World Famous in Rishikesh - The Beatles' Ashram

 Namaste peeps,

 From a hotel in Darwin city, 9 days til Christmas and still no travel in sight.  Im still grateful for the basics though - income, food, shelter, yoga.. But roll on with a vaccine already.

Around this time last year, I ventured forth from Tapovan to the well-known Beatles' ashram, with a friend in tow and google maps.  I have to firstly address the fact that given all the stories I heard from others about the ashram being 'deep in the jungle', 'impossible to find' and taking 'hours' to reach - none of them were true for our experience.  We walked there from Tapovan, which is a beautiful walk, let me guess that it was about 1.5 hours, given some window shopping and then haggling to buy, oh and finding a tiny, well hidden temple complete with contemplative, orange clad bubba nestled inside, who we didn't really want to disturb and so we very quietly left again.  That tiny temple is on the hillside of the main road heading down towards Rum Jhula, you have to look hard to find it! 

Let me digress.  The Beatles' ashram is actually called 'Chaurasi Kutiya' (which means 48 caves in english, and that alludes to the stone igloo like constructs that were used for disciples to meditate in).  Maharashi Mahesh Yogi first visited the ashram site in 1960 and was so blown away by the tranquility that he leased the necessary 15 acres for his dream and set about establishing the ashram.  Maharashi was a guru who advocated and taught Transcendental Meditation (TM) and his ashram was visited by spiritual seekers from far and wide, like The Beatles' who are said to have been so inspired by visits here they were able to compose and write some of their many hits while here.

So, cross the bridge at Rum Jhula and then turn right onto Geeta Bhavan Road Number 3, its the main thoroughfare along that section of the Ganges.  Theres a hustle of stalls selling the usual - herbs, clothes, food and drinks, plus some temples to take in and it continues right down to where you will get to pretty much a dead end, if i recall correctly it petered out onto dirt, slightly around to the left - look straight ahead and you will see the gates to the ashram about 40m further on, on the right hand side. 

Once through those main gates, the ticket office is on the left, and its 600 rupiah for foreigners.  This covers the entrance as well as a leaflet showing a map and a little about the place.

From Merriam-Webster dictionary, the definition of 'Ashram' is  1 : a secluded dwelling of a Hindu sage also : the group of disciples instructed there. 2 : a religious or spiritual retreat, not, as I always thought, a spiritual building of some description.  My yogic experience in Rishikesh was that most yoga schools or studios for yoga practice, are called ashrams, however, going to CK was a sharp lesson in the sprawling nature of an ashram.

The map you get given at the gate walks you through, but my friend and I didn't really go by that, we just enjoyed the experience, history and wonder.  Things to note, theres still plenty of meditation caves dotted about the place, and we did get some cool photos inside, the other, theres so much art everywhere on the walls.  Well, some of it is vandalism but aside from that, theres actually some pretty cool paintings - most of which gives reverence to The Beatles or some form of spirituality synonymous with India.  

On reflection, the whole site is in total disrepair and for sure the Indian government missed a great money making opportunity by not maintaining CK, so many visitors would have loved to stay there, Im sure. It makes you wonder what the steep admission fee is used for or goes toward.  

So, that being said, enjoy the photos because Im on the fence about visiting here.  It was cool, yes, but not spectacular or overly special.   

Namaste

Covid and my swift exit from India

Hey hey again,
From my room in the Northern Territory, Australia.  I have the air con on low, yes, i still use it in winter, and can hear a flurry of bird activity outside - from screeching cockatoos to the crowing crows.  Theres a slight breeze and some high level cloud, and aside from that, a whole lot of space and quiet! 

