Burning Man

Festivities

Pictures from Sierra Nevada World Music Festival and the wedding of Maia Nickel and Chris Mangone

23 and Parasite Free

Photos (slightly out of order): Sarah, Donna (one of the managers) and Tony (the fabulous gardener), Me and Michael, my head blocking the view of the non existant waterfall in Thailand, french friends in Thailand, the sunset view from Jeff and Jacque's kitchen, a beautiful beach, the Octagon room, the forest, a view of Mana and the guardian crystal from the top of the mountain on the land, views from the mountain, the kitchen, the Tara Sanctuary, the bungalow I stayed in in Thailand.

Hello from kiwi land!
So, I've switched hemispheres, and as far as I can tell the toilet flushing isn't drastically different, but most of the toilets I've seen flush with more waterfall style than swirling action. So, sorry to leave that unsolved for you all.
But, on to other news...

I spent my last week or so in Thailand in this little itty bitty town called Pai. It's about a four hour bus ride away from Chiang Mai and it's out in the countryside which was a nice change from the bustling city. I stayed in a little bungalow overlooking a garlic field, where cows were grazing and the sun was shining which was quite a (nice) change from the airconditioned apartment I'd been luxuriating in in Chiang Mai. Life is real slow in Pai, there's not a lot going on. It's geared for the backpacker scene so there's lots of cafes to hang out in and yoga classes to take and that kind of thing. Unfortnuately, not all the cafes were winners, I ate some of the worst food of my life in Pai. It was supposed to be a vegetable curry but was really a lot more like snot with noodles. So bad it was fascinating. I went on a couple of great hikes, one to a waterfall that was virtually non existant because it's the dry season. Despite the lack of waterfalls, the forest was full of butterflys, hundreds of them flying all around through the trees and around my head which made it a truly magical experience.

To get to New Zealand, I embarked on a four hour bus ride, followed by a 14 hour train ride followed by a 12 hour plane ride, all of which had five hour layovers in between. Quite the extensive journey, but I finally made it to Aukland where I was picked up at the airport by Jeff, a family friend who took me to his and Jacque's lovely home on Hearst Island just oustide Aukland. I spent three days with them, walking around Aukland a bit and adjusting to my change in surroundings. We also went to a dance performance called Black Milk which was extremely well done and moving. It was choreographed by Douglas Wright, the premier choreographer here in New Zealand and was full of powerful images and food for thought. Words can't describe. Jeff and Jacque were so welcoming, I really appreciated having a place to make a soft landing in a new country. A million thanks to them.

Right now I'm staying at the Mana Retreat Centre on the Coromandel peninsula. It's on the NE part of the North Island and it is just gorgeous. The center is surrounded by beautiful forests, with lots of little winding paths that curve through the hills. They lead to lots of little treasures spread throughout the land. The sacred spiral is a relaxing place to lounge in a tree, on the Goddess Path, figurines of voluptous women greet you from their resting places in the roots of trees and crevices of rocks. The earth makes a bit of a hollow sound in some places when you walk because layers and layers of roots have left the soil spongy on impact. And tree ferns spread through the canopy, the kind that make you think a brontasaurus is about to come crashing through the bushes and munch the top off of one. Birds are everywhere singing their calls, kakas (New Zealand parrots) and dozens of others constantly flying overhead. Other than that it's completely silent, no noise from the road makes it this far up the hill.

So, what am I doing on this magnificent piece of land besides wandering around in the woods? I'm a wwoofer (WWOOF stands for world wide oportunities on organic farms), which means I work six hours a day five days a week in exchange for accomadation and food. So, my tasks include anything from scrubbing toilets and making hospital corners on the beds, to making raw banana ice cream for 40 people, to weeding in the garden. Working in the kitchen or the garden are my preferences without a doubt, folding toilet paper into little triangles and scrubbing sinks all day just doesn't feed my soul for some reason.

The people I'm working with are really nice. A short description of my fellow wwoofers: Michael is from Germany, has been travelling the past 5 years and came here to connect with the fairies in the forest, Lisa emigrated to New Zealand from England and is taking some time off from work to wwoof and enjoy life, Tatiana is from France and can ring the gong for dinner like a professional, Sarah is a psychic/makeup artist from England, and Krista is an extremely genuine Austrian woman. So, we make up a group of varied backgrounds, but still manage to be highly successful when it come to getting things done. For example, last weekend when we had a 30 person retreat at the center and one of our cooks was sick and the other's daughter was having a baby, we wwoofers were left on our own to find a way to feed all those people. Lucky for them we pulled through and made some delicious food and even scattered flower petals on the salad.

After work there are all the perks of being here. There's an extensive library where I can feed my brain all kinds of information about how I really should stop being in my mind so much, paths to walk on, a sauna to use, a room called the Octagon to dance or stretch in, and a magical place called the Tara Sanctuary that's built using sacred geometry and has the most amazing acoustics I've ever heard. Just one person singing can sound like a whole chorus of angels. It has a bell tower that rings at 9am and 6pm every day. Being in there when the bells go off is a bit like having the top of your head unscrewed and then having rainbows swirl around in the place where regularly your stressy brain would be.

In other news, it's my birthday next week and I think I might have a parasite. I went to the doctor, they extracted every kind of fluid/waste my body has ever made and on Monday I hear the news. I just hope they won't have to amputate. But, the 29th is my birthday so I'm hoping to be 23 and parasite free by then. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

So far, my conclusion is that I love New Zealand. It's gorgeous, it's acceptable to go to the grocery store (or wherever else) barefoot, the accents are charming and the roads are winding, what else could you want? I'm leaving here May 1 to do some more exploring and head down to the South Island, which is supposedly even more fantastically beautiful. So, that'll be nice. It's really doing me some good to be in a place where natural beauty is more abundant than buildings, the air is clean and the ocean sparkles like diamonds off in the distance. I'm still looking for hobbits, so I'll keep you all posted on that one.

Love,
Liz

Runny noses and silver dust

These pictures are, a scene from a temple, a couple from the orphanage, a shot of Zoe, Dahlia, Zoe's family and me all dressed up for the Jewish holiday Purim, pounding herbs at Thai massage school to make herbal compresses, lots of buddhas at a market here, a traditional house up in the hills, snake whisky, a hot spring they cook eggs in rather than swim in, a night out on the town, art made out of durian, and Zoe with an adorable puppy

Loved ones,

I'm still here in Thailand, but only for about another week and a half. I've spent the last month in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand. It's the first time I've been in one place for more than 10 days in a really long time and I've been loving it. Zoe and I had a lovely little apartment to share for the month, complete with a refridgerator, hot water and a swimming pool. Definately luxurious. So, my daily routine has included swimming in the pool at least once, and pulling fresh cold coconuts out of the fridge whenever I've got the urge. Not to mention eating delicious thai food for about a dollar a meal, enjoying beautiful tropical weather, and the smiles and laughter of the Thai people.

Chiang Mai is a truly wonderful place to be. So wonderful, in fact, that about 50,000 ex-pats live here. So, there are westerners everywhere and the town is an interesting mix of shops and restaurants geared for tourists, others for the locals, and lots of overlap in between those places. The apartment I've been staying in is right near the university so there are lots of young people everywhere. It's a nice part of town, very new, with lots of coffee shops and places to eat. It doesn't have quite as much flavor as the older part of the city, but it's inexpensive and the pool makes it all worthwhile. And, it's really neat to see all the young people walking around. It makes me question the whole concept of "foriegn" because a lot of the young folks are wearing the same thing as you would see in the states, listening to the same music, text messaging eachother and going to University. I can even get a bagel at the place on the corner. There's also a big scene for the gay youths. Lots of lesbian and gay couples out and in plain view. The culture here is a lot more open to different sexualites (recall from my last email all the stuff about ladyboys).

The only downside of Chaing Mai that I've noticed is that the air pollution is terrible. It looks like there are lots of low grey clouds, but they're not clouds, they're smog. For those of you thinking that it's probably just like LA, nope...it's worse. Some fragile farang (foreigner in thai) even develop coughs while they're here, and lots of the locals wear surgical style masks when they're out and around town. It's especially bad this time of year because the surrounding farmers are burning their fields.

But, what have I actually been doing with my time? Zoe and I did a two week Thai massage course at the Old Medicine Hospital here in Chaing Mai. We were taught how to pull, push, press on and move the body around in what the Thai people call a "relaxing massage". It's definately different than our western concept of what a massage should be, but they taught us some valuable skills for stretching out your kinks even if it might be slightly more acrobatic than the massage you're used to.

I also did a few days of a silver smithing class where I learned how to cut, sand, solder, polish, and bend silver into jewlery. It was an amazing experience for me. I think I've found a new passion, a new art form that hits a deep cord within me and brings me a lot of joy. I had to tear myself away from the class, but hopefully there will be more working with silver in my future.

I've also gone to play with little kids at an orphanage here in Chiang Mai a few times. I've been working with the 1-3 year olds and they are absolutely adorable. They just want to be held, and don't get quite as much as attention as they might like so they are full of hugs and smiles and laughter just waiting to be brought out. (Yes, some of them cry non-stop so it's not all giggles and cuddles, but that's what you get when you've got a room full of toddlers). They all just got over a case of the chicken pox, so when I met them they were covered in scabs from the pox, had snot running out of their noses and were very endearing because it was just so incredibly toddler-like.
Other than that, not much to report. Except...I did recently have a dream that I was the pope...that was interesting. But, mostly I've just been enjoying being in one place for more than a few days and have just been kind of hanging out and living life. It's been really nice.
On April 3 I head to New Zealand. I'm looking forward to it, I'm going to be doing work exchange at the Mana Retreat Centre for at least part of my time there, and it sounds like a wonderful place with lots of great workshops and beautiful land.
Hope you all are well.
Love,
Liz

Badass Babes on Bikes

The pictures: Zoe and my beach bungalow, beautiful sun-setting, phalic rock, Zoe Melinda and Julia at a waterfall, Liz and Zoe wrestling a Durian, beach scenes, girls on a motorbike, and Zoe's family surrounded by ladyboys after a cabaret show we went to.
People of the world:
I write this in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The sun is beginning to set, cars are wooshing by, it's hot out and a breeze is passing through the internet cafe.
I arrived in Chiang Mai two days ago after spending a few weeks down in southern Thailand on the island of Koh Samui. Koh Samui is basically a tropcial paradise tourist playground full of massage parlors, stores selling skimpy clothing, bars, hotels, restuarants, beautiful beaches, lots of motorbikes, and ladyboys galore. Koh Samui is the capital of the world for sex change operations, and as a result there is a huge number of ladyboys (a male-bodied person who lives as a woman). This gender-bending was mind expanding and greatly appreciated by both Zoe and I. One night we went to see a cabaret show and I believe that it was there that I truly learned to scream like a girl from one of the gay waiters.
Zoe and I arrived on the island and found ourselves a satisfyingly rootsy spot called Rasta Baby where we called a humble beach bungalow our home for a week. The ocean was just a hop skip and a jump away, and hop skip and jump we did right into those sparkly waters every day, sometimes twice a day. We ate fruit on the front porch, including the famed durian, which tastes like a combination of chicken, onion, and vanilla and just melts in your mouth like the sweetest of honeys when it's really good. It also smells like stinky socks. We rented a motorbike to cruise around the island on and visited such sights as a the seashell museum, where a crazy french man described to us his passion for shells and showed us the donation box twice.
Two friends I met in India, Melinda and Julia were also on the island of Koh Samui so we hung out with them, scooting around the island on our motorbikes. We attempted to engage in the local night life by going to a bar called the reggae pub where they played music that in no way resembled reggae and the DJ kept saying things like "fiesta fiesta!" and "que pasa, que pasa!" while unsuccessfully attempting to make hand motions like a badass rapper. Not discouraged by the bland pop rhythms that we had at our disposal, we got funky anyway, dancing and laughing and enjoying the ironies of watching couples who were engaging in the unhealthy superficial and sexually degrading interaction that is promoted by much of mass media today singing along to a Cranberries song in which the main chorus consists of the singer repeating "Zombie, Zombie" over and over in an irish accent. Zoe and I topped off the evening by riding home on our scooter while howling at all the neighborhood dogs on the sides of the road, many of whom responded with enthusiastic barking in return. Back at home we went for a midnight dip in the ocean and played with the phosphoresents that make it seem like every movement underwater is followed by sparkly fairy dust.
After about a week, Zoe went up to spend some time with her family in Chiang Mai before my arrival and Julia, Melinda and I moved ourselves to a spa where we spent five days luxuriating in herbal steams, daily massages and use of the "ultimate relaxation device". Yes, it was ultimately relaxing.
My last morning on the island I got into a motorbike accident. As I was driving along, all of a sudden, the grandfather of all potholes which feeds on the destruction of car tires and dented motorcycle helments and manifested itself as six foot long, five foot wide stretch of mangled concrete appeared from behind the car in front of me. No time to swerve, no time to stop, I drove straight into the thick of it. The bike stopped in it's tracks, but I kept going, flying towards the warm embrace of the concrete on the side of the road. I don't remeber flying through the air, but I do remember opening my eyes on the pavement, doing a mental scan of my body and realizing that all of my extremeties were still atatched and in full working order except for that I was missing the shoe of my left foot. So, I stood up, took off my helmet, re-did my hair, put my helmet and my shoe back on, climbed back on the bike (brought over to me by a man who stopped on the road) and drove off. I now think that this may have been a strange reaction to such a traumatic experience, but at the time I just figured there wasn't really anything else that I could do. Now I basically look like a kid who fell off her bike. Skinned knees and a banged up elbow, but otherwise virtually unharmed. ALWAYS WEAR YOUR HELMET. ALWAYS. It just might have saved my life.
So, now I am in Chaing Mai, with Zoe and her family, eating good food, swimming in the pool and feeling very enthusiastic about embracing every moment of life. In my future, Thai massage school and a sweet little apartment to call home for a month with Zoe here in Chiang Mai.
love to all of you,
Liz

Monkeys ate my christmas present

Loved ones,
My last weeks in India were spent in Varanasi and Sarnath. Varanasi is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. It is said that the god Shiva commaned that the city would remain in one age (the third I think) even while the rest of the world continued on into the next. Based on the narrow alleyways which are likely to be blocked by a wandering cow, cubby holes out of which stickers, treats, cosmetic items, foods, and like are sold, the banks of the great Ganges river, the huge old stone buildings, the insane monkeys, and complete and total chaos, I'd have to say that Shiva's command continues to this day. Varanasi is one big heap of people, cows, dogs, rats, rickshaws, boats and sadhus. Walk down the banks of the Ganges and every third person will ask you if you want a boat ride, if no, then maybe you want to see their silk shop...not that either...how about some chai?...no chai...okay how about some hash, or maybe a thai massage, or just give me a rupee. The hassle never ends, not even in the comfort of your own home.
Christmas Eve I returned to my hotel room to get some rest after winding my way through the cow pies and piles of mangy puppies and people and shops. Upon opening the door I found that monkeys had broken into the room. They ravaged anything that looked edible or was in a plastic bag. They ate the Christmas present I bought for my friend Joseph and tried unsucessfully to drink some grape seed extract. I caught them later out on the porch, pushing on the door trying to get in. Little devils didn't give a damn I was there and had no reaction whatsover to my presence.
Varanasi broke my heart. We'd walk down the streets and see these adorable little piles of puppies lying in heaps of trash because it's warmer than being on the stone. The next day we'd walk by again and they'd all be dead. Everything is covered in shit there. It rained one night and I got all optimistic and hoped that maybe it would wash the streets clean. But, no. Instead the shit turned into a wonderful slippery goo through which everyone slid around the city and in which it was altogether too easy to lose your shoe. When we ate dinner, we chose to go to the restaurant that advertised "Yes! We are less dirty!" because everything there is so covered in filth that a lot of the food will make you sick. It was hard to be there. A constant attack of smells, sights, and various other kinds of stimulus that culminated in me feeling totally exhasted.
To escape Varanasi, I went to Sarnath with my friend Joseph. Sarnath is the place where the buddha gave his first teachings after reaching enlightenment. We arrived on Christmas morning after bumping down the road in a tuk tuk for 45 minutes and wandered around our friend Holger (who we knew was there somewhere, but not exactly where) started calling our names and tells us we are just in time to go hear a teaching given by the Karmapa (the buddhist lama I have mentioned in previous emails). So, we all scarfed down some thali for lunch and headed over to the temple where the Karmapa was giving teachings. Upon arriving he told us all "Merry Christmas!" in a very sweet tibetan accent and while seated in front of a huge ornate altar with a gigantic goldent buddha statue in a beautiful buddhist temple. He then gave us all a wonderful little speech that included the advice that we should all relax because it was sunday and christmas. He arranged that a dinner be made especially for the Westerners to celebrate the occasion, and when we went it was some of the best food I've eaten in a long time and people even sang christmas carols. It was a wonderful way to spend christmas.
The next morning, trying to do some home-making, I dropped an extremely heavy iron bed onto my ankle. Luckily Joseph was there to help, and while I laid down (with a lump the size of a tennis ball growing on my ankle) he went for help. We went to the doctor, who poked the wound, made a little hissing sound through is teeth that seemed to say..ooo, that looks like it really hurts, poured some iodine on it, wrapped a bandage around it and sent me on my way just after telling the man sitting next to me to lay down and pull down his pants so he could get a shot in his butt.
I spent the next four days at the mercy of two wonderful friends, Joseph and Holger who became my crutches. They helped me hobble to wherever I needed to go, but mostly I just layed around waiting until I could be upright and moving around again. After a few days, some other friends I met earlier in my trip, Melinda and Julia, came to my rescue and started taking care of me. We spent a few more days in Sarnath and then went back to Varanasi where we got ourselves a room in a nice hotel with room service and where there was a hot shower, they gave us towels and the beds were comfy and barely left our room for the next two days.
We parted ways, I went back to Delhi to find my way back to the US to visit friends and family and be the Best Man in a wedding and Melinda and Julia headed down to the desert in Southern India to go to a 200,000 person event called the Kalachakra where the Dalai Lama gives teachings.
More to come...

What's the first thing you're going to do when you get enlightened?

These pictures are: Me and a rickshaw driver (a friend is pedaling), my friend Peter working on a painting, the view from the roof in Bodh Gaya, Bambi, a village street, local kids, some shots of the temple and the bodhi tree and some pictures from the train.

(That's a trick question)
Loved ones,
Right now I am in Delhi. The weather has turned colder since I was last here, but the madness continues. Shop keeprs yelling "Hello Madam!" as I walk past...traffic tangles...cows...smells... It's quite the shift from Bodh Gaya, in the state of Bihar where I just visited. Bihar is the poorest state in India and also the one where there is the most governmental corruption (perhaps that is why it is so poor). Life is just more raw here, the roads are worse, the buildings are crappier, the cows are uglier. People's lives are harder, there is more misery, poverty in your face and in the air in the form of dust and soot. The first few days were hard, the initial shock and images of poverty right in front of my face were hard to swallow. Like the small girl I met in a rice paddie, she was washing a huge burn on her arm in the water they were flooding the fields with. Take off those rose colored glasses now...
But there are many layers in Bodh gaya: it is where the Buddha got enlightened sitting under a bodhi tree. The fourth generation of that tree, cultivated from saplings, and then cuttings, and taken to Sri Lanka and back is growing here, right smack dab next to a temple which is the most sacred place for buddhists in the whole world. There are monastaries from every asian country here and so many beggars missing body parts and religious pilgrams and stalls selling buddha gear. At night I sit and watch as monks lead a groups of little old ladies in prayer. Then they walk in circles, chanting, around and around the temple. They are doing a tantric initiation. Their devotion is so inspiring, they came all this way to recieve this initiation next to buddha's tree. And it really is a buddha tree. You can feel it, it's called the buddha field, and it hangs over everything and brings with it a sense of peace. But, it is the people who come here that bring it to the place. The monks doing prostration after prostration, the tibetans who circle around and around chanting prayers, the regular people who come from every country in the world to worship or experience. Everyone takes off their shoes. Entering the temple grounds is like entering an empty house. The emptiness is so strong you can feel it, but you can't see it or touch it. But, you know it is there. And that knowing brings peace.
From the window of my guest house I see out into the world of a village. I see cow shit mixed with straw drying on red tiled rooftops in little pancakes that are used for fuel and sometimes I here the smack smack sound of the women making it. I can see down into the courtyards where there are cows and goats and naked babies and women combing eachother's hair. I see the haze from fires rise in the morning and at dusk, hear transistor radios switch on and off and can recognize which of the three men who does the prayer calls at the mosque is on duty by the sound of his voice.
There is a baby cow that is tied up just outside the courtyard of the place where I have a room. In the mornings, the air is still fresh and cool I stop and pet this little Bambi. He seems to like it. His back skin twitches when I scratch it and if I rub his nose he starts pointing it in the air and his eyes roll around in a possessed kind of way. When he starts licking and trying to chew my sweater, I know it is time to move on.
On the street of the village, which is just a dirt alley way with dirty stagnant waste water running down one side, there is garbage, plastic wrappers, chip bags, plastic bags, and general crap just strewn everywhere; there are goats and cows and chickens. The baby ones are so cute and sometimes there are puppies and I want to take one home and pick the fleas off of it and make sure that it will never get all mangy, or have some thing that makes it have to walk on three legs. And then there's all the people. So many, especially children. Little toddlers running around, saying "Hello!" in their little baby voices to me. They stare up at me with huge deep eyes that are lined with kohl and some of them are shy and hide behind one another and giggle as I walk past.
In Bodh Gaya I had a lot of time just to think, watch life from the rooftop of my guest house, do yoga, sit at the temple, walk the streets. Slowly I began to feel more peaceful, let the peace of country life sink in a little, talk a little with the kids in the village, exchange smiles and say Namaste with the young women who were washing clothes or getting water from the pump. It was a chance to take a pause, process the many things I've been experiencing here for the past month.
Before Bodh Gaya I was on a train for two nights and one and a half days. Just like the bumbling tourist that I am, I stumbled onto the wrong train car where I found myself in the middle of a 55 person Indian tour group that had just gone from Calcutta to Kashmir and was on their way home. The little old ladies smiled big big smiles at me, and said "sweetie sweetie" while wobbling thier heads back and forth. They continuously spoke to me in Bengali and seemed confused when I couldn't understand a word they said so they just kept talking at me anyway. At night they snored louder than I would have thought possible for little old ladies who are only about four feet tall and are wearing fancy saris and bangles and big old gold jewlery in their noses. The young people took me in and sat me down in the middle of all of them while they sang Bengali folk songs and clapped their hands and one of them danced and kept lifting up his shirt and shaking his round belly. It was good fun and lots of laughing. A Zen saying: When the big belly thunders with loud roars of laughter, thousands of white lotuses rain through the world
Now I am in Delhi and how am I doing? I'm doing well...starting to feel more at peace with the manner in which my mind explodes with overstimulation each day. Lots of learning...part of me feels as though this email is inadequate because I have not been able to convey the transformations taking place in my brain. But...oh well. I can tell you that I have just moved from one Bodhi tree to another. The room where I'm staying has a terrace through which grows a bodhi tree that must be over a 100 years old. buildings have been constructed around it, holes made in the walls to give room for it's branches as it winds up through the neighborhood. I have yet to find the bottom of the trunk, it is probably somewhere down an alley with a shrine built around it. The buddha field is not confined to one time or place...the world expands and contracts at the same time...other esoteric ramblings... I'll be here another few days or so, and then head to Varanasi on the 17th. I'm curious about you all, and I love you very much and that love makes me smile, so thanks for existing.