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To Manali and back....

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To Manali and back....

05.11.04 (10:36 am) [edit]

...
So I am back from Manali.

The 12 hour busride on the gov't bus was a rickety open door and window dusty bouncy ride up and down and through even more enormous mountains. Indians packed into the bus with no room to move and stood for hours - I could feel what is barely a pain for them anymore, even though I luckily had a window seat which afforded a little bit of comfort. I was happy for the change and had crooked neck dreams, but slept somewhat soundly convincing myself that the bus' constant horn blaring was some bird I didn't mind...

It grew dark and mid way to Manali, many more Indians needed to take the bus- it must be the only one in hours and they look like they are on their way home from work because - many Indians even climbed on the roof and held tight for their lives just to get home around the mountain road's sharp curves the bus plunged on through ....

We arrived at 330 in the morning, half awake, unaware, rubbing the eyes...We drank some hot Chai from a dirty street vendor cart and waited for a mototaxi to come by and take us to a home. We were dropped off in New Manali, which turned out to be a smaller Dehli, dirty and chaos, and many faces grilling you all the time...

We stayed in a local village called Vasith. It'smain feature is a natural hot springs, which we later witnessed as a public bath and kitchen sink and laundry mat for all of the locals and tourists get in on it too...

Out of New Manali and into Vasith Village ... riding in a little tuk tuk like taxi moto thing...I think my mouth dropped, trying to stand and imitate the gaping immense gray mountain walls of the Himalayas against the midnight blew sky mts gaping drawing me towards them, sparkling a crisp light from its snowy top edges in reflection of the moon and stars slowly swirling around, and then the thrashing sound of the powerful Beas River raging on the raodway to Vasith...

We hiked up quite a while into the mountain of Vasith and reached this little guesthouse that offered an elevated view of the great mts we would later only get to scale a small amount of...they are surreal and when you get into the 40th km of a 2500 km height, you begin to realize how just touching the pine forests and some cliffs are about as good as you can get in a one day's climb... and try a 3 day climb with camping to touch the snow's beginning...

As I was with my Indian friend, i visited many Hindu temples... they are odd and formless nonluxurious seeming things. In comparison to the Buddhist displays at the temples that I have seen throughout Asia, the Hindu temples are pale, yet dark and they pray to some faceless formless god shrines that just begin to explain the eeriness and mystery behind the Hindu religion and rituals.

Ofcourse there are the Shiva, Ganesh, and other gods faces and statues at some temples- but as I have been reading about Hinduism - doesn't it make more sense that God have no real face or form - I mean I know I am used to seeing a happy Buddha belly or a peace Jesus face to feel close to and understand God- but the Hindus - they have got some other kind of understanding of it all and as I unravel it all it deepens my understanding of Gods and nature and Indians and man in general...

So imagine people chanting and praying unintelligible things to my ears ( I am beginning to learn) with namaste hands and 3rd eyes gleaming to these lumps of some thing of a space meaning God I can't stare at long enough to figure incense burning smoke forms around offerings, coconuts and puffed sweet rice and colored tinseled garlands and clothes - AND maybe you can begin to feel the eeriness and wonder underlying one's spiritual journey through India.... even though I learn more in depth each day, there is still something India has to show the world aboput God that not many ever knew, or may ever know in their entire life...

And well the nature ALONE is testament enough to prove the existence of God in every single thing - the god of the powerful winds rushing down the mountain side, the thrash of the river - meditative sounds that put you closer whether you tap into it deep enough or not...

We walked 5 k to Old Manali and found the Israeli take over, revving their motocycle engines and smoking hashish in the streets like they owned the place... amidst old ladies carrying huge bundles of braches and hay on their heads and backs up the mt doing their daily duties...many indian tourists and village children- check out the pictures someday...

We hiked 5 k back to our village and then rested....
The next day we headed up into the mt to a beautiful waterfall that fell from maybe 100 feet high down down doewn- a vein running from melted snow caps carved the rock face and produced a powerful loud steady pound... I found a grassy spot on the mnt side sitting in buttercups honey and the boastful dance of millions of violet and white butterflies closed my eyes and internalized it all for a while only to open my image of it all baked under the crust of my eyelids- eyes open more illuminated the towering immense snowybacked beasts and the rocks edges that seriously shimmer a bronze gold and silver and crystal glow they naturally are always give off...I never saw stones like these...

We hiked another 7 k to New Manali following the powerful Beasto buy our ticket home after the 3 days we spent there, and this time by daylight I realized how the govt bus really took most of the sharp curves of the mt road our wheels no doubt at times suspended in air hanging off the the disappearing steep rick cliff shoulders feeling like I was practically above the raging Beas river that surely looked hungry for 4 hours running along it until night fell...

I arrived in Dharamsala and then went to a negihboring village of Bagksu where I spent the night and morning-
I was eager to get back to yoga and teaching and the strong Tibetan influence in Mcleod Ganj town and so I made my wat there where I am now.

I am continuing my yoga class and am now taking up an Indian painting class and am teaching a group of monks English. Today we had an amazing conversation about eating disorders, religion and compared East and West cultures and the students are wonderful and I feel settled again in a place I know well now...
I do miss home but I don't miss the many things i know are of excess and unneccesarry there. I am shedding my need for things, for luxuries like hot showers and western pillpopping medicine and am eager to see what my next 3 weeks here will bring...
Greg now will not be able to meet me in Europe, and so I can not go alone financially, and so I have changed my ticket for no stop time in London, direct flight, Bombay to London to NY on June 7th and will spend the extra 10 days here...
The Dalai Lama has arrived yesterday from his travels in the US and Canada and so I am sure to get to meet him at a public hearing he is surely soon to have...
many tyhings on the way but for now some sleeep is in order....
much love and peace to you all... hope you are well... keep connected... Andrea

posted by: lockwoman (reply)
post date: 06.03.04 (8:17 pm)

hey girl... how are ya? your writing is amazing! and the things your doing are wonderful! keep on livin your dreams :)
j