Tiresome Travels Take Their Toll

Hello everyone,

I'm feeling exhausted from all our travels, so this will be short. Things have been pretty ... overcrowded lately. It has been insane, but we've made it through it and we've finally got a clean -- albeit spartan -- room to sleep in.

We have enjoyed a chilling morning safari through Bandhavgarh National Park, which is teeming with serenity. We saw a tiger, but rode no elephants.

We've travelled like Indians. We've searched for hotels in the wee hours of the morning.

It's time for a rest. I've updated the Google Maps itinerary with our actual route and current location. We are planning on taking the 22 hour long train ride back from Kolkata to Delhi on the evening of December 12, but our schedule up until then is flexible.

Good night

Itinerary Map Updated

Hi Everyone,

We have arrived safely in Dharamsala, albeit at 3:40 in the morning with nowhere to go. Tomorrow we begin our course, but I just wanted to let you know before we go in that I made a big update to the itinerary at Google Maps (see the side bar for small version, or click the link beneath for the full page). I just wrote some small descriptions of the places we've been, and I updated the pins to reflect where we are (and our trail).

30 days later

Hari Om!

We have officially been out of Canada for 30 days! Hope you guys are surviving without us ;>. We will be leaving the ashram on Saturday and continuing our journey of India, of which 84 days remain.

Our upcoming plan includes:

Dehra Dun Forest Research Institute Museum, Great Stupa & Buddha Statue
Chandigarh High Court, Open Hand, Nek Chand Fantasy Rock Garden
Shimla Viceregal Lodge, Himalayan Bird Park, Jakhu Temple, and maybe a pony ride!
Manali Nature Park, Buddhist Monasteries, Hadimba Temple
McLeod Ganj (Dharamsala) Tsuglagkhang Complex, Secretariat of the Tibetan Government in Exile, Tsechokling Gompa
Amritsar Golden Temple, Jallianwala Bagh, Ram Bagh

We are toying with the idea of a 10 day Buddhist meditation retreat in McLeod Ganj, which would include intense practice of vipassana meditation (mindfulness meditation) and complete silence.

Note: I have made an update to the Lecture post to reflect some information that he has added recently, namely that only one of the steps is required for an aspirant to reach purification.

Google Maps Itinerary Update

I've updated the map at le google. The red pin indicates where we are. The pins with black circles in the middle are places we have yet to visit.

Oh and I also want to mention how crazy it was arriving in Rishikesh. As soon as we made it into Rishikesh, we literally turned one corner and the temperature decreased by 10 degrees. It was bewildering!

Travel Itinerary

We have put our travel itinerary on a map at Google Maps (also shown in sidebar). We start at New Delhi and head northeast to Rishikesh. The final location we visit is Kolkata, where we'll take a train ride back to New Delhi.

The points in the map were added in the order that we will be visiting them.