Sunday:
Woke up and ran around the beautiful old town in Antalya clicking photos before it was time to pack up and head out to the next stop with my new travel mates; Danny, the Aussie author, and Maria, the beautiful Danish flight attendant. We took the tram to the bus station and after a quick stop at the loo, ran after our bus that was starting to drive off with our packs inside with the bus staff running and pointing us into two different directions. We arrived at our destination, Bayram’s Pansiyon, and were surrounded by tree houses, citrus trees and hammocks as well as all the fantastic travellers and staff we would be spending the next couple days with. After settling in to our room to the sounds of Manu Chao and Nirvana, we took a wander to the beach alongside the ruins of ancient Olympos. We spent the evening in deep discussions on a platform of carpets and pillows and after dinner, the discussions turned into hilarious descriptions of turtle sex, amongst other things, from Kelsey, our Seattlite who appeared with Danny #2 (I have sound recordings of random frog sex from that night too). After some battles trying to figure out how to close the door, which needed the key, and get power, which also needed the key, we got extra blankets against the cold and called it a night. Did I mention the only light was red? There was much giggling about the ‘sex light’ that wouldn’t turn off.

Monday:
Ate breakfast with Danny, Maria and Kelsey, Danny#2 was climbing a mountain elsewhere. Breakfast topics included furries, beastiality and evolution. I miss Kelsey already. Maria, Danny and myself went off to explore the ruins properly and we got all excited when we discovered this was where Marcus Aurelius was buried. There would be no turning back until we found his grave. We hiked into what seemed the right direction and ended up in a citrus grove where we ate a stolen orange, best one I’ve ever tasted! and found a turtle in the clear stream we washed our hands in (it was not having sex). We searched every confusing pathway and ruin and finally found where he had been buried with his family almost 2000 years ago. Pretty cool walking the same grounds as the philosopher emperor. We found our way across the river and started trying to find the access point to the Genoise castle, I stumbled on the rocks and got my shoes and pants drenched so I got to be the rock scrambling scout to make sure of where we were going before anyone else fell in. We found the path eventually and made our way up and were treated to a beautiful view of the cove below us. Maria found a skull and we spent time up there trying to figure out what it was from, it was decided it was a frog, no a hippo, no it had to be a goat. Got back to the hostel and took up Marnie (staff) on her previous days offer of a tarot reading. It consisted of flipping over cards and trying to interpret the pictures as we had no idea how to read the Turkish interpretations or names on the cards. I looked into them a little further online and it turns out they were fairly accurate. My past was an inverted wheel of fortune, my present, the hermit, my future, the three of cups. Not bad for a couple of girls with no clue about what they were doing. Afterwards, more chilling and chatting, I received a call from my friend in Istanbul letting me know that Infected Mushroom was going to be there! After excitedly trying to figure out how to get there in time, it was off to bed.

Tuesday:
Said our goodbye’s and shared hugs with the friends we had made and took the shuttle to the bus stop. Once there we had to say goodbye to Maria who was off to Antalya, then Istanbul, with the hopes of flying back to Belgium which could prove difficult given the state of flying in Europe right now due to the volcanic ash. We’ve met many who have been stranded for some time, one family was supposed to fly out the day everything was shut down which was over a week before. On the bus to Patara, we got stopped by the police who took everyone’s ID except for ours and held us there until everyone had been checked. It was a good opportunity to at least stretch the legs. We arrived at the Flower Pansiyon and had homemade Gizleme and got to watch it being made and then cooked over a woodfire. Then the dog ate my arm. Got taken to the doctors and antibioticked and bandanged and supplied with a ton of gauze and ointment to maintain it for the next while. The dog had it’s shots up to date and had acted out of character apparently, he had let me pet him but when I scratched his ears, the next thing I knew he was hanging off my arm with his teeth embedded in it. We took a quick wander around the village and walked along some beautiful scenery as that’s all that there was time for after the adventure with the pitbull, then I practiced some poi to test the limitations of my arm, and chilled on another platform with pillows and rugs. There will be no yoga or swimming for a while but hopefully it will be good enough for Flamenco in time for Spain. Going to bed early as adrenaline rushes make me sleepy, g’nite!

Friday:
Very early wake up after staying up too late yet again, to get to the airport for our flight to Daveli (I counted, it’s plane number 13 since I started in Mexico). Since Omer flies so much to check out textile factories and whatnot, we got dropped off at the VIP entrance where we had breakfast and chilled on couches until we were called. After the flight, we were picked up by the driver of his first of four factory stops of the day. As the plane had been late, there was no time to get me to the hotel so I ended up at the factory, hair unbrushed and damp from my morning shower, no makeup, wearing Merrel’s and my 60L backpack, having breakfast with the owners in the executive lounge with Omer. After tea and fresh honeycomb, we toured the floor where they make everything (except the fabric itself, that was in another part of the factory). We wandered around all the smiling women sewing bathrobes piece by piece, a pocket here, a sleeve there, and eventually it was an entire bathrobe being checked for quality and moving on to folding and packaging. I will definitely be aiming for Turkey on the labels of any towel or bathrobe I purchase in the future. After sitting in a meeting about his latest order and discussing the tweaks the samples needed (I introduced the term ‘vector’), the driver took me to my hotel. Shwank! I gathered my things and went to the bus station across the street and caught one to Pamukkele.

