happy and positive, just to be around them was a great privilege. Everyday they would be waiting for us, looking out the window and some down on the street to greet us. We would teach them and play with them hoping to increase their vocabulary, knowledge of the world around them, and their motor skills. This was the basic lesson plan set up for all the lessons by Empower the Children. I also volunteered at a hospital for kids who needed surgery for Cerebral Palsy and Polio. These kids came from all over eastern India. Many come from the neighboring state of Bihar, the poorest and most lawless state in India. In Bihar people are routinely killed for the cars they are driving and it is still possible to buy slaves. So when the children are healed many times the parents don't want to take them back. The life they have in the hospital is much better than one they could dream of having back home. In the hospital they are provided with education, music therapy, a safe environment, steady and healthy meals and so much more. What I did there was help bring an alternative type of education. The lessons were always fun and involved some form of art and story telling. The kids always remembered me and it was amazing to see how happy they were each time I returned. I also helped teach at two schools for street kids. Just like everywhere else, the kids were so cute and amazing. At all these places the kids were provided with not only an education but a meal as well. The main theory behind Empower the Children is that id kids aren't educated, then they will never be able to escape poverty. This is something that I truly believe. These children might never attend university, but if they learn to read and write they've at least made progress past that of their parents. Over all I had a really nice time in Calcutta, but unlike many other places in India it's not the city that I will miss. I came there for the children and it's them who I'll remember when I think of Calcutta.

Muharram

2007-02-04T03:04:00.000-08:00

A few days ago it was the Muslim festival of Muharram. From what I gathered, a long time ago some very important Muslim leaders and a large Muslim population were brutally tortured and killed; Muharram is the time to remember this tragedy. I had heard about there being a large parade/festival that was going to happen from some of the Muslims I know in my area of Kolkata so I decided I would go down and check it out. I walked for maybe a half an hour to get to where the parade was to start; I'm used to being a minority in this country, but there where so many people and I really stood out, I was the only westerner there. Within a few minutes I had a crowd around me just staring. It was a little awkward at first but then someone went and brought me chai and biscuits and refused to accept payment. Pretty soon I was talking to a well known Politician from Calcutta and his family. They were really nice and apparently the ones who had paid for my chai. They were all Sunni Muslims so they wouldn't be taking part of the flagellation that was about to start (only the Sia Muslims beat themselves). Nothing happened until about two hours as it was supposed to, but that's almost expected. Then as the procession started, to my surprise, we started walking along with it. So I walked the whole route with these guys, a very hot and crowded four hours. It basically went like this: we would walk for a little while and then we would stop and crowd would form around the Sias who were going to take part of the ceremony. They would then begin beating their chest with razor blades and whipping their back with knifes on a chain. It was a bizarre thing to see, because there wasn't an ounce of pain on their face. When I asked them they all were adamant that it didn't hurt at all. They really must get into a religious frenzy with all that adrenaline pumping or something, otherwise it seems like it would hurt A LOT. Kids as young as six years (as you can see in the picture, the child has knives in his right hand that he's about to use on his own back) and the elderly alike take part in this tradition. For the first few kilometers the bystanders had been all Muslim, but all of a sudden we entered a Hindu area. To my surprise they were all out on the street acting as though this were a Hindu holiday and when I asked Mr. D.K. (the politician's nephew) why they were here he simply replied that they were praying to Allah. I thought that this was fairly interesting, but no one else seemed to notice. After the end of the procession I went to Mr. D.K.'s house for snacks and then we said our goodbyes. I took a taxi back to Sudder St. and was all of a sudden immersed in westerners again.

Saraswati Puja

2007-02-04T02:45:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of images from the Saraswati Pujas that I attended about a week ago. It's a pretty importan puja (ceremony) because Saraswati is the Goddess of learning. It's performed in schools through-out all of India. Like many other pujas it involves a lot of fire and chanting; it was really fun to see the littlest of kids chant along. Another important part is that textbooks are put up on the alter and then the goddess is invoked to put the knowledge from the books into the heads of the students. That's my kind of learning.

