This is the end.....beautiful friend, the end

So this is my farewell blog.....my last night of this amazing trip. I can barely believe what these last few magnificent months have entailed. This trip has been everything....and the most amazing experience of my life.....and I say this without hesitation. Traveling alone is the best thing that anyone can do for themselves, without a doubt. If ever life leaves you in an utterly hopeless quandary I would suggest to pick up, pack your bags and get to India.....or Brazil....or just somewhere that gets you outside of yourself. And if life has left you with no quandary what so ever, then all the more reason to go. Traveling is amazing.
You know one time when I was younger my aunt Chrissy said maybe this world isn't so big and when you go in an airplane they just shake you around for a while and pop! They say, "Now your in France, or Poland, or Russia." And yes at some points during this, and definitely towards the end, it felt like this. I mean what a brilliant little box, that has allowed us to bop all over this planet. And meet people from all over the world who are doing exactly the same thing. Young minds full of curiosity and a general faith that the universe, God, the Buddha, or the Lonely Planet, will help us to find what we were looking for. And in everything I saw, learned, experienced on this journey, the most brilliant part of it all was to discover the incandescence that exists within me.....and finding what makes it, shatters it and causes it to blossom. I have fallen more in love with life and this glorious world we live in then I ever have been.
My mind is brimming with ideas for my classroom, and the mundane pleasures of my life in the San Francisco Bay Area leave me with so much gratitude. My family and friends are the most exciting and beautiful people and I am so blessed to have this loving network of people.....that extend from San Francisco to New Mexico, and San Diego to Portland.....and now that network has expanded to every facet of the globe. My life is full and I feel so anxious to share everything that this trip has given me. I can't wait to be home and in the loving arms of my darling Jason and all of you too. So I arrive in San Francisco Tuesday morning and I would love to see each and every one of you....I have a million stories that I'm just bursting to tell!

And then I ate dog....

Well, so going from the strict vegetarian diet, I had acquired through yoga, to the all meat diet of my friends in Beijing was a bit of a shock to the system.....and of all of the fabulous meat dishes I've had in my life I now must say that dog meat is the most tasty little dish I have ever had! Now once you get past the, oh no a cute little puppy, and just focus on the pure pleasure of their tasty bodies you'll understand what I mean by YUMMY! Yes, the meat is a bit fatty, but oh so tender. Tony seemed to think that this restaurant may have been trying to pass off dogmeat, a delicacy, for simple beef.....like the opposite of what Chinese restaurants in the states are known for....but I'm sure this was no beef...and the menu said dogmeat.....but you know it was written in Chinese, like everything else.

Getting by in China with no understanding of the language is something I would not recommend. I mean no one speaks English at all....and everyone speaks to you in Chinese. And I look like I should be able to, so this only adds to the difficulty. China is a place that I'm very glad I came to, knowing someone and having a place to stay. And Tony has been the most brilliant host. The weather has been ungodly....it snowed the first night I was here. And so now after this little taste of Chinese culture, and Chinese chow chow, he he, I'm headed home in the morning. It was short, but oh so sweet!

I'm so glad I missed my flight!

So I missed my flight from Bangkok to Beijing......you know at first I was freaking out, hysterical panic attack mode.....you know the usual. Then some of my meditation training kicked in, along with a visit to the gym and then the realization comes that everything happens for a reason....and the reason for this fiasco was that I had no idea how crazy fun Bangkok is! The best way to see Bangkok is to make friends with a few rickshaw and taxi drivers, and ask them to take you some place good.....our first purpose for taking a cab was A. the air conditioning and B. to get as far from Ko San Road as possible. The cab driver took us on this crazy long ride around the city and eventually we ended up at a crazy Thai restaurant, but you know the kind that are made for tourists. Anyway from there we were instructed to go to this all night market where there was boxing and ping pong shows....so we went. What we didn't realize, and were astonished to come upon were..... well...... ping pong pussy shows, strip tease boy bands, girly men, eatable roaches, which Marty tried, racing rickshaws, all night thai whiskey rickshaw rides and the rest I'm going to have to leave to your imagination.....or I'll tell you in person...anyway needless to say this turned out to be one of the craziness nights of this wild Cheyenne's life, too much fun.

