Thats All Folks!

Not Treading Water

So there was a bold generalization made by my dear mother that I was just "treading water" for my final two weeks in India and I would like to make it clear that while that is often literally true since I am doing lots of swimming it is not true in the sense that I am just sitting around waiting to come home. Gokarna was a crazy beautiful beach but a bit too quiet and isolated for how long I stayed there. It was nice though cause I had a bit of a cold so I was able to recover in a beautiful and quiet setting. The town of Gokarna was pretty chill, lots of Hindu temples that I wasn't allowed in as a non-Hindu but it was very pleasant to walk around. One of the best parts of going to the beach in India is watching the huge groups of young Indian men who will literally spend a full hour taking photos of each other in every imaginable pose. The only other people that I have seen get so absorbed in photographing themselves would be 16 year old girls. Its kind of like watching a swimsuit editorial being shot only with dudes but with all the same poses.
So besides relaxing on the beach, swimming, eating, drinking, making friends and all that I am occupied alternately by dreading going home and getting really excited. I am dreading it as I will eventually have to deal with real life and think about getting a job and will have to give up my wildly indulgent lifestyle of doing whatever I want when I wake up every morning. Most of all I am dreading the two question that I know I will be pelted with the moment I set my feet on American soil: How was Korea and you traveling? So what are you going to do now? Two worst questions ever. In regards to the first one how am I supposed to sum up a year in Korea and seven months of travel in a sentence and why should I? No one actually wants to hear a real answer when they ask that so they shouldn't ask unless they are prepared for a full on conversation. Next, I have slight ideas for my future but I don't really want to share them with people until I have actually started doing them. So essentially if you love me don't ask me these questions.
On the other hand I am very excited to come home for the obvious reason that I haven't been in America or seen my family and friends in 19 months! I am also extremely excited for all the amazing food and drink that I will be able to have again.
Anyway, my final week is being spent in Palolem in Goa and so far it is beautiful here and the food is delicious so I think it is going to be a good final week. Today is the first day of the Ganesh festival so I think there is supposed to be some excitement on the beach this evening!

Hampi

So I don't know if it is the people I am with or the place itself but Hampi is by far the best place I have been in India...probably in this whole trip actually. Hampi is yet another Hindu holy city as well as an UNESCO site of an ancient Hindu empire where much of the Ramayana is meant to take place. Pretty much the scenery is very flat with huge red boulders creating little mountains. Throughout all this is scattered the ruins of this ancient city that looks like and Indian version of ancient Greece. On top of all of this there are tons of palm trees and banana plantations and a giant river. Its pretty picturesque, google it. In terms of people, to my two Australians we have added a guy from Montreal and a guy from Norway. The five of us have pretty much spent the last couple of days cruising around the ruins and eating tons of amazing food. At one of the active temples there is a beautiful and quite happy looking elephant that will bless you for Rs. 10 (totally worth it). We hiked to the top of this mountain/rock hill where we found a young naked sadhu, though he was actually wearing clothes. He had only been a monk for four years but had grown up in Rajasthan and had studied science in University. He says he spends most of his time in the Himalayas and with his guru and other naked monks. It was pretty cool to get the chance to talk to him and drink some chai. Since he has only been a sadhu for four years he was still able to relate to us and spoke great English. When we left he asked us to come back and bring him some suger (for the chai) which some of us did yesterday.
Other excitement included renting motorbikes and driving through a banana plantation to get to a mini little waterfall. I was on the back of the bike and inevitably we got into a bit of a crash so I know have two of the main traveler injuries (the first being branding myself with the tailpipe of a scotter in Vietnam). We were going quite slow so I only sustained minor injuries and more importantly the bike wasn't hurt at all. A super nice Indian guy helped us out and then lead us through the plantation to get to the waterfall.
The locals in Hampi are the nicest and least pushy of anywhere I have been in India. They all seem so happy and proud to live here and it is just so wonderful to stay in a place where no one is bugging you to buy things or begging. The family that runs our guesthouse is adorable and last night the mother gave Jordan (the Australian girl) and I henna on our hands. There is also the cutest little six month old girl next door that I like to visit. Yesterday I saw a whole class of little kids come out of school in their uniforms and before I knew it the entire pack was peeing in the road. It was hysterical but I didn't think it would be appropriate to photograph. The restaurants and food here are excellent and there has been lots of eating and lounging about.
Tonight we all go our separate ways, I will be taking a bus to the cost to Gokarna, yet another Hindu holy city where their are apparently some very nice beaches. I can't believe I only have two weeks left in India, it will be very sad to leave. 

Panaji and Old Goa

Spent the last two days in the beautiful capital city Panaji and visited the old capital, Old Goa for an afternoon. The Portuguese influence is amazing, Panaji is like a little European city with small streets and beautiful old houses and lots of churches. The city is pretty mellow and quite small so mostly just walking around and then eating delicious Goan food. We took the bus to Old Goa today where there are some crazy huge cathedrals from when the Portuguese had their capital there and it is super quiet with lots of huge palm trees and not much going on. Again it was pretty much walk around, check out some churches and then eat awesome food. Goa really feels different form the rest of India, especially the parts of India where I have been traveling. There is tons of cheap alcohol and you can get beef and pork which I had never seen on a menu before. Everything is super chilled out and for some reason I am reminded of Cuba back in the day, I think its because the women all where these beautiful floral fifties dresses and all the palm trees. The weather has been really nice so I am looking forward to coming back to the beaches after Hampi.

