Where Ever I Lay My Head

Gallery: 2008 July 12 Vashishat Manali

andynjen — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 01:31:00 GMT

First time in Manali with Amy and Eric.

Gallery: 2008 July 6 McLeod Ganj

andynjen — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 01:09:00 GMT

Upper Dharamsala - Home of the Dalai Lama

2008 September 13, Vashishat, Himachal Pradesh, India

andynjen — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 19:57:00 GMT

Ahhh, Vashishat Town. Wonderful People. Gorgeous Mountains. Aromatic Gardens. Cowpoo underfoot in the narrow alleys.

We're back at Amar's Guest house in the valley where Cannabis grows like dandelions and surprise! surprise! There are loads and loads of tourists & holy men here. In Amar's words, some holy men are sincere, others are jost joking. I wonder why smoking up is a pre-requisite to enlightenment for so many. Could they just be engaging in further illusion? For many of the tourists we've run into here, this is the first and last stop in India with nada in between. They get stuck here "enlightening" themselves. Not that I'd even consider putting their intentions for travelling here down, I just question whether their money was well spent to come all the way to India to sit in a hotel room or in the rooftop terrace restaurants(which do have spectacular Himalayan views) surrounded by other foreigners, and smoke up. What a waste of vacation time.

Back to the real story - Vashishat is an enchanting little Himalayan valley-town just outside the larger city of Manali. This is the endpoint of the Leh-Manali Road, and so we are back to rest and recover for a few days before we head south to Delhi for a landmark immigration paperwork runaround. Over the course of our time in India so far, we've spent a majority of our time in this town. We first came here to see the sights with Amy Minkley before we shot off to UttarKashi for the Yoga Ashram. Then, after Amy's departure from Rishikesh, we came back to Manali to embark on the great challenge of the overland voyage to Leh, Ladakh in Kashmir & Jammu State. At that time we stayed a few weeks, and now at the end of our time in the Himalayas, we are once again relaxing in Vashishat.

Vashishat is a small town where all the locals know each other and which of the non-local vendors and shopkeepers are crooks. And they'll tell you who to go to and where to steer clear. The town's centerpiece is the Temple and the Hot Springs contained within. In addition to providing the townsfolk with an endless supply of boiling water for outdoor laundry, etc. the baths that have been set up within and just outside of the temple complex are routinely used for (non-nude)bathing. The origins of the Hot Springs and temple has four versions, according to the locals we've been talking to.

Version #1: Twenty to Thirty years ago, the Spring was cold water. At that time Guru Rama came to Vashishat and he "pulled the hot water out of the ground" so that he could have a nice warm bath. Then the town grew up around after that. (Many of the businesses and family homes date back far past 30 years ago, so, I'm not sure we can believe this one. Amar is in his mid 40s and his family runs a farm and guesthouse here. He's been here his whole life.)

Version #2: Long long ago, Siva and Parvati(a hindu god and his wife) were on a pilgramage to Manu temple(in old Manali) and they stiopped here to bathe. When Parvati stripped to wash in the water, she took their maney purse out of her hair and put it beside the water so it wouldn't get wet. After her bath, they couldn't find the purse anywhere. Fearing that it had fallen into the Spring, they searched frantically until Siva became frustrated. Because he couldn't find his money, he raised the water in this spot to a boiling temperature. If he couldn't recover his money from the Spring, no one else would be able to take his money from the boiling water either. The teller of this tale said that at that time the old tower of the current temple was built and said that it was four thousand years old. (Not so sure about this one either. The tower looks old, but not that old.)

Version #3: Long ago, the site where the temple now stands used to be under the ground level of the mountainside that is now Vashishat. At that time, there was a cave where the temple is now. A holy man decided to stay in that cave because of the nearby hot spring which was a convenient source of water. In time, his teachings became popular amongst the villagers living in Manali, and many people moved up the hillside in order to be close to their teacher. When the teacher died, they built a shrine around the small cave where he used to sit and meditate. Over time, the surrounding area eroded and was excavated to form the town that now has grown up around that shrine and hot spring.(This to me, is the most believeable version of the story.)