Art Museum

2007-01-22T00:19:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, when I went to go find this Idiyas Art Gallery I ran into a typical day in India. After locating the phone number of the gallery (which turned out to be a mobile phone) and then finding someone who spoke Hindi to take down directions to get there (of which the best I could get was the general area and "then look around.") I got into an ancient yellow taxi. He dropped me in the appropriate area and I located the street the gallery was supposedly on without too much difficulty. I walked the whole street, but saw no sign for a gallery, so I double checked the address: 15 Dover Lane. OK, I'll look at the street signs and find 15. 15 had a massive metal gate across the drive way, but a tiny little door about maybe 3 and a half feet tall. So naturally I got down and crawled through. Inside the gate I found a group of Indian men playing cards on the ground and a security guard. So I asked him about the gallery that was supposedly here. He didn't speak any English, but seemed to understand "gallery." So he took me to a small, unmarked, locked apartment. He opened the door and turned on the lights, and what do you know, there was the gallery. Keep in mind that the gallery was listed as being open every day of the week in the newspaper. Then after an utterly hopeless conversation with the guard, the unspoken agreement was that I could see the gallery if he got to follow a meter behind me and stare at me the whole time. It worked out and he even let me take some pictures. I particularly like the one of the alleyway. Anyway, that's how it works in India, you get what you want, but it's not necessarily how you expect it.

Calcutta

2007-01-20T22:10:00.000-08:00

By now I'm getting into the swing of things here in Calcutta. My first two days volunteering have been great. On friday I went to the Calcutta Rescue School to help teach a class of 20 kids. It was really fun, they were all street kids living in the nearby park, but they were all so happy and fun to be around. I'll be volunteering there on every friday. Then yesterday (saturday) I went to the home for mentally retarded young adults. They were all 15-25 year olds. This was another really fun day. Every lesson is designed to stimulate gross and fine motor skills as well as language usage. The lesson yesterday was on frogs and included a number of activities including a role play and making paper frogs. Today is my free day, so I think I'm going to go visit some art galeries and see some modern Indian art. Pictured: My chai shop where I stop every morning to read the newspaper and drink one or three cups of chai.

Back In India

2007-01-18T21:03:00.000-08:00

It's great to be back in India enjoying all those things I missed while in Thailand like sipping chai, drinking lassis, dining on great butter chicken and nan, and of course eating fresh curd. I found myself a nice hotel room to settle down in for the next month and unpacked for the first time since I packed back on Mercer Island. It feels great to hang my clothes up in a closet and know they'll be staying there for more than a few days. Today will be my first day of volunteering here in Calcutta. I'm pretty excited to get in a classroom and teach these kids, it should be real fun. I'll have pictures up from around town after I take some. Love you all.

2007-01-15T19:09:00.000-08:00

Jesse has been kind enough to let me into his blog to post these pictures at Wat U-Mong. With Jesse for his induction ceremony are Noi and Lisa Hood. Lisa took the pictures and Noi stood in for his mother (me). Noi assures me that we are honored by Jesse's journey and are allowed easier passage to heaven. We have talked to Jesse a couple of times and what I know is that he is having a very good time, his day starts at 3:30 am, food offerings have been more than enough for him and he is feeding deer daily by hand. He will be leaving the monastery soon and can give us more detail. Thank you Noi and Lisa for being with my son during this special time!

