China, Turkey, Europe, Thailand

Just taking a few moments to write a short update on our journey. As I write, we are sipping tea and relaxing in our hostel in Kunming, Yunnan China. This Southwest area of China is thousands of miles away from where we landed, and lightyears away from "home". (By the time I finish this email, it is a few weeks later and we are in Thailand)



After visa stresses and many difficulties, our trip started off amazingly in Istanbul Turkey. Arriving before sunrise is always interesting, and sometimes dreadful. Yet, the magic of the Islamic metropolitan was the caffeine we needed to remind us we were not on a trip, we were alive and very much there. The city was once a trading post between Europe and Asia, as it is the only city in the world that straddles two continents. Fresh pomegranite and orange juice, kebab and fish that was practically still on the hook made for a treat every few feet and "just cook" nuts were as good as one could imagine. After taking the ferry from the airport to the city, the sun started to rise and the day of prayer began. The soundtrack to a visit in any muslim country would surely sound the same. The Magic of the five-times-per-day prayer must jolt the first-time tourist into confusion. The call to prayer was shouted and magnified from minarets atop the hundreds of mosques throughout the city. The call is a 2-3 minute request by a mosque-elder that sounds as peaceful as it is loud.



Boualai and I spent about 3 days in the city prior to my mother's arrival, then another 2 once she arrived. Then we headed straight out of town for an old Greek Island called Bozcaada. 3 ferry boats and 2 buses, and over 24 hours later, we arrived and we were amazed. The island seemed untouched by tourists yet set up perfectly to accommodate three Americans pretending not to be tourists. The island changed hands many times between the Greeks and the Turks, and the landscape and ambiance proved this. Our boat docked alongside dozens of 1-2 person fishing boats and the road quickly led into town were we met a young man who knew about 5 English words...not one of them was "hotel". Regardless, we were lead to his Grandmother who converted her place into a guesthouse. The $10/night room with terrace views of the ocean made us want to cancel our future plans to stay here forever. Olives and olive oils were all over and amazing baklava made the island even sweeter. The greatest part of traveling, for me, is doing, not seeing....and this island had no major sites or traps for tourists to fall into. It was simply beautiful and the Turkish people were forever friendly and welcoming. We stole wi-fi and we hired a car to chase the sunset; we drank tea with an olive businessman and ate fish caught that hour....the town sucked us in and made us love again.



From Bozcaada we headed for Ephesus to see the ruins of the ancient city. The city, now protected by the UNESCO World Heritage Sites, was a major site in the Bible and much of the New Testament is said to have been written here. The rocks are graves for libraries, homes, cinemas, theatres, and toilets. After looking at a lot of stones, we tried not to get ripped off by taxi "no-meter" on the way to Virgin Mary's Home. Apparently she spent the remaining years of her life in this town atop a hill overlooking the city. As we arrived, the nightly Latin mass was in session. Her modest home has been a pilgrimage site for millions of people over the 2000 years, Christians and Muslims alike. We learned that Muslims cherish her and speak more of her in the Quran than the Christians do in the Bible...even with a book in the Quran called Mary.



From Ephsesus we headed to Pumakkale. We spent the night in a very nice family's guesthouse...mom went straight to sleep as she was exhausted, and Boualai and I went to grab a bite to eat by their pool. As we sat down, we were greeted with a very warm smile and the Turkish fellow, the son of the family, pointed to the menu near the kitchen. He told us how the food was organic and that the olive oil on the table was made in his garden behind the guesthouse and the pomegranate vinegar there as well. He then brought us some olives from his garden and cooked Boualai's fish on a camp-style burner. Food is such a joy of traveling. The diferent cultures and styles of food, and of eating it, vary so greatly between region and even individual. In China the hundreds of respected teas can overwhelm the uninterested; yet in Turkey the Chai is black, or black...and in the same hourglass cups all throughout the huge country. The tea is usually 25 cents to 1 dollar, and the only variation is whether you want sugar in it or not. Tea stands dot the highways and the streets, it is impossible to have any trouble finding tea or...Turkish Coffee. I broke my year without Coffee to try this rare treat. The muddy blend is carefully made in presented in a Ottoman-era style espresso glass. The coffee packs a punch, but is delicious once the tastebuds acquire the oddness.



