transportation, travelJanuary 28, 2007 6:17 am
travelJanuary 27, 2007 8:18 am
Hawaiian Jungle, originally uploaded by grimlockq.
Out of Shangri-la and into the land of Aloha. I’ve been in Hawaii nearly 5 weeks, generally sight-seeing, going to the beach, relaxing, and eating eating eating. Relaxing yes, but not without its own challenges and personal changes. I’m planning now to go back to Beijing on Sunday, so for all my friends still in China, hopefully I’ll be seeing you soon - likely a litte plumper than when you last saw me. Check out my other pictures on Flickr and Facebook!
Highlights:
1. Seeing family and May
2. Beaches
3. Maui trip
4. Warm weather
What was most striking perhaps was the local indigenous spirituality present in Hawaii. There is power in the land, or rather the Gods who protect the land and the people. The story of Hawaii’s colonization and annex is as sad as any. Today Hawaiians are marginalized on their own lands, few pure blood Hawaiians survive today. Below are photos of the City of Refuge, where the Hawaiian kings and royalty used to live.
Highlight #3: Huaden Lhamo Caves in Henan
So as the legend goes…there was a cruel, wrathful diety who ruled over North Eastern Tibet. He cared nothing for other beings, slaying humans and livestock where ever he went, causing immense suffering. Seeing that nothing would disuade him from doing harm, his goddess wife after many failed attempts finally divised a fool-proof plan. Being equally fierce in her compassion, she murdered the couple’s only son, allowing her husband to feel the pain that he had been so recklessly causing. This is that bodhisattva’s abode, Huaden Lhamo, the protector of this part of the Amdo grassland.
It’s a story that would easily send chills up one’s spine, especially since the shrine was nearly abandoned, caves lurking close by. Murdered babies? Dismembered animal parts (at the entrance)? Statues with manical smiles hidden in the dark? My head missing!?
That’s real fear on my face people. And nervous relief!
Me riding a real yak in the wild! No rope or magic mirrors! Here Ricky and I are posing with the family that helped me to accomplish a life long dream. Click the image to download the movie (2:37, 20mb, mp4).
And for those of you who don’t have alot of bandwidth to spare, I caved and posted it on YouTube.
So I think I’m done with streaming video, the quality is just so bad. This time I’ve uploaded the file onto my UVA account. Click the image to download the movie (10mb, mp4)! Ok, its on GooTube now as well, for posterity.
This is me just wandering around Rebgong, along the Northern edges of the town. Everything here just seems so photogenic. My cowboy hat included 
In other news, I went to the Tibetan medical center today downtown. Not for any serious problem, I’ve just been feeling very tired this past week and a friend of my Tibetan teacher took me to see the doctor. A doctor’s visit includes a pulse reading (on both arms) and some stethoscope action on my chest. After which the doc proscribed four different herbal remedies (one actually is a multivitamin) to be taken for ten days morning, noon, and evening. The most I could gleam from the consultation was that the medicine tastes very bad and I might have a “wind” problem. We’ll see if it helps, if not i’m going for heavy doses of ginseng…
So I get a call the other day from an old friend! Bryan, who I last saw in Bodhgaya in December of 2004, was visiting the area with a student group based in Beijing for the semester. He and I were actually monks together! Now Bryan is married (I met his wife too, both awesome people) with one of the most amazing "marriage cermonies" I’ve ever heard which involves the famed Director and Rinpoche Khentse Norbu ("The Cup" and "Travellers and Magicians") mood rings, flowers petals, and a Manjushri empowerment. It’s not my story to tell so I won’t spoil it, but I was invited to the "official" wedding on 7/7/07 in California
So for all you Antioch kids thinking about visiting, Bryan beat you to it (unexpectedly)! Of course the more the merrier…anyone want to visit during Losar (New Years) or catepillar fungus season?!!!
Indeed, this is the life of a shameless flashpacker, camera on hand at a moment’s notice. Maybe i should just give up my pride and catalogue as much as possible, its not like i have such a great memory or anything…
But anyways, this is the cab I got into when I left the airport. The guy seemed perplexed that I was American. I asked him if he knew where he was going, to which he gave an affirmative response, then proceeded to ask his cab-driving friends where it was (on the radio). I got to Ricky’s hu tong fine though. Click on through for more pictures of Ricky’s place…
travelAugust 14, 2006 8:00 pm
Two days and counting. Amazing that I find myself about to embark on another adventure just when I’m finding life in America so comfortable. In a way this is precisely what I foresaw happening, and perhaps that prescience gives me strength now when second thoughts pine for my attention. For me, growth has always taken precedence over comfort because comfort is such an ephemeral state while growth is not just a mitigating factor for discomfort, but a contributing factor to happiness itself. Two days and counting…
travelAugust 6, 2006 4:52 pm
From Basho’s “Narrow Road to the Interior”
The months and days are wayfarers of a hundred generations, and the years that come and go are also travelers. Those who float all ther lives on a boat or reach their old age leading a horse by the bit make travel out of each day and inhabit travel. Many in the past also died while traveling. In which year it was I do not recall, but I, too, began to be lured by the wind like a fragmentary cloud and have since been unable to resist wanderlust, roaming out to the seashores.