GOA: Arambol

So completed my first week in Goa. If you weren't aware this is very off-season for Goa as it is the end of the monsoon period and things don't really get crazy until Nov./Dec. (which is best as I have pretty much had my fill of beach raves in Thailand). Anyway, despite things being very mellow and there being some rain its been really nice to be back by the ocean and feels totally different from the North. First of all its a proper ocean with real waves unlike Thailand and Cambodia which was just lovely still water. I much prefer the waves but the lifeguards are quite strict about not going out too far, I think because most Indians that I have seen swimming don't show much of an aptitude for it. Either way it was great to get in the ocean. The food is awesome, my two months of being a vegetarian went right out the window along with my two months without drinking alcohol. Both were well worth it. Arambol was super chill, mostly just a few restaurants right on the beach where I would hang out, eat delicious food, meet people, and read. There were some crazy storms but I love watching them so the weather hasn't bothered me. And when you are sitting outside the Goans will know a good five minutes before the rain is coming. At first I wouldn't believe them as it was still beautiful and didn't want to go inside but sure enough the rain would always come. Its their fifth sense.
Anyway, after a week I was reading for a new scene so I am now in Anjuna a bit down the cost. I was planning on spending a week or so here but there isn't much of a beach and the restaurants aren't as nice to spend days in so I am going to go with some people to Hampi for however long and then come back to Goa for some final beach time but head to the South.

My Life is Too Exciting to Blog

So I know you all have been daily checking for more updates from me but my life has just been too exciting to take the time to sit in an internet cafe. I left Rishikesh yesterday and am now in Goa! Over my three weeks in Goa I went to yoga every single day, often twice a day which is pretty much more yoga or physical activity than I have done in well over a year. Needless to say I started pretty out of shape but I was able to make quite a lot of improvements due in no small part to having a brilliant teacher. I really lucked out in finding his class. In the morning I would take Ashtanga Vinyassa which would be about 2-2.5 hours and was quite a workout. It is pretty much the same moves that I was used to doing in yoga but done in a specific order and with great focus on the breath and dristi (where you look for each pose). Our teacher was super traditional so I felt like I really got to learn about Indian yoga as apposed to the western yoga that I was familiar with. The evening yoga was Hatha which would be another two hours but was much more relaxed and slow. We would pretty much just work on a couple of poses and make sure that we were doing them exactly correctly. One of my favorite things that we did a couple of times was doing a sun salutation where we would chant a different name for the sun with each posture, very traditional apparently. Our teacher really emphasized the important of the whole philosophy of yoga and how it is really meant to be a way of living you life with one pointed-ness rather than the western emphasis on the physical aspect of it. It was really interesting to listen to him when he would get going on yoga as a whole. Even though he was only 24 I feel like I learned so much from him. The classes were generally pretty small, there was one woman who was doing the teacher training when I was there so she would be at every class but other than her there usually wouldn't be more than 6 of us. With such small classes, we were able to get really helpful corrections and assistance in each class.
Other than yoga Rishikesh was a pretty quiet city/town, especially since it was low season. There were lots of nice cafes along the Ganges where it was great to sit and hang out for the afternoon. I finally made it to the Beatles ashram last week and the highlight there was that completely randomly I walked into a room to find a whole wall covered by the amazing artwork of Eva Donnelly who had been there over a year ago! The ashram was pretty cool, very overgrown since it has been closed for a while but with tons of beautiful little meditation huts made of stone that various travelers have painted inside with references to the Beatles. One huge hall had been completely covered with portraits of the Beatles as well as other leading spiritual people in India like the Dalai Lama, Amma, Sivanada and Yogananda.
It was great to spend so long in Rishikesh and I was able to meet some really interesting and fun people but I was ready to move on and see a little of the South before I go home. I can't believe I only have one more month here, its going to go by so quickly!

Rishikesh

I am now in Rishikesh where people come for three reasons: because it is one of the Hindu holy cities (so thats the main motivation for Indians), because the Beatles wrote the White Album here (thats for all the white kids) and because it is the "yoga capital of the world" (again all the white kids). So far all that I have done here is yoga though before I leave apparently it is very important to swim in the Ganges which makes me a little nervous because the monsoon has turned it into a really high and really terrifying river and also to visit the Maharishi Ashram where the Beatles staid. I am planning on being here for a while though so I have time to check off all those boxes. For now the focus is yoga and getting myself back in shape after a year of eating fried chicken and beer in Korea. After trying out a few classes I was recommended to this one instructor who is great and since it is low season its just me and one other girl in the classes. Now my darling mother immediately worried that the instructor would try and put the moves on me in the studio but unlike the majority of young Indian men it seems that those that practice yoga are extremely spiritual and not at all creepy. Anyway, the yoga is very traditional and therefore very different from what I was used to in the US. For proper practitioners the physical aspect of yoga is only a minor step on the way to meditation and full self-realization and its just us westerners who stay on that first step. The classes have been great as he is really specific about each pose and getting us to perform them just right. With only two of us we get lots of help and corrections and also don't get to slack off in the back of the class the way I usually do. I am have been going everyday for almost a week and even though I am super out of shape I can tell that I am getting a bit stronger and have better endurance.
Besides yoga and all the other new age crap that hippies bring with them wherever they go there isn't much to do here besides hang out in cafes and read. I have been meeting some interesting people though so I am not going crazy being alone. One of the benefits of being in a super new agey hippy area is that there is awesome food that is also super healthy so its been over a month since I have eaten meat or drunk any alcohol. Don't be too worried that I am going to come home a changed person I plan on order a rare steak and a dirty martini the first chance I get when I come home...which by the way is September 27th so get ready!