mysore: and yes, I am

 

 



yoga love

sooooo, i have been in mysore, in ths south of india, for 2 weeks now...im practicing at atma vikasa (evolution of the Self), my teacher Venkatesha, is quiet, serious and is helping me to "focus on [my] breathings" and relax my mind....the asanas are the same as I do at home, except my movements are very precise and held for long periods.....the class is progressive, with new poses added each day....its quite a difference from the way i usually practice: trying to reach one limb over the other and desperately holding it for 2 seconds  haha  here, im just learning how to stand correctly (apparently, my left hip always come forward)....its great to focus so much on details...in the afternoons are my backbending sessions, which i love and hate....love because its so damn cool to be working towards a back bend, like those 12-year old Chinese gymnasts....not the kind of back bends i do where im by the wall, but the kind where i slowwwwwly push my hips forward, lean back, let my arms dangle and depsperately repeat, in my head, the only mantra that seems appropriate: "breathe, breathe, breahte." hate because at some point during the session (usually during the aforementioned bends) i want to throw up and pass out  haha  no one said this was going to be easy ;)  im doing well, though, and have yet to pass out



  

devraja market, mysore

 im living at a youth hostel, which is super cheap and clean and hot water comes from a bucket, laundry is done by my hands...while i have become quite adapt at bucket showers, i dont think my clothes are very clean hehe...the hostel usually houses groups of indian students...last week, there was a group of art students in mysore for a workshop, they were nice and showed me some of their awesome metal and clay work....right now, i share my dorm with two "aunties." one is an engineering professor, hangs her wet laundry on everyon else's bed and found out my entire life story within our first 5 minutes of meeting each other (she asks a ton of questions: "where are you going?" "what did you have for dinner?" "how much did you pay for college?"); the other woman is here for an administrative exam to get a promotion, she is 3 months preggo, gives me fresh papaya, takes me to temple with her, and, in her broken english, asks me about the differences between india and the U.S.....although both women speak english, i have found it much easier when i reduce my sentences to "i go yoga"....we laugh a lot



maruthi temple



with judith, fr germany, at mysore palace



ive hung out with some travelers who stay at the hostel and my friend, jo from the UK, was here for the day, so we had dinner....ive also met a few african students who are studying at the university here (there are quite a few)


around the corner from my hostel is everything i could ever need: a veg restaurant, where i have fallen in love with dosas (which definitely give french crepes a run for their euros), a little supermarket, an internet place, a jewelry/phone recharge shop, and the most amazingly colorful and gaudy temple I have ever seen



dosa, my love



my days are filled with yoga, lots of reading, wandering around and sampling indian sweets, because i just cant resist a bakery and there is one on every corner!  another temptation is the chip man, who threatens to undo my whole yoga career....yes, a man who makes fresh potato chips right in his bowl of boiling oil...someone, please tell me this oil is the new, healthy, fat-free kind, which will clear up skin and cure cancer! (anyone????)  there arent just potato chips, there are other colorful, crispy, oily confections and, so far, they are winning

i have also be volunteering at a school for kids with special needs, they are so sweet, and its so amazing and i think im getting way more from them than they are from me

biggest cow ever!



marshall, zimbabwe, at chamudi hill



on the weekends, i do little day trips, went to Siringapatnam with Alex from the UK, to see a temple and a palace and to chamundi hill with Marshall from Zimbabawe to check out an awesome view of Mysore and a really huge statue of a cow.



a real one!!!



for those who think a
smart phone is in my future,
i present my indian phone, Raju



for a brief period (like a day and a half), I had the bright idea that perhaps I should try to dress more like the locals...well, my fantasy of sashaying around in a bright purple saree was quickly chased away by the horrific image of me getting tangled in said saree and rolling down a hill as the fabric unfurled behind me, forever being known as the foreigner who fought a saree and lost......i bought a few tunics (kurtas), instead





am i indian yet?



in other news, mosquitoes are still eating me alive, i have started drinking the water (no! not the tap water, the purified water that comes from a machine at my hostel...saving me some pennies), and fruit (i ate a whole papaya today!)and ive started trying varoius indian herb masks.....so, i am either morphing into an indian or, will have lots of various diseases and conditions soon.... 





incredible india



first glimpse of delhi, khan market







so, in delhi, where i arrived august 25, i was lucky enough to stay with the family of a friend of my mom's.....so, needless to say, i got the star treatment, servants and all.......when i actually got out into the city, let's just say i didnt feel any of that amazing yogi love i thought would miraculously take over me  haha  let me see if i can describe delhi for you: chaos, construction, dirt, traffic, lots of honking, no street signs, or streets! me walking around in a circle for 3 hours getting hounded by touts trying to sell me tours or sarees or bring me to their brother's restaurant....yes, it was all very overwhelming, just like everyone said it would be... i went on one tour that missed the important sights because there was too much traffic (!)...after that, i took a deep breath, and got the hell out of there!! 