Version #4: As told by a transplanted Nepali married to a local, living here and running a restaurant. "The scientists say that the Himalayas are at the edge of a continent plate and that because of this, there're many pools of molten rock close to the surface under these mountains. They say that the hot springs are a kind of release valve, letting out gas and pressure. If there isn't a release valve, the pressure would cause an explosion. I don't believe that Rama Guru pulled the water out of the ground or that Siva went around boiling the local fish. There are hot springs around the world! Did they go everywhere and pull the hot water up? No! Impossible. I believe the scientists."

So there you have it. Make your own mind up.

Jen and I, by the way are doing fine, although not looking forward to our next week in the offices of doctors and embassies doing paperwork. Love to you all!

Gallery: 20080620 Vientienne, Laos

andynjen — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 19:36:00 GMT

Capital City of Laos

Gallery: 20080626 Sangklaburi, Thailand

andynjen — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 19:00:00 GMT

Volunteering at BanDada home for Burmese Orphans & others in need

Gallery: 20080609 Luang Prabang, Laos

andynjen — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 18:55:00 GMT

Very cool old Capital City of Laos

Gallery: 20080603 Ha Long Bay & SaPa, VietNam

andynjen — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 18:43:00 GMT

from North VietNam, Worst Tour Ever & a cool mountain town

Gallery: 20080519 DaLat, VietNam

andynjen — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 18:31:00 GMT

from our time in VietNam's wine country

Gallery: 20080518 South Vietnam

andynjen — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 18:25:00 GMT

Ho Chi Minh City, Mekong Delta, Hue, etc.

July 31, 2008 - A General Update from Rishikesh

andynjen — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:01:00 GMT

I figured some of you might have seen the news about the series of bombings in India, and I wanted to let you know that we are far far far away from any of that and not planning on going anywhere near the problem areas. It's such an awful thing to use religion as an excuse for political violence.

We're with Amy Minkley right now, our Texan friend from our time in Japan, and 3 of her friends from her graduate school; Tim Dalton, Seema Suri, and Eric Lettrell.

Jen and I actually, along with our 4 friends, just left a yoga retreat up in the Himalayan Mountains, where we had plenty of exercise(2 sessions daily 1hr30min to 2 hrs of yoga asanas, plus hikes, meditative silent treks, etc), quiet time(2 1/2hr mandatory group meditation sessions daily plus lots of time on our own), good all-we-could-eat food, a cooking workshop, discussion sessions with holy & learned men from the area, and a library filled with books on the subjects of personal spiritually, yoga practice, world religions & philosophies, and more, all set beside a breathtaking section of the great Ganges river. The school's philosophy was inclusive, welcoming, and open-minded; conservative, but not forceful or overpowering. Something I really respected about the Swamis we met there was that they were not afraid to say that they didn't know the answer to something, and they refered to themselves as students as well. The other enrolled students were brilliant - from all over the world - and bright, positive personalities. Their company was the best part.

And during the rest period after Yoga practice I always find myself craving western food: biscuits and sausage gravy for breakfast, fried breaded flounder, all Mexican food, etc.

Now we are in Rishikesh, another holy city along the Ganges, and a Hindu pilgramage destination, and that means this city is filled with orange-clad pilgrims, men (and very very few women) from every walk of life walking seemingly endless distances to holy sites in the Himalaya. I'm glad the season is winding down though, because even though the pilgrims are on a holy trip, we have found them to be pretty forward and at times even aggressive toward women - as in groping attempts and such. What would you expect from a huge gang of repressed men in a large anonymous mob of similarly clad testosterone. You could hope for genuine religious devotion and respectful introspection, but it seems that many of them can't overcome their baseness, even while on pilgrimage. I find it difficult while we're in crowded areas - always on edge and ever watchful over Jen and Amy especially, and I think my presence has averted a lot of hassle for them. Men leer, drifting closer, then I catch their eyes, and they veer away. It stinks that this colors my experience here, still - I'm not letting it ruin the travel for me. The city has a wonderful rural charm, and we have met a few honest, genuine people here and that feels a bit redeeming.

Our group of six friends went to Arati last night. It's a religious ceremony honoring the lifegiving water brought by the Ganges River from the Himalayas filled with music, chanting, fire blessings, sacrafices of floating baskets of flowers placed in the river, and silence. Afterwards, we walked a bit outside of the center of town, and sat on the Ghats(steps leading down the riverbanks used for washing and worshipping in the holy river). It was after dark, and we conversed quietly as the Ganges rushed past us below and families of cows slept in the middle of the road above and behind us.

July 3 & 4, 2008 - Starting in the Subcontinent: Kolkata

andynjen — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 17:51:00 GMT

I was completely mistaken in my misconceptions about Kolkata, or Calcutta, the former British Trade Captial of their Indian Colony. I blame the image of millions of starving children in a desert of devastated, crumbling mud homes on Sally Struthers and Charities that show westerners only the most destitute and poignant glimpses of the empoverished areas of the world in order to open our pockets. Allow me to exempt Mother Theresa. Yes they are doing more good than I am, probably, but miseducation comes in all types of packaging, and is universally detrimental. To be sure, Kolkata is fighting overwhelming levels of poverty, but that's not the whole story.While poverty is omnipresent, Kolkata is a modern city, with many economic tiers. It has shopping canters, an easily used Metro system, internet cafes, beautiful mosques, churches, and temples, as well as high-end businesses, hotels, and restaurants and a gorgeous downtown park. Although we were only there for one day, we met several very nice Indians, but many more beggars & con-artists. Other things that hold Kolkata back, aside from the sheer volume of the poor, uneducated, and unconcerned, is an uncontrollable smog problem(the most severe I've ever encountered), a disbelief in the benefits of clean water(where available) and washing, and the garbage mountains that can be found mid-block. Most Indian cities, towns and villages have no garbage removal systems.

Kolkata does, however, have something very unusual to India in its downtown parks and gardens. A former stretch of tiger and elephant filled dense jungle was leveled to give the Brits a clear shot of either the city or the ocean from their fort. The remaining tigers and elephants only exist as charactiture trash bins in these parks, which no one seems to use nor empty. Some show burns - perhaps that's how they're emptied. Otherwise this huge expanse of downtown greenery is filled with football(soccer)and cricket matches, horses and carriages, marble British-Indian monuments fusing the elements of architecture from the UK, ancient Greece, and traditional India. Most unexpectedly, Indian couples on picnics or lunch hours were present here. Quite a progressive scene considering how taboo men talking publicly to women is throughout the rest of India. We found the Metro to be very useful, and also a few acceptably clean restaurants. Here I met my first Indian love: Thali! Thali are huge set meals with mounds of various delicious foods for just over 1 US dollar.

High in the Himalayas where the Dalai Lama lives, Dharamsala July 7-12

andynjen — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 17:45:00 GMT

Dharamsala was originally one town- but it was literally split in two by a huge earthquake in 1905. Now there are two towns, Lower Dharamsala and Upper Dharamsala- usually known as MacLeod Ganj. MacLeod Ganj is the home of the Dalai Lama and his government in exile. Home also to many Tibetans who have fled Tibet, it is more a Tibetan town than an Indian one. There are many Buddhist temples, prayer wheels, colourful prayer flags strung through the countryside and Tibetan Buddhist monks in their red robes wandering the streets. It is high up in the Himalayas, so when the clouds lift the view of the peaks is astounding.

We were lucky to find/ bargain our way into a cheap room- 150 rupees (about $3.50). However, it is down a long hillside of steps- re. the steps, if you watched all the Harry Potter movies back to back, we’d still be climbing- so we plan our days around not having to go up more than once.