2007-01-15T19:08:00.000-08:00

2007-01-15T19:06:00.000-08:00

2007-01-15T19:03:00.000-08:00

First food offering

2007-01-15T18:56:00.000-08:00

2007-01-15T18:54:00.000-08:00

white robes

2007-01-15T18:48:00.000-08:00

vows

2007-01-15T18:46:00.000-08:00

2007-01-15T18:43:00.000-08:00

eyebrow shaving

2007-01-15T18:41:00.000-08:00

head shaving at Wat U-Mong

2007-01-15T18:38:00.000-08:00

Jesse and Noi ~ hair offering

2007-01-15T18:36:00.000-08:00

2007-01-15T18:30:00.000-08:00

Monk

2007-01-15T01:13:00.000-08:00

Today was my last day that the monastery and I am now awaiting my bus to Bangkok. It was a really nice ten days, very peaceful. I really enjoyed the simplicity of life. Everyday we woke up at 3:30 AM and then we had chanting at 4:00 for half an hour. The chanting was in Pali, but some of the other monks helped me find the texts in a romanized script so I was able to chant with them. Directly after chanting we meditated for half an hour. Then at 5:30 we went to "gather alms" with our bowls. We would walk into the city (as Wat Umong is in the forest) and as we would walk people would stop us with a bowing gesture and offer us food neatly packaged in little plastic bags. Everyday we would get so much food that it all wouldn't be able to fit in our fairly large bowls so we would also carry a shopping bag with us for the extra food. We would walk back and then separate the food into what we were going to eat that day and what we would give to the temple. Then at 7:30 I would eat my first and only full meal of the day; I could eat until 12:00 in the afternoon and then after that I could only consume liquids. I thought I would get a lot more hungry, but you just eat a huge breakfast and then in the afternoon drink milk and it wasn't so bad. After breakfast we would sweep leaves around the property for two hours. Then it was free time until 1:00 when there was teaching. If it was a VCD with subtitles I would go watch it, otherwise I would read because the teacher didn't speak any English. The library at the monastery had a whole floor of English books which was great for me, but I have a feeling that floor is a little underused as hardly anyone there can speak the language, especially not well enough to read a book of Buddhist philosophy in it. Then at 4:00 there was chanting and meditation again and finally teaching again at 7:00. I really learned a lot about Buddhism, not to mention how to chant and tie a robe. This Buddhism was a lot simpler than what I found in Dharamsala and Ladakh, but I was surprised to find a statue of Avolokiteshwara (the Bodhisattva of compassion of whom the Dalai Lama is an avatar of) outside of the library. The main difference between Mahayana (what was in Dharamsala) and the Theravadan (Thai and other nations) schools is the lack of the Bodhisattva in Theravada. But I guess there are bits and pieces of every type everywhere; the divisions are never as clear cut as they seem on paper. But in the end, I had a really nice time and also broadened my understanding of Thai culture and Buddhism. It's not something I want to spend my life doing, but it was a great experience. Oh, and some people have been asking if they thought it was weird that I was staying for such a short time. Not at all, actually in Thai culture it is expected that every male be a monk at some point in his life. So, there are those monks that devote their life, yet many only stay for one or two weeks. There is an entire building for housing these short term monks while the ones who stay longer have their own residences at the monastery. I made a lot a good friends with my fellow monks there and made plans the visit them later when their back at their jobs.

Monk

2007-01-05T07:59:00.000-08:00

So tomorrow I'm becoming a Thai Buddhist monk. The ceremony is about two hours long, necessitates the presence of fifteen monks, includes me reciting two and a half pages of Sanskrit and having my entire head and face (including eye brows, but I hope not the lashes) shaved. Other than that I don't know what else really happens. I also don't really know what it's going to be like to be a monk, but in the very least I get to keep my robes which, in my opinion, are quite cool. I won't be able to go on the email or update you all untill about the 16th, but I'm sure I'll know a lot more about being a monk then and can tell you all about it. Because I'd been studying Tibetan Buddhism in India I am pretty excited to see how it differs from Thai Buddhism. The differences should be fairly great as the Tibetan variety is really tantric and Thai is very bare bones (or so I think it is). Anyway I'll talk to you you all in about a week and a half after I've achieved enlightenment.

Thailand

2006-12-30T03:27:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas (even though I wasn't there). The internet has been really shoddy here so excuse me for my lack of communication. I've been having a great time here at Railay beach (I think the picture just about sums it up). It's one of the most beautiful places that I've ever had to privelidge to visit. Today I went scuba diving for the first time, it was amazing. Apparently I swam right next to a shark, but I didn't notice. I hear it wasn't too big anyway, though. We're going again tomorrow and I'm super excited. The rock climbing here is also amazing. Just a short walk from our bungalow is Phra Nang beach which has some really nice bouldering. It's too bad that God chose the one winter I'm away from home to make a ton of snow, but since I can't ski here, you all should ski twice as much. I'll be here in the South for a couple days after new years and then I'm heading up to Chieng Mai to go try and be a monk. Happy New Years.
P.S. I hope all you fellow G-LABers our now adjusted well and enjoying being home drinking tap water and eating beef and all that cool stuff you get to do at home. Love you all and I miss you all.

Gil Shohat

2006-12-20T02:17:00.000-08:00

Here's that video I was talking about.

Kolkata

2006-12-20T01:28:00.000-08:00

So far this city has been great. All the old British taxis and architecture create a feel different than any other Indian city. Today I went with Rosalie and her friend to a hospital that she works with. It's a children's hospital for kids who need orthopedic surgery. It was really fun, all the kids were so happy to see us. We read them a Christmas childrens story (in English, Hindi and Bangali). Then they all dressed up as raindeer, elfs etc. They all got presents from a donor in Holland. It was pretty fun. In Delhi I didn't see a single Christmas decoration, but here it seems as though it is a fairly popular holiday. There are fake trees and snowmen for sale on the street. It's going to be great volunteering at these places, after about a week of shadowing a teacher I'll start taking lessons of my own. Right now I'm just killing time until I have to leave for the airport in about three hours. I've already checked out of my hotel so I'll probably just go find a nice place to read.