And with every ounce of will power in me I made it from that lovely pub on Ko San to the madness of the Bangkok airport....and onto the next flight to Beijing. And wow if Bangkok to Beijing wasn't shocking enough. I had to add all of these extenuating circumstances just to get the full effect of the China culture shock! And then I ate dog....

Goodbye Bangkok, Hello Beijing

So it is my final night in Bangkok.....and I can't say I'm sorry to see it go. Coming from India causes everything here to severely pale in comparison, but I guess that's not really fair since it is like apples and oranges. My friends from San Francisco just arrived and they have been noticing the salesmen, pollution, and toilet situation among other things that are difficult to deal with. And to every observation they have made I up the ante with...."Well in India", which is actually starting to annoy me. In fact, I'm starting to wonder if I'm ever going to want to go anywhere else. Or perhaps I end up like one of those 30 something English folk who have been to India a dozen times. I guess we'll have to see who things work out, one can never guess.

But besides the comparison with India I am overly anxious to get out of Bangkok. This is a tourist trap if I ever saw one. Luckily Jamie and Marty are an entertaining pair, so my last day is turning out quite well. We went to Wat Pho today, which was really the one place I really want to see before I left. In it there is a gigantic sleeping Buddha, which is truly brilliant. We had a lovely day, and Marty made me start to feel like a bit of a Buddhist expert with the millions of questions he had. It's interesting running into old friends and getting some indication of how I've changed......and haven't. Traveling alone it's just you looking at you. It's interesting now to see myself through their eyes. It's very heartening. I have made baby steps towards improving my lifestyle and ways of thinking about things, and it feels good to see the difference.....the subtle changes. And besides that it's just wonderful to be with old friends. It feels like sooooo long since I've seen a familiar face. So we are off to some highly recommended restaurant which Jamie has on her list of "things you must do in Thailand". I just had to squeeze one last Thailand blog in. Next I will be telling all about my fly by night ideas about Beijing and then home!.....oh this trip is ending so soon I can barely believe I'll be home in a week!!

So I guess I'm going to China!

Well as fate may have it ditching out on this adventure is not an option.....my ticket from Beijing to SanFrancisco is non- refundable. So I guess that means I'm headed north, which is fine and great and I'm excited. I am just waiting for my visa to China to be processed, which should finish up around the 1st of March.....and the rest of my travel plans I'll spell out as they come. One of the most boring ways of describing a trip is "I"m going here then there and then I'll go here at this time by train, bus, boat, whatever" So NOW I am in Bangkok, and you know Bangkok is a crazy sort of place. Sort of. It a travelers mecca. Everyone from every facet of the globe comes to Bangkok, some are on their way to the rest of the world and some are on their way home.....and then there are the seasoned sex traveler, who are just here for the business. And you can never tell one from the other by their outward look....

Several of the restaurants and facilities are 24 hour...not that I have taken advantage of this option.....I've been in bed by 9:00p.m. every night (not quite the party girl I use to be)... So anyway the other morning, around 9:00a.m., as I'm walking through one of these all night cafes I notice on odd sort of couple. The man is the average 22 year old American boy....just out of college on his first trip to Thailand sort of look. He is sitting with a he/she Thailand beauty and they have both slurping up the tail end of a juicy cold mug of beer, and who knows where the night....I mean day, might take them. And all of this is from my judgemental snap shot view of the situation, I mean who knows maybe he is a reporter doing a story on the sex industry in Thailand or I don't know anyway, just not the average scene....and not many average scenes....just average for Bangkok.

So my old roommate Jamie and her boyfriend will be arriving in Bangkok on Wednesday night, so that's exciting. It will be great to see some familiar faces and get some fresh juice. You come to a point in traveling where going sight seeing and looking at another temple or palace or museum sounds like a subtle torture on the senses of your soul. You just grow dull to the brilliance. That is such a shame, because some of these places are truly magnificent. So having some fresh meat will help me to see things through there eyes. In some ways traveling is a kind of addiction. I mean there is an endless amount of sights to see on this earth....and most travelers in some form or another are trying to capture just enough to take home and say now I have lived. I've seen the world. I know this trip has satisfied my ego and all of my senses on many levels, but one thing that I wasn't expecting and one thing that I am most satisfied with is that I feel that I've learned how to live. I mean living by myself, and waking up and doing just what I want to do. And finding that I enjoy a very simple sort of life. I love the simple things. Eating, reading, exercise, meditation. A very easy routine. I guess in some ways I have become quite boring.....but that is if you're looking from the outside. Because I'm not bored. And so today I will sort out the remainder of my travel arrangements and then go see the glorious palace and emerald Buddha....and this time I will be using my disposable camera. I've already lost two cameras on this trip...so I'm signing off now. I hope all is well back home. And thank you for keeping up with my blog. I feel a bit self indulgent at times writing this silly thing, so thank you for letting me know you appreciate it and actually read it.

As a sinking ship

And of course the madness is saved until the very end. And since I've left India everything has fallen to pieces. Word to the wise NEVER buy plane tickets until you are a few days from going to your next destination. And make sure you know all of the rules and regulations.....which usually include in the fine print "any changes will cost about the same as the original ticket." So the story goes. If I want to fly home now from Bangkok that's fine, but I'll have to buy a fresh new ticket and get nothing for the old one......or I can wait in Bangkok until March 1st at which time I can figure out a way to Beijing. Then sort out getting my flight date changed....which of course will cost a heap. And until a few moments ago I was walking around aimlessly on the verge of tears. And then of course, Tommy graces me with his short and sweet sentiments that lift the burden off of my shoulders.....Thank you Tommy, we are so blessed! Not just with each other but with an angel of a mother who helps to makes any freak out of mine go from a minor heart attack to a lesson for life, not to be missed. I thank God for the both of you everyday. I grimace to think of what the fire of my life would amount to had God not given me you guys to tend after me. My brother is far to kind in his love for me......Thank you for your words Tom.....

She... (carrie)s herself as a child
who truly knows that it's all magic
In knowing this truth
her smile makes people believe.

divine radiance
Divine radiance like night back into the day
we laugh as children

Sister Friend
You are a deep and familiar place and always a home
Thank you for blazing the trail that I've walked....
it still feels warm and humbling

Koh Phangan

And now I am in Thailand on one of the eastern islands called Koh Phangan. This island is gorgeous. I'm staying in a little bungalow right on the beach in Bah Tai. It is quiet and easy living. I'm properly tan and have finished my book. This island is well known for it's full moon parties.....but I don't think I will be sticking around to check it out. You known I've really tried to understand and appreciate any part of trance music.....but sorry to all of you trance heads, I just don't get it at all. Last night I went to a party in the jungle with the people from my guest house and after about an hour or two I HAD to leave. And that's the way it has been at every trance party I've tried to go to on this trip. It just completely drives me crazy. I can't even listen to it in the background. AHH!

So besides that Koh Phangan is paradise and just what I needed before heading home. In the future I think I will come to Thailand before going to India in stead of the other way around. Thailand is sooo touristy and yeah, it's just so different from India, and I think I'm just missing my India, and my home. So I am in limbo, in Thailand......in between my two loves, and ready to be home. So I'm going back up to Bangkok tomorrow to sort out my ticket home.....and from there I will leave you with my final salute. What an exquisite adventure this has been....

Out of the frying pan

So the magical mystery tour has come to a quiet close......in other words I just left India. It was so hard. I really feel in love with that place. I can't explain it....and perhaps I shouldn't even try. I've been accused of simply being in a state of culture shock, and I can say that's true of the start of my trip. But at that point I didn't really know what to make of it. I didn't love or hate it, I just didn't know what to make of it. It was all so different. It wasn't until that shock began to fade though that I really began to love the place. I can't compare my experience there to any other country I've been and it really wasn't just India it was the way "my trip" went in India, and the way I was treated and just the syncronicity of it all. It was so deeply intoxicting and left me in a such a sanguine state, I will always return. And I can't say that of anywhere I've been.

