Saturday, April 10, 2010
Going out with a bang
It's 10:22 pm Saturday night in Bangkok and with many mixed emotion we are prepping for our 8 am flight out of here. For hours we have been listening sirens, as police, ambulance, army and who knows what else go between protest sights where peaceful protest has become violent.... we have witnessed many police in full riot gear marching through the streets, army vehicles, helicopters etc. Apparently about 300 have been injured. Amongst this chaos we bumped into our dear friend Matt whom we met in India at the Garden of Peace. Alas, our heads our swimming and we have packing to do!! So we will see you all sooner then later!!
Friday, February 26, 2010
Japan's Next Generation : one last Japan retrospective...
Well my plan to party and be a beach bum is paying off splendidly...I've just escaped our beach paradise for the party town of Haad Rin where they're gearing up for a full moon party in a few days. We've intercepted Mere's cousin Kylie & her friend Emma who I'll be joining for the big event as it happens on Monday which is a school night for Mere so she's not allowed out...actually now that she's older and wiser and has contributed enough brain cells to the cause of partying on the beach in her 20's, Mere's not much interested.
Anyhow, I wanted to make one final blog about a night out we had in Japan as it was to say the least a unique experience I thought worth sharing so you folks at home get a sense of what the next generation of Japanese youth are up to in terms of the night life....so here we go:
Although it was crazy expensive to go out on the town in Japan, by the time we hit Kyoto we were ready for a night out. I had connected with someone who teaches English in Kyoto through http://www.couchsurfing.org/ and she'd told me of a couchsurfing get together on a Friday night when we'd be there. As you may remember from a previous blog, Kyoto is a city of temples so we spent the day checking out the fall colours at some spectacular temples, hunted for geisha in the downtown district they're know to frequent, and made our way to the pub where we'd meet other couchsurfers who either lived in Kyoto or were just travelling through like us. We got to the "Bar Monte Bello" with beer "only" 500 yen (~$13 cdn) but we were early and hungry and the place was incredibly small and very empty. Since it was too small for a kitchen we headed out for food and found a very great little restaurant that served organic whole foods which would healthfully compensate for all the beer we'd be drinking later. Arriving back to the Bar Monte Bello we found a table full of "geijin" or "outsiders" like us who welcomed us to join them. We sat down looking forward to conversing in English for a change but we quickly befriended Annie & Christophe from France and of course, I was determined to use what little I could remember from high school's French 12.class. A few over priced beers later, I found myself incredibly fluent in a strange hybrid of newly learned Japanese and very old broken Quebecois. But the place was getting packed and although closing time was 3am, we were all ready for a change of scene and there was some strange sounding "Anime Toro" happening at one of Kyoto's few nightclubs called "The Metro". So we settled our bills and headed into the cool brisk evening in the hopes of getting some dancing under our belts.
We walked up this large canal that runs through the city and with the help of those in our small group who knew the city found our way to a nondescript basement with the familiar night club sound dull thudding bass.
Encouraged by music that sounded danceable and curious about the stipulation that anyone coming dressed as your favourite anime* character got in free, we headed down the stairs to check it out.
*anime is a cool form of Japanese comic books that are incredibly popular in Japan
We were quickly wishing we'd dressed up as the cover charge was about $30 cdn but with few options and a sense of adventure we paid the guys at the door and entered into the dark, loud, subterranean concrete bunker that is the Metro. I was immediately shaking hands with a young Japanese guy who looked really high and introduced himself as some kind of real estate sales person. He was very welcoming with pretty good English but whatever drugs he was taking were making him annoying so I thanked him in Japanese and plunged deeper towards the stage where the dj was playing.
We'd only just gotten our free beers that came with the cover charge when suddenly the dj finished his set and a band started to set up. We later found out that to cover their bets and appeal to as many tastes as possible, most clubs only have bands & dj's play for a half hour so if you don't like what's playing you're less likely to leave.
As to be expected, the crowd was mostly Japanese, some in very cool & kooky anime get ups. The place was getting packed and seemed like mostly a university aged crowd with it's usual percentage of people stumbling around wrecked. Despite us not exactly "fitting in" and starting to feel tired, we waited for the band to come on in the hopes of getting some bang for our yen. 5 guys finally took the stage which was tiny but that didn't stop them from immediately jumping and bouncing around and hanging from the ceiling. It was a sight to behold as all of them were only partially clothed, some wearing masks that looked like they'd just warped a roll of packing tape around their head ( would hate to see them remove it ). The music was loud , full of non stop yelling which of course was in Japanese so totally incomprehensible.
