Archive for April, 2010

Warning: Prepare yourself for photo overload over the next couple of posts.

The day had finally arrived for me to visit the Taj Mahal and to say that I was excited would be a gigantic understatement!  There are many reasons why one could be completely enamored by it; one could love history or architecture or crazy romantic gestures, I however loved the fact that 2 decades ago my father had been to see it.  I am blessed with 2 extraordinary parents, but sadly they do not travel, nor do they understand my insatiable desire to see the world.  And at times I find it incredibly frustrating to not be able to connect with them on this level since it is an essential part of who I am.  Thus, knowing that I was finally given the rare opportunity to walk in the footsteps of my father in such a meaningful place was incredibly sacred to me.  He was definitely in my thoughts on this day.

My father had come to India for business matters and his guide told him that during his free time he must visit several places, one being the Taj Mahal.  I remember as a little girl looking at the exotic photos from his trip in awe.  There were pictures of him riding elephants and feeding monkeys in the streets, as well as barely fitting inside the monuments since he is 6’6″.  Of course the photos that most captivated me were the ones of him at the Taj Mahal.  They left such an impression on my young heart.

There are actually many ways one can get to the entrance of the Taj Mahal, here is another mode of transportation:

You can also walk or take a tram.  If you choose to walk, it is about a 10 minute stroll from the main gate.  I would have preferred to walk, although the tour I was on wanted us all to arrive at the same time and the rest of my group had decided upon taking the tram.  Before actually entering the grounds of the Taj Mahal, there are some awesome photo opportunities, so do not be in too much of a rush to see the white palace.

I would not consider the following photo to be an “awesome photo opportunity,” more like an example of India’s dichotomy that I constantly witnessed.  That is, the mixture of such overwhelming beauty with such heartbreaking sadness.  I know this dichotomy exists everywhere, but I had yet to encounter it on such a grand scale before.

I was already beyond excited, but when I had my first sighting of the Taj Mahal I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest!!!

Surrounding the Taj Mahal is another architectural wonder in itself.  The amber color of it against the white of the Taj Mahal is the perfect color combination.  In fact, that is one of my favorite things about India, the colors.  I could easily create a book about them!

The month leading up to my journey to India happened to be one of the most stressful months in my life to date.  I very much wanted to return home having let go of the lingering stress that I was holding on to and I thought what better place to do that in than here?  So, before I walked through the arches that were separating me from the Taj Mahal I said a silent prayer to the Universe as I took a couple of deep breaths.  And then, I walked through the arches letting go of the past and welcoming the present. . .

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The next part of our tour was to the heart of New Delhi.  We first stopped at the enormous India Gate.  It is the national monument of India and commemorates the loss of 90,000 Indian soldiers.

The roads that extend from it are the most important in the nation, as they lead to both the Parliament House and the Presidential Palace.  Very few cars are allowed on these roads due to terrorist threats in the past.

We then visited the Parliament House and the Presidential Palace.  Being there felt like we had temporarily left India.  There were hardly any people or cars; 2 things that are synonymous with the country.

The grounds were beautifully landscaped with flowers and fountains.

Then while the others made a quick stop at a carpet store to shop, I made friends with an auto-rickshaw driver drinking his afternoon chai.

Afterwards, we began our drive to Agra, the next city on our itinerary.  However, before we could leave, the local monkeys came out to say goodbye.

My last memory of Delhi was the the Bahá’í House of Worship, otherwise known as the Lotus Temple, which we drove by as we departed the city.  It truly is an architectural work of art!  Bahá’í temples are open to people of any faith, thus my kind of place (and apparently for many others as well, because it is one of the most visited monuments in the world having attracted over 50 million visitors).  When I return to Delhi in the future, one of the first things I will do is to have lunch there.  I heard the vegetarian meals served are delicious.

Obviously, a day and a half in the pulsing capitol is simply not enough time.  While, Delhi is an ancient and historical city with more than 60,000 identifiable monuments, it is also quiet modern and I really enjoyed that mix.

The drive from Delhi to Agra is around 5 hours of stop and go traffic.  Not really conducive to sleeping or reading.

But that was okay, as I just entertained myself with thoughts of tomorrow, since tomorrow I would be seeing THE Taj Mahal!!!