In Pummakkale, we hiked along the limestone hot springs. The hike looks a lot like a snow covered mountain, yet the temperature is about 90 degrees and the water is warm...it's a trick to the eye, even when you are inches away. We played in the falling water and took pictures that will probably confuse us later...we hiked to the hilltop where Saint Philip was crucified upsidedown and sweated on a trail to an 2000 year old ampitheatre. The area was beautiful and amazing to see, and the town was very relaxing to walk around. The water from the hills contains sulfur and other minerals that turns anything it touches white. This water is routed from the hills throughout the town and into pools and pomegranate fields. The white canals can be seen and heard all throughout the tiny neighborhoods.



On our second day in this town, Phil and Stef were arriving back in Istanbul so we took the overnight 12 hour busride back North. Night buses are usually great, but one screaming child kept the bus awake all night, literally all night. I have never hated a child before this. We arrived in Istanbul about 3 hours late and met them for one day all together, all 5 of us. We ate, walked the bridge, drank tea, and shopped for spices in the Spice Bazaar. After 24 hours, Mom flew back to the states and us four took a bus straight back to Pummakkale because Phil and Stef wanted to visit it. Trying to save 3 dollars, we took a no-name bus company and ended up on a journey that surely added 3-4 hours to our trip and confused each of us. Getting back to Pumakkale, Boualai and I stayed in and swam all day while Phil and Stef did the hike we did the day before. The town was just as nice the second time...and it was nice not having to pay another entrance fee :) We headed from there straight to Fethiye on the Southern tip of Turkey. Amazed and curious of the Gulet Blue boat cruises, we arrived and started asking questions. We only had 10 days left and the cruise was 4 days; we still had much more of Turkey to see. We walked the pier passing all the offers and landed on a beautiful wooden boat that was tucked into the corner of the tourist area. We were invited onboard and told the captain our ideas and time restrictions. He told us that he could cook vegetarian food, and would have a shipmate to make us beds so we could sleep on the boat deck...he quoted us a price and sat back. We were a bit overwhelmed at first, then realized, unlike the other cruiselines that have 30-200 tourists onboard at once, this cruise would be chartered for only us 4. We agreed and were off on our journey the next day.



The trip was as beautiful as it was peaceful. Our captain made incredible food and made sure we were well taken care of the whole time. We docked in a very quiet bay and were able to swim for the afternoon until nightfall came. Miss Icantswim Boualai was diving 20 feet off the boat into the crystal clear water. We were thrown fins to feed and watch the fish around the cove. We took some great photos and had a really nice night. After dinner our captain showed us how to make Turkish coffee and left us to chill. After the shipmate caught about 10 fish, all of which made us cringe a bit, Boualai and I were even more convinced on our vegan diet and the once fish-loving girl truly became a lover of fishes. We fell asleep outside under the stars and headed out of town soon after. This short cruise was a bit pricey and initially hard to justify, but once we were finished, we could easily consider another few days. After exploring the area and wondering around a deserted town, we made our way to Cappadocia. The comfortable travel in Turkey made the 15 hour journeys very simple.



Cappadocia is a city out of fairy tales...even the most creative of artists could never have designed what nature made magical in this area. We arrived around 2am in Goreme and were unwillingly escorted around town by a pack of dogs. We found a Turkish guy wondering the dark town and tried to communicate that we needed to find a hotel...luckily he directed us to a perfect place that let us stay the night for free. As we walked away he asked us, "Would you like to go Hot Air Balloon RIde?" Google Cappadocia and you will see exactly what he is talking about. Sadly, after a long bus ride and arriving in a mysterious town, being in a balloon basket is the last thing we thought of. We woke the next morning and made our way around town...eating and loitering. A great thing about the East is that eating out at restaurnts is such a nice experience. A bill is never presented to you, not once. In the hundreds of meals we have had now since being away, there has not been one time where we were given a bill before asking for it. In China, waiters refuse tips and gratuity is not a common concept...you eat, then you relax---when you are ready to leave, you simply ask for the bill. No turnover times, no pressure.