With my jaw wide open in awe, I turned to Mere and said "Is that bass player naked?" to which she merely nodded and said, "Yeah I think so" with her jaw wide open in awe. Half way through their set the lead singer, wearing only a jock strap and packing tape mask, came out into the audience and did sort of a pole dance while hanging from the ceiling right beside us. It was all kind of amazing and disturbing at the same time. Fortunately, it was over all too soon and we decided to stick it out to continue getting a fuller experience of what the youth of Japan was producing for entertainment these days. Somehow the crowd had seemed into it even though I couldn't hear anything worth dancing too.
So with our minds firmly open, the next act was a guy with a lot of keyboards & electronic equipment and a big screen behind him. His set was this bizarre collage of video game theme music that spanned the history of arcade games from Frogger to Mario Bros. Sadly, the novelty and nostalgia wore off in seconds and just when I started to force my body to move to some of the catchier themes that sounded familiar, it changed to something less cathcy and left us disappointed.
By now it was late and we started feeling our age and admitted defeat despite the fact we could've stayed and continued exploring Japanese youth culture first hand. Good things may come to those who wait, but going to bed is even better.
With little encouragement, Annie & Christophe from France were ready to go as well so we split a cab as we were staying close to each other. They were great to meet and we ran into them a few more times while exploring Kyoto over the next few days so the evening wasn't a complete write off!
In retrospect, the Kyoto night scene we saw reminded me all too much of going out when I first went to College: Lots of wrecked people in dark, loud, overpriced venues, drinks you can't afford and randomly bad bands trying to push the edge with music designed for hearing loss. The more things change, the more they stay the same, or as they say here in Thaland: "Same same but different".
Anyhow, I wanted to make one final blog about a night out we had in Japan as it was to say the least a unique experience I thought worth sharing so you folks at home get a sense of what the next generation of Japanese youth are up to in terms of the night life....so here we go:
Although it was crazy expensive to go out on the town in Japan, by the time we hit Kyoto we were ready for a night out. I had connected with someone who teaches English in Kyoto through http://www.couchsurfing.org/ and she'd told me of a couchsurfing get together on a Friday night when we'd be there. As you may remember from a previous blog, Kyoto is a city of temples so we spent the day checking out the fall colours at some spectacular temples, hunted for geisha in the downtown district they're know to frequent, and made our way to the pub where we'd meet other couchsurfers who either lived in Kyoto or were just travelling through like us. We got to the "Bar Monte Bello" with beer "only" 500 yen (~$13 cdn) but we were early and hungry and the place was incredibly small and very empty. Since it was too small for a kitchen we headed out for food and found a very great little restaurant that served organic whole foods which would healthfully compensate for all the beer we'd be drinking later. Arriving back to the Bar Monte Bello we found a table full of "geijin" or "outsiders" like us who welcomed us to join them. We sat down looking forward to conversing in English for a change but we quickly befriended Annie & Christophe from France and of course, I was determined to use what little I could remember from high school's French 12.class. A few over priced beers later, I found myself incredibly fluent in a strange hybrid of newly learned Japanese and very old broken Quebecois. But the place was getting packed and although closing time was 3am, we were all ready for a change of scene and there was some strange sounding "Anime Toro" happening at one of Kyoto's few nightclubs called "The Metro". So we settled our bills and headed into the cool brisk evening in the hopes of getting some dancing under our belts.
We walked up this large canal that runs through the city and with the help of those in our small group who knew the city found our way to a nondescript basement with the familiar night club sound dull thudding bass.
Encouraged by music that sounded danceable and curious about the stipulation that anyone coming dressed as your favourite anime* character got in free, we headed down the stairs to check it out.
*anime is a cool form of Japanese comic books that are incredibly popular in Japan
We were quickly wishing we'd dressed up as the cover charge was about $30 cdn but with few options and a sense of adventure we paid the guys at the door and entered into the dark, loud, subterranean concrete bunker that is the Metro. I was immediately shaking hands with a young Japanese guy who looked really high and introduced himself as some kind of real estate sales person. He was very welcoming with pretty good English but whatever drugs he was taking were making him annoying so I thanked him in Japanese and plunged deeper towards the stage where the dj was playing.