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I awoke after only a couple of hours of sleep with an abundance of energy.  I was ready to explore India!  In the morning we were touring Old Delhi and in the afternoon we were touring New Delhi.  While we were driving, I noticed that traffic was almost non-existent.  This was due to the fact that Good Friday is a recognized holiday in India.  I was very surprised to discover that, since I knew the majority of Indians identified themselves as Hindus.  My guide, however, explained that religious tolerance is important to most Indians.  Therefore, holidays from all of the major religions are observed throughout the year.

Our first stop of the day was to a beautiful Hindu Temple.  We were not allowed to take pictures inside, nor were we allowed to wear shoes.  I know that most people would find walking around a public space barefooted to be gross, but I found that it made me feel very connected to the temple.  Plus, it was just beginning to get hot outside, so the marble ground helped cool me down.

Our next stop was to the Jama Masjid, which is India’s largest mosque.  Sadly, we only got about 20 minutes to wander the grounds, which did not leave enough time to go inside.  This is definitely one of the negatives about being on an organized tour.  Nonetheless, I enjoyed my precious 20 minutes.

I was able to take in the glorious view of the mosque.

Pose for pictures, as well as take pictures.

And, best of all, make friends!

My two new friends were full of a lot of energy and kept asking me to take pictures of them.  In that moment I silently yelled at myself for not learning more Hindi before the trip, as I would have loved to have engaged them in some kind of conversation.  They both had quite the personalities, as I am sure you can tell by the photos.

The mosque is located on a very busy central street and it is there where I got my first real taste of Indian traffic, which can best be described as ordered chaos.  I know those are two opposing words, but even though the traffic is a complete mess and no one is abiding to the rules of the road, it somehow works.  The nation does have one of the highest rate’s of car accidents in the world, although while I was there I never saw one.

Our next and last stop in Old Delhi was to the Memorial of Mahatma Gandhi.  The memorial itself was small and simple, and I felt that was very fitting.  The eternal flame is to symbolize that Gandhi’s message and his legacy lives on forever.

To be honest, I have very mixed feelings about Gandhi.  In College, I took a class that was completely devoted to him, thus I feel well-educated enough to form an opinion on the matter.  I will not go into great detail now regarding my opinion, as I do not want to offend or bore anyone.  However, I will say that I am wildly passionate about his practice of satyagraha, or nonviolent resistance.

I believe wholeheartedly that the only way to peace is through peace.

Having said all that, I am disgusted by the fact that he abused his wife.  How can someone expect a world of peace, when he cannot even have peace in his own home?  Unfortunately, 2 other men known for their “peace missions” also treated their wives poorly, Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela.

Off to New Delhi…

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“Why India?”  If I had a penny for every time I was asked this question I would be able to afford another trip to India again!  My response, of course, is “Why not?”  But in all honesty, that is a really simplistic answer, because the reason why I chose India is much more meaningful, as it gives insight into who I truly am as a person.

India creeped its way into my heart when I was a teenager.  I was raised in a fairly liberal Catholic family, who encouraged me to explore my curiosity about the world.  The first place I turned to for answers were books and pretty soon Barnes & Noble became my mecca.  I am not sure, other than it being some karma-related force, why I was at first so strongly drawn to books on India?  I loved the spirituality that the entire country seemed to ooze from its pours, and the images of the people, the land, and the temples captured my young heart.  At the age of 14, I developed some major health problems and became frustrated with Western Medicine and its inability to help me.  Maybe one day I will go into more depth about this personal subject, but for now I will say it is what led me down the path of Holistic and Natural Medicine and is why I am a Chinese Medicine Doctor today.  During my path to recovery, my Mom discovered the extraordinary Deepak Chopra and after we both read some of his books we were inspired to spend a week at his Ayurvedic Clinic in California.  It was there that I fell in love with the philosophy of synchronicity and from then on I tried to always be aware of its power in my life.  In College, I become even more fascinated by India through some of the classes I was taking and decided half-way through my education to change my major from Biology to Comparative Religious Studies (with a focus on the Asian Religions).  I remember spending countless hours learning (and dreaming) about India, since many of the world’s most popular religions originated from there and to understand these religions one needed to understand India.  I made a promise then that I would one day visit India.

Fast-forward 10 years later.  Why had I yet to visit the country?  Especially since I pride myself on keeping all of my promises.  The problem was that I had always felt that I needed to give India at least a month of my time.  I knew that it would be a life-changing experience and I did not want to rush through it.  Except a free month of time never materialized itself.

Well, about 6 months ago my dear friend Kristen mentioned that she would like to travel with me again.  We started thinking about which country to go to and India was mentioned.  And then right on cue synchronicity decided to enter the picture with an alluring trip to India offered by Gate 1.  It was only 11 days, versus a month, but I would have been a fool to pass up the opportunity!