My last stop was in Mumbai, which is a city I could, and may easily move to. I did a yoga course there that was so exquisite. It was at the yoga institute, which is the oldest yoga center in the country. My lovely best good mate Jon recommended it to me. He took the 6 month course there and is such an inspiring person in every way, he's quite the poster child for a yoga center, so I had to check it out. I learned so much about living life, so I think I may go back for a 6 month course they offer. I could think of nothing more inviting then spending 6 month under the teachings of these debonar women, which 95% of the teachers are. But no plans, because life is a cameleon of possibilities.

The day before I entered the yoga center I spent the day in Mumbai. I went to Leopold's, which was the restaurant that was used as the main stage in Shantaram. I sat at a table and pulled out a brand new book, Karma Cola. One of my favorite things is to have an opened afternoon, a good cafe, and the promise of a new work of art unfolding in the pages before you. With Shantaram still lingering on my pallet though, there was a bit of sketicism on my part as to how this book could compare. Just as my mouth began lapping up the first few pages in walks a couple, of the young and daring assortment. They ask if they might join me, and I willingly ablidge. We begin to chat about what else but our travels, and I come to find that the gentleman, from England, has been bopping back and forth between Bombay and England for the past 17 years. The woman was a yound aspiring Indian DJ, and she had a big gig later that night so was a bit nervous, but I senses this was her character in general. I come to find that these are friends of Greg, the author of Shantaram and he, though currently in Thailand, should be stopping into Leopold's some time in the next week. They give me a bit of history about the book and Greg and I can barely contain myself. The book I have been gushing over! My beloved Shataram, so close. Again my timing in India has made another peek around the corner become a masterpiece. Well, needless to say I never meet Greg, or that would have been my story. Though, this brush with my new found hero was enough to tide me over. The trip 16 hours on the train to Mumbai was well worth it. God I love that city.

So after the yoga course, which had the main theme "mindfulness" I hopped in a cab, and when I hopped out I realized my bag was no longer with me........ My bag holding my cell phone, camera, plane ticket, clothes, and books. Let's see what lesson..lesson's could I ascertain from this experience, at the moment too many to think of. But the entire catclysmic circumstance lauched me onto a plane into the air and now I have landed in Bangkok......

And this is a whole new ball of wax. I'm in L.A......except in Thailand on Monday everyone wears yellow in honor of the king......So from the highway there are thousands of little yellow bodies filling the pavement. I miss India, I miss home......I'm going to the beach. Ko Phangan to be exact.

Things I miss about home: NPR, The Lighthouse Restaurant, the Oakland A's, Sunset, Ladonna's laugh, rocket the alien dog, Tommy's piano and everything else, Watching TV with Jason, Austin's jokes, singing with my Dad, Hopes intoxicating spunk, Dennis playing music, Mom gluing it all together, and the Babe laughing at all of us.....I miss my clan. I miss my friends and I will always miss India when I am not there too. My heart is growing as a Baynon tree....leaving roots all over the forest floor......

Yoga

My time in Pushkar has been very well spent. I've been doing an intensive yoga retreat, not just doing yoga, but also learning the history, meditations, doing cleanses, and breathing techniques. Yoga is a way of living, not just a 30 minute workout and I'm really, really loving it. I leave tomorrow to do a course in Mumbai at the Yoga Institute, which is one of India's oldest schools. This is only a 6 day course, but they also have 1 month and 6 month courses, for teaching yoga...so if I turn out really liking it I might come back....I haven't even left yet and I'm already planning my next trip to India.
So I guess after the course I'm off to Thailand. I'm trying to work out my flight shifts now, but If everything goes well I'll be on a flight from Mumbai to Thailand on the 18th of February. So the thought of leaving India leaves me a bit speechless. I didn't give you my "Holy Cow" bit yet, or...oh there is just so much to tell. I don't know where to begin. For now I just leave saying this about India. This place has to be truly magic to hold this many people that have of this many different religions, languages, cultures and colors and keep the peace......really truly amazing.