We'd only just gotten our free beers that came with the cover charge when suddenly the dj finished his set and a band started to set up. We later found out that to cover their bets and appeal to as many tastes as possible, most clubs only have bands & dj's play for a half hour so if you don't like what's playing you're less likely to leave.
As to be expected, the crowd was mostly Japanese, some in very cool & kooky anime get ups. The place was getting packed and seemed like mostly a university aged crowd with it's usual percentage of people stumbling around wrecked. Despite us not exactly "fitting in" and starting to feel tired, we waited for the band to come on in the hopes of getting some bang for our yen. 5 guys finally took the stage which was tiny but that didn't stop them from immediately jumping and bouncing around and hanging from the ceiling. It was a sight to behold as all of them were only partially clothed, some wearing masks that looked like they'd just warped a roll of packing tape around their head ( would hate to see them remove it ). The music was loud , full of non stop yelling which of course was in Japanese so totally incomprehensible.
With my jaw wide open in awe, I turned to Mere and said "Is that bass player naked?" to which she merely nodded and said, "Yeah I think so" with her jaw wide open in awe. Half way through their set the lead singer, wearing only a jock strap and packing tape mask, came out into the audience and did sort of a pole dance while hanging from the ceiling right beside us. It was all kind of amazing and disturbing at the same time. Fortunately, it was over all too soon and we decided to stick it out to continue getting a fuller experience of what the youth of Japan was producing for entertainment these days. Somehow the crowd had seemed into it even though I couldn't hear anything worth dancing too.
So with our minds firmly open, the next act was a guy with a lot of keyboards & electronic equipment and a big screen behind him. His set was this bizarre collage of video game theme music that spanned the history of arcade games from Frogger to Mario Bros. Sadly, the novelty and nostalgia wore off in seconds and just when I started to force my body to move to some of the catchier themes that sounded familiar, it changed to something less cathcy and left us disappointed.
By now it was late and we started feeling our age and admitted defeat despite the fact we could've stayed and continued exploring Japanese youth culture first hand. Good things may come to those who wait, but going to bed is even better.
With little encouragement, Annie & Christophe from France were ready to go as well so we split a cab as we were staying close to each other. They were great to meet and we ran into them a few more times while exploring Kyoto over the next few days so the evening wasn't a complete write off!
In retrospect, the Kyoto night scene we saw reminded me all too much of going out when I first went to College: Lots of wrecked people in dark, loud, overpriced venues, drinks you can't afford and randomly bad bands trying to push the edge with music designed for hearing loss. The more things change, the more they stay the same, or as they say here in Thaland: "Same same but different".
Thursday, February 18, 2010
My First Thai Massage
True to form we'd been in Thailand 48 hours and we've made it to the beach. After a short & sweet arrival in Bangkok we hopped on an overnight bus to a catamaran ferry that took us to the backpackers haven of Koh Phangnan where partying and nursing hangovers on the beach are the number one pastimes.
But best of all is we have a noble excuse to spend at least a month in this shangi-la of over-indulgence and late night action. Yes, Mere is doing a 4 week yoga teachers training here where she'll learn to design & lead sequences of postures that will bring a body back into healthy alignment as well as vipassana meditation to straighten out the mind & awareness. Meanwhile, my plan is to get decidedly bent out of shape physically and mentally from long hours rocking out on the dance floors of the many all-night (and we're talking 11pm-11am here!) house/trance/techno parties you can find on our neighbouring beaches almost every other night of the week. All the better for Mere to practice her new found skills on, eh! Fortunately, Mere's schedule has weekends free which means she'll be rocking her body next to mine at Guys Bar on Haad Thien on Friday nights.
For those of you familiar to this party party island, we are staying in the very beautiful and quiet Why Nam Bay resort in a gorgeous beach hut, once again over looking the ocean and very private. Why Nam is a little cove next to Haad Thien beach which is next to Haad Yuen beach, both of which are a 200 baht ($6) boat ride from Haad Rin which is where the infamous "Full Moon" Parties are held. Mere marvels at the growth of this quiet little beachside town was into a fully commercialized industry devoted to the partying needs of Westerners but it's been 9 years since she was here helping to establish it's nefarious reputation. Here's my ethical stance on unchecked tourist-driven growth after the conservative Hinduism of India: I just love the ability to buy a beer and a monster fatty* in a restaurant/club which I can then drink and smoke in until 6am while the dj continuously cranks out quality thumpin' house to move my body to. And, Red Bull's only 30 baht ($1) here too!
(* for those of you over 60, a "monster fatty" is a marijuana cigarette that is large in proportion)
So after first arriving and exploring what will be our playground for the next month, Mere & I stumbled upon a large hut by the beach with a typical palm thatched roof. Outside were 5 beautiful & burly Thai women hanging out, waiting for customers like us, with a sign that said "Thai Massage, Foot Massage, Oil Massage". We eagerly stepped off the sand as an hour would only cost us 250 baht ($8) and Mere was committed to putting her feet into an hour of bliss that she'd been missing since the last time she was here. Since we were in Thailand and having heard only good things about them, I opted for a traditional Thai massage.
The hut was one large room with 5 futons in it so after our feet were scrubbed and washed we were brought inside and Mere laid down with a big smile on her face and feet. I however, hadn't dressed for success, as I was wearing my bathing suit & sarong which the ladies looked at disapprovingly. Rin, who would be working on my computer-atrophied muscles, quickly produced a pair of loose fitting Thai pants for me to wear but there was no where to get changed. So as awkwardly as possible I got to perform my best imitation of a big dumb white guy getting changed under a towel in front of giggling Thai women. I followed this with demonstrating how NOT to wear a pair of Thai pants (who knew there was a right way when you've never worn a pair?) and finally lay down expecting a soothing and relaxing one hour treatment...unrealistically.
Now that I've survived my first Thai massage experience I can set more realistic expectations like...my muscles will be worked deeply...or I may experience some discomfort as she works her forearm & body weight into my neglected tendons and ligaments...or ask myself, do I really feel like going to the edge of my physical comfort zone right now?
Regardless, there I lay and Rin, whose about a third the size of my body with long black hair and intense eyes, began to work my feet.with expert hands and shoulders like a line backer. I took some deep relaxing breaths as I've had my fair share of body work and have always been told to focus on my breathing to help relax. Rin's hands were honing right in on every major muscle group and soon I was breathing hard, trying not to flinch as I could feel she was doing a good job on the countless tight spots she was uncovering. I quickly learned that Thai massage is very much like being in a pro wrestling match where you get to play dead and your opponent exerts all their effort into releasing and working out the years of accumulated micro trauma in your body.
As Rin progressed up my body she started doing all sorts of foot and leg holds while plunging her fore arms into my arches, my calves, my thighs. Soon my breathing was getting laboured as I was doing my best to not succumb to my muscles instinctive response to flinch, guard or run away from the deep work they were getting . But I've never been that good at keeping quiet and soon I was wimpering and flinching involuntarily. Rin looked up from embedding her elbow into my inner thigh and said "You okay?" to which I responded with a guttural grunt of "Uh-huh" and quick nod of the head. My wimpering and grunts were soon bringing giggles and shaking heads from Rin's co-workers as she worked me over like a rag doll. But I was way past caring as Rin was meticulously and thoroughly getting into every major knot and restriction I had and opening them up in the most direct way possible.
Unfortunately, my increasing state of relaxation got me into trouble as at one point Rin had me put my hands behind my head and told me to 'lock fingers". She then put her arms so that she had me in what wrestling fans know as a full nelson and started to open my chest out by pulling my shoulders back and shoulder blades together. It all felt great but as I relaxed into it my fingers pulled apart allowing my head to fall back onto Rin's forehead with a resounding "thunk". This slap stick maneuver brought even more laughter from those observing and fortunately, I could feel Rin chuckling as well so no permanent damage was done other than to my ego. It's hard to appear graceful in moments like that let me tell you.
After a few more full body wrestling moves that cracked parts of me like a walnut, Rin lay me out on the matt, slapped me on the shoulder and declared "You finished". My body and mind were in complete agreement.
Groggily I eventually sat up, turned to Rin and seeing her hands in prayer position, immediately followed suit and we bowed to each other, looking each other in the eyes. Rin's had the look of the tigers that live here in Thailand and I definitely felt like she'd had me for lunch. As respectfully as I could I croaked out the only Thai I've learned which sounded like "Cap coon cap" and hopefully translates to "Thank you" if spoken by a man.