6 months flew by and the next thing I knew it was the morning of my trip.  It was such a surreal feeling that I almost did not feel excited.

Normally, I wait until the very last minute to go to the airport, since security lines are not usually long at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport.  However, I decided to give myself some extra time to get coffee.  Thankfully I did, because as I turned my car on my flat tire warning went off.  I jumped out of the car to see if it was true and sure enough one of my tires was completely deflated.  Instead of panicking I called my Dad and he quickly came to my rescue.  I made it to the airport with just enough time for me to grab a cafe latte from Starbucks and board my flight to JFK.

At JFK I switched terminals and waiting at my new gate was a smiling Kristen.  As we boarded the flight it finally hit me that I was on my way to my dream destination!

The 15-hour flight was actually quite pleasant.  I had an empty seat next to me, so I was able to stretch out my long legs.  I watched a couple of Bollywood movies, ate my first of many vegetarian Indian meals that I would consume on the trip, and then slept.  By the time I awoke we were close to landing.

The first thing I noticed about Delhi was the intense dry heat.  It was near 100 degrees at 6PM!  I love hot weather, thus I embraced it.  The second thing I noticed was that I did not experience any of things that people warned me about when I left the airport.  There was no terrible smell and there were not thousands of begging children.  I should have known better to not listen to their fears.

We met up with the rest of our tour group and they all seemed like lovely people.  There was even a couple from Charlotte (small world, huh?)!  Soon we were in our bus on the way to the hotel.

As soon as we got to the hotel Kristen and I rushed, despite our jetlag, to get ready for our only night out in Delhi.  I had contacted a Couchsurfer named Jared prior to the trip and he had offered to take us out.

Jared arrived about an hour later with his equally fabulous girlfriend, Rafaela.  They took us to a nightclub about 20 minutes away in New Delhi called Pure where we dined, drank, and danced.

Kristen and I would have loved to have stayed out until the sun came out, alas we had to be up at 6:30AM for our first tour of the trip.  Jared and Rafaela kindly drove us back to our hotel around 1AM and on the way we asked them a million questions about India.  As I laid my head on the pillow and drifted off into my first slumber in India, I reminded myself to remain open to everything that the incredible country had to offer me and to be present in each moment, as the next 10 days would go by way too quickly.

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Over the years I have had extremely frustrating moments while traveling.  To be honest, I let some of them consume me enough to ruin a trip or two.  The more I traveled though, the more I realized that I needed to stop fighting things that were out of my control and to adopt the attitude of what will be, will be.  Of course it was easier said than done, but now that I have almost mastered it, my trips have benefited greatly and I look at the change of plans as just another adventure.

Being able to adapt to changing circumstances is the key to a successful trip!

In traveling this way, I have also opened myself up to synchronicity, something I profoundly believe in (so much so I have the word tattooed on me).  Traveling definitely stirs up ones energy and awakens the soul; allowing for all sorts of meaningful coincidences to occur.  The trick is to stay aware!  Something I did the entire time I was in Brasil and I cannot believe all of the synchronistic events that happened.

So, you are probably wondering what happened that was so startling at the airport???  Well, my flight from Manaus to Rio was delayed several hours, meaning that I was going to miss my flight back to the States.  In that moment I had 2 options:  1) I could get majorly stressed, which would have negated the last 10 days or 2) I could smile, realizing the Universe had given me exactly what I wanted — more time in Brasil!  I am sure you know that I decided on the latter option.

As soon as I landed in Rio, I made a quick call to Casa 32 to see if they had a room available for the night and thankfully they did.  They were super excited to be able to see me again, as was I to see them.  Before I left the airport I talked with someone at USAir and explained the situation.  This is where synchronicity came into play.  Because I missed my flight and the next night’s flight was sold-out, the only seat available was in 1st class and they gave it to me.  Not only that, there was no change or upgrade fee.  They even offered to put me up in a hotel for free.  The best part though was that I got an extra day in Brasil!  I was so proud of myself that I had not spent the 5-hour flight stressed, since in the end everything worked out beautifully.

While I was in Rio I never had the chance to spend the day at the beach, only the evenings.  Such a sin, right?  Thus, the decision to spend my surprise extra day at stunning Ipanema Beach was an easy one.  Click here for some appropriate background music.

The next morning, the weather looked ominous, but as soon as I arrived at the beach the sun came out in full glory!