Just a Quick Update

2006-12-19T02:00:00.000-08:00

I had a great last day in Delhi. Tracy and Namgial (our Ladakhi friend) and I went to a musical show and dinner. The show was of this Israeli composer (I think his name was Gil Shohat) and an Indian tabla player together. Two of my favorite instruments! And two that you don't usually see played together, the result was great. I took a short video that I can hopefully put up was I settle down. I just got off my long train ride this morn and am now with Rosalie, who leads the organisation I will be volunteering with when I return from Thailand (Empower the Children). It looks like it's going to be great fun volunteering here teaching the kids for a month. Tommorow night I get on the plane for Bangkok and arrive very early the next morning. I'm going to spend one day roaming around and then the next day get on a night bus down to Krabi to meat with the McKenzies (23rd)! I'm really excited and it will be fun to spend Christmas with some friends. Love you all and enjoy being together for the season (wish I could be there)!
P.S. I can't believe we had 17 people over for Christmas dinner and no power! That's sounds like it was a really good time. Hello to all the people who were there, I hope to see you all soon!

End of The Program

2006-12-16T23:00:00.000-08:00

Last night the Global Learning program came to an end. We had a little going away party at Amit's (our Delhi coordinator) house. There was great food and we celebrated Tracy's (one of the group leaders) birthday a few days early with an impromptu cake fight. Galen seems to have lost. We went to the airport twice last night to drop everyone off, once at 10:30 PM and again at 3:00 AM. So today I slept in and am having a nice relaxing last day in Delhi before I hop on the train for Kolkata tommorow morning. Right now Tracy is the only one left here as Galen left this morning for Nepal.
I should arrive in Kolkata on the morning of the 19th and go to meet Rosalie Giffonielo at Empower the Children.

Camels

2006-12-13T04:02:00.000-08:00

Camel trekking was great. I felt like some old british chap traveling through the desert. And turbans in the desert are totally the way to go, they keap you cool in the day and warm at night. We spent a night out under the stars, it was really nice, but cold. I could have maybe gone a little farther, but these things are pretty uncomfortable, I don't know how you could do a long journey on them. It was amazing to see the little villages out in the middle of nowhere; all the people in colorful clothing carrying jars of water on their head. I don't have much time right now, though, so I'll update more later. We leave tonight for Jaipur and then the next day for Delhi to conclude this program.

What You Find In Rajasthan

2006-12-11T03:28:00.000-08:00

We just rolled into the Western Rajasthan city of Jodhpur last night. It's been a lot of moving around considering we left Varanasi on the eight and this is our first full day in one city. Bodh Gaya was great, though Bihar (the state it is in) was not so nice. It's known as the "lawless land" of India. It's noisy, busy, polluted, and has horrible roads which are honestly more pot-hole than actual road. But despite all that, Bodh Gaya is amazing. Because it's the place where the Buddha gained enlightenment it's a huge pilgramige site. It's amazing to see monks from all different countries there together.
After that we had a long car ride and then a 26 hour train ride to Rajasthan. This morning Galen, Jordan, Andrew and I went out shopping for turbans. As I was trying to use the broken ATM machine Jordan ran in and told me to get outside. He ws possitive he had seen Adrien Brody go by in an auto with a film crew went out and walked down the street for a while and then to my surprise saw not only Adrien Brody, but Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman as well. Then I turned around and saw the director Wes Anderson. He's made some awesome movies like The Royal Tenenbaums and Life Aquatic. It was crazy and not at all what I expected to find in a small back street in Jodhpur. The guys were all nice and we talked to them briefly. Jason Schwartzman asked how long we've been in India and when Galen said three months, he replied: doing what, walking around? They were surprised to find we were a student group. Then we spoke to Wes Anderson about the movie briefly. It's called Darjeeling Limited (but is filmed mostly in Rajasthan?). Anyway they seemed like pretty nice guys. They're staying at the Palace where the Maharaja of Jodhpur lives as it is now partly converted into a super pricey hotel. Thankfully Jordan Gaurd had his camera with him. That made for a crazy morning.