As I dazedly paid, the women continued giggling and shaking their heads at the stunned, dopey expression on my face. Mere and I shuffled our way back to our secluded hut with it's comfortable, mosquito netted king-size bed. That night, with my body feeling delicate, I fell into a deep, peaceful sleep with the sound of surf from the beach lulling me away. It was only a little bit sore the next day and I was even able to get it through a morning yoga practice overlooking the ocean while Mere started the first day of her course.
And so I survived my first Thai massage, now we'll just have to see if it will survive the constant schedule of all-night dancing this place is famous for!
But best of all is we have a noble excuse to spend at least a month in this shangi-la of over-indulgence and late night action. Yes, Mere is doing a 4 week yoga teachers training here where she'll learn to design & lead sequences of postures that will bring a body back into healthy alignment as well as vipassana meditation to straighten out the mind & awareness. Meanwhile, my plan is to get decidedly bent out of shape physically and mentally from long hours rocking out on the dance floors of the many all-night (and we're talking 11pm-11am here!) house/trance/techno parties you can find on our neighbouring beaches almost every other night of the week. All the better for Mere to practice her new found skills on, eh! Fortunately, Mere's schedule has weekends free which means she'll be rocking her body next to mine at Guys Bar on Haad Thien on Friday nights.
For those of you familiar to this party party island, we are staying in the very beautiful and quiet Why Nam Bay resort in a gorgeous beach hut, once again over looking the ocean and very private. Why Nam is a little cove next to Haad Thien beach which is next to Haad Yuen beach, both of which are a 200 baht ($6) boat ride from Haad Rin which is where the infamous "Full Moon" Parties are held. Mere marvels at the growth of this quiet little beachside town was into a fully commercialized industry devoted to the partying needs of Westerners but it's been 9 years since she was here helping to establish it's nefarious reputation. Here's my ethical stance on unchecked tourist-driven growth after the conservative Hinduism of India: I just love the ability to buy a beer and a monster fatty* in a restaurant/club which I can then drink and smoke in until 6am while the dj continuously cranks out quality thumpin' house to move my body to. And, Red Bull's only 30 baht ($1) here too!
(* for those of you over 60, a "monster fatty" is a marijuana cigarette that is large in proportion)
So after first arriving and exploring what will be our playground for the next month, Mere & I stumbled upon a large hut by the beach with a typical palm thatched roof. Outside were 5 beautiful & burly Thai women hanging out, waiting for customers like us, with a sign that said "Thai Massage, Foot Massage, Oil Massage". We eagerly stepped off the sand as an hour would only cost us 250 baht ($8) and Mere was committed to putting her feet into an hour of bliss that she'd been missing since the last time she was here. Since we were in Thailand and having heard only good things about them, I opted for a traditional Thai massage.
The hut was one large room with 5 futons in it so after our feet were scrubbed and washed we were brought inside and Mere laid down with a big smile on her face and feet. I however, hadn't dressed for success, as I was wearing my bathing suit & sarong which the ladies looked at disapprovingly. Rin, who would be working on my computer-atrophied muscles, quickly produced a pair of loose fitting Thai pants for me to wear but there was no where to get changed. So as awkwardly as possible I got to perform my best imitation of a big dumb white guy getting changed under a towel in front of giggling Thai women. I followed this with demonstrating how NOT to wear a pair of Thai pants (who knew there was a right way when you've never worn a pair?) and finally lay down expecting a soothing and relaxing one hour treatment...unrealistically.
Now that I've survived my first Thai massage experience I can set more realistic expectations like...my muscles will be worked deeply...or I may experience some discomfort as she works her forearm & body weight into my neglected tendons and ligaments...or ask myself, do I really feel like going to the edge of my physical comfort zone right now?
Regardless, there I lay and Rin, whose about a third the size of my body with long black hair and intense eyes, began to work my feet.with expert hands and shoulders like a line backer. I took some deep relaxing breaths as I've had my fair share of body work and have always been told to focus on my breathing to help relax. Rin's hands were honing right in on every major muscle group and soon I was breathing hard, trying not to flinch as I could feel she was doing a good job on the countless tight spots she was uncovering. I quickly learned that Thai massage is very much like being in a pro wrestling match where you get to play dead and your opponent exerts all their effort into releasing and working out the years of accumulated micro trauma in your body.