The countryside here is absolutely stunning, I would have been happy to make the journey just for that but I continued on past the gates anyway. I wandered the necropolis with the pamphlet I received at the entrance and the geek in me couldn’t help but wish they would let me do some copy edits for them. I still enjoyed the walk and took a lot of photos and climbed around where I could. I saw the main entrance to the city but there were a few people wandering about and figured it would be quieter later so I went toward the travertine stepped pools. They were amazing! Hard to believe they were formed naturally, so white and pure. I walked down to the bottom with my pants rolled up, and realized too late that now I had to walk all the way back up. It had been so quiet on the way down and now hordes of tourists were descending. It was a little hard on the feet at this point but I reminded myself that the more water I touched, the better, as people had been coming to these healing, mineral rich waters for millennia. Afterwards, I made my way over to the ancient pool and went for a swim amongst old roman columns and other stone detritus. While I was there, I took a moment to sit in an ancient asana in the ancient pool on ancient carved stone. Once out and dried with my thirst quenched from overpriced water, I went on to explore the amphitheater and main street of Hierapolis. I was incorrect when I previously thought it would be quieter later but I managed to stay barely ahead of the hordes and most of my photos are clear of them. There was a couple in front so I would hold the camera in position for the moment they would walk in front if a column and be hidden from view. I waited on the side of the road with a little skepticism about the bus as there were no signs or indication that one would be there, but eventually one came and I got to sit and listen to all the birds while I waited so it was all good.

I arrived back at the hotel, moments before Omer, who came bearing fancy towels and a bottle of wine that were a gift for me from the factory I had been at earlier. Also, there was a dinner invitation for us and they had lent Omer the company car to come get me. I fixed myself up so I would look less of a slob (though it’s difficult when everything in my pack is permawrinkled) The restaurant was fantastic, we had octopus, seaweed, aubergines and artichokes as an appetizer, followed by the best calamari I’ve ever eaten (fresh makes a HUGE difference from the frozen we can only get at home), followed by sea bass with stuffed mussels and the lemon wedge was in a tulle bag so that the seeds don’t fall out when you squeeze it. Oh and desert? Deep fried ice cream, heaven! A few interesting things though, I think they changed my plate about 6 times, if there was so much as a few breadcrumbs on it from what I was eating, they would swap it, and my utensils, for new ones. And the sugar cubes were individually wrapped. My hippie senses were tingling… The service was impeccable, the server would make sure to be there whenever I was coming back to the table so he could seat me and they’d try to give me a blanket every time we went to walk outside between courses. We were the last ones there and the whole staff came out to shake our hands. Definitely the royal treatment. Afterwards, our host took us out to the only 2 clubs in the town. The first one was having a grand opening and they had a live band and singer singing traditional songs that everyone joined in on and a girl from the audience hopped on stage and started bellydancing. Second one was playing Turkish house which was ok, I could have done without the repetitive beat insertion that killed all the good tracks as soon as they reached about 30 seconds, flashbacks of the Dominican! Managed to dance a little between the backstreet boys on the stage and the strippers in training on the tables with poles. It was a little weird but still quite a bit of fun especially watching my two accomplices, as they got further into their drinks. Eventually, we had to head back, ears ringing and exhausted after a nearly 24 hour day on 4 hours sleep.

Saturday:
Woke up late smelling like smoke from the bar and ridiculously sticky shoes. Smoking is illegal inside but no one pays attention the bars and Omer mentioned it was unlikely the floors had EVER been cleaned. Omer continued on his factory tours and I was a big girl and went all by myself to get a bus ticket to Antalya. Went back to pack and got on the bus, missing a goodbye from Omer by a couple minutes, and I was on my way to the coast surrounded by mountains. I thought the bus would be 3 hours instead of 4 and I didn’t realize the only stop was in the first half hour or I would’ve drank less water, but I managed to survive. I took a local bus, past a ridiculous amount of cell phone shops (entire blocks of them) and landed meters away from Hadrian’s gate (that guy got around!) this is the best maintained old town I’ve seen in any city in any country to date, pristine! Got stopped by a fellow at a spice shop and had some delicious apple/pomegranate/eucalyptus tea which I purchased a bit of, always conscious of what I can carry on my back being 6 days away from Istanbul and shipping. It will likely be drunk by then though :) I arrived at the hostel and met some great people almost immediately and 3 of us hung out for the rest of the evening chatting about traveling and what it does to you. Turns out they want to go to the same place so we’ll all be traveling to Olympos together tomorrow.

So now I’m back to traveling old school, me and my pack, it was nice to live in luxury for a bit though :) I also wanted to thank you all for reading and supporting me, I haven’t been able to respond much but I really appreciate it!

Tuesday:
 Woke up with a call to prayer over the megaphones in the area, there are 5 calls a day, fortunately I like the sound. Omer headed to work after making sure I knew what I was doing. He’s been an incredible host, setting me up with a cell, internet, train pass, maps, and helping me with absolutely everything, I wouldn’t even be able to begin to know how to thank him. I did some yoga, then geeked out on his laptop catching up on the end of Goa before heading out to get my bearings. I took the train to the last stop on the Asian side and just started wandering around for a couple hours making mental notes of the things I wanted to see when they’re open and just getting a general feel for the place. I took random photos of things while people looked to see what I was seeing. I made my way back to the apartment and Omer came home much later so we went on an unsuccessful hunt for Donar and filled up on kabobs instead (they’re not available late in the evening). The places we’ve been so far seem pretty posh but apparently they’re fairly typical restaurants here. When we got back we did the usual music bonding thing that seems to happen everywhere I go and watched old episodes of Chuck.