On one occasion, Boualai and I were sitting on the rooftop around midnight at our hotel when a young guy came up and turned the lights on...then quickly apologized and headed out. We got to talking to him and found it was his birthday and he was about 22, when we thought we were kind by guessing 28. Turkish folks age very quickly...we later stayed at the home of a Turkish guy and guessed his mother was about 50-60, when she was only 38. It must be the smoking, which is about as common as breathing in many of these countries. The next morning we were to catch a private bus to take us around the 300 mile route that showcases much of Cappadocia's sites. We were woken by the birthday boy, hours prior to our scheduled time...he said "I decided to go with you guys, just to join." After much confusion and running around, we finally figured out that he was going to tag along with us for the 8 hour day because our driver couldnt speak English. Once the tour began, we learned that birthday boy knew almost everything there was to know about Turkey, Cappadocia, and even every mountain and damnnear every pebble. He was training to be a tour guide, which is a very common degree and career path here. The journey took us walking through some beautiful landscape and gave us some awesome photo opportunities. The odd looking mounds are referred to as Fairy Chimneys by the locals, and rightfully so. These mounds reach up from the ground, sometimes hundreds of feet. For thousands of years, people have been hallowing out the mounds to make homes, studios, hotels, galleries, and especially churches. Thousands of these pre-midevil churches dot the tourist maps, each one so different from the last. Hotels are built in caves and churches built underground to escape pagans...the town is a mystery and a wonder. Halfway through our tour we pulled up to one of the more impressive sites: the underground city. The city, still intact today, is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Tunneling hundreds of feet underground, nearly 70 FLOORS underground at times, this city was made by man to avoid persecution from the Romans and beyond. The roof is carved low and the hallways are narrow; the churches are disguised as cross-shaped rooms; all to avoid the rugged armor of the Roman soldiers. Once we bought our tickets and started to venture underground, our birthday boy asked if any of us have asmtha. I held my breath and was warned of the narrow hallways and claustrophobic city. I thought I would be fine, but about 5 minutes into it I felt like I was going to faint and could already picture the crowd having to drag me back up to level ground. Being warned that your asmtha may act up, makes your asmtha act up! I could not get out of there fast enough. When I reached the top, aka normal ground, I was so glad to see clouds and not be able to touch any ceilings. I was certainly not the only one who felt this way; dozens of us pathetic above-ground-dwellers scurried for the light like cockroaches. Pushing and panicking, Boualai and I made our way up, alongside the other Turkish folks, none of which wear deodarant.



After our day of touring, we went back home and relaxed for a while...then Boualai and Steff opened a bottle of 3 dollar wine and watched the National Dance Competition which was coincidently being held in the square that we were staying in Goreme. We saw about 40 dance groups from all over this huge country perform in traditional style with amazing uniform costumes, competing to be the best group in Turkey. Judges drank tea, tourists drank alcohol, and several dancers drank water from exhaustion...the dancing was intense!



Our stay in Cappadocia was magical and beautiful; a place that even the finest camera lens can not capture. We had only 2 days left in Turkey together and had to head West. Phil and Stef had a few extra days, but we had to catch our flight from Istanbul to Beijing.



We grabbed an afternoon bus to the Capital City of Turkey: Ankara. Arriving at the city was a let down, but most things are after seeing a place like Cappadocia. The concrete jungle was covered with buildings and ugly tourists looking for atleast one thing to take a picture of. Surprisingly, throughout our whole time in Turkey, we saw very very few Westerners...mostly Turkish and Eastern tourists. Regardless, the ugly tourists were as bored as we were and the bus station lacked the amenities for anyone wanting to feel like they were in the 21st Century. B and I tried to mail something while Phil and Stef went trying to find us a room. While at the bus station post office, I nearly threw up from the moist body odor that jammed into the post office with about 15 Turkish guys all mailing things less important than our Turkish scarves and tea sets. I couldn't do it. We ended up waiting around for Phil and Stef and decided to just eat and get stared at for a while. After trying to save a few dollars, and "live a little and just see what happens" (said Stef), Stef led us to a train stop where we would meet a guy from Couchsurfers.com. This website allows travelers, and hosts, to meet and crash on eachothers couches. The service is completely free and the hosts are strictly forbidden from charging any guests...instead, hospitality and curiosity fund the website's users and it has been safe and functional for about 10 years now. Contrary to the site's name, hardly are the travellers presented with couches, sometimes they are given rooms or perhaps even the whole apartment to themselves. In our case, we were each given a room, Turkish style: boys in one room, girls in another. I ended up sharing a bunk with Phil---which brought back memories of teasing and getting spit on my forehead. While waiting for our host at the trainstop, Boualai laid on the ground and Phil tossed pigeon feed all over her; made for a great photo but was also funny that none of the hundreds of people in the parksquare cared...as if everyone laid down and had pigeon feed thrown on them. Just then, we got a warm greeting from a young guy and his friend, who later vanished once our host realized we were alright. Ihsan was our host in Ankara....Stef grabbed a phone from a passerby at the park and arranged the meeting for us, which she had prepared the day before, just in case. Ihsan is a very kind and interesting Turkish guy, 21 years old and speaks great English. As we took the bus towards his home, we found out we were going to be staying with his parents, at their house instead of his. The journey began.



We had no idea what to expect, but were reminded by Stef's "lets see what happens" comment earlier. Ihsan seemed like the normal Turkish guy, maybe just curious to meet some white people and see what we do all day. Instead, Ihsan was an awesome dude who was way cooler than we could have asked for. He had spent much of his last year or two planning and executing his dream of riding a motorcycle around Europe and South America. His last 8 thousand mile ride took him all throughout western Europe...he slept along the roadside or on strangers' couches. He turned his back on the Muslim faith and was a free thinker. When we met his father, Zeymus, later, he told us he thought he was crazy. The dude was alive, and living. When we got to his house we were warmly invited in by his very sweet mother. She was everything a mother could be. She shook each of our hands and smiled at each of us. No English was spoken for much of our meeting with her or his father, who came home later that night. We were seated in the living room, which looked like it was furnished and built a few minutes before we arrived. When I later asked what her hobbies were, she said "cleaning"...it was no wonder. She served us a tray of vanilla wafers and Fanta and sat to smile with us...we thanked her and settled into our rooms then made our way out onto the town. Ihsan, two minutes into meeting him, told us he hated Ankara...not the greatest start. So eventually, we disliked it too. Regardless, our experience there was wonderful. When we returned to the houes later that night, his father was there. The most lively, happy, kind, sweet, funny, cool guy we have all met in a long time. He knew maybe 5 words of English, but performed throughout the night like an actor at an audition. After our amazing, and vegan, dinner, we sat for a few hours to talk. Earlier in the day, Ihsan told us about his views and how even his closest friends gave him a hard time for not going to mosque and turning away form Allah. He also explained how his parents were confused and dissappointed at his decision and viewpoints. Yet, as we sat around, his family glowed with pride and love for their son and the father bragged of his son and even of his wife. He showcased tableclothes that she made by hand and held up pictures of his son, who he motioned was more handsome when he was shaved. We truly loved the family and learned it was their first time ever opening their home to a "couch surfer", let alone 4 of them. After tea, Zeymus, when I asked him of his hobbies, folded his hands and put them under his head, motioning sleep. Zerymus has been on the kidney donor list for twelve years and spends much of his free time, 15 hours a week, in dialysis at the local hospital. It touched us all to hear of his struggle and the misfortune that none of his family was a match for the donation.



Boualai and I left Ankara and headed for Istanbul to catch our flight to China. The bus ride was a few hours. At one point we stopped for a quick bathroom and snack break...well apparently we took too long of a break. We returned to our bus, which still was not ready yet, and waited around for a short while longer. We were apprached by a Turkish man and asked if we were going to Istanbul. One of the arts of traveling is learning how to properly avoid people...so we did, until he insisted. He told us that our bus left 10 minutes ago after they could not find us...sounded a bit like a common scam, but he was being honest. Eventually we made it back to Istanbul and caught our flight to China. Turkey was amazing for each of us. I enjoyed it most because of the people I was with and what they added to the trip. Phil is such a great traveler and we are always sure to have an adventure with him. Boualai is open eyed and curious and as positive as ever. And Stefanie is hilarious and very sweet.



China



We took seperate flights to China and she arrived first. I was concerned, of course, that she may not be able to enter this country either, so when I got off the plane and saw her at the other end of the customs department we were both very relieved. Apparently, her passport control agent had never seen her passport-type, so Boualai had to talk the agent into letting her into the country, "I work with doctors and I have a big house", that seemed to be convincing enough. We arrived late at night and wandered around looking for a hotel. On one of the trains we were on we overheard some people speaking English and quickly ran to them to ask them where is a good area to stay. One of them ended up being from Sacramento and told us we could follow them to their hotel. We followed them for a short while and ended up breaking apart after realizing they had no idea how to get around or even get back to their own hotel. We ended up finding the hotel before they did and rented a real nice room for about 10 dollars. We scowered our area for a place that was still serving food...our first meal in China. We found a restaurant not far away that served us a tofu salad and some stir fried noodles. This was the beginning of our journey into the foods of China.



The food was amazing...every meal we ate was delicious it seemed. If one travels for 4 months, that means they are eating out, every single meal, for four months. No home cooking, no quick bite to eat from the pantry. So you must rely heavily on the quality of your nearby restaurants. We stayed in Beijing for about 5 days. We spent the first 4 days just walking around and tea tasting and trying to find every vegetarian restaurnt in town. We ate like royalty, some of the best foods either of us have had. Apparently the Chinese food served in the West, which I really despise, is Cantonese, and is only from a certain region of China. To say that we do not like Chinese food in America is similiar to a Chinese person saying they do not like American food because they do not like hot dogs. We had an application on our phone that was a menu with all the common dishes, sides, sauces, drinks, for a Chinese menu..it was basically flash cards of dishes with the english and chinese characters. It also had a section, in chinese, that said "no msg, no meat, no egg.." so on. This ended up being our guide throughout our month in China..if not for this, it would have been nearly impossible to eat with a clear mind in this country. The food choices were vast here, very! Ranging from the best Italian food to gourmet dog...you name it, you can get it.



I will keep this summary simple. China was amazing. The culture was as rich as one could imagine and the people were crazy. We spent the first week in the Eastern part of the country, hoping around these major cities and breathing smog and impatience. In Beijing, our favorite part was the tea. We went to hundreds, literally, of tea shops and tried just as much tea. Beijing does not produce any of its own tea, but is an importer of the tea of the rest of the country. Each region specializes in a tea, whether it be green or black or white, then their own kind of that kind of tea. Beijing has a mall/center called Maliandao. It is about the size of a 3 story shopping mall(bigger than Arden Fair Mall in Sacramento or Prudential Center in Boston), that is all tea. Every shop is tea. Some specialize in green and some specialize in tea sets; regardless, the thousands of shops lined up in this mall are nothing but tea, and for cheap. Want to try some? Sit down and point...try 3 teas, no problem. Needless to say, we were in heaven.



We held off on the tourist site of Forbidden City and the Great Wall until the last day or two and we were glad we did. Although the sites are historical and the story is beautiful and romantic, the sites are a mess of venders and sweaty tourists. We would probably have shot ourselves if we didnt go to the Great Wall, so we reluctantly took the trip and spent an hour or so walking the wall. The Forbidden City was about the same for us. Although it is wonderful to see parts of history, sometimes it is better to hear about them..kind of like meeting your idol then coming to find out he is a lunatic. Despite this, the pictures of both came out amazing and we are glad we saw what we did. The best of Beijing, besides the tea, was a park overlooking the Forbidden City. We ended up getting a hostel/dorm in Beijing, $5 each for a very nice place. On the first night of our hostel we did not see the other guests, there were four beds and we had two. Later that night we were eating some vegetarian food on the street lined with very non-vegetarian food(caterpillers, live scorpions, pigs tongue's, heart of lambs, starfish, ect). We ended up at some tofu stall and a girl jumped in front of us to buy some, I didnt like the smell of it so I offered her 1 yuan( about 15 cents) to taste it...and we said goodbye. (It was gross). Anyway, of the millions of tourists in the city and the thousands of people we saw that day, that girl, miles away from our hostel, ended up being our roommate. She was terrible! We would stay out late, sometimes until 2-3 am just drinking tea in order to avoid her. She would say "Ill stay up and wait for you guys." Please don't.



So we stayed up really late one night avoiding her and ended up not sleeping. This worked out perfect and led to our favorite thing we saw in Beijing. The park in Beijing is busy during the day and afternoon, but getting there at 5am it is as pure as it must have been hundreds of years ago. The park was huge, and beautiful. In the morning, the older Chinese men bring their song birds and leave them in the cages and line them next to the other song birds brought by others...this is how they keep them from depression. Crowds of 20-30 were doing tai chi, some were doing qigong, some were stretching, all of them in perfect sync. We passed by hundreds of people doing these stretches that are only recently being exposed to the west. At the time, we did not know of Qigong, but coincidently, now we are in Chiang Mai, Thailand taking this ancient martial art ourselves. We saw dozens of groups with music doing ballroom dancing. Woman and men as old as 100 doing stretches, the waltz, excercise. People would clear their lunges by screaming, so the park had echoing screams, done in harmony with others. Getting to the top hill of the park, which was created from the dirt dug out from the moat around the Forbidden City, we could overlook the city. Smog kept us from seeing more than about 1 mile or so, but it was still beautiful. It was probably 6am by now and people were all doing their morning stretches. We were most impressed by the elderly people in this park and in all of China. The country has such a deep and rich history, and it is all evident in the customs of their elderly. The beauty of both China and Turkey is their strong sense of community. The parks, cafes, and benches are always full of people of all ages, communicating with one another in a way that we are slowly losing. Being that Facebook is banned in this area, the pure face-to-face interactions are everywhere...every person seems to be sitting with someone else, holding a cup of tea or sharing an assortment of dishes. We were told that anything less than 8 people at a table is basically the same as eating alone...we were so inspired by the older folks who still interacted with their community and with their friends. I grew up with an amazing set of grandparents and I would not be the same without them, so it is wonderful to see that other cultures embrance the wisdom and love of their elderly.