As Rin progressed up my body she started doing all sorts of foot and leg holds while plunging her fore arms into my arches, my calves, my thighs. Soon my breathing was getting laboured as I was doing my best to not succumb to my muscles instinctive response to flinch, guard or run away from the deep work they were getting . But I've never been that good at keeping quiet and soon I was wimpering and flinching involuntarily. Rin looked up from embedding her elbow into my inner thigh and said "You okay?" to which I responded with a guttural grunt of "Uh-huh" and quick nod of the head. My wimpering and grunts were soon bringing giggles and shaking heads from Rin's co-workers as she worked me over like a rag doll. But I was way past caring as Rin was meticulously and thoroughly getting into every major knot and restriction I had and opening them up in the most direct way possible.
Unfortunately, my increasing state of relaxation got me into trouble as at one point Rin had me put my hands behind my head and told me to 'lock fingers". She then put her arms so that she had me in what wrestling fans know as a full nelson and started to open my chest out by pulling my shoulders back and shoulder blades together. It all felt great but as I relaxed into it my fingers pulled apart allowing my head to fall back onto Rin's forehead with a resounding "thunk". This slap stick maneuver brought even more laughter from those observing and fortunately, I could feel Rin chuckling as well so no permanent damage was done other than to my ego. It's hard to appear graceful in moments like that let me tell you.
After a few more full body wrestling moves that cracked parts of me like a walnut, Rin lay me out on the matt, slapped me on the shoulder and declared "You finished". My body and mind were in complete agreement.
Groggily I eventually sat up, turned to Rin and seeing her hands in prayer position, immediately followed suit and we bowed to each other, looking each other in the eyes. Rin's had the look of the tigers that live here in Thailand and I definitely felt like she'd had me for lunch. As respectfully as I could I croaked out the only Thai I've learned which sounded like "Cap coon cap" and hopefully translates to "Thank you" if spoken by a man.
As I dazedly paid, the women continued giggling and shaking their heads at the stunned, dopey expression on my face. Mere and I shuffled our way back to our secluded hut with it's comfortable, mosquito netted king-size bed. That night, with my body feeling delicate, I fell into a deep, peaceful sleep with the sound of surf from the beach lulling me away. It was only a little bit sore the next day and I was even able to get it through a morning yoga practice overlooking the ocean while Mere started the first day of her course.
And so I survived my first Thai massage, now we'll just have to see if it will survive the constant schedule of all-night dancing this place is famous for!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Same same but different
We have arrived in Bangkok!! Apart from the hour long hair-raising, anxiety provoking, nail-biting ride from Palolem to Denbolim airport at 5 am.... our journey to Bangkok was smooth and uneventful. No tears were shed saying farewell to Indian modes of transportation! 8 years ago when I arrived in Bangkok... I remember feeling overwhelmed, uncertain and very excited. I believe Elisa and I spent our first night in a crappy guest house on Khao San Rd, with cockroaches, dirty sheets, lots of noise..lots of heat. Well.. as they say here.. same same but different. Khao San is more built up and developed then when I was here last... but arriving was sooo easy!! No sketchy bus ride, no haggling for the price of the room, clean everything... there are sidewalks here! and despite the traffic and hoardes of western people.. it seems so quiet!!! Today we are running around doing stuff... and tonight we hop on an overnight bus and ferry to Kho Pangang. I start a month long yoga teacher training on Sunday... and Brad will be doing a whole lot of chilling. Stay tuned... the blogger will be back in action soon.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Alive & Well & Still unenlightened...
Hey everybody that's concerned about us since there's been no word of us 5 days since our silent retreat is over.
We had a great retreat but re-entry into all that is India was a bit of an adjustment and by the time we'd adjusted we were out in the country with limited internet access. We just left 3 days here:
http://www.navadarshanam.org/ and that too was a great experience in some beautiful countryside with some very educated veterans of the Gandhian principles Mahatma himself tried to live by.
Anyways, we're in Bangalore right now, getting our visas to Thailand sorted out and tomorrow visiting with David Miller, one of the best men from the wedding, who's also travelling in India at the moment.
More exciting, fast paced action and adventure filled blogs will be coming your way as we're headed for the beaches of Gokarna next to do some preliminary training for the beaches of Thailand. Sitting in beach huts, watching sunsets, ordering more drinks and food and writing blogs are all skills that we will be honing before flying out of Goa.
We've booked our tickets to Bangkok for Feb.10th so our time in Mother India is slipping through our fingers as I type.
We're doing great and look forward to sharing the road so far wth you in the next few weeks...