Iv been back in Australia since the start of April, after making a hasty exit from India, and to be honest, I think I underestimated just how badly this was going to pan out for the world in general.  Here we are now in July, and theres no sign of a let up or recovery - health wise or economically.  People are asking, demanding, when will we go back to normal - when the truth is, we're here! This is the new normal, of fist bumps and masks, social distancing guiding us in activities outside the home - and of course, in travel, both domestic and international, which for me, an active, passionate traveller, is the scariest part.  What about my future plans? What about the Americas I haven't visited yet, and on it goes.  The flip side is, Im grateful - grateful I got out of India and came to a secure job, one that doesn't rely on tourism or that is not affected by social distancing.  In my remote bubble, I work,  practise yoga, exercise, read, cook, create and keep an eye on the news.  My new normal is starting to feel very normal. 

When I made the kinda hasty decision to leave Rishikesh, there was my Australian job offer involved too - I had been waiting desperately to hear from a possible job opening on the island of Svalbaard, and when that came through as a negative, because of potential virus impact (boy did it ever impact!) I said yes to Australia.   

I have a one room place I use in India, which is common for accommodation, but had acquired a few more things than I realised, so felt the need to start packing.  A friend who was studying yoga there at the time, messaged me to say health officials were at her ashram temperature testing, an Indian friend confirmed they were going through ashrams and accommodations in that whole area testing.. ohhh ok, so this was getting real.  I met an Aussie mate for coffee and told him how it was looking, oh and that by this time, my brother was messaging me from NYC telling me to get out of India asap - that he was going to do the same from USA.  So I decided to leave, took a couple more days to pack, and my mate ummed and ahhed but finally decided he would leave too, about ten days earlier than he was booked for.  I didnt book a flight out of Delhi though, I wanted to wait til I was actually IN Delhi because I know how hectic the taxi there can be for starters... so the night before we were going to leave, I went to book us into a hotel for a night in Delhi but was told we'd need to have certificates saying we didnt have CV, and there was only one hospital in Rishikesh doing those and it took four days for results, and my brother was still pushing me to get out... air bnb!  I messaged a host Id used previously and she told me she wasnt taking bookings because.... CV..  ugh! Ok, this is getting real now, really real!  Anyway, I did manage to find place in Delhi and it was not too far from the airport - score!  So the next day, we would taxi to Delhi - a trip of250km that has taken 10 hours before, you can never estimate an arrival time!   With final packing done, sort a taxi - theyre a dime a dozen, and with friends, I can get a good rate... n0 taxis.. WHAT! Omg!  But wait, a friend called the brother of a friend.. we got a taxi, and it was only 2 hours late - see why you dont book a flight for the same day! 

So we had one night in Delhi, at a great place with lovely hosts and left on our separate flights, mine was ten hours earlier than my mates - I landed in Darwin with 8 hours to spare before mandatory 14 day quarantine, meanwhile, my mate wasnt so lucky, he just missed the cut-off and had to quarantine at home in Queensland.  My new job wanted me to do two weeks in Darwin, and they paid for that, and I basically sat and watched the world close down via tv and the internet.  I cant believe how lucky I had been to get out of India and back to Australia when I did! 

Fast-forward to August 31st and now its looking unlikely that I will get to NZ for christmas at all, Australia is still locked down for all outward travel, with inbound passenger numbers and flights capped, and only certain airports receiving, oh and Melbourne is still on level 4 alert, I mean....  Sometimes I get hopeful, and other times I realise the futility of dreams about travel in the near future.  

As I write, the Tour de France is underway, and I haven't even watched the first stage - I did see a headline though stating people believe as soon as a French rider is in yellow, the Tour will end.  Its also the only large sporting event on, anywhere.  

I splashed out and got myself an apple watch during winter.  And took the bait to sign up for some of these virtual challenges that seem to be the in thing now - walking / running / cycling etc set distances and tracking it all with a device.  And its been great!  Winters in the outback offer respite from both heat and flies, and Iv seen shooting stars, amazing moons and plenty of sunrises.  And now, the medals for my efforts are starting to arrive in the mail.  An average day at work can get me up to 9km, and my morning walks were up to 12km - its been a lot quicker churning through the distances than I imagine.  I am still feeling a bit of the covid curse - weight gain, but I keep on keeping on, and am getting more and more into my groove again.  It seems to be one of the biggest side-effects, on and alcohol consumption, which also includes me but only here and there, it will never be a large part of my life!  