From Beijing we went to see the Shaolin Temple. Where Kung Fu originated. This is a monastery from a loooooooooong time ago. Here there are students from 6-20+ all doing Kung Fu. We walked around the campus/temple and saw every student in their Kung Fu uniform, all of them doing Kung Fu. We walked in on a training session where 1000+ children did Kung Fu jumps, kicks, punches, rolls, everything. We saw children practicing their boxing. Perfect silence and quiet power graced the trees and the halls. This ended up being one of Boualai's favorite places and I was really glad we went. It was like nothing else...no place in the west would allow this; a school of martial arts, where kids do not learn the common subjects, just learn about their passion [martial arts] all day. They live at the temple and work on their Kung Fu for much of their childhood life; it was a bit humiliating to be amongst 8 year olds who could beat us both up. It must be a privelage to go to this monastery where even the 70-80 year old monks are still doing jump kicks.



I am getting tired of writing, and you of reading, so I will speed it up. We got sick of the smog and the craziness of the East, so we took a long trip towards the west, to Yunnan. We spent our final 20 days here, drinking tea and learning everything we could about tea. We went to the area where Puer tea originates, and the only area of the world where it is made--Puer tea is a black tea that is pressed together and aged. Puer County, Xishuabanna, was a region the size of a small state. There are 6 mountains, each fomous for a Puer tea. The world of tea is very simliar to that of Wine. One would be quicker to drink a wine from France then from Montana, and certain regions of France produce better(or are more known) for a certain genre of wine. Tea is the same. Arriving in some of these small towns, some of only 500-1000 people, we were ignored but still stared at. These mountain towns were tea mecas, everyone in the town was in the tea business in one way or the other. Truck loads of tea took over the dirt roads, woman carrying sacs of fresh tea leaves graced the trails. The big tourist cities of the East were familiar with our English tongue, but the west treated us more kind but had NO idea what we were saying. Traveling in a land like this makes one feel very different. Your language is useless, you do not understand a word being said, and you can not read the words around you. Just stepping off a plane or train, we become illiterate, mute, 3 year olds.



Here in Yunnan we drank a lot of tea, a LOT! We spent all of our money buying tea, for about 90% of what it would be in the States. We met a young man, Yuabin, who took us around his factory and plantation that he was inheriting and carrying on. In the west we may have someone who is a car collector or a sports fan or whatever; Yuabin was a tea enthusiast. We ended up picking, processing, and packaging our own tea. He took care of us for the last part of our trip. He knew no English, NONE. Not even hello. We, the same age, communicated for days over GOOGLE translate and english-chinese-english translation applications on our phones. He made our trip amazing and was another clue that the PEOPLE one surrounds ourself with is far better than the things we do sometimes. Western China was a different world from the East; the many immigrants and cultures molded together to showcase a variety of foods, cultures, languages, and people. We want to go back and are trying to fit it into our schedule for September.



We are now in Chiang Mai and rented a room for a few weeks prior to our 10-Day Silent Meditation Retreat in Central Thailand. We will be living, eating, sleeping in this monastery for about two weeks. No books, no pens/paper, no contact with outside world and no talking or eye contact with the others....just you, and your thoughts. We are excited and have no idea what to expect...we have met a few folks who have done this and said amazing things. It is a non-religious organization that conducts these meditation retreats, completely free throughout the world. Apparently, each day has a different message for about one hour, the rest of the 16 hr days is just you, and a cushion to sit on.



All is great on our end, we are alive and feeling our days the best we can. Three months in now, we have learned a tremendous amount about ourselves and our world. I hope everyone on that end is doing great and feel free to send any response this way. I love you and wish you a happy August.