More to come,
B & M
We had a great retreat but re-entry into all that is India was a bit of an adjustment and by the time we'd adjusted we were out in the country with limited internet access. We just left 3 days here:
http://www.navadarshanam.org/ and that too was a great experience in some beautiful countryside with some very educated veterans of the Gandhian principles Mahatma himself tried to live by.
Anyways, we're in Bangalore right now, getting our visas to Thailand sorted out and tomorrow visiting with David Miller, one of the best men from the wedding, who's also travelling in India at the moment.
More exciting, fast paced action and adventure filled blogs will be coming your way as we're headed for the beaches of Gokarna next to do some preliminary training for the beaches of Thailand. Sitting in beach huts, watching sunsets, ordering more drinks and food and writing blogs are all skills that we will be honing before flying out of Goa.
We've booked our tickets to Bangkok for Feb.10th so our time in Mother India is slipping through our fingers as I type.
We're doing great and look forward to sharing the road so far wth you in the next few weeks...
More to come,
B & M
Saturday, January 16, 2010
In Silence Jan 17th - Jan 27th
Hey everybody, Mere & I are heading for an ashram just north of Tiruvannamalai for a 10 day silent yoga meditation retreat with Open Dharma ( http://www.opendharma.org/. For some reason using the internet isn't a part of that so we will be out of contact until then.
We look forward to sharing the enlightenment upon our return...
Much love,
B & M
We look forward to sharing the enlightenment upon our return...
Much love,
B & M
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
An early April Fools Letter from Auroville
When I was 18 years old and travelling Australia with a buddy, I sat down to write an overdue letter to my Dad & Step-Mom Val and noticed it was April 1st (aka April Fools Day). This got me thinking about what would be the worst letter a parent could receive from their son overseas and I proceeded to write an entirely fictional account of us being at fault in a serious car accident, one of us was in hospital, money was all gone, and we wouldn't be able to leave until the law suits were settled, etc, etc. I finished off the 3 page parental nightmare by saying it was all an April Fools joke and being younger, dumber, and less caring than I am today, I chuckled an evil laugh all the way to the post box and mailed it.
To this day my Dad & Val continue to plot revenge to pass on that letter as an inspiration to any grand-children Mere & I provide.
Last week Mere & I have been staying at the world's largest intentional community called Auroville about 10kms from Pondicherry. It was founded by 2 spiritual seers, Sri Aurobindo & a French woman known as "the Mother" who helped interpret Sri Auro's rather obfuscated mystical writings and got Auroville started back in the 60's as a spritual community that will demonstrate world unity. Since then Auroville's been transformed from a barren, clearcut wasteland to the huge thriving web of farms, projects, businesses, and spiritual seekers it is today.
At the centre of Auroville is a giant Science World like dome building used for meditation (see photo below:
) that Mere & I went to.
Because John & Bibi have been my
parent-in-laws for just over a year now and they haven't seen their daughter in over 3 months, I started to speculate what would be the worst letter they could receive (and still be willing to talk to me at Xmases & family get togethers) as Bibi made reference to the place sounding a bit "cult like" to Mere.
So here's what I came up with so far...
Dear John & Bibi,
Mere & I have wonderful news! Today while meditating in the Matrimandir, the spritual soul of Auroville, we both had a vision from the Divine Mother. She spoke to both of us directly which our course leader, Asreef says is a very rare and auspicious event.
The Divine Mother said to both of us that we've been chosen to become shining spiritual lights that will guide humanity from the Dark and into the Light of her unconditional Divine Love.
As you can imagine, we're super excited about this and can't wait to begin our new roles as beacons of hope for the new world based on love, unity, non-materialism and harmony.
Since receiving our vision we haven't been able to stop talking about it with all the new friends we've made here in our free two-week long Introduction to the Divine Spirit Course (we call it the ITTDS for short). The course has been intense as sleep and time alone are strictly forbidden but we can really see it's laying the foundation for us to bring humanity back from the brink of destruction through love, unity, non-materialism and harmony.
All Mere & I need to do next is to complete surrendering all of our attachments to the old material-based world so that the Age of Divine Love can begin for us and all our loved ones. With your help we think this won't be a problem as Mere & I have already given away our entire travel fund from the wedding to Asreef and the Keepers of the Divine we've been taking the course from. We're feeling so much closer to being completely free and you wouldn't believe the levels of joy and exhiliration we've experienced from letting go.
Now we'd like you to experience the power of the Divine Mother's love for yourselves.
