I'm back in Rishikesh, staying at my old hotel. At left is a recent picture of me practicing yoga, especially for Chris and the gang. Ahh... My ski trip was a bust. Despite it being the coldest winter in 70 years, there was almost no snow in Auli. To get to what little there was, I had to hike up past the top chair lift for a kilometer, all for a few minutes of skiing on icy snow... The worst part was getting there from Rishikesh though, a 10-hour hell-ride through the Himalayas. I made the mistake of taking the bus there rather than spending an extra two bucks for a seat in a jeep. Buses should not be going to Auli. The road is paved for the most part, but many portions have been wiped out by rockslides, so quite a bit is gravel. There are no guard-rails in most places, including all the gravel stretches, with crazy thousand-meter drops to your doom just centimeters away. (Almost worse than no guard rails are the places where the rails or blocks have obviously been crashed through.) And being India of course the bus is massively overloaded and the brakes are squeaky and weak. Not to mention being crammed into a seat way too small for you so that you have constant physical pain to go along with the terror... I was trying to read the Bhagavad Gita to take my mind off it all but mostly just ended up clutching it like a good-luck charm as I stared out the window. Ah well. At least the views were nice.I'm changing states tomorrow, northwest to Himachal Pradesh. By train, thank God... Talk to you when I get there!
4 comments:
So you're skiing in the winter in the Himalayas, but finding a lack of snow - that does sound reasonably bizaar. Of course your death defying bus trip to get there is definitely fine fodder for your soul as well. There's snow on Washington, but by the time you return, the season will be gone and I probably won't have been there either. Take care of yourself - we await your next post.
Let me tell you, if I was home I would definitely be skiing... That little taste only served to whet my appetite. You should take advantage!
I agree with you about defying death being fodder for the soul, but fear doesn't feel nice... actually it's the only thing we have to fear, as I recall. The Isha has something to say about that: "Who sees all beings in his own Self, and his own Self in all beings, loses all fear."
I'm in Himachal Pradesh now, in yet another beautiful place! More soon, bye for now...
must u travel so much
yep
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