It's All Coming To An End

2006-12-07T00:54:00.000-08:00

We're currently wrapping up our stay here in Varanasi and getting ready to move on. Everyone we met said that this was by far the most intense Indian city and maybe not too enjoyable. I really had a great time, though, and didn't find it too hard. I'd love to make it back sometime.
Tommorow we will be leaving for Bodh Gaya, the place of Buddha's enlightenment. After a day there we will be off to Rajasthan. This should be cool, because I haven't been to a desert with full on sand dunes before. We're going to go camel trekking for a couple days and explore the cities in the area. Then it's back to Delhi and the end of the program. It all went by soo fast, but it was a great time. As good as it was, though, I also can't wait to be on my own. I imagine that at home everyone is shopping or buying a Christmas tree or something. Have fun with that. It's too bad I won't be able to see everyone this holiday season, but I will see you all soon enough!

Grandpapa

2006-12-07T00:52:00.000-08:00

This is a super old photo, but I just saw it and decided it needed to be on the internet. It's of me and my homestay grandfather in Ladakh.

Rickshaw

2006-12-07T00:50:00.000-08:00

Your Average traffic in Varanasi. Every ride is crazy...

Sunrise

2006-12-07T00:40:00.000-08:00

This is a photo from just after when I bathed in the Ganga. It was a beautiful sunrise, great to just to watch and enjoy a cup of chai.

Ramnagar

2006-12-05T04:00:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we went to this village right outside of Varanasi. We left by boat at about 6 AM and arrived in Ramnagar about half an hour later. Ramnagar is famous for its clay cups. In India, when you order a cup of chai on the street, it comes in a little clay cup that you when you're finished you just toss on the ground. So naturally many of these cups need to be made every day. We visited the house of one such potter. He said that he can make up to one thousand cups a day. I took a video of him with my camera. In the video he is spinning a large disc that rests simply on a spike. It continues to spin by sheer momentum. These Clay cups are a great idea because, unlike plastic, they just turn back into mud after use.

Update

2006-12-04T01:11:00.000-08:00

Hey All,
Life here in Varanasi is great, but busy. We've all been taking Hindi lessons and North Indian cooking. In addition to this I've been studying Tabla from my new teacher Kailash Nishad. He great, a super nice guy and an amazing musician. He's played classical Indian concerts all over the world and also at festivals such as the Rainbow gathering and Bonnaroo. We've also been going on day trips to surrounding areas and to musical concerts galore. Yesterday, we went to Sarnath, the sight of the Buddha's first teaching. Tomorrow we are going on a 5:30 boat ride in the Ganga. A couple of days ago I bathed in the Ganga. Two other friends and I went down before sunrise and enjoyed a nice dip. It's probably really polluted, but it doesn't seem so bad here. Anyway, I've also been learning
a lot about Hinduism. It has to be the most confusing, complex religion in existance. I was told in school that it could be considered monotheistic because all the gods are really just emanations of one supreme god, but I asked this question to a professor at Benaris Hindu
University and he simply replied that Hinduism is every-istic. That's probably the best description I've heard.

A Lot

2006-11-25T08:49:00.000-08:00

OK, a lot has happened since I last posted. We went to Delhi and three other students and I took part in a day long hunger strike for the Tibetan cause. It was great, I learned how to play a folk song on the Tibetan Guitar. After that we hopped on a train for Haridwar and stayed for a night at an Ashram. There were a bunch of little kids living there so it was really fun. The next day we hopped on yet another night train for Allahabad (18 hours). From the train station we drove straight to the Ganga river and got on a small boat (I'll have pictures up soon). We took a three day boat ride down to Veranasi. It was amazing. The trip was so relaxing and it was great to be on the water. The second night we stopped in a small-ish town that had no foriegners. We were quick to draw a crowd. The only hotel was full, but luckily our boatman had some friends there. The cleared out the first floor of a house currently under construction and brought in some mats for us to sleap on. Now I am writing this from Veranasi. We just went to a puja down by the water full of fire and insense. Also, with only a few hours in town I already witnessed two funeral pires and the river banks. Seems like it's going to be an exciting two weeks! Love you all and happy Thanksgiving!

Homestay

2006-11-18T22:46:00.000-08:00

This is my homestay brother and sister from Dharamsala. Sonam, on the right, works for the government in conflict resolution and is also an actor. He stars in the Tibetan refugee movie Phun Anu Thanu. It's pretty funny. My sister, Dolma, stays at home and did most all the cooking. I got a sweet chili sauce recipee from her.

