Wednesday, July 14, 2010

One Month


Tomorrow marks one month of traveling and I just cant believe it.  I have been in Leh for like a week and a couple days now and it has been quiet an experience.  I got here on the 5th of July, after that long bus ride I told everyone about, and spent the night in the part of town called Changspa.  The next day I had made plans to meat my Dad’s friend, the Buddhist monk.  He was stay at the retreat center which is called Mahabodi center and also the same place where I will take my class from the 16th to the 26th.
The Mahabodi center is one of the most peaceful and relaxing places I have ever been.  I spent to night there because it had such a nice atmosphere.  From there I went back to Leh for two more nights just to experience the town and not spend too much time with monks and nuns.  Being back in town was full of surprises.  I first found a great little guest house with a really nice garden.  The beds are never comfortable unless you are willing to spend like $20 but I made due and I only spent $5 a night.  On Friday I met an Israeli friend that I had met before (as a side note there are tons of Israelis in India and they all think I am Israeli and start talking to me in Hebrew) and he told me that the was an Israeli house and there was a Shabbat dinner that night.  Who would have thought I would have thought I would go to a Shabbat dinner in India of all places?  The dinner was amazing and it really put a smile on my face.  The next day I heard there was a festival in the town over so I decided I wanted to go.  My first task was to find the bus station but that proved to be much harder then it sounds.  I seem to have a problem with finding transportation, first the train and now the bus.  How the story goes is that I never found the bus station and I spent the whole day getting lost.  I proved to be a great day thou.  I first found this great open field and set under a tree for two hours reading and playing with my camera.  I then had to navigate my way back and I didn’t want to go back the way I came.  This tasked involved my crossing a small river and scaling a few walls but I achieved my goal of a safe return.
 The next morning I returned to Mahabodi for a cultural festival, which was fun but nothing that really sticks out in my mind.  On Monday morning we left for a place called Pongang Lake which is the border between India and China.  To get there we had to cross the third highest pass in the world, 5500 meters high.  We spent 2 nights and three days at the lake.  There are no words to describe the beauty of this place.  The water was the bluest I have ever seen it, the mountains were snow caped and the thousands of stars at night.  I took something like 600 to 800 pictures and every single one is amazing (partly because I am a great photographer and partly because he scenery).  I will do my best to post pictures but the computers are really slow here and can take up to one hour to upload one photo.  I hiked mountains, saw remote monasteries and visited a village of basically nomads.  I seriously considered staying in the village and seeing what would happen to me after one year.  On the last day, this morning, I broke the law.  It’s illegal to swim in the lake and guess who decided to forgo the laws of the land – me.  It was freezing because it gets the glacier run offs from the mountains but totally worth it.
Now I am back in Mahabodi waiting for my class to start.  I totally under estimated mediation and have found out the hard way that these next two weeks will be quiet a challenge.  Wish me luck and hope I come out enlightened on the other side.

Great quote I saw “Pressure makes diamonds.”

Cheers
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2 comments:

  1. UnknownJuly 14, 2010 at 10:33 PM

    Justin, OUTSTANDING story of your experience around Mahabodi!!! And yes, am wishing you luck & hoping that not only do you come out enlightened but SAFELY!!!!! Kay

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  2. UnknownJuly 19, 2010 at 1:56 AM

    Justin I love your blog! Thank you for taking the time to write it. All the people that I know that are reading it are enjoying following your experiences. I know that you are in the middle of your retreat right now but I just wanted to let you know that I am thinking of you. Love Mom

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