Wednesday:
 After finding myself freezing my butt off after nearly 2 months in 30-45 degree temperatures, combined with my formerly tight jeans that are gaping at the waist, it was time to do some shopping. Omer dropped me off at an outlet mall near his place (malls are insane here, there are TONS of them and many more being built) and I picked up some Mavi’s (still keeping it local!) and a light jacket. Verbal communication was a fail but Mavi having a poster with all their styles that I could point to? Win. Walked back to the apartment and after a quick change, hopped on the train to the Grand Bazaar. A 500 year old mall with over 4000 shops? I can handle that :) At first I was a bit surprised as I walked down streets filled with shops because I thought that the Bazaar was supposed to be covered, turns out I wasn’t even in the Bazaar yet. Umm, wow! I decided not to actually shop as I would be back in a couple weeks with a better potential to ship things home so I walked around to get a feel and ideas of what I actually wanted to buy. I had been warned about the attention I would receive so I decided to have some fun with it. I wandered completely aimlessly with the intention of getting lost and unlost as often as I felt like (there was security at every entrance so I wasn’t worried), walked past stalls selling everything from pottery, glittery lamps, carpets, jewelry, child-size belly dance costumes, and every brand name of clothing, shoes and purses you could think of, mostly counterfeit. While doing this, I had every man at every shop playing guess my language trying to get my attention, “just one question!”. One even pulled me (gently) by my arm into his shop but lost interest shortly after hearing the word ‘husband’. Another group just started listing off cities and countries randomly to see if I would respond to one, Cusco, Bilbao, Chili, etc., once I was past them, I hollered back that I was Canadian but said it in Spanish just to confuse them more. Most guesses were that I was Turkish or some form of Spanish and I’d respond in English, Spanish or French, whichever took my fancy. Embracing what some find unpleasant about the bazaar really made it fun for me as I walked around with a stupid grin messing with people. After running out of streets to get lost on, I made my escape to the outside and had to try some Turkish ice cream. While sitting, reading and enjoying, one of the fellows was drilling me with questions, ‘was I married? Do I have a sister? Is she married? Do I have a friend? Is she married? Can I come to Canada with you as friends then?’ I told him I had a brother too but unfortunately, he was getting married soon and you should have seen the look on his face! After I finished my ice cream, I went in search of a donar, found a spot and this little girl was staring at me and we kept grinning at each other. With a belly full of goodness, it was time to hop back on the train. Again, drilled with questions and interesting facts about Turkey and being told what every single stop was, even though I could read it for myself, by an older gentleman who was excited to practice English. I just wish I hadn’t been so tired at that point because I just wanted to stare out the window. Got home and had to hurry because Idil and her crew from the Burberry office in London had invited us out for dinner. It was a fancy affair on an island in the Bospherus that you had to take a boat to. Mary was originally from New York and Jacobo from Madrid. At first it felt a bit like working on Rolex when the clients are in town, trying not to embarrass yourself by clanking a fork or whatever, except after a few drinks, the conversation eventually drifted into Achbar the terrorist and Russel Peters and we all had a lot of fun with Jacobo doing little jigs while we waited for the boat to take us back.

Thursday:
 Today was by far the least exciting. My belly has not been happy. Eating street food and drinking tap water in Mexico? No problem! 6 weeks in India? A tad off here and there. And now here we are in Turkey, blah. I should be grateful though that it could be worse, I can still do most everything I want to. In fact, I think I was using it as an excuse to stay in for the day and geek out getting photos up. I had to explore a little to find a decent editor that wouldn’t involve installing software on Omer’s machine, great way to waste hours being non-productive. I found Picnik to be what I was looking for so hopefully that will make things easier for the rare days I get at least an hour or two online. I also took the opportunity to find out the story with the custom dance shoes I ordered (turns out they’re in Madrid, not Seville so I have to get that sorted Monday) and called the bank to let them know my card went awol in Bombay. They can’t send me a new one internationally so I’ll be hanging on to the visa for dear life. Contemplating putting a hole in it and attaching it to a chain or something. Also got my flight booked to Daveli. See? Exciting isn’t it?

Friday:
 Had a good scrub, managed to get the knots out of my hair finally, so nice to run a brush through it! I went back to eating Indian food as it was near the end of my time here. I went for a swim but the water turned a bit rough every time so I went for a lovely nap. Afterwards, I found Papi and we gorged on watermelon, so messy yet so good, we ate more than half a watermelon between the two of us. We wandered down the south end of the beach and climbed on rocks and discussed all things yoga, prayanama to asana to kriya. Before we were about to head back, the entire beach blacked out, so we continued to chill until the lights came back on so that we could see. After some wine and tunes, we wandered to the north end of the beach were Papi practiced some mantras and I wandered around trying to see if the sand would sparkle for me again.