As I soaked up every.single.second of my time at the beach I realized that I was in the BEST place in the world to start 2010.  What a year this was going to be! On my taxi ride back to my hotel I felt completely at peace.  Of course I still did not want to leave Brasil, however I could not have asked for a more perfect trip.


Your life is forever changed when you travel.  It is probably the most challenging thing you can do, because it pushes you in ways that daily life does not.  But you will also be rewarded in ways that you never imagined if you can find the courage to get out and explore.  As I walked by the same airport cafe I sat at the 1st day I had arrived in Brasil, I recalled just how much I had experienced in less than 2 weeks and how I celebrated a new decade in probably the most extraordinary fashion.

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While I woke up not believing that I was actually leaving Brasil today and that every part of my mind, body, and soul wanted to stay, I refused to let my feelings of sadness ruin my last day.  I was unbelievably blessed after all, as Alberto had invited me on a 4 hour private hike through the jungle.  Very few people are afforded this unique opportunity to wander through the Amazon with an Amazonian and alone at that!

Most of the hike was done in silence, so that we would not scare away any of the wildlife.  I found this to be incredibly meditative, as I was able to be alone with my thoughts in such spiritual surroundings.  The few times we did chat though were about the medicinal qualities of the plants.  I am a Chinese Herbalist and herbs fascinate me endlessly.  I have been studying Chinese herbs for almost a decade now and I briefly studied African herbs, thus it was only natural that one day I would learn about Amazonian herbs.  I was really inspired to spend a few months in the jungle studying them in depth in the future.  Alberto promised me that before I left he would give me some herbs that he had bottled up himself to take back with me.

Since I experienced the Amazon in silence, I am going to illustrate my journey without words in order for you to have a similar experience.

The 4 hours went by in a blink of an eye and the next thing I knew I was saying goodbye to Alberto.  It never, ever gets easy saying goodbye to those you encounter amidst your travels, especially those you know you will never see again.  I just try to focus on how grateful I am to have met them in the first place.  And memories truly last a lifetime.

When I finally arrived at the airport, I was greeted with some startling news…

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The ride back to the eco-lodge was about 2 hours, which I was delighted about, because I love being on the water and it afforded me time to reflect on my Brasilian journey.  Tomorrow I would be returning back to the States and I was definitely not ready.

How could I be with a view like this…

Or with chance encounters of wildlife like this…

Once we returned to the eco-lodge, I split off from the others, as Alberto had told me to meet him by the canoes again.  By the time we set off on our evening adventure, it was completely dark outside and the animals were out in full force.

When I listen (because you cannot really watch) to this video my heart is filled with pure joy.  If there is a heaven, I want to fall asleep to these sounds every night for eternity.

Once more, I was amazed with Alberto’s heightened sense of sound.  As you can tell by the video, there is no way a person in that setting could see any of their surroundings.  But, Albetro can see with his ears and he was able to “see” the following tree frog.

People have remarked how brave I was for taking this trip and most of all for taking it alone.  However, for me, the uncertainty, especially when traveling, is the key ingredient for making life rich and exhilarating.  And I strongly feel that my willingness to embrace uncertainty allows me to align with the evolutionary flow and for synchronicity to take hold of me.

So, step into the river and allow the current of life to carry you home to the sea of uncertainty.

After Alberto and I returned to dry-land, I enjoyed my final dinner at the eco-lodge.  While I was dining a Turkish gentleman from Russia asked me if he could join me.  He then proceeded to entertain me with stories from his world travels.  I especially loved his tale of how as a boy he grew up in Istanbul and due to his extreme fascination with Communism he decided to move to Russia to dedicate his life to the cause.  Except, pretty quickly he realized that the Communist ideals he grew to love in the books he read were not practiced in reality.  Unfortunately, he was stuck in a foreign country with a government he hated.  He learned to deal with it nonetheless and has been living there for over a decade now.

My new friend also taught me how to take night pictures with my Nikon by using my flash and a timer.  I am quite pleased with how the photos turned out.  Of course there was a little Russian vodka involved as well!

As I walked back to my cabin, I thought about how difficult it would be to return home.  I think the hardest part of returning home is disconnecting from the uncertainty of travel and learning to re-adapt to the certainty of every-day life.  You do not wake up with the notion that anything could happen today.  I tried to comfort myself as I drifted off to sleep that regardless of whether I am traveling or not, my life is fabulous and there will always be more trips to look forward to!

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