Slice of Life: On The Longtail

Poda Island, Thailand

Baptism By Salt

It's definitely a shock to the system to go from 50F degree bustling, intense, curry filled northern India to 85F degree tropical, relaxed, coconut filled southern Thailand. You can feel your whole being take a long, deep exhalation.

Tonsai feels a bit dreamy, like you've woken up in a postcard. The scenery looks fake; huge limestone carsts emerge like giant fins from the turquoise waters. It's as if the gods took a handful of rocks and flicked them into the sea, letting them slice like daggers through the ocean and land where they may. And on the faces of these gorgeous boulders climb gorgeous creatures. Men and women, from all over the globe, scale these massive formations all day long, dangling like dancing spiders.

After just a few days, my friends and I already have an evening ritual. Gather near the Freedom Bar at golden hour and watch the sun exit stage-right to make way for the stars. I feel closer to the earth, here, in Thailand. In India I felt a closer connection to the mind and spirit. But this place carves a natural space to feel life's physical pleasures. It's easy and fun to beat up your body with climbing, swimming, hiking, snorkeling, eating, drinking, dancing and staying up late. It feels good to be salty and sweaty, like you've truly earned that cold shower each night.

I'm happy that I'm ending my journey here, in this mystical place full of magical people. It feels right to spend my trip's final days with cheerful locals and fellow adventurers - swimming in the ocean and swaying in hammocks under the palms.

Being baptized, each day, by the salty sea.

Slice of Life: On The Rocks

Tonsai, Thailand

Slice of Life: Sawatdee

Tonsai and Railay, Thailand

CHAPTER 4:

THAILAND.

Namaste (Goodbye India!)

Holy cow, India, you kicked my ass.

It's cliche to say that I feel changed. But I do. I mean, that's why one travels to India in the first place, no? If Argentina caressed my body and Africa touched my heart - then you, you India, socked me in the soul.

I saw so much and so little. From the sticky embrace of Kerala to the chaotic crush of Delhi. I explored you via plane, train, taxi, rickshaw, boat, scooter, bicycle and foot. But the real miles I crossed were within. You exhausted me. You invigorated me. I am lighter and heavier at the same time.

I want to thank you for hitting me in the gut - so I could fall, summon my courage and stand up a stonger person.

Namaste.

Slice of Life: A Roof With A View

Varanasi, India

Here and Now

Four weeks and one odd curry-filled Christmas later, I find myself in the heart of madness: Varanasi. They call it the holiest city in India. I call it the fece-ist city in India. It's the type of place that even the savviest world traveler can feel lost and humbled to.

The city hugs the spiritual Ganges river. A place where you see dead bodies burning and people bathing just 75 meters away from each other. The place has a soul of it's own - betelnut spit stains the street a blood red, you break your cup of chai on the pavement after you finish drinking it. It’s cold and loud and pushy and vibrant. But the sights and sounds make you feel present, it reminds you that you are here and it is now.

And because of this you feel grateful, especially to Ganesha - the destroyer of obstacles, for letting you see and feel the beauty past the constant chaos.

Slice of Life: Maya Devi

Varanasi, India

Baptism By Ganesha

Stepping onto a city street in India is like being punched in the face. Hit in the nose with the smell of curry and cumin, the eyes with reds and purples on the women's saris and the ears with the honking of a hundred rickshaw horns. You better have your senses ready for a good fight cause India is quick and clever and taken down many a traveler before you.

I start my journey just like all travelers to India do: a mango lassi followed by two days of chronic diarrhea. Welcome to India, lady, namaste. I make my way south to Kerala to a meditation and yoga ashram on a quest for enlightenment. Or at least a glimpse of it. My days begin at 5:30am and are filled with chanting, silent meditation, yoga asanas, breathing exercises, classes, and two vegetarian meals per day. The best part: you yoga clothes, essentially pajamas, all day long. The retreat hosts about 75 others from all over the globe. One night I find myself sharing tea with an Iranian, Columbian, Israeli and Briton - and that's not the start of a bad joke.

Since the center takes care of everything for you, you have no time to distract yourself with work or errands - you start to see people's real feelings come to the surface. Their fears, insecurities, frustrations, joys and tears. It can be ugly, it can be lovely, but mainly it's just open. Open to whatever comes up. But this is why you came, right, to go deeper.

The Hindu god that I feel the most drawn to is Ganesha, the elephant god, the Destroyer of Obstacles. He’s the "gateway god", the Hindu god that you try once and get hooked to try others. If you're gonna go on a journey into the crunchy parts of yourself, you're gonna want Ganesha by your side - wielding his mighty trunk through your ego's B.S.

Slice of Life: My Darjeeling Limited

Uttar Pradesh, India

Quote: Amma's Love

Hug from a saint? Check. I just visited Amma's ashram and received her famous hug. She really does have "it", that sparkle in her eye, that feeling of coming home.

"The common expression is 'I love you.' But instead of 'I love you,' it would be better to say, 'I am love.' Remove the I and you, and you will find that there is only love. It is as if love is imprisoned between the I and you. Take out the I and you, for they are unreal; they are self-imposed walls that don't exist. The gulf between I and you is the ego. When the ego is removed, the distance disappears and the I and you also disappear. They merge to become one - and that is love."

- Amma (Mata Amritanandamayi Devi)