Quite a few friends and blog readers have asked for a follow up post about the ten day Vipassana Meditation course that I took in Nepal…the journal chronicling my ten day Vipassana course was very raw and there was no room for reflection at the time…
Vipassana Meditation in Nepal
I dubbed my time in Vipassana meditation as my “ten day stint in solitary confinement”- it’s how it felt at the time, and, in jest, I do still think of this intense mediation course as one of my wackier decisions. But now, …

We head back in time today to the east coast of Australia for a flashback to my questionably successful attempts to learn how to surf. Now, this post is not intended to startle and confuse my loyal readers, but at the time I skipped over a few places along the way when the blog got too behind real time.
So, we rewind the clock and land back on the sunny and incredibly touristy east coast of Australia to the surfing town of Byron Bay. I am game for just about …

I don’t think that I could have landed in a better place to volunteer than the Manjushri Di-Chen Learning Center. This monastery was built to specifically address the poverty and lack of education in Nepal; it’s nearly completely run on donations and the donations are used to sponsor more children as well as further develop the monastery with more appropriate classroom and dorm facilities for the children living and studying there. The children come from the poorest families around Nepal – areas where they live miles from …

The flight into Kathmandu was short and fairly inexpensive – I was a bit bummed that we couldn’t do the more eco-friendly version by training/busing it from Varanasi, but we unfortunately cut Varanasi out of our trip and just bit the cost (and environmental impact) and caught a really short Air India flight between Delhi and Kathmandu.  Entering Kathmandu is seemingly easy – it’s visa-on-arrival for US citizens.  The one catch though: the airport ATM is never working.  Now, I learned my lesson previously in Laos and always carrying …

I’m not sure if any trip to India would be complete without a trip to see the sacred Mother Ganga – otherwise known as the Ganges River.  With our flight to Kathmandu just a week away, Helen and I made a four day stop into Rishikesh to do a bit of rafting, take a yoga class, and enjoy our last week of Indian cuisine.
Rishikesh is a really bizarre town - truly unlike the other Indian towns we have been in; even the Indians come here for a vacation/pilgrimage and a chance …

The blog is going back to India now for a bit longer although I made it to Italy!!  There was some visa drama and 22 hours from hell in Delhi, but I will go into all of that later  :)  My friend Jenn has joined us for a few weeks and she will be keeping an actual up-to-date record what we’re doing on her blog.  I am still behind on posts and have just two more cities to bring you all to until we reach Kathmandu – and then …

I have to say, now that I am on the other side of the Vipassana Meditation course I can only wonder just what prompted me to so strongly insist that I take this ten-day spiritual boot-camp of sorts.  I just don’t know why – I’ve never really previously meditated and have to admit that I wasn’t entirely prepared for what I was getting myself into.
Some of the rules and restrictions of all Vipassana courses:  you sign a contract stating you will stay for the whole course; noble silence means …

One of my wide-sweeping goals for this trip is to learn new things – not just the intangible new knowledge that you gain of new cultures, religions and regions, but tangible skills.  All throughout the trip so far I have been trying to learn the local skills and crafts – a cooking class in Laos taught me a few basic dishes from that region – my intention for India has been dance classes and henna.  Pushkar is a fairly small town and quite navigable – which is most certainly …