Since you recently sold your home in West Vancouver, Mere & I think this is a unique opportunity right now for you to shed your burden of materialism and join us in the Light.
After hearing about your financial situation,
Asreef is very keen and anxious to meet you so you can do your own ITTDS. We're sure you'll like him and all the people here as many of them are from your generation. After the 60's rather than focussing on career and family like you both did, they've been devoted to the evolution of humanity and it's spritual well-being. We're certain they can teach you as much as they've taught us. What do you think?
Since Mere & I have sold our plane ticket home, we're also hoping you can help us liquidate any of Mere's remaining assets before you fly down. We can't wait to hear what kind of vision the Divine Mother will give you too.
As we're beginning our new roles as Beacons of Light we're told to avoid the negative energy of the outside world as we accummulate more and more of the Divine Love. That means we won't be able to communicate with you until you arrive here and take the ITTDS which we promise will be the beginning of your own journey into the Divine Love of the Divine Mother.
We can't wait to see you,
In love, unity, non-materialism and harmony,
Brad & Mere
To this day my Dad & Val continue to plot revenge to pass on that letter as an inspiration to any grand-children Mere & I provide.
Last week Mere & I have been staying at the world's largest intentional community called Auroville about 10kms from Pondicherry. It was founded by 2 spiritual seers, Sri Aurobindo & a French woman known as "the Mother" who helped interpret Sri Auro's rather obfuscated mystical writings and got Auroville started back in the 60's as a spritual community that will demonstrate world unity. Since then Auroville's been transformed from a barren, clearcut wasteland to the huge thriving web of farms, projects, businesses, and spiritual seekers it is today.
At the centre of Auroville is a giant Science World like dome building used for meditation (see photo below:
Because John & Bibi have been my
parent-in-laws for just over a year now and they haven't seen their daughter in over 3 months, I started to speculate what would be the worst letter they could receive (and still be willing to talk to me at Xmases & family get togethers) as Bibi made reference to the place sounding a bit "cult like" to Mere.
So here's what I came up with so far...
Dear John & Bibi,
Mere & I have wonderful news! Today while meditating in the Matrimandir, the spritual soul of Auroville, we both had a vision from the Divine Mother. She spoke to both of us directly which our course leader, Asreef says is a very rare and auspicious event.
The Divine Mother said to both of us that we've been chosen to become shining spiritual lights that will guide humanity from the Dark and into the Light of her unconditional Divine Love.
As you can imagine, we're super excited about this and can't wait to begin our new roles as beacons of hope for the new world based on love, unity, non-materialism and harmony.
Since receiving our vision we haven't been able to stop talking about it with all the new friends we've made here in our free two-week long Introduction to the Divine Spirit Course (we call it the ITTDS for short). The course has been intense as sleep and time alone are strictly forbidden but we can really see it's laying the foundation for us to bring humanity back from the brink of destruction through love, unity, non-materialism and harmony.
All Mere & I need to do next is to complete surrendering all of our attachments to the old material-based world so that the Age of Divine Love can begin for us and all our loved ones. With your help we think this won't be a problem as Mere & I have already given away our entire travel fund from the wedding to Asreef and the Keepers of the Divine we've been taking the course from. We're feeling so much closer to being completely free and you wouldn't believe the levels of joy and exhiliration we've experienced from letting go.
Now we'd like you to experience the power of the Divine Mother's love for yourselves.
Since you recently sold your home in West Vancouver, Mere & I think this is a unique opportunity right now for you to shed your burden of materialism and join us in the Light.
After hearing about your financial situation,
Asreef is very keen and anxious to meet you so you can do your own ITTDS. We're sure you'll like him and all the people here as many of them are from your generation. After the 60's rather than focussing on career and family like you both did, they've been devoted to the evolution of humanity and it's spritual well-being. We're certain they can teach you as much as they've taught us. What do you think?
Since Mere & I have sold our plane ticket home, we're also hoping you can help us liquidate any of Mere's remaining assets before you fly down. We can't wait to hear what kind of vision the Divine Mother will give you too.
As we're beginning our new roles as Beacons of Light we're told to avoid the negative energy of the outside world as we accummulate more and more of the Divine Love. That means we won't be able to communicate with you until you arrive here and take the ITTDS which we promise will be the beginning of your own journey into the Divine Love of the Divine Mother.
We can't wait to see you,
In love, unity, non-materialism and harmony,
Brad & Mere
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