Saturday: 
The hardest day, knowing it was my last full one in this amazing country. We went swimming but this time Papi scraped his forehead after diving in too shallow so we decided the sea was telling us it was time to leave it alone. Papi bleeding was the theme for the day because he also cut his leg and later on, his ear, I have no idea what he keeps doing to himself and neither does he. I had flashbacks of Adam at his first burn, I’d used up my medical kit on him before we’d even made it to the desert! After a couple more doses of dal and butter roti for me, went back to the huts and ate papaya. Also had 2 puppies jumping all over me on the beach, my little body guards that had been keeping me company the last while, chilling on my balcony at random times. My neighbour’s roommate had left her on her own but she didn’t want to join us for rum and music, can’t say I didn’t try. They’d been beside me most of the week but we never ended up hanging out, just smiles and waves and a little chit-chat.

Sunday: 
We drove the 2 hours back to the airport where Papi dropped me off. Turned out our sister’s have the same birthday so we made sure to make mental notes to call them. Once back in Bombay, I was picked up by the Anjali Inn again and went on an evening hunt for a cell phone with success. Had my final Lassi and dal and still stayed up way too late geeking out with the wifi, finally shut ‘er down and konked out.

Monday:
 Woke up at the butt crack of dawn and went to wait for my ride to the airport. Then a typical Natalia scenario plays out. There was another couple also waiting at the entrance to the hostel, Cass and Jeremy from Australia. They just happened to be going to Turkey as well, on a flight with only 30 people that goes via Cairo, the coincidence was noted. We get to the airport and I see Cass wearing a keyboard cat shirt, this is like a geek flag, so hooray! fellow geeks! We hung out the whole day, waiting for flights, getting on flights, being on flights, we had over 12 hours of travel time together so it was great, piles of stuff in common, discussions about iPhone vs Android, wifi access in India, etc. As we fly over the Nile, I compliment Cass on her eyebrow jewelry, she mentioned she got them in San Francisco, I mention I was there in the summer, she says the same for herself, she was on her way to Burningman. 3 faces light up as we recognize each other for who we are, kindred spirits. We talk and talk and she shows me a picture of her favorite camp, the skinny kitty camp. They were less than 5 meters away from me. I love being me sometimes :) Besides that little anecdote of synchronicity, the flights were fine. Entertainment was a REALLY bad movie that I couldn’t finish watching, no matter how bored I was (I think it was one of the Twilight flicks), then a really weird cartoon that involved babies coming out of coconuts and talking horses and cowboys and random chunks of meat all over the place.

I arrived in Turkey and after a lot of badly dressed queue jumping women, I finally got through and picked up my bag and Omer was patiently waiting to greet me. We dropped off my gear and went for kebabs with him and his girlfriend Idil in a restaurant overlooking the Bospherus. Omer and I spent the evening telling Idil stories of high school life in Canada which hopefully helped Idil understand a little of why Omer is such a strange cat for a Turkish guy. After Idil dropped us off at Omer’s, we stayed up until the wee hours facestalking and tweetstalking old friends. Then I slept like a baby. The end.

Title quote: A pin I got at Burningman in 2004.

Monday:
 Started our trip to the south by hitting up a body shop to fix up Papi’s mom’s car that was hit by a motorbike the previous night (bumper was knocked loose, nothing serious). It was a surprisingly smooth operation that took less than 20 minutes including tracking down a tiny part and having it replaced. We stopped on our way to Vasco and had some fresh roadside coconuts that we first drank from, then scooped out the meat of the fruit, so good! In Vasco, it was time for me to send back my second package, my bag was getting full and I had no need for the clothing I was wearing at the Ashram. This was not a smooth operation. First we checked out some couriers, too expensive, then to the post office. We tracked down a box to pack everything in, went and got tape, then it turned out it needed to be stitched into a bag, so off to the tailor’s, then off to buy fabric, then back to the tailor’s, then Papi went to hang out with his mom because he hates the post office, then back to the post office, then they wanted my passport which was in Papi’s car, then off to find a phone, first one was closed until 3 so off into the other direction, then to get a drink because I was stupid hot, had no small bills so had to find another place, then back to the post office where Papi rescued me by using his address as the default so we wouldn’t have to continue running around for more documents. All this while being stared at in my inappropriate mini dress. Ok for the touristy areas, not so much the local areas. Finally arrived in Agonda, hot and sleepy, we found his buddy Lotus who set us up in some beach huts and had a fantastic dinner of mushroom pasta in a cream sauce.

Tuesday: 
Slept. Swam. Ate. Swam. Geeked out. Swam. Went to the fishmarket in nearby Palolem to get fresh mackeral. Ate. Found a new set of beach huts because the other ones had sucky fans and it was too hot. Went back to Palolem to hang out with Lotus and friends, a brit named Sophia was celebrating her birthday and a girl named Masha was wondering how on earth I had a Russian name when I wasn’t Russian. Also, not sure if Papi was messing with me or not but we had to watch for vipers while climbing over bales of hay near Lotus’s place. Also, decided we’d be better off chilling on our beach front balconies, drinking and listening to tunes, as the birthday girl’s party hadn’t quite started yet and we had to be back in Agonda before midnight when the police blocked/questioned/etc.