Tibet

2006-11-16T22:43:00.000-08:00

So the Chinese prime minister Hu Jintao is visiting India, this is the first time in ten years that the Indian prime minister and the Chinese prime minister will have talked in ten years. He is coming to talk about boarder disputes and trade relations. It is also, though, a great opportunity for Tibetans to protest the Chinese rule of their country. Right now we are trying to see if we can change our plans a little and make it to Delhi to take part in some peaceful activism.
It has been really eye opening staying here in Dharamsala and living with a family of politcal refugees. Back in the US the Tibet issue seems so far away, but here it is staring at you right in the face. They Chinese have been, and still are, carrying out genocide in Tibet. They are systematically destroying all of the Tibetan culture that they can. And the world is just standing aside and watching. As time goes on the US is becoming more and more dependent on China and it looks unlikely that the government will do anything. The Tibetans, though, are some of the strongest people I have ever met. The Chinese overwhelm them in shere numbers and economic power. The only reason that the issue is still around is the strength of these people.

TABLA

2006-11-16T22:35:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we went to see a concert by my guru, Ashoka, and his sitar playing friend from Punjab. The concert was at Ashoka's house. It was amazing to see someone play like this up close, it was only a small room with about eleven of us. My skills are slowly improving, but now I am even more excited to continure studying in Varanasi. It's amazing how old this culture is. The sitar basically hasn't changed in 350 years and the tabla for even longer. People have been playing sitar for over a thousand years. The culture is just so much older than that of Western Europe...

Hiking

2006-11-12T03:00:00.000-08:00

Today Galen (in the picture), Jordan and I went on a hike outside of Dharamsala. We went to a waterfall and then climbed up and up and up. We didn't end up where we thought we would, but we got a great view. We also discovered a sweet Shiva shrine and a temporarily abandoned village. All the houses were made completely out of slate, even the roofs. We had a great time finding our way down since it was to steap to go back down the way we came up. It was awesome to excersize again seeing as we weren't allowed to leave the premises of the retreat center.

Meditation Retreat

2006-11-12T02:43:00.000-08:00

So we just finished our ten day meditation retreat yesterday. It was at a place called Tushita which is up in the woods above Dharamsala. A really peaceful and quiet place. Basically everyday went as follows:

Morning Mindfulness Meditation
Breakfast
Teaching
Yoga
Lunch
Discussion Group
Tea
Teaching
Analytical Meditation
Dinner
Analytical Meditation

It was like that until the last two full days in which we meditated seven times of 45 minutes each. I got really good at sitting. It was a Tibetan Buddhist retreat which was cool because up until now I had really only studied Theravadin. It's very different and has a large emphasis of "saving all sentient beings." It's much more of a religion than a philosophy and is full of gods and Buddhas. The evening meditations included elaborate visualizations and cleansing rituals. Our teaher was an Australian monk named Namgyal and was awesome. He cracked jokes the whole time and kept the atmosphere light. It was nice, but now it's back to the noise of the city.

Happy Halloween!

2006-10-31T23:48:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone. We had a great Halloween party last night that consisted of bobbing for apples and watching lord of the rings. It was fun, but I still missed trick or treating. Anyway, tabla has been going great. Ashok, my teacher, lives out in the middle of nowhere, about a half an hour walk. It's a very peaceful place and great for playing tabla. I'm learning slowly, but surely. It's a great feeling to be making music again. We've been talking to a lot of Tibetan refugees: monks, doctors, and revolutionaries. It's been great. I'm learning a lot about the Dalai Lama's middle way approach to peace with China and hearing a lot of people say that it will never work. Many people feel that compromise with the Chinese is not an option and that action needs to be taken now. Tomorrow I'm going into a ten day silent meditation retreat. I'm excited, a lot of time for reading and meditation. I hope all is well at home and I'll talk to you all in a week and a half. (And yes, that is a monkey eating a banana. I saw it on the way to tabla.)

Diwali

2006-10-25T08:04:00.000-07:00

Diwali is an Indian Holiday that makes the 4th of July look like Chanukah. Huge firecrackers and fireworks going off left and right. We went to our Delhi coordinator's house to celebrate. The celebration involved a lot of eating a the blowing up of a huge squash. Awesome. After that, we hopped on the train for Amritsar to stay at the Golden Temple. The city was crazy, more crowded than Delhi. The Sikh faith has some amazing traditions, though. We stayed at the temple for free, and also ate meals there for free. We spent one evening helping out in the kitchen. Me and two other guys helped serve food to the masses. It was super busy and loads of fun. Than we hopped on another train and then a bus to make it to Dharamsala, home of the Dalai Lama. We will be spending about three weeks here. After one day I'm already in a homestay. The house is just three rooms so it's nice and cozy. We all start our ISPs (Independent Study Projects) tomorrow and I'm siked. I'm studying Tabla (Indian drums) and Tibetan language. Anyway, I've got to get back to my homestay family or they'll start to worry. Bye bye.

