Amritsar-Haridwar, India: 19June07

Holy Hindu City, Haridwar

Again, this was a longer train ride from expected, almost 8 hours. We got a not very clean but quite a big room in Haridwar and then we headed to the ghat.
The ghat in the evening was full with pilgrims taking bath in the river to purify their sins. Mathieu joined the crowd to swim in the river. He did this in Ganges Varanasi too, so i teased him saying that, he has a very very clean soul when he goes back to Canada. i soaked my feet in the cold water. At least i got part of my soul cleansed. :) The river is real clean for international standard! (Obviously in general, Indian cleanliness has other standard than others.) We then did the flower release puja. The priest insisted to be paid. i refused and told him that we would only pay at the counter which gave us official reciept. If he is the real priest, this contribution would go to him as well! So we went to some counter and pay to get a receipt.
Haridwar have more beggars than any other places too. Obviously those come to clean their souls are more willing to futher boast their kamma too.



Har-ki-Pairi (The Footstep of God) is where Vishnu is said to have dropped some heavenly nectar and left a footprint behind. is makes it a very sacred spot and the place to wash away your sins. Pilgrims bathes here in its quