YTT and beyond

Well, I've done it! Completed my 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training and can now apply for my RYT 200 certification. It was a great experience albeit a bit controlling at times. I learned a tremendous amount and do feel ready to teach yoga although it is good to know that it involves a lot to be a good yoga teacher.

Another post without pics as the wireless connection here in Siem Reap doesn't seem able to handle the bandwidth.

http://picasaweb.google.com/hellokittyinlondon/Angkor#

The location of our training was a huge complex (Tao Garden) and rather remote. My room was completely austere and plain though functional. Bare white walls, a wardrobe, a bed, and a desk. The gardens and grounds were exceptional and the daily birgsong and gecko chirping was pretty amazing. The personal space was not luxurious but the complex was quite nice. The room was, at first, quite a shock from the lovely Dreamcatchers B&B with the personal items and antiques all over the house. In the end, the simple room at TG worked fine for the purposes of my stay which clearly was not for luxury.

My hatha yoga poses are very strong and I've learned many new tips that I use in my personal practice and will use in teaching some day. The sections of the course on yoga philosophy and history, taught by a UC Berkley professor, were particularly engaging. Somehow through all these years of yoga, I had not learned much on the history of yoga as a life practice, not just hatha yoga or asanas.

We also had a guest teacher for anatomy. A craniosacral therapist from LA with a sideline in sexology. Only from LA...right? She was incredibly knowledgeable with quite a unique angle on the links of the esoteric and physical aspects of deep yoga practice.

Our main teachers were very knowledgeable and led great classes every day. We were assisted with work in asanas (poses), pranayama (breathing), meditation, and self practice. I am quite fortunate that I have had a very strong self practice for awhile now but the help I received in that area was quite valuable.

Being marooned at a remote setting, seeing the same people day after day for a month, and eating the same food is a unique part the setup that I found quite restrictive towards the end. Thank goodness I had the sense to get a private room. I honestly don't think I could have survived the entire month otherwise. The people were great, mind you, but I have been living alone for a long time now and I have no desire to share a small room with someone I have never met...for a month. I loved having my own room especially for the silence requirement from 10 p.m. to 10 a.m. which meant completing the morning practice and breakfast in silence.

The last day felt like a whole new kind of freedom. I decided to leave Chiang Mai and head to Siem Reap (Cambodia) where I am spending my last day today. I actually needed about 3 days of decompression from the YTT experience and Siem Reap and Angkor have been the perfect place for that.

Fast forward to the fab Viroth's Hotel in Siem Reap. Siem Reap has clearly been living the tourist mania for years now and it shows. Walking down the street yields constant calls of "tuk tuk madam?" and many other attempts to get you to buy something. Thankfully, the amazing sites of Angkor make it all worth while. I spent the entire day seeing the ruins on Monday and it is spectacular. Known as the largest religious ruins in the world and the only ones visible from space, the complex goes on and on. I had a tuk tuk driver to take me around and arrived at Angkor Wat (the main temple) just before sunrise. The clouds at the horizon obscured a spectacular sunrise show but the temples did not disappoint. Much of Angkor has not been excavated and/or preserved and much of that work is going on now. I found myself particularly fascinated with the relief stone carvings which represent many Hindu gods. The additions of the Buddha images came later as the temples were originally dedicated to Hindu gods (11th century), then Vishnu, and finally Buddha (13th century) which required the conversion of many Cambodians to Theravada Buddhism.

Yesterday I had an amazing 3 hour treatment with scrub, wrap, and massage to ease my aching legs from hours of temple hiking. The coffee and cocoa scrub was particularly good and my skin is soft and smooth. I think perhaps a job as a spa reviewer would be good. I've become quite a massage connoisseur over the past couple years. From overpriced London massages in lovely settings by eastern European child like women with no hand strength to unusually large Thai women in Malaysia hell bent on showing you how they can cause severe pain in a single move of their elbow and EVERYTHING in between. In my opinion, the best massages and treatments are those where the therapist is skilled at sensing and treating those areas of your body that need it. I could go on and on but will leave it at the Frangipani spa in Siem Reap is lovely and is right up there with some of my favourites.

I am going to try to see one more part of the Angkor temples today, a remote area known for its pink stone bas reliefs. I am back to Thailand tomorrow where I will have a couple days on the beach before I join up with my CELTA training on Sunday afternoon. I do expect this next month of in depth English language teacher training to be quite intense but fun and exciting as well.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.__Mark Twain

Pics and Videos

http://picasaweb.google.com/hellokittyinlondon

New folder with pics of Laos and do check out the videos now linked at the bottom of the blog dashboard.  

Hope your Saturday ROCKS!!! 

Love, El 

Lost in Laos

Another thing that I need to "let go" of is my typos or, god forbid, my grammatical mistakes in these posts.  For some reason proofing my own stuff is quite hard and even harder on the computer.  I used to print them out and for some reason that helped but that is not currently an option so I've decided to let it go.  Of course I couldn't resist the chance to ensure that anyone that might read this would be aware that I know I make mistakes, I just don't always get them corrected before posting and never seem to have time to correct them after they are posted.  

The week of 29May I had the exceptional and rare opportunity to experience one of those magical places on this earth.  Luang Prabang, Laos reminds me of the feeling I've had in 2 other places, Zipolite, Mexico in 1983 and Olu Deniz, Turkey in 1989. Wonderful, out of the way places that are just starting to experience the good and bad of increased tourism.  Thankfully Luang Prabang was designated as an Unesco World Heritage site back in 1995 and it is very remote so that will help.   By the way, Laos is pronounced Lao as the "s" is silent.  Yes, most English speaking people say it in incorrectly.  The people are Lao and they speak Lao.  It is a communist country but over 90% of the people are Buddhists.  

It was actually a matter of having to renew my Thai visa as it would expire on 30MAY.  I found that I could fly directly to Luang Prabang on Lao Airlines from Chian Mai.  Sweetness!  A lovely prop jet soared us over the mountains and down into the Luang Prabang.  Visa on arrival, currently $35 USD to enter, a prompt and efficient process and I was off to my hotel.  You can save $1 USD by having your own passport picture.  I had originally considered Vientiane but it is much bigger than Luang Prabang.  

I had decided to arrange a room in advance but this is definitely one of those places where, during off season at least, you will find many guest houses and I imagine the majority of them do not have any listing on the web.  I guess the primary time to visit is Nov-Mar but the off season is perfect for me.  Luang Prabang sits on the confluence of the Nam Than and Mekong rivers.  The mighty Mekong and it is huge.  I suppose it depends on your age but I immediately think of Apocalypse Now whenever I hear anything about the Mekong River.  I adore large bodies of water anywhere in the world but big rivers have a character all of their own.  I could watch the Nam Than from my hotel and was fascinated by some of the fishing practices using a large circular net and the fisherman gathering it up and folding in a very particular way and then throwing it out where it would land in the water in a perfect circle.  

Luang Prabang has one of the highest concentrations of temples and monks anywhere.  Living at a monastery and practicing as a monk, even for a short time, is expected of all young Buddhist men.  Some only participate for 2 weeks.  On my second day, I climbed to the top of the temple at the center of town and had a lovely time chatting with a young Lao monk.  He wanted to practice his English.  At one point in our conversation he asked me how old I was and I told him to which he responded "wow, you're old"....he was all of 20 and had never been out of Lao but is hoping to continue his Buddhist studies in India someday.  

There is still a very distinct wildness about this place.  It is quite obvious that even though there are lots of little eateries and guest houses, especially along the Mekong, it is still quite innocent.  The edges of the river are wild with overgrowth and all kinds of life.  The boat drivers seem just as happy to go back to their games with their friends when you say "Baw, Khawp Jai" to their offers of "boat ride".  The buzz of the jungle can be heard steps from the center of town.  I took the opportunity to rest a moment at the end point of the town at the river confluence and saw TONS of butterflies, a beautiful orange snake and bright yellow lizard all while taking a few minutes rest just steps from the town road.  

My title for this post is based on my activities the first day.  I jumped on one of the free hotel bikes and took off towards town.  The high and narrow bridge over the Nam Tham seemed quite mild on a bike.  I covered the main streets of the town in a short time, although the searing heat and single speed bike made it a bit of a challenge.  Although the seat was adjusted high enough for my legs, the crank arm is so short it makes taking a good strong pump through the pedals quite difficult.  Overall, it felt great to be on a bike and was a fantastic way to get around this beautiful little town.  So I set off in another direction hoping to see some more local colour.  I weaved my way past little village after village each seemingly having some type of specialty going on.  There was the mechanics village, the basket village, a weaving village, pottery village, and many others.  Before I knew it I was on a busy road with trucks and fast moving traffic and I realized I had no idea where I was and that I was lost.  Lost in Laos...sounds pretty cool.  I knew I couldn't have gotten than far away so persevered and made it make in about an hour.  I was soaked in sweat and exhausted and proceeded to stuff myself with beer and a delicious Lao lunch.  YUM.  

I went back to Chiang Mai on 29 and headed straight back to the Dreamcatchers B&B before joining up with my YTT on Sunday 31May.  

Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books. __John Lubbock

Pics and videos updated too.  

Finally...some pics uploaded

http://picasaweb.google.com/hellokittyinlondon/BangkokAndChangMai#

Finally was able to post some pics with that go with the last 2 posts.  

Lots more to come.

Peace! 

Chiang Mai

Still can't get any pics on the blog and at the moment I cannot even post pics on the picasa link.  Eventually will get it all updated.  

I have now been in Chiang Mai for almost a week.  It is the second biggest city in Thailand.  I completed lucked out on my choice of accommodation.  I am staying quite a ways out of the city in an area called Seraphi.  The lovely Dreamcatchers B&B.  This is an exceptional place.  I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here and will come back for a couple days before joining up with my YTT group at Tao Garden.  This house is simply amazing and A is a great B&B host.  She is French Canadian but has lived abroad for 20 years, most of them in India.  

My time here has been most relaxing with a wonderful location for my morning practice by the infinity pool listening to the birds and chirping geckos.  Little known to me prior to my arrival, Chiang Mai is VERY HOT!!!  So much hotter than KL.  A few folks in KL told me, ah, you'll love Chiang Mai, nice and cool there.  They must have come in the winter.  Chiang Mai has seasons and it is currently summer.  It has only rained once since I've been here and the skies are mostly clear and sunny. In general, it is still quite humid, but slightly less so than KL.  

I spent one evening wandering around the night market.  I took a video and will post sometime when I get a connection that will allow uploading.  This is the great thing about being here during the low season, 50% discount on rooms and the markets are not crowded.  I was told that the night market is packed during high season and you can't even walk through all the people.  It was great when I was out the other night, lots of room to move.  

Chiang Mai is quite an eclectic city with lots of expats wandering around and what I understand to be a large retirement community from Europe.  There is also an AMAZING number of mature white men with young Thai women, many toting babies or multiple children.  Pretty interesting stuff.  Another difference about Thailand since leaving Bangkok, most of the locals don't speak English.  The Thai language has LOTS of tones and almost all phrases and sentences end with a masculine or feminine tone.  The written language is quite unique looking and it helped me to realize that Bahasa was much easier as it is written in roman letters instead of symbols.  I've been staring at the language for a week now and haven't learned a thing.  It is quite pretty to look at but difficult to decipher anything it says.  

A funny story in regards to language as I have had it pretty easy here thanks to the excellent assistance and guidance of my B&B host.  I decided to go to the movies to get a nice break from the heat in the big mall near the airport.  After the movie I decided to go to Tha Nam, a traditional Thai restaurant on the riverfront (Mae Ping river).  Seemed like a simple idea and I even had a map.  The taxis don't have meters and so prices have to be agreed in advance. Many of the taxis are small pickup trucks with 2 bench seats in the back.  Great if you have a big group and are headed out of the city for some sightseeing but not so good if you are on your own and really want the air con.  I finally found a taxi and happily showed him my map, which was in English.  I kept pointing to the location of the restaurant and he just stared at it.  He kept turning the map around and around and finally pointed to one of the temples on the map. I smiled and said "yes, temple" and proceeded to point to the location of the restaurant. Finally I said "Tha Nam" and he got a big smile on his face and responded with lots of tones and the words...Tha Nam...dinner.  I was thrilled and he knew exactly where it was located.  I realized the map doesn't do any good if you don't read or understand English words.  What an interesting concept and a good lesson to learn.  Trying to say the words even if you are not sure about the pronunciation could be all that's needed.  Getting back to the B&B later was not so easy.  

I am disappointed I didn't have my camera as this restaurant was very special.  A huge old teak house right on the Mae Ping river.  They had a group of local young men playing traditional Thai music.  It was really beautiful!  It was a foursome playing the La Sor, Saw Duang, Seung, and Ta Phon, or I think that is what there were.  Traditional Thai stringed instruments and one drum almost like a bongo drum.  What a lovely way to enjoy my delicious prawns, green curry, and sticky rice.  The prawn starter was almost like a ceviche and quite spicy with lots of lime juice and fried shallots.  The green curry was some of the best I've had with three kinds of aubergine in it and not too thick with coconut milk.  YUM!!!

Yesterday I rode a bike to Wiang Kum Kam, some ruins near Chiang Mai with buildings going back to 2527 B.C.  It is was a nice ride and the ruins are quite impressive.  Most of the site has not been dug up yet as it covers quite an area and much of it floods in the spring time. 

I figured out how to solve my Thai visa situation, by leaving the country and coming back via air travel I will get an automatic 30 days visa which will last me through my YTT.  

Later today I am off to Luang Prabang, Laos.  The ancient capital of Laos and on the mighty Mekong River.  

Intuition is really a sudden immersion of the soul into the universal current of life, where the histories of all people are connected, and we are able to know everything, because it's all written there.__excerpt from The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Bangkok

I cannot seem to link any pics to the blog at the moment which is a bit of disappointment as I quite like the little pics in with the writing.  Alas, I don't want to get too far behind...so...

Thailand...no more morning call to prayer from the mahjid but now I here the morning gong from the Buddhist temples.  The sun rises much earlier here which I am loving...always have been been and always will be a morning person.   

My three days in Bangkok flew by although I did manage to get around and see quite a bit.  Bangkok feels hotter than KL which I imagine is due to all the people, cars, buses, tuk-tuks, and everything else.  Bangkok is currently estimated to be about 9 million people with up to 15 mil in greater Bangkok.  KL is only about 1.8 million (with 8 mil in Klang valley) so not surprising that it feels so different.  I stayed in the Sukumvit area which is a bit of everything including apartment buildings, office buildings, huge markets, and luckily for me, lots of public transport including the sky train and MRT.  

It definitely feels more third world than Malaysia...more dirt, more stinky smells, more slums, etc.  No one drinks the water unless they have to where in KL the tap water was fine.  

I decided to make my way to the Chao Phraya river on my first day after spending a lovely relaxing morning with a great breakfast including a large helping of delicious seaweed salad.  Breakfast here is a bit different with a Japanese influence and no nasi lemak in sight.   