Taj Mahal

2006-10-22T05:42:00.000-07:00

The Taj Mahal really is the most amazing building I've ever been in. It just feels really crazy to be in it, no picture can come close to capturing its beauty, but I think this one comes close. We got to Agra (home of the Taj) by train. It was my first train in India and it was awesome. Really cheap and actually pretty comfortable. We rode in sleaper class which means there are three bunks on top of each other to lie on. Chai wallas come around and so do venders selling everything from sandwiches to small toys. I picked up a rubik's cube and so far it's offered hours of entertainment.

Pony

2006-10-17T03:35:00.000-07:00

We had ponies with us on the trek and I figured Amelia'd kill me if I didn't ride them, so this one's for you.

Dinner Tent

2006-10-17T03:24:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture of the whole group in the dinner tent on the trek. There was great food the entire time.

Himalaya

2006-10-17T03:17:00.000-07:00

Here's me in the Himalaya.

Camp

2006-10-17T03:03:00.000-07:00

This is my tent in the morning one day on the trek. It was a nice surprise to wake up to snow. This was the day of the 17,300 foot pass. It was beautiful the whole way up.

The Indus

2006-10-17T02:59:00.000-07:00

Here's me in front of the Indus.

Man Day

2006-10-17T02:50:00.000-07:00

Trekking altogether was an amazing experience, but one day in particular will stand out in my mind: Man Day. We had a hard day out walking and while relaxing in the dinner tent we had no idea what was in store for us. I went to use the bath room and when I returned I found most of the group asleap on the floor whilst Tracy was singing quaint songs. I panicked and looked the other way, is that, why yes that is, the trekking staff is starting to make the beginnings of a huge bonfire. I quickly turn and go offer my help. Galen and I quickly went of the wrestle trees. We worked for hours, maybe days, jopping down the largest trees we could find...with our bare hands. We made the largest pyramid of wood you have ever seen. It was then time for dinner. The usual massive amounts of food were brought to us, and then, just when we thought it was over, a four inch tall pizza came out (no joke). After we feasted on the pizza and usual desert of raw carcass, we went out for the bonfire. We doused it in kerosene and let it go. Thus ended the greatest day to ever come into existence.

My House

2006-10-17T02:38:00.000-07:00

This is my homestay house in Phey. My room was on the top left with all the windows. It was really fun getting to be the foriegn exchange student. It made me wish I had one in high school.

An Update On Various Illnesses

2006-10-05T06:27:00.000-07:00

We've all been having a great time in India, despite the fact that at least half the group has been sick more than half the time we've been here. You heard (if you read the g-lab.org blog) about the vomitous cavern that was the Chube Guest House, but living with an actually family adds a whole new twist. So two nights ago I was enjoying a nice sleap in my home stay supposedly fully recovered from my run in with the Chube. Then all of a sudden I wake up at three AM. "Oh man, I think I may have to throw up," I thought, "In fact, yes I do. All right, how the hell do I get out of this damn sleaping bag." Seriously, it's like a chinese finger trap, you can't get out of that thing when you most want to. I finally got out but that bath room was way too far away. My options were limited, but I stand by my decision. I made a dash for the potted plants in my room. I filled one up and then moved to the next. But that wasn't so bad, it's what the next night brought that's the winner. With that throw up came some diareah. Not so bad unless you again find yourself trapped in your sleaping bag in the middle of the night. I made it out and grabbed my roll of TP and my headlamp. I ran as quickly as I could to the Ladakhi toilet, which by the way is a hole in the floor. I whipped down my pants as quickly as I could, just in time. But unfortunately in my hurry my TP slipped from my hand...down the hole. I was left with a dilemma. I seriously don't know how my family wipes, there's not even a bucket of water or some newspaper clippings. With no rocks in sight I made the best of my limited options. I ran bare-assed back to my room and stock of extra TP. I'm pretty sure no one saw me, but one can never possitive when most of the family lives on that floor and windows are not a sparse commodity. Anyway, I hope all is well at home and I look forward to more fun Indian adventures.
Peace.