jaipur

my next stop was jaipur, still chaotic, but more manageable, with a beautiful and dirty and dilapidated pink city, and a monkey temple! with monkeys just hanging out all around and little children trying to weasel some money out of you (me) by telling you that the monkeys will bite you without their protection....the kids didnt get my money, but thanks to them, i was freaked out on the walk to the temple, just imagining being attacked by a crazed chimpanzee..bastards!!  my room in jaipur left something to be desired, like a good scrubbing down, and some toilet paper (ha! this is but a memory, unless you supply your own), a shower curtain,  and a fan that didnt try to explode in the middle of the night!!  but, i survived ;)




overlooking pushkar

 




mama mia!!!!



next on my itinerary was pushkar, a very small town of winding roads built around a sacred lake...it was really nice here, super touristy, but way more relaxed and calm than the bigger cities....there were only a few streets, but of course i still got lost all the time....i couldnt differentiate between all the shops selling harem pants, camel safaris and jewelry (needless to say, i didnt get a safari, but i am the proud owner of an anklet and a lovely pair of purple pants with elephants and a crotch that hangs down to my ankles woo!!!)...i met some italians here, and we spent our time speaking in an obnoxious italian accent to everyone we met.....mama mia! mozarella!  ravioli!!!!  sitting around the lake i saw a beautiful sunset and even though i did not bathe in the rather brown water, as is the custom, i felt blessed and all kinds of holy





jaisalmer fort







blue jodhpur



harem bed, jodhpur



my next stop was jaisalmer.... after a 12 hour night bus and some bad rice (who gets sick from rice?!?), i found myself resting in my room, staring at the whirling ceiling fan (which would give me a cold the next day) and feeling pretty proud that i had finally gotten sick....it had been the topic of just about every conversation with everyone i met, so i knew it was coming....and i was ready!  i had my immodium, and my chewable pepto bismol (thanks saouss)...fortunately, i was only sick for a day, but it gave me something much greater: the confidence to eat without any regard for the cleanliness of the kitchen or the hands which made the foot, or a thought to the vast amounts of flies circling about...for the next two days, i stuck to toast ;)...jaisalmer was also pretty calm, its main attraction: a fort and the old city of little streets filled with tourist shops inside..my first train ride was rather uneventful, except for the dust and bugs, and the fact that i couldnt figure out how to turn the lights off, it was pretty normal....the morning the train arrived in jodhpur, i met the two girls sleeping in the bunks under mine...they were from CA!!!! from UCSD and UC Santa Cruz, studying in delhi  awesome!!!  we got a room together with the biggest harem bed ever! and spent the day exploring the enchanting blue city with its incredible views, getting rained on and eating omelets..they were also cool enough to take a few things off my hands, lightening my load!




happy bday krishna!

 



the next day's 8 hour bus journey was not the best, i had a fever, and the constant sing-songy sound of the bus' horn did not seem quite so amusing anymore......udaipur, however, was worth it..........also built around a sacred lake,with little islands made into palaces....the james bond film "octopussy" was filmed here and every restaurant shows it every night....check it out, its rather ridiculous and totally funny.....this is where i really chilled out, trying to nurse my hacking cough....i met lots of travelers...sooo many israelis (all the shop keepers kept thinking i was israeli, and spanish, and french - who am i to argue??), irene and marta from espana (hola!), who i met in my yoga class ;) and who are traveling for 8 months (sweet!!!) and jo from london, who i met in pushkar.....our days were spent hanging out, drinking chai, watching the rain and trying to figure out our next destination.....we got to be part of a celebration in a textile shop: krishna, the shop owner's son turned 25 and we were treated to the most amazing indian hospitality with bday cake, booze and reggae, all inside of a shop covered in the most colorful array of carpets and pillowcases and table cloths!!!  love love...sadly, i bid farewell to my new friends and set out on 2 flights and an overnight train to mysore...........



ganesha for luck

 













and then



with the warriors



ok, so, the rest of China was full of all kinds of fabulous..........xi'an was really great with a cool muslim quarter, which was basically a big soukh and the coolest mosque ever: courtyards and old chinese architecture......the terra cotta warriors were pretty amazing, massive and intricate and just mind-boggling...no two warrior faces are alike!...needless to say, it was all quite touristy, with shops upon shops everywhere, but, hey what do you expect?....oh, and the best part, the bus to the warriors (1 hour) was a whopping 7 yuan!!!!  thats $1  awesome!!!!!



forbidden city








and then..........beijing was awesome!  saw all kinds of palaces and parks with pagoda roofs  love them! missed embalmed mao zedong, but i think he will be there for a while ;)  oh yeah, there was also that little thing they call the GREAT WALL!!!  that was so grand and amazing and impressive...wow, wow, wow....if its not already one of the 7 or 8 natural or old or modern wonders of the world, it needs to be....  i got to stay with ailin (holla!), who is rocking beijing in every way possible  (love u and so proud!)  she showed me the night life: vodka and grape juice and karaoke and $1 fried rice delivery the next morning ;)....i got "Eat Pray Love" at a little book stand....a good read, inspiring, cant wait to see the movie...on my last night ailin took me for some.......NACHOS!!!!!!  haha you knew i would get my fix ...all in all China was a great surprise, i learned so much about the economy and the politics and the people!!!  and it got me ready for even more traffic and more staring in india 







love u!