Bangkok seemed just like I imagined it would, big and chaotic with a bit of dark feel to it.  I managed to find my way on the MRT to a section of town near the river and I had the ridiculous idea I would find my way to the river front and walk along some lovely path on the river.  Uh...not so much.  I ended wandering around in Chinatown for about 2 hours while I figured out that nearly every inch of river and canal front in Bangkok is used for anything and everything.  Everything from little wooden shacks nearly hanging in the river to elaborate riverfront condos with huge decks overlooking this majestic river. Tons and tons of private docks into the river moving around all kinds of goods.  I finally managed to get out of Chinatown and get to a public ferry at the riverfront.  I took the ferry up to area near the Temple of the Dawn.  After all my wandering, I realized I was too late to go to Wat Pho (the reclining Buddha) and decided to try to find a little hotel/restaurant I had read about called "the Deck" that is known for its fantastic view of the Temple of the Dawn.  It took awhile but I finally found it and was very happy to have my first sip of cold beer (big bottle for less than $2) and look out at this impressive Temple.  The temples here are HUGE and this is one of the biggest.  The river in the foreground is quite a site with its piles of seaweed everywhere and ferries and longboats zooming past.  My pics will not do the temple justice as it is so massive.  I did end up chatting with a lovely young Brit with his Thai wife and baby and he was taking pics with an awesome camera so have to follow up on that one as I have his email address.  

Watched the sunset and then had a delicious meal of papaya salad and Pad Thai, my favourite combo of Thai food.  This was a very unique and interesting presentation of phad thai with an omelette sort of wrapped around the noodles.  It was delicious.  

As there are no trains around the temple, I decided to take the tuk tuk back to the hotel.  What an interesting way to see the city.  The tuk tuks are all motorcycles now where they used to be bicycles.  The poor little driver had to stop and ask directions 3 times to get me back to the hotel.  I don't think tuk tuks are meant to go all the way across the city.  It was all very entertaining.  Some of the fancy Mercedes and BMWs whizzing past seemed to be as amused as I was at the farang in the big city.  

The next day I was off bright and early to Wat Pho hoping to beat the heat and the crowds and luckily it worked.  You can't really believe the size of the Reclining Buddha, it is gigantic!  The feet are really spectacular as they are inlaid with mother of pearl.  The temple grounds go on and on and eventually intersects with the Grand Palace.  

Once the heat really started descending on the temple, I headed back on the ferry and to the skytrain to another part of town where lots of the fancy hotels are and where lots of expats live.  I think I already mentioned this but I am still struck how many Caucasians I see in Thailand, that was simply not the case in Kuala Lumpur...or really anywhere in Malaysia.  

I ended having a 2 hour Thai massage and foot massage in the area.  I really like the Thai massage but it is not particularly relaxing but sure stretches things out nicely.  I had some delicious green curry at a little outdoor cafe and headed back to my hotel early.  Green curry, papaya salad, and Pad Thai...all my Thai favourites and now I've eaten them in Bangkok. I am flying to Chiang Mai as another 10 hours on a train did not sound that great when I could fly in an hour.  

Cheers!

Da Train...the very long train

I made it to Bangkok.  Nearly 30+ hours on two trains and it was fascinating and well worth the longer journey.  

I wasn't even sure I could do it properly as I have 3 suitcases.  I am so glad I kept my nice small rolling bag for all of my electronic equipment as I do have lots of it.  I also have the biggest rolling backpack made that I picked up in KC back in January.  I am able to wear the backpack and pull the other two.  I should have had a picture as I look pretty ridiculous when lugging it all around.  Thankfully the wonderful concierge at the KL Hilton helped me get to the KL Sentral station with all of it so that part was easy.  Getting on to the train, down the escalator and up the steps of the train was a bit more difficult.  