The Oracle

2006-09-30T23:02:00.000-07:00

We're still waiting for everyone to recover before we can leave for our trek. People really need to be in peak condition, it's a ten day trek with two passes at about 17,000 feet. I'm siked. We've been going around the surrounding areas and have seen a lot of crazy stuff. A couple days back we went to go see this oracle. The Dalai Lama has visited her twice, so she's pretty respected. We got to see her remove an evil spirit from this Islamic woman. That was ridiculous. She was grabbing her head and wacking it and yelling. She brought out this whip and just started hitting her. Apparently it worked, though, and the spirit was made to leave for one year's time. We've seen a lot of really cool monasteries. The picture is of the group at the Shanti Stupa that we hiked up to. It's not a long walk from where we are in Leh. We just got back from a town called Dah. The Dahrds have been there since about 200 B.C. The place looked straight out of the middle ages. Everything was made of stone, there are no roads, we had to walk up there. The religion they practice is a strange mix of paganism (spiral dances, rock worship etc.) and Tibetan Buddhism. It was a little lower than Leh, maybe 9,000 feet, so it was a little bit warmer and there were grape vines. The people there make they're own wine, unique in India. Seems like all the UW and Western kids should have started school by now so I hope you all are having a great time. Peace.

Ladakh

2006-09-26T05:29:00.000-07:00

If anyplace is the opposite of Delhi it is Ladakh. It is much quieter and the air tastes much better. We're staying in the city of Leh which is at 11,000 feet. I felt fine the first day, but after that the sickness came. I spent two full days in bed, as did most of the group. It was probably a combonation of altitude sickness and food poisoning. I am feeling good now, though. The people here are very friendly and their favorite word is jullay, which means just about whatever you want it to. You will even see people walking by themselves just muttering it over and over again. We are staying in a guest house (small hotel) just outside the main part of town. It is nice, it has toilets and electricity (sometimes). The town is mainly little shops, restaurants, and trekking offices. This is probably just about the most beautiful place I have ever been. The mountains are magnificent and the scenery is scattered with stupas and prayer flags because most the people here are Tibetan Buddhists. Foriegners didn't really come to Ladakh (which by the way is the region that Ley is in and itself in the state of Jammu & Kashmir) until the seventies when they built the road. So the culture here has been very preserved. It is often called "little Tibet" and is considered to have the purest form of Tibetan Buddhism. It has modernized rappidly, though and there have been a few problems. It is much dirtier now, and people's living conditions have declined. Right now we are waiting for the group to recover so we can start our trek. Until then we are just hanging out enjoying the town, last night we saw a performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream, in Ladakhi. Hope everything is good in the states.

Hello From Delhi

2006-09-22T06:29:00.000-07:00

My first day in India was awesome. I threw up in the morning and then at night I ate a pepper so hot it made me cry...and I loved every second of it. Breakfast today, a masala dosa and a couple cups of chai was some of the best food I've ever had, and it came to grand total of 29 rupees, about 65 cents. We went around town all day, learned some Hindi and saw some great buildings. We climbed to the top of the Jama Masjid, the largest Mosque in India. And Colin, if you read this, you would love the Jains, they're a bunch of extremely peaceful nudists. They even have a hospital in their temple for hurt pigeons and other birds. The streets are crowded, as expected, but I was told they drive on the left side of the road here. No. They drive on the left side of the road in London. Here they simply swerve to the left when another car is headed strieght at them. Anyhoo, Delhi has been awesome but I am really excited for Ladakh. (PS I didn't get sick from being in India, it was the maleria meds. I'm switching to Neem which is a local natural drug.)
Alright, well the power just almost went out so I better go. I miss you all.

Art?

2006-09-13T13:04:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. This is my first try at this blog thing so I hope it works. I'm in Brooklyn living with Amelia, my sister, now. It's awesome. Today she had to go to class so I wandered around, went to the Michel Gondry exhibit. It had a bunch of sets from his new movie The Science of Sleep. Weird, but sweet. Anyhoo, Jonny you would be proud because today I ate a hot dog that was wrapped in bacon, and topped with melted cheese and a fried egg. Plus the place had a Galaga machine.Hooray for Galaga. I'm having a great time, but I'm super excited to get to India.

Itinerary

2006-08-18T15:56:00.000-07:00

Hey, this is the current itinerary. You can see a more detailed one for the first three months at http://www.global-lab.org/mt/BBFall06/2006/03/.

September 10th - Leave For New York
September 17th - Leave For New Delhi
September 22nd-October 19th - Ladakh
October 24th-November 19th - Dharamsala
November 20th-December 15th - Varanasi
December 20th-27th - South Thailand (Railay Beach)
December 28th-January 1st - Bangkok
January 2nd-18th - North Thailand (Chiang Mai)
January 21st-February 21st - Calcutta
February 22nd-May 15th - South of India