I ended up stopping searching for updates on India and how its going during the pandemic - so much conflicting information, even from friends that are still there!   Like anywhere else, no tourists incoming, state borders have only just reopened, masks are mandatory etc etc.  A large number of the yoga schools in Rishikesh jumped into offered YTT courses online, but of course, the knock-on effect lockdowns and job losses is less income.. a never ending circle, that is what it is.  

The Famous Modern Toilet Restaurant, Taipei, Taiwan

I have mentioned this infamous Taiwanese eatery in my earlier post about Taipei, but I felt it was deserving of a more specific mention.
I knew this cafe was in Taipei, and I found out where it was on google maps, and made it in there.  I was traveling solo, so went alone, I have no issue with being 'that person' in a restaurant!
I went around 1pm, and it was very busy - but finding me a table was easy, there was one spare one!  Funnily, by the time I was getting to the end of my meal, the place was pretty much empty - I got the distinct feeling you'd be able to eat there easily, with a larger group especially, if you went slightly out of the normal meal times. 

This is not the only toilet themed restaurant in the world, there's others in Moscow, Kuala Lumpur, Los Angeles and Ahmedabad.  The Modern Toilet Restaurant is a now a successful chain of 10 locations in Taiwan, not bad!
From the moment you enter, there's 'toilet' everywhere - stuffed toys in the shape of poo, plumbing pipes as lighting, shower heads, glass topped tables with a toilet seat inside them and, of course, toilets to sit on when you dine. 
The menu has plenty of choice to - I went for a noodle soup dish, and from the moment I sat, until I left, I saw all sorts of dishes leaving the kitchen.  You can imagine the creativity with chocolate desserts, served in squat toilet bowl shaped dishes!
The menu is good and of average price, and the atmosphere is fun and despite being very busy, they do a great job at keeping up with everything and getting dishes out on time. 

Here's the menu from their website:

It's funny to see it again, I'm reminded of how I felt when I first saw it - what an interesting, eclectic mix of food to choose from! And the word play is great!

So in a nutshell, visit if you can! It's fun, authentic, creative and there's lots of cool and cute souvenirs for sale at the counter. 

Bottoms up!

Bosnia and Herzegovina - what a place!

On January 2016, I set off on a long-awaited Balkan adventure.  It was anti-clockwise and went: Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania finishing in Moldova.
Some places stood out more than others, for various reasons, and Bosnia and Herzegovina has stayed in my mind - allow me to introduce my experience to you.

I used buses to travel within the Balkans, which is how I went from Belgrade in Serbia, to Bosnia's capital Sarajevo.  I remember the border crossing, not much happened there, but I do recall it.  And beautiful green country side, which was typical of Bosia - it reminded of Georgia and parts of Armenia.

It was cold in Sarajevo, there was still snow on the ground and grey skies above, it was late winter after all.   I taxied from the bus drop off to my accommodation which I'd booked through Airbnb.  It was 'out' of town, but not by many kilometres and certainly not by Australian standards, and tricky to find as there were a lot of apartment blocks in that area, but eventually we found it.  It was well connected to the public tram system being only a few minutes walk from the tram line, had a good supermarket across the road and was actually a really nice apartment.  It was a studio, so I was staying solo but the hosts mother was there to greet me and show me whats what, albeit it in broken English.  She ended up being quite pushy, wanting me to book trips to explore Bosnia with her son as my chauffeur, to the point it got too much.  I was really keen to go to Srebrenica and almost relented to her pressure,  but thankfully I didn't because at this time of year the museum is shut and the memorial site has limited access.
Srebrenica is where the July 1995 genocide of more than 8000 Bosniaks took place during the Bosnian War.  I have a close friend who worked for the UK police at the time, and he was part of a team that went over there to help with the clean up.  To this day, he still won't talk about what he saw or witnessed while he was placed there.