Wednesday:
 Decided the new huts were a good choice except for my bathroom switch which will electrocute you slightly if you’re not careful. Beach front, cool inside, tile floors, less than $10 a night, can’t really go wrong. Got a lesson in beach living from my local mate who was noticing my hair starting to dread and knowing that I don’t intend on coming back a dread locked hippie like my brother just did, we coated my hair in coconut oil which seems to be doing the trick. I intend to try brushing it out today, I have high hopes. After a swim, nap and lunch, we headed back to the highway to hit up a cashew distillery Papi noticed the day before. We hiked in and got some Urrack which apparently is very cleansing but also gets you fairly drunk and a little stoned in the process. We also got the fresh juice as it was coming out of the pressed pile of cashew apples. The season for this is very short and the juice itself does not keep long so this was a special treat that I’ll likely never experience again. Papi had more than me and was telling stories of ‘yokes’ he’s played on people like the ‘hump here’ signs in Kerala that denote a speed bump but he convinced some tourists was a sign that meant it was a zone were people were allowed to have sex as it was illegal in private. I spent the rest of the evening making him listen to Captain Tractor.

Thursday: 
Yet another lazy day. Slept. Swam. Ate. Swam. Slept. Ate. Did some laundry, used the interwebs. Decided it was high time to start looking into what I want to do in Turkey as I’ll be there on Monday. Drank more urrack, went for a late night swim which turned out to be the coolest thing ever. There’s phosphorous in the water so when you swim in the dark and move in the water, it sparkles! So beautiful! Also busted a bloke who was wandering on my balcony and had even found the hidden key and opened the door. He said he was looking for a torch as he had lost his bag and fortunately nothing was missing at all (turns out my money belt was missing, fortunately there wasn’t much in there) but it was still weird. We chilled and listened to more tunes before I staggered into my room to sleep, and used my own lock this time from the inside.

Friday: 
(So far) Finally got my act together and had a proper morning. Started with some ocean facing asana’s, then had some poached eggs and fresh papaya juice, now I’m catching up on the blog (but will have to come back to print my e-ticket to Turkey, that sys has been occupied all morning). I’m aiming to do some more laundry, wash out the coconut oil from my hair, read more about Turkey and see if Papi is still alive after the urrack last night.

As soon as I left the ashram and said goodbyes and hugged all the amazing people I met there, first stop was for a mango lassi with Heidi. It was the best one I’ve had so far, thick enough to need a spoon, and mango dripping off our hands by the time we were done. Got on the flight no problem and met quite a few Brazilian’s on their way there and a Brit couple going for the long weekend. Because the flight was only an hour, we flew fairly low and you could see the ripply water the whole flight. This flight turned the Brit girl beside me into a psychotic, crying mess, but it made things interesting. Arrived in one piece and Papi was there to meet me and we headed off to meet his lady and then went to Kalangute where he had a room booked for me and ended up drinking rum and visiting with his friends at a nearby pub called Shooters before checking out Baha beach. I was still on Ashram time so I left for bed relatively early.

Saturday we went for a lunch of kingfish, cod and shrimp, ended up being a bit of a bad idea as my stomach was still used to sattvic food but it was worth a little discomfort. Went for my first swim in the Arabian sea and omigoodness it was warm! Had a nap and after banging on Papi’s door to wake him up, we went to the Saturday night market. So much fun! Didn’t end up doing any shopping, just grooved to the fantastic bands that were playing while Papi caught up with friends (he’s been away from home for about 7 months so I’m basically tagging along while he catches up with everyone, including most of the band members too) Some of the dancers were hilarious, one old local dude gets really drunk and stoned and dances around with a bottle on his head and apparently this has been going on for years. There were also quite a few little ones running around and shaking it up and they even got on stage for a while. One of Papi’s friends is a freelance videographer and I got interviewed on my opinion of the market so I may even be on Indian tele at some point.

On Sunday I was incredibly lazy and slept until about 1 and then we went to Bitta’s for lunch and I had an excellent veggie lasagna. Apparently Bitta’s is the best place to eat and Tito’s is the best place to dance in all of Goa according to the ridiculous amount of signage, the food was definitely excellent though but we didn’t check out Tito’s. Why? Because the birthplace of my favorite genre was nearby in Anjuna. All of my favorite artists have played there and it was so amazing. A bit Shambhala-esque as it reminded me strongly of the Fractal Forest with pumping psy playing and a booth built into this massive tree. Instead of the trees from back home though, they were all coconut trees and there were Chai ladies on mat’s surrounding the outskirts of the dance floor. There were fire spinners and it was ridiculously hot and everyone was sweating profusely but it was SO MUCH FUN. The music was amazing, I had a good groove going with my rubber spine (anyone who’s gone dancing with me will know what I’m talking about), the only thing that could have been an improvement is keeping it going later than 10:00. Fortunately, it get’s dark around 7:30 so it felt much later than it was. Apparently there’s been some issues in previous years with things getting out of hand so there’s a pretty tight crackdown on the duration of the parties as they used to run for days on end. Went back to the beach after having subs, before heading back to our rooms.

This place is such a contrast to the rest of India, the clothes, the people, the food, the driving, the language, the vibe, all are different. It’s absolutely beautiful here with mass quantities of lush greenery, I can’t get over it and I get lost in my head just staring out the window as we drive by. It’s hard to believe that this time last year I was in Croatia checking out the lush greenery in Krka National Park. Everyone here has been super friendly and relaxed and I could seriously contemplate living here. I’m so very glad I extended the India portion of my journey to come here. I’m now thinking I may come back in July for monsoon but Papi was also mentioning house-boating in Kashmir so we’ll keep in touch and go from there.

For now, back to my beach hut, back to the Arabian sea, and I’ll write again before I start my journey to Turkey.

