Into the Wild...

I mentioned in the last blog that I had 10 free days to roam India... well, I did exactly that. I am going to start off by saying there is no way I can ever capture this trip through pictures or words, but I will do my best to summarize some cool pictures and times. Bevan Eliza Britain Keship and I headed out to Vatakanal, which is located in the mountains of Tamil Nadu. Vatakanal is surrounded by jungle and forest, and it was an extremely small village. I found myself getting more than enthused on just the drive up there... so I knew this was going to be a great trip, Bevan Eliza and Keship planned to stay for 3 days, Britain for a few weeks, and I had 5 days in mind. This was a view from the bus window as we were climbing the mountain.

(window pictures are tough!)

The ride up was great, and seldom was I without my head out the window, I felt like a giant dog. There were trees everywhere, and the air was so pure, ah! The air! It felt amazing, I could feel myself taking big long breaths of beauty. We made one stop on the way up at this small tea stand, which of course served the best tea in all of India... we were there for almost a half hour, and I found time to play with a puddle for a picture...

Once we got into Kodaikanal we ate some breakfast (it was around 8am) and then found a cab to take us to Vatakanal. Once in Vatakanal, we met Eddy, who is the reason we were able to stay in the small village (this connection was made through another friend we met in Bangalore). This is Eddy. He is a painter, and he does one painting a day! He says that it sets his mind free and calms him for the rest of the day. Eddy is one of the coolest guys I have met here in India, I talked to him for hours throughout the week.

Admiring his artwork...

Directly across from the small village we were staying in is a tremendous pine forest, we trekked through this and found ourselves on the edge of a cliff! It was so great, so vast and empty.

Again, this trip was more of experiences, experiences that I cannot transmute well to you through words or pictures...

After this short trek everyone decided to head up to get situated and have some dinner. Feeling pretty exhilarated from being surrounded by Nature and an amazing mist that felt great to breathe in, I headed for another trek. It was about 5km round trip, but boy I can tell you that the view isn't the only thing that takes your breath away! So does hiking uphill in well over a mile-high altitude!

Anyway, I found myself at a rock known as Dolphins Nose, the fog did impede the view a bit through a camera, but my eye was able to see some incredible sights...

As I was slogging up the hill, I indulged in a few local fruits that were being sold along the way. One in particular was called a star fruit, and it looks like a star that is made into a cylinder. It was delicious, in fact, I had two! Once I made it to the town again, there was another fruit vendor selling Cherimoyas (best fruit in the world). The thing that was different from the Cherimoyas in California is here they sold two versions. With one I was familiar and ready for the deliciousness that ensued, but the other, wow, it tasted better than I could ever have imagined.

I made it just in time for sunset, and I spent a large part of the night gazing at stars that I seldom see in Bangalore, and watching an epic lightning storm across the way... we were so high up that it seemed we were above the actual lightning storm. After a few moments of the hours I spent watching the storm, it was apparent that Zeus himself was throwing the bolts! They were tremendous and I have never seen anything like it. Huge arching lightning bolts, some going completely horizontal while others took the form of Poseidon's pitchfork. Every time one lit of the sky I felt myself in an uncontrollable joy as I could see once again with the wonder filled eyes of a small child. To top it off, there were actually two lightning storms happening simultaneously, and sometimes bolts flew across the sky to join with the neighboring storm!

I woke up early the next day and headed back to the pine forest on my own for sunrise. What a great idea that was! It was gorgeous!

I also got some great views of the cliffs without much fog.

Today we met up with a guy named Vijay, who was recommended by Eddy to take us on a trek. Vijay got us access to Berijam Lake, which you need permission from the Forest Department to trek in. This alone was thrilling, and we set off on the adventure. We saw and hiked through an ancient Shola forest, one of five in the world left and I believe it to be the biggest.

We also trekked to an area called "The Silent Valley" ... it is a sheer cliff that looked mystical in the fog... the tree on the right is growing at a 180 degree angle.

There were also large parts of the rainforest canopy that were eerily covered in mist...

As we neared Berijam lake (which was set as our final destination goal, but unfortunately you need another permission to go to it, as it is one of India's pure water sources) we went up to a small shrine that was settled into a nook of the forest. Which I swore I took a picture of but upon review, apparently not! Anyway, we hiked up here and saw giant flying squirrels, of course lots of monkeys, and some amazingly colored birds! Upon getting down from this area, a few of our travel companions (a Spanish guy and his Israeli wife) found leeches on their lower legs and feet! This started the trend for the rest of our journey... one of the forest guards who was nearby had a good chuckle and we later learned he said in Tamil "That's what you get for going to a shine with shoes on." !!! Ha!