I had a wonderful sleeper berth from KL to Butterworth.  Butterworth is on the west coast of Malaysia directly across from the island of Penang.  I had a blog entry about Penang in the KL blog.  I spent the weekend there in Nov 08.  I had quite a long layover in Butterworth but with all my junk didn't have the energy to go to Penang.  As luck would have it, I met a lovely gentlemen at the KL Sentral station who lives in Butterworth.  I ended up running into him after I got off the train and we sat at a hawker stall having coffee at 4:30 a.m. while he got in touch with his wife to come and pick him up.  Mr Ho and his wife graciously offered to take me for breakfast in Butterworth at a Chinese hawker center that specializes in dim sum.  OMG!!!  Delicious beyond words.  Amazing homemade noodles with prawns and pork swimming in mild Malaysian soy sauce and sambal.  YUM!!! Killer pau stuffed with BBQ pork, steamed rice paper stuffed with all kinds of greens and garlic, fried radish paste, steamed mushrooms wrapped in rice paper, egg tarts, and many other yummy things.  Some of them do not have a English name.  I just asked Mr Ho and his wife to allow me to skip the ones made with offal (parts...so to speak) which they found quite amusing as they said the pig liver is particularly delicious.  I was absolutely stuffed and very thankful for the wonderful new friends I made in Butterworth.  

I boarded my next train at 2 p.m. for the 20+ hour ride to Bangkok.  Luckily, the second class only train was not too bad at all.  I was very smart to reserve both the upper and lower bunk so that I didn't have to have anyone crawling on top of me.  It also gave me some space to keep all my bags close at hand so I didn't have to worry about them.  Traveling in the Golden Triangle and crossing borders makes you want to keep a close eye on your luggage...a tip from my American buddy in KL...and he should know.  

The train ride was really great and went by quite quickly.  The train seems to stop every 10 minutes until the Malaysian border and was filled with Malays who use the train for school and work.  It was interesting to see that ALL the Malay women (wearing tudongs) got off before the Thai border.  The southern Thai region is having some issues with violence against Muslims.  I wasn't able to get a visa in advance as I went to the Thai embassy in KL and they would not process the visa the same day...as it said they would on their website.  Ugh...I knew my horoscope was a bit of an omen when it said "you will do lots of running around today for administrative reasons but will get nothing done." That is exactly what happened.  So now I have a Thai visa that is only good for 2 weeks.  Have to figure that out later.  

The landscape changed immediately when entering Thailand.  Fascinating...no more oil palm plantations, no more mahjids (mosques), and LOTS more padi fields (rice).  As we approached various villages, I could also see the huge and ornate Buddhist temples.  Lots of people getting on and off the train and we seemed to stop in each and every village again.  I had my first Thai beer on the train.  YEAH!!!!  Another thing to love about Thailand....cheap beer.  I fell asleep really early and amazingly slept until the sun was just rising.  I could tell we were getting closer to Bangkok as there were lots more towns and less padi fields.  The architecture of the villages in Thailand is quite different from Malaysia.  As we got close to Bangkok, I got a close up view of the slums and they go on for a very long time.  I know they say the slums in Mumbai are the worst, but these were pretty heavy duty.  I was reminded a bit of my first visit to Mexico City where we saw the slums when traveling into the city.  The rubbish everywhere is pretty scary and seeing people living right next to it.  We had a huge delay just over an hour from the station as something was wrong with the train.  I was lucky in that they finally got us going again and we did not have to change trains.  I did not want to have to mess with the luggage again.  

Finally in Bangkok where I was smart enough to reserve a room in advance.  A bit of negotiation with the taxi drivers and I was off to my hotel.  I think I am more or less in the financial district of Bangkok.  Last night I wandered around and had some delicious wok fried noodles with pork, veggies, and basil...and yes, of course, I had 2 big beers for less than $5.  I have to say, I haven't thought about this much in the past year, but it is really nice to feel like you kind of fit in to the masses and are not in such a minority as I was in KL.  It is rather comforting to feel like it is OK to walk around in tank tops and shorts.  I never minded covering up more in Malaysia and felt it was important to do so to be culturally appropriate, but it is nice not to stand out so much.  

OK, this blogging stuff is time consuming and I need to go out and do some site seeing in the city.  

Cheers!!!