My arrival in Bombay was significantly different than my arrival in Delhi, I was picked up lickety split and into a decent hostel. It was nice having a room to myself after sharing since Mexico. I finally got around to buying some Salwar Kameez and they are ridiculously comfortable! A couple of them I’ll alter so that I can wear them regularly when I get home. Bombay is the first city I’ve been in where the auto-rickshaws actually use the meter and the traffic is insane but it’s got a way different vibe than the rest of the places, pretty cosmopolitan. The mosquitos here are more evil than elsewhere, the bites I got the first night were nearly an inch in diameter, I think I’ve actually donated about a pint of blood now to the Indian mosquito community. I’m talking multiple bites on toes, cuticles, face, knees, elbows…

Now for the Ashram experience. I arrived in this little Bombay Oasis Saturday morning, bright and shiny in my new clothes, and saw the most shiny, happy faces I’ve seen at at once since Burningman. The members of my group of 26 where mostly local with only 7 foreigners, 6 after the first day when one of the fellows decided he couldn’t handle the clean living and went back to Thailand. Of the foreigners, there were 3 girls on a yearlong exchange, ages 16-18, from France, Germany and Brazil. The Brazilian girl was named Natalia too so we were split into Junior and Senior. The rest of the people were super sweet as well as all the volunteers, which are the ones taking the 3-7 month teacher training courses. We’ve all vowed to keep in touch and share pictures, it was so good! A lot like summercamp in many ways except the trouble maker was the 60 year old, not the 16 year olds. All the teachers were amazing, it’s like they all walked around with a glow and explained things in a way I could connect with.

Our days started with asana’s, then a sattvic breakfast, then karma yoga which means selfless work which consisted of picking leaves, cleaning rice, dusting windows, it was good (and a good workout). After, we would have sessions on things like hygiene, impermanence, kriya’s, meaning of life, etc, basically all things yoga. In the west yoga is mostly understood as being the asana’s which is truly only one part of yoga. Afterwards, we would gather with the locals for a formal address with the community leaders which unfortunately were sometimes difficult to understand but I got the gist of it. After a sattvic lunch would come my favorite part of the day, our relaxation class consisting of 3 different relaxation asana’s and discussion. Then it was off to the back space to perform kriya’s, then back inside for logic games and more theory. After a snack break, we would have singing, this was the hardest one for me as I hate singing and to make it worse, it was all hindi, so imagine me crooning in my tone deaf voice while butchering the hindi language! Fortunately we had Heidi and a few others with strong talent and we did some english songs too. Last session of the day would be asana’s again, in the evenings we would learn the new ones, in the mornings we would practise them. Not a single sun salutation though, different from what I’m used to but definitely felt effective. After the last class it would be dinner and then we could wander about the property which we would do for hours, even practised the poi a bit.

The Ashram itself, The Yoga Institute, has been around since 1918 and the facility since the 1930’s. When it was built, it was in the middle of jungle, now it’s 5km from an airport. The property is super lush and shaded with lots of greenery and the planes make an interesting contrast. An exercise in acceptance, when the planes fly overhead, the whole ashram pauses in mid breath to allow them to pass out of earshot. They’re loud enough to make you think the world is ending when it startles you awake in the middle of the night with sound so loud the building shakes. I’m surprised I was able to function as well as I did considering the lack of sleep but I guess I’m proof that it’s true that a 20 minute Savasana is equivalent to a couple hours sleep. The lack of sugar caused an interesting reaction for me, Heidi and I escaped to get some fruit and I got dizzy from the sugar rush of an apple!

The biggest thing I got out of the whole thing was knowing I’m going in the right direction, there was a lot I had already been working on at home but this gave me clarification and stronger knowledge and names for the ideas that float loosely in my head. I also learned many more things to work on for my own growth. One of the biggest lessons I had was related to my documents to get to Goa. A big theme was letting go and being objective. My tickets had not yet arrived and I was stressing about them quite a bit thinking that maybe my friend hadn’t come through (based on multiple previous experiences over the last 2 decades of people not doing what they say they’re going to do which is directly related to my control freak status and my difficulty in putting any task of importance in the hands of another) I practised my objectivity by thinking about the reality that it was just not logical that I’d end up screwed and that it was silly to link the situation to past experience as the situation was completely different and unrelated. The documents still hadn’t shown up on Thursday and I was able to get all the pertinent flight info over the phone and finally accepted the tickets might not arrive at all but all would be well. And after the last session on Friday, an hour before I had to leave for the airport, the documents arrived.

Quote of the week: “Capacity 18 idiots” – on an auto-rickshaw where most say max 3 persons.
ps: I’m too lazy to explain every single term so use google if you want to know more.
pps: I barely recognize myself these days, I’m about the size I was at 23, my wedding dress will be too big on me! I’m down at least 10 pounds since I got here.

Tuesday:
 We took a bus to Bikaner, passing dozens of tanks that Papi was trying to convince us were up to no good but they were just training, still alarming to see though if you’re not used to it. Had lunch when we arrived and Bishal was trying to arrange a marriage between Neena and his cousin in Nepal. Visited the rat temple which was definitely strange, felt really out of place as the only tourists amongst so many devotees and we certainly got a lot of stares. Not nearly as many rats as we thought, it was easy not to accidentally step on them. As a treat, we went to Baskin Robins where they do have 31 flavors, like saffron gold and litchee gold swirl, highly recommended! Another rum night on a rooftop involving pinchy bruises and seeing who could use their toes to pick up bottles, you kinda had to be there. Got the burningman vibe when walking back as the rickshaws had multicolored lights as well as everything else around, blinky lights FTW!