Vijay managed to get us permission to enter the Berijam lake area. We adventured our way to the Lake, and covered in leeches, reached our destination. A lovely Bison skull greeted us when we arrived, Bevan found two horns as well.

We managed to make it out of the forest and lake area just before the gates shut, and we all stopped in town to eat on the way back. Tibetan food definitely hit the spot after a long day. We saw some more magic as we started the hour long walk back up to Vatakanal, including a greeting from an incredible rising cloud and sunset to finish the day off.

We met a guy named Sri Krishna that night, him and Eddy joined us around the fire for some good conversation and cards until the late hours. This is a picture I took of our fire, probably one of my favorite pictures I have taken to date.

The next day I woke up feeling a bit under the weather (too much good food!), and everyone did their own thing for the day. I mostly stayed around Vatakanal, talked with Eddy for a few hours, and enjoyed myself. Bevan, Eliza, and Keship left this night.

Britain and I decided to stay, and I didn't believe I was going to leave anytime soon (and ended up staying 3 extra nights than planned). Britain went off on her own, as part of her project is to learn about organic farming and the like. Myself and Krish [(Sri Krishna) as he goes by] went on some adventures of our own for the next few days. He has been living in Vatakanal on and off over the last years, and we were able to go to completely off the map places that were ethereal. Unfortunately for my blog and all of you, my camera had died the day before, but I can assure you these places are some of the most awe-inspiring places I have been in my life. One place we went was a waterfall that is cut through the cliffs and flows directly off of them. We had to do a few km hike barefoot (so you don't slip) through the jungle and rivers in order to reach this waterfall. I could have lived there.

The life experience I gained by living and being with Nature, living off the jungle for food and giving back to the jungle by cleaning the plastic and appreciating it was invaluable. Over the next two days I grew as a person, learned to be responsible for what I do to the environment around me, and got a better grasp on what is important in life. I also really sat down and drew for the first time in a long time, hiked to the top of the mountain, Eddy demonstrated to me how he does his paintings (later he told me I was only the 2nd person in 28 years he had shown), and most of all, I was able to slow down and breathe. That's the most important, I was able to calm my mind and breathe. My concentration and awareness were heightened, I was able to devote myself completely to what was happening in the present, and that's something that I think a large majority of the world struggles with. Blocking out all those distractions and focusing, stopping the never ending multitasking and giving your complete being to the situation. I met many people during my stay in Vata, and more so, I was able to learn about who they are, not what they did for a living, and not what there favorite foods were, but who they are at the very core, the very essence of their being, and that's something special. I couldn't have asked for a better experience, and to be completely honest, I almost didn't come back. The way of life there was so peaceful, so pure, so real. There was no worrying about money, about imaginary situations or pollution. Everything was in the here and now, and everyone had their heads on straight. It was a surreal experience, and I thank Krish and Eddy for allowing me to integrate so seamlessly into their culture and way of life. I will certainly be back, but it will not be soon enough... luckily in the meantime I can apply the things I learned to my life here in Bangalore, and ignoring the congestion, it isn't all that bad... there is a lot of personal growth left to be done.

Until next time, ☮ & ♥

Nandi Hills

The last place I ventured to outside of Bangalore was this place called Nandi Hills… It’s about 60km north of Bangalore and a 2 and a half hour bus ride. I heard the bus left at 830am, key word being heard, nothing here is for sure. The bus station is about an hour away, I woke up rather early to catch a hold-on-for-your-life(aka: auto-rickshaw) to reach the station by 8… I did, and after asking about 5 people who are supposedly working at the bus station where the bus to Nandi Hills was and receiving a myriad of arm motions and un-assuring grumbles, I was finally told it was in the other side of the lot. Off I go. I meandered over there and ended up finding myself in the same situation again. I asked the first guy who was checking people for bombs (?) Who knows, this is really funny actually, there are ALWAYS people with a type of metal-detector-wand… yet, they always are waving them and sure enough they beep, but nothing ever happens! I have not once seen anyone be checked more thoroughly... I don’t know if it’s all a big show, or if they are looking for things other than metal, whatever it is, it’s pretty pointless and a tad humorous to observe. Anyway, this guy told me to go talk to some other guy, and this other guy, told me to go talk to these bus drivers standing in a circle. I felt like a pin-ball. I talked to them, and they tell me the bus already left, and the next one is in 2 hours… a sullen feeling came over momentarily… and then approximately 20 seconds later one of them points at a bus and says oh Nandi Hills?! I say yes, Nandi Hills! He points to the closest bus and says "it's right there!" I am relieved, but a bit confused all the same, so I climb aboard and sure enough, it was going to Nandi Hills! Off I went…

The ride was a long one but a very cool experience because I left the city section of Bangalore and started heading into really rural areas of India that lie just outside of the city centre. Lots of animals and greenery. I chatted with the bus driver (who enjoys pushing the bus to death-defying limits on the endless sets of sharp turns)... I saw Nandi Hills shooting up in the skyline about 20 minutes before we arrived, and it was awesome...

I kept imaging myself climbing the face and enjoying the trek. This is when I found out that the bus drove up almost the entire hill, it left only a 2km hike to the top, a bit of a let down as I geared up for a real trek! Alas… the first thing I saw were tons of monkeys!! They were everywhere! I knew a good day awaited... It was so nice to be surrounded by Nature on top of a mountain. The air was crisp and fresh. To start the journey, there is a crossroad where most people follow a road that leads to the top of the mountain, I decided it would be more fun to rough it the other direction through the woods, as I had intended on hiking! I brushed my way through the trees and bushes (keep in mind that this is an old palace/fort) and I ended up finding an old stone fort wall that lines the mountain! I followed that for a while and stumbled upon some old cool steps that were growing...

...and then an opening seemingly popped out of no where and the most incredible view was exposed!

... I continued wandering for a bit along the wall, and heard that definitive sound that belongs to none other than a rattle snake! Before I could think I had already turned around and started running the opposite direction, I kept this up until I felt I was well out of reach… I soon managed to find my way to the top of the hill where the palace/house type deal was. It was something else, I saw monkeys sitting and playing with dogs...

.. I continued taking pictures of the flowers and animals

... and then someone saw me taking interest in the flora and started talking to me. He was the stereotypical hearty Indian and we had good conversation, it turns out he was the owner of the house and was in a process of restoring it and planting flowers everywhere. We talked about the monkeys and dogs for a bit and he was saying that they are friends because they grew up together. Then he started to feed a monkey a biscuit and I proceeded to watch in astonishment. When he was done I asked if I could have a biscuit to feed the monkey. He inquired further, "are you hungry? I brought biscuits from Bangalore you can have." and I said "no no, I just want to feed the monkey, can I feed the monkey?" he said "oh! no no no!" and I tried to clear it up, "Can I have a biscuit to feed the monkey... "and he yelled 'biscuits!' and next thing I know his workers ran outside with two large boxes of biscuits, and I’m thinking, does he still not understand me? I only take one and then make the motions like I’m going to feed the monkey, and he was like “oh, you want to feed the monkey? Here, I'll take a picture." It was a terribly confusing exchange granted his English was fairly good otherwise, but I ended up getting a biscuit and a picture feeding the monkey

...it was surreal! Monkeys are like people. I've heard it, i've thought it, i've considered it, i've not considered it --- but I have never before experienced interaction with a monkey, it is really surreal, surreal is the only word that fits at the moment… they are intelligent and alive, an ethereal consciousness... you can see it and feel it... After that he offered me tea and I gladly accepted. We spoke a bit about photography and he showed me some of the pictures he was taking around the place. Then abruptly, some workers came in to ask for architecture plans, he went through the files on his desk, pulled out a folder and handed it to them. Then out of no where he says sharply "DON'T MOVE" ... and I am thinking like whoa whoa what's going on here?! then the others say "STAY STILL" ... and before I proceed to bust out my ninja moves --- I see what they are focused on --- an area of the table about 2 feet away from me, something fell out of the plans while he was handing them over...

Ha! I immediately sprung up and then snapped a picture of the Scorpion, I thought it was hilarious, two items, both can kill - one slow and one fast! Close call... After I was done hanging out there I headed out, and I pulled out some trail mix I brought. Almost instantaneously a monkey came galloping at me! I thought, "aw shit! here it goes! I'm about to be mauled by a monkey army..." He stopped right at my feet and stared at me. I thought for a bit and then decided I would deceive the monkey by throwing some of the nuts I had about 10 feet away, completely thinking that the monkey would go get them like a dog would and it would give me time to make my get-away. Much to my dismay, the monkey simply turned his head to where I threw the nuts, and then looked back at me with an expression of “why the hell did you just throw those, you idiot?! … we could have eaten them!” it was absolutely hilarious and I was honestly a little in shock. So, I ate some nuts, and then handed him some. He didn't much like walnuts, but then neither do I! Pistachios were his favorite, he'd open the shell with his teeth, eat the nut, and then throw the shells. This went on for quit

e a while and I thought we had built a bond, so I let my guard down a bit... and BOOM!

The little bastard strikes... but it's okay, we had eaten most the bag already (that is what I am telling myself, at least).

It was an all around humorous day. I am sure that more adventures lie ahead --- In fact, I recently found out that the Doctor who is going to help me recruit my patients for my research here is on leave for 10 days. Which means... I have 10 free days to roam India!