Sarajevo.  What a gem! I like to get up and head into towns / cities and just walk, exploring at my own will.  I don't pre plan things, I just walk and walk, find a nice place for coffee, another for food and get the feel of the place.  Sarajevo was no exception, however, given its history and the scars of war that still dot the town, I'd recommend finding at least a little out about it before you go.
Its' sometimes referred to as the Jerusalem of Europe / the Balkans because it's one of only a few European cities to have a mosque, a catholic church, orthodox church and a synagogue, all within the same neighbourhood.  I don't recall noticing this and it wasn't something I was aware of when I went.  There's beautiful cemeteries sprawling across the rolling hills around the town centre, and I did wander up through them.  They offer amazing views and there's headstones almost as far as the eye can see.  It was peaceful and serene.
Sarajevo is not a big city, with a population of only 275 thousand, but that was part of the charm - you can wander narrow lanes, cobbled streets, amongst and past colourful, ornate buildings, very much like in parts of eastern Europe and whatever Id been expecting before arriving, this wasn't it!

I went to a cafe in the square one day and had a beautiful lunch of a type of kebab with the all the trimmings.  Everything was fine but I was aware that theres possibly not a huge number of tourists going into Bosnia, I had the feeling I stood out as an outsider, I could feel the looks of curious eyes.  I found outdoor markets and haggled for a warm hat off one seller, I think I bought a scarf as well and just kept on wandering the streets.
Sarajevo has a particular war reminder with the 'roses of Sarajevo' - splashes of red paint marking places on the ground where bombs hit.  I didn't find many, I wasn't looking for them, but its still freaky to see them.  I was alive during this war and remember it being on television etc.  Hard to believe it happened on these very streets I was walking on.
I wandered and wandered, looked, took photos, observed the goings on.. I remember trying to find a cafe that had decaf coffee as I was doing my best to lay off caffeine - I can confirm, it was impossible to find! Dammit! Also, there was heavy rain one day and as I always keep my passport in the outer pocket of my daypack, I panicked when I realised my bag was getting saturated.  Two weeks earlier in Greece, Id washed my pack and my passport got laundered in the process, so the one I had in Bosnia was actually the new replacement one, and it was getting wet again!  Luckily I salvaged it and there was no real damage, aside from slight ripples in some of the pages as they dried.

I remember going to a museum, but now I cant remember which one it was! There's actually a lot of museums in Sarajevo that I noticed, and the one I went to had war memorabilia plus national history - and it was a disappointment.  I don't like to judge, but I didn't rate it, I was disappointed.  Of more interest to me was the Srebrenica museum in the heart of Sarajevo - Gallery 11/07/95.  It's interactive, with computer screens set up along desks in a room, that give you choices of which footage to watch, in whichever language you require.  In other rooms there were movies and photographs showing plenty of and about the massacre, perhaps a little too much to keep my concentration with so much history, detail and information, but Im still pleased I went.  That massacre was a bloody streak in Bosnia's history that still haunts the country today.
I found a large vegetable and household market in the inner city, and though I didn't buy anything I wandered around to get a feel of local life.  Walking up and out of Sarajevo, along the hillsides be it in the residential area or up amongst the cemeteries,  gives amazing views of the city and its surrounds.  And it suited the grey, wet and cold weather, I loved it. 

No trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina would be complete without heading south to Mostar - its a must.  I took a minibus there from Sarajevo through beautiful, green rolling countryside, absolutely beautiful.  In Mostar I was met at the bus station by the young couple I was to be renting my accommodation from for my stay - a small apartment that I'd found online, perfect.  They were friendly, helpful and got me settled in - then they offered me a private tour in their car to some points of interest south of the town,  if I was interested. I was! Let's go!  I'm so pleased I went, not only was the price right but its so good to do side trips with locals for many reasons - this was no exception.  First stop a short drive south of Mostar was Blagaj Monastery.  It's small and quaint, resembling a cosy house more than anything else and today functions as a restaurant.  It was built in the 16th Century by Dervish monks, there is no mistaking the classic Ottoman architecture.  A river runs by right outside, and I was told it can flood and make some of the restaurants on the river bank opposite impossible to eat at.
They also took me to see the open air museum of Pocitelj, which was awesome.  We had a good wander around, and I got a lot of awesome photos.  While the construction date hasn't been able to be made offical, the general consensus is that it was built by King Tvrtko sometime in 1383.  Two stages of evolution are evident within the fortification - medieval and Ottoman.  Fascinating. 
My hosts dropped me back to the apartment and left, but they'd told me stories about the war that have stayed with me to this day.  They were teenagers then, so have vivid memories and recollections.  He lost both his parents and then became the youngest fighter in Mostar, fuelled by anger no doubt.  And she told me of a friend of hers returning home one day to find the body of her father on the front lawn, he'd been decapitated, she was 14. 

Next morning I got up and set off to do what I love, walk!  I had my day pack and, thankfully, the warm hat that Id bought in Sarajevo was in my pack.  I had to pull up to put it on, I didn't want to stop, take off my pack, find the hat and then put it on - the wind was biting cold, my ears and face were burning and I was hunkered down into my jacket trying to defend myself from its wintery brutality, but stop I did. The hat was awesome. 
You can't visit Mostar without seeing the infamous Old Bridge, or Stari Most in local language.  It is a rebuilt Ottoman bridge from the 16th Century, crossing the Neretva river that dissects the town.  It is a UNESCO site and really quite something to see.  The walk towards it was just as I'd expect - tourist shops.  I kept walking, crossed the bridge and then turned sharp left and went down to a cafe.  I went inside, it was big and empty, I was the only customer.  There was one male staff member there, he was sitting at a table reading when I entered.  I asked him if he had good coffee, he said he had the best, I believed him and ordered what was easily one of the worst coffees Iv ever had.  I lied to his face and told him it was delicious - I mean, at least it was something warm to drink, plus I had amazing views from the windows and the cafe gave me a welcome break from being outside in the wind.  I paid and as I went to leave I lied to him again and told him I'd come back another time.  I never went back.
Further on from the bridge past more shops on cobbled streets, is the small 17th century Koski Mehmed Pasha Mosque.  Not only open to the public there's the chance to climb the tiny narrow staircase up to the top of a minaret and get stunning 360 degree views.  I was so close to the speaker up there that if an Azan had started Id have been deafened, luckily it didn't. 
Behind the historical parts of the town I found more urban areas, quaint and picturesque.  I wandered, took photos and just absorbed the feel of the place. 

Next day I did much of the same, this time taking more of a closer look at the reminder of war - and theres evidence everywhere, from bullet holed buildings, to craters, buildings in ruin.  It's bizarre to walk through the history of a war, especially one you can remember.  For lunch, I decided to check out a restaurant that Id heard about, but when I got there it was closed.. I was disappointed and stood there waiting for a plan B to come to mind - I didn't have to try, a local woman asked me what I was doing, what did I want etc.  So I told her I wanted Bosnian food - 'follow me!' she said! We set off, the footpath was narrow so I fell into step behind her.  She walked quickly and talked the whole way.  She told me about being shot during the war, in the back and in the head.  What a stroke of luck to survive one shot, let alone two, and in the head also!? She spoke to light heartedly about it, just get on with life, right?  I wasn't disappointed with where she took me to find good national food, plus they had free wifi

And that was Bosnia.  Forever in my heart as one of the Balkan highlights.  Next stop was to be Dubrovnik in Croatia, and again, it was a seamless trip by bus.  Take advantage of using buses to get around the Balkans, its a great, well-connected network.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosnia_and_Herzegovina

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mostar