Wednesday:
 Yet another bus, this time to Mandawa. This was a public one so Papi rented space at the front so that we wouldn’t be seperated from our bags. They had a fortune telling scale and apparently I’ve lost 4 kilo’s already and ‘you are quite, sensible, tender and patient’. We had a crazy stop when the bus had to detour and the girls had to use the loo so we jumped into a rickshaw and sped over to the original stopping point. Mel and I didn’t have to go and just tagged along for the ride and while we were waiting, a cow came up and hit Mel in the arm with her tail, much to the amusement of the men in the motorbike who had pulled up to stare at the whitey’s. Arrived at our haveli in Mandawa, so beautiful! A haveli is basically a multiple family manor with public and private courtyards and they are quite intricate, Mandawa is especially known for them. The doorways are all short (Paul would have to bend in half to make it through), the reason for this is to ensure people bow when they enter, not because smurfs used to live there as previously thought. After some sustenance, we took a tour of some of the other haveli’s in the town, in different states of repair and most contained resident caretakers going about their day while we clicked pictures.

We walked to the market after that where I managed to convince some locals who were surprisingly fluent in Spanish that I was from Madrid and we also went and got some henna done for all the girls. It was in a smaller haveli in a small room that several lived in and there was a tiny girl who fell asleep on me while her mother did my henna. That night, another rooftop, got the burningman vibe again because of the cacaphony of sound surrounding us, mooing cows, honking horns, fireworks, chanting and it sounded like some temple was holding a rave. And I got eaten by Mosquitos again, it’s weird because I don’t notice until the heat of the next day when they start to swell and itch. Got rid of my repellant figuring it wasn’t doing much anyway and I could lose the weight in my pack.

Thursday:
 We took private cars to Delhi and the highway (one lane total) was basically a 70km game of highway chicken. It helps if you don’t look out the window to see how close to catastrophe you are every other minute. It amazes me the sense of space everyone has here, they know their vehicle to the last millimeter of buffer before a collision. Another thing that almost caused a collision, we drove past car two of our caravan only to see Amy’s bare bottom pressed against the window. This is what happens when you get 5 girls being silly together, I pity our tour leader and his trainee. Once in Delhi, we went on the metro to the Muslim quarter. No whitey’s but us, not sure what the locals thought of us as once again, we were being ridiculous together on the trains as we are everywhere. Feels like summercamp :) People are going to stare anyway, might as well put on a good show! Once we reached our destination, we had two goat legs between 5 of us, an interesting choice for me as I’ve barely eaten meat since I got here. It was goooood! Once back at the hotel, I managed to do some catching up online as the Max grew a little concerned as to my whereabouts. Lack of wifi, time and frequent blackouts have contributed to my slackness of communication. Finally had all the girls together on the roof past 10:00, I’m going to miss them all so much, we’ve had so much fun and many tight bonds were created over the last few weeks.

Friday: 
Last day of the tour for me! The rest are continuing on to Varanasi and Kathmandu amongst other locales and I had to get to Bombay. I made it out to make a couple phone calls home, had to walk on a plank over a big ditch and up rickety steps to get there. A lot of the sidewalks are being replaced in preparation for the commonwealth games later this year. Got to practise more Spanish with a local, I think this one was on to me though as his was obviously better than mine. I got some quick hugs with the girls but not a proper goodbye as I was trying to get myself sorted for Goa, I’ll hopefully have the info I’ll need before I go to the airport next Friday, eeps!

Got to the airport with good time and got shuttled to my flight, I was the only non-local besides a fellow I met from Dubai. The flight was nice with subtle tunes and lots of tinkling from all the women’s jewellery, I slept most of it, could barely stay awake until take-off. This arrival was 1000x smoother than my first night in Delhi, I barely got throught the line of names before I spotted mine and we headed to the inn where there was a cold bottle of water awaiting me. I decided to finally get some proper local clothes as hippie doesn’t fit in as well in Bombay as it does in Pushkar. Also figured for yoga it was a good idea since my yoga pants were prompting many spanks from the girls throughout the last few weeks, even dear sweet Mel! I spent more than I intended but it was worth it, the fabrics are gorgeous and they’re really comfortable. I got casual ones though, not the fancy bejeweled ones, I stand out enough here and I don’t have my crew as a buffer for innapropriateness. Met some fellows at the hostel who ended up at the wrong one, as well as a couple girls from Germany. It’s weird being the somewhat seasoned traveller now and being able to hand out advice.

Now off to bed with an early wakeup to get myself into the Ashram. Going to enjoy the luxury of sleeping in my own room as I’ve been sharing one for over a month. It sounds a bit strange as I’m married and all but I had the house to myself for all but the equivilent of 3 months last year and that was only a week at a time.

Fails:
Mosquito repellent, cell phone, wi-fi
Wins:
Hip/shoulder pouch, Tibetan bag, speakers, joining the tour

Went on another shopping trip via motorcycle in Jaisalmer and my wardrobe finally feels near sufficient and weather appropriate. Still didn’t stop me from wearing jeans today in 40 degree weather but that’s how I roll. After shopping and water stockup, we hopped in a jeep to drive into the Thar desert. Absolutely gorgeous! This is what a real desert should look like, the dunes were as amazing as the softness of the sand.