Our next door neighbour is a Tibetan Lama- Lama Gele. He only arrived from Tibet four months ago, and is trying very hard to learn English. He often invites us into his room for breakfast, tea, or to circumambulate the temple with him- something Tibetan Buddhists often do. We laughed, because he’s just learning English words like “old” and “new”, but he knows the word “circumambulate”. He’s very keen to practice his English, and we often help him with his lessons.

I caught a bad cold from the long train journey, so we’ve been taking it pretty easy. Lama Gele gave me some “Dalai Lama medicine” for my cold so he’s sure I will be better soon. We’ve met up with our friends Amy and Eric here. They’ll be traveling with us until late July. We’ve hiked out to a spectacular waterfall in the nearby village of Bhagsu, visited the complex with the main temple, Tibet Museum and Dalai Lama’s residence, and joined a local yoga class, but most often we find ourselves taking shelter from torrential rain in various restaurants and tea shops (India is in the height of monsoon season). This is not a bad thing, as MacLeod Ganj has some great food- a mix of Indian and Tibetan, as well as some of the best baked goods in India, and a wonderful vegetarian Japanese restaurant. We stopped by the Japanese restaurant the other day- as usual arriving dripping wet, not having successfully beat the rain- and finally had an opportunity to practice some of our Japanese.

Yesterday we hiked up the Dharamkot, a small, peaceful village just up the mountain from MacLeod Ganj, and wandered around there, until the rain again chased us into a café. Tonight we plan to journey onwards to Manali, braving the nerve-pinchingly narrow mountain roads by night on a government bus. Perhaps it’s a good thing that we won’t be able to see the steep drops.

My life on a bus, or crossing the border in 3 days

andynjen — Wed, 2 Jul 2008 22:24:00 GMT

The morning after the great laundry fiasco, we left bright and early for Dien Bien Phu, trying to make the border crossing to Laos. Turns out it's a long way by bus- but drives through some of the most spectacular scenery in Vietnam. We were on a corrupt bus that was trying to overcharge everyone- not only us, the foreigners. All sorts of dodgy goings on with the buses, but we made it to Dien Bien Phu without mishap, and overnighted there.

Dien Bien Phu is the site of the final defeat of the French in Vietnam, after WWII and before the Vietnam War- which in Vietnam incidentally is called the American War- when the Vietminh fought the colonial French and their defeat at Dien Bien Phu signified Vietnam's independance. To commemorate the battle there is a bronze statue on "Hill A" where the heaviest fighting took place. It's of two soldiers overthrowing a baguette. Andy'd joke. Actually it's a man and a woman lifting up a child. In Dien Bien we finally found che- the drink with jellies and beans that I had been searching for throughout Vietnam- at a market stall.

Our bus to the border left at 5:30 a.m. The two Canadian girls who had been on the same buses as us the day before were there, and we were joined by two new travellers- an Australian couple, Bel and Steve. We were all able to cross the border without visas- which was quite a relief, as we had heard many reports that we couldn't at this border and were afraid of being turned back. We did get fleeced on the dong- kip exchange rate. The border is really in the middle of nowhere, so it took us another 4 hours after crossing to get to the nearest town. Once we crossed to the Lao side, things changed, and we began driving through small creeks in our bus- there didn't seem to be any bridges. At the end was a big river- too deep for the bus- so we had to make a boat crossing to town. From the town of Muang Khua, we had to more bus connections to get to our destination- Luang Prabang. We were able to push straight through on an unscheduled bus, and made it to Luang Prabang around 3 a.m. Fortunately we didn't have too much trouble finding a bed- Luang Prabang is a temple town and everything (except the bowling alley!) closes at 10:30. We also discovered that, as bus travel is relatively new in Laos- until recently people here travelled mainly by boatalong the rivers- Lao people tend to get very car sick on the windy road. Beacuse of that, our bus to Luang Prabang was gaced with a lot of puking, and our seat (the last available in the bus)was the site of a former incident, fortunately dried up. We were very glad to finally get to Luang Prabang

Views, Hilltribes, losing laundry: Sapa, Vietnam June 3-7

andynjen — Wed, 2 Jul 2008 21:29:00 GMT

We stayed at the Cat Cat Hotel, which has a seventh floor restaurant with phenomenal views out over the hills of Sapa. On our first day we climbed up the mountain to the botanical gardens, and found ourselves lost in a maze of winding paths leading to all sorts of places- lookouts, cactus gardens, ethnic villages, ostrich farms- and connecting back to other paths, so we spent hours wandering around to different sites.

Sapa is a hill tribe area with many different tribes- Hmong, Red Dao, Tay and others- all wittheir different customs and traditional costumes. We went trekking and stayed overnight at a local home in a Tay village called Ban Ho. The trek was great- very slippery because it had been raining. We got helped along by some young Hmong girls, so only one of our group wound up in the mud. As we walked we were surrounded by clouds of yellow butterflies- so many that we had to be carefull not to step on any. Our guide said they only come out like that one month of the year. The other trekkers in our group were Lee-ann from South Africa, Susie from New Zealand, and Anton and Maggie from France. She had a very interesting job with an NGO, and he the dark side of the force, being in advertising. Our guide, Mai, was a wonderfully playful Hmong girl, who tried to teach us how to play the leaf, to attach seed pods to our eyes, to eat indigo berries- all sorts of stuff.

When we arrived at the Tay village, we were going to soak in a nearby hotspring, but it was on the other side of the river and the recent rains had washed out the bridge. To get to the hotspring we had to ford the chest-high, fast flowing river, which we did with the help of two elderly Tay women who held onto us and dragged us accross. Even Mai decided to cross, although she was scared to because she couldn't swim.

After a feast of a dinner, the family men had us try shots of the local rice liquor- very potent stuff! Then we sat having tea with them while they entertained themselves getting Lee-ann to take their pictures while they blew smoke out of their mouths, from the tobacco bong they were smoking.

The next day we had a beautiful swim at the waterfall, then headed back toward Sapa. But as Ban Ho is at the bottom of a valley, the hiking was much more intense than on the way down. The path up the mountain goes about 900 meters in 2 miles. Since we were late leaving and had to hurry, we hiked it in the midday sun in an hour. I still gasp just thinking about it.

Back in Sapa, we discovered a wonderful pastry shop called Baguette & Chocolat, and also a fantastic and cheap family restaurant, so for our time in Sapa we became fixtures at both, spending the money we saved on dinner on decadent pastries. Next door to our guesthouse was the "Pink Floyd"- a restaurant/ bar that played... well... Pink Floyd. Constantly, and at high decibel levels. So we usually fell asleep and dreamed to a Pink Floyd soundtrack.

Although we loved Saga, the end of our time there was marred by an unfortunate incident- our laundry disappeared under mysterious circumstances (the woman at the hotel claims a strange man took it to Hanoi!)- so we lost a lot of the clothing we needed for this coming year of travel. As responsible people will, when confronted with the loss of laundry, we decided to go drink wine at the Pink Floyd. There we met two other travellers, who we chatted to for hours. They were wonderful people, and just what we needed to cheer us up. It's good to be reminded by life that stuff is only stuff. Sometimes it's easy to become to attached to the things we think we possess. Lessons in detachment accompanied by Pink Floyd.

Gallery: Diving in Malaysia

andynjen — Sat, 24 May 2008 15:58:00 GMT

SCUBA off the eastern coast of Borneo, on Mabul Island

Kanchanaburi: Peaceful at a Price

andynjen — Fri, 2 May 2008 21:51:00 GMT

This is who's with Jen and I: Jen's father, Berk; Jen's mother, Doris; and our friend from Texas, Amy, who was a teacher with us in Japan.

We arrived in Kanchanaburi, Thailand, three days ago much to my relief. As Jen says, I had the "Bangkok Blues." I was in need of a vacation from my vacation. Bangkok is filled with wonderful sights and people, but it is also filled with raw meat hanging from carts, ratty sick dogs kicked too often, trash everywhere, prostitution in broad daylight, con-artists, and everywhere, everywhere, at all times, people soliciting your money, non-stop for unneeded services. Traffic starts with booming motors at 4am and doesn't stop until 2 or 3 am. Not the best place to recover from jetlag.

Kanchanaburi, a two hour bus ride to the north from Bangkok, was heaven from the moment I set foot in the town. Lazy, quiet, I was reminded of our trip to Laos with the river coursing by just outside our hotel room(8$ a night for a double), not a sound of a motor except for the occasional tour boat or fisherman going upstream or down. Lovely. Just what I needed to recover. Caught up on my sleep and felt much much better by the next morning. Jen and I have even started excercising regularly again as well. There's a small dock by the guest house restaurant where we get up early and do yoga.

The first evening over dinner, Mr. Maddaford was talking about "the famous bridge," and I had to admit I didn't know what he was talking about. It turns out that just downriver from us, within sight of Mr. and Mrs. Maddaford's river balcony, is the bridge on the river Kwai, which the Japanese troops in WWII forced POWs to build day and night. I had no idea that's where we were. The allied nations bombed and destroyed the bridge, but it's been rebuilt and dedicated to their strength and ability. More than 100,000 POWs and civilians forced to work on the railroad, died in its construction. It was originally suppoased to take 5 years to complete, but literally under the gun of imhumane treatment and the threat of death, the POW slave labor completed the more than 400 km railroad in under 6 months.

We have been relaxing and enjoying this beautiful place. It's wonderfully peaceful and friendly. Along with that though, we've been visiting WWII museums, former POW camps, the bridge itself, and paying our respects at the cemetaries for those who died during the war. A whole heck of a lot of reconnoitering.

If you're interested in more about the bridge and the war hear in Thailand, hit the internet or read a history book. The movie, it seems, is entirely fabricated and so far from the truth as to be comical, according to an expatriot Australian we met here.

I'll put up some photos and more updates soon!

Love, Andy and Jen

Gallery: 200805 - Kanchanaburi, Thailand

andynjen — Thu, 1 May 2008 15:52:00 GMT

2 hours north of Bangkok on the River Kwai

Gallery: 200804 - Bangkok

andynjen — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 15:39:00 GMT

Initial stay in Bangkok waiting on Jen's folks

Welcome to the blog

andynjen — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 15:51:00 GMT

Jen and I have landed in Bangkok, Thailand, and are staying at the K.C. Guesthouse in the Khaosan Road Area. We arrived at about 3 a.m. on August 23, and slept through until 10 a.m. today. We got up and went to breakfast, then collapsed back in bed until 8:30 p.m. We're still pretty tired, so sleeping through the night shouldn't be a problem. Loving the food though, and our place is brightly painted with giant sunflowers, elephants, buddhas and Thai kings. Jen's parents are arriving on the 28th, and Amy shortly after that. We think we'll all be able to stay in the same guest house to limit the confusion.

For those of you who didn't know, Jen and I are spending the next 14 months travelling South East Asia and Thailand. Call it a pre-wedding honeymoon!

On the flight over, we were surprised to find that all of our seats had been separated! Aack, more than 24 hours on 4 legs of flights would have been awful. Then our first flight was cancelled, but our bags went to Detroit without us! But not to worry, it all worked out in the end. Thanks to a lot of polite and patient argument at each boarding gate and some sympathetic airline workers, we were able to sit together the whole way, and were even bumped to Business Class for the San Francisco to Tokyo leg. Instant Karma's gonna get you! Yay!

Gallery: 200804 - Victoria, BC with Sue & George

andynjen — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:29:00 GMT

Botannical Gardens in a former quarry outside Victoria, BC and square dancing night