My camel was named Babaloo and he liked to run and I’m pretty sure I have blisters in nameless places from the experience. Wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be and my driver let me hold the reins for most of it. Once we arrived at our destination, our tents were waiting as was tea and pakora, later to be followed with dinner. The only roughing it part of this particular desert was the lack of a loo, not at all what I’m used to when it comes to camping in a desert.

We watched the sunset from a tarp and it was the first night ever that all the girls joined and we sat and stared and talked and watched for shooting stars while listening to music from the 50’s and Mel’s eclectic collection. Once the moon set, the stars were insane! Most I’ve ever seen! There were some dogs on the loose that were notorious for joining people in their tents and there was a moment of hilarity when I had just fallen asleep and was startled awake by one of the dogs and knowing that Neena is terrified of them my brain was in a panic and I hollered something or other. Fortunately, the outburst kept the dogs away the rest of the night which was good because we couldn’t close our tent.

In the morning we jeeped it back to town where we had Ayurvedic massages awaiting us. Didn’t realize how much the camels and sand dune wandering had beat on my muscles until I had it all worked out of me. Mosquito bites are mostly gone but I did manage to stab myself in the foot with something while heading to the business tree last night though. My lower torso is definitely taking a beating!

Had a Lassi for lunch, these are solely responsible for the health of my belly, then a nap, also got my flights confirmed for Goa. Only 4 more sleeps left with my girls until I’m on my own again, I suspect this time will not be as chaotic as my first night on my own though, I’m comfortable enough here that I’m even contemplating a return to Goa for early monsoon between England and Czech Republic but that’s too far away to know how I’ll feel then. Had dinner on a rooftop, this time sitting and we had one of our final briefings. Tomorrow to Bikaneer for the Rat Temple, Mandawa, then back to Delhi. Will be out of contact, ATM’s and internets until Thursday. Can’t wait for Delhi wi-fi!

Yes I know, I’m all over the place with my writing. Suck it. Going to go pack for another early morning of transport, this time a bus for 6 hours, wheee! >groan<

Title: The book I was reading at the time

Thursday we went with an air-con van to Jodhpur, although the air-con wasn’t on so much, HOT! We checked out the Branakpur Jain temple which was beyond belief. Looked like something elves built in middle earth! The Jain religion is really interesting too and the food was amazing. We also stopped for roadside chai that’s made with a woodfire, bats chillin’ in daylight, and an old well that’s still used with bulls to pull fresh water from deep underground. There was a temple for a motorcycle at one of the truck stops along the way, the mixture of life and religion here is so fascinating. Once we arrived in Jodhpur, I saw a shooting star and began the arrangements to stay in India longer. I’ll be heading to Goa on the 2nd and I fly to Turkey on the 12th of April now. So lucky that Katie, my travel agent, was working her very last day when I called, what timing! I started the conversation telling her what a jerk my tour guide was and then promptly passed the phone to Papi for an international laughing session :)

Friday we had another sleep in, it’s so HOT here, like 40 degrees and above! Keeping well hydrated and shaded though. I finally filled up my memory card after checking out Jaswant Thada (a memorial built by a wife for her husband) and Mehrangarh Fort. I hit up the interwebs to try and upload pics but with the frequent blackouts and whatnot, it was much easier to burn to disk and will be sending package number 2 from Goa I think. At Mehrangarh, Indian tourists were taking photos with us which was fun, then became hilarious when Papi started barking like a dog and tried to convince some other guys that my iPod was really a magical phone put out by NASA that gets it’s signal from the moon. All of us are having so much ridiculous fun! We had dinner on the roof of our hotel with an amazing view of the fort and met a fascinating boy, age 9 (Lior) who was fluent in 3 languages, could understand 9 more, and such a beautiful little soul. Who says you can’t travel with kids? He and his brothers have been travelling for 5 months and I met a 16 month old from Goa who’s mother I may visit when I’m there.

Saturday we got up at the butt-crack of dawn again to head to Jaiselmir by local train. It was the first one with bunks so we could sleep and we had to make sure to cover our faces for all the sand that was drifting in. (it was apparently much less than usual) I even braved the train loo, I’ve been extremely lucky with only having used western toilets so far. Once we had a nap in Jaiselmir, we checked out the living fort and got a briefing on our new location. We went to a rooftop and lounged, hookah-dome style, drinking honey-lemon-ginger, catching a stunning red sunset (all the sand). The girls played connect the dots with all the bites on my legs and I ended up with random constellations, elephants and lotus flowers amongst other scribbles. We had dinner on another rooftop and went back to chill only to find everyone was ready for bed so Papi hijacked another motorbike and we cruised through the silent city to a lake where there are structures for the wealthy to chill when the lake is full. Most are nearly completely dry until monsoon season.

Now that I’m caught up, it’s time to pack for the night. We’re heading out on camels to a dune where we’ll spend the night in tents. Our camel guy is the same one Sting used apparently, we are definitely traveling in style! It’s hard to believe this first leg of my journey is nearly over, I find it hard to believe it’s possible anything could be better than this. On Friday, I head to Bombay while the rest continue to Nepal. Afterwards, Goa! It was originally the first place on my list for India so I’m really glad I’m doing it!

Title quote: Rhez, upon seeing a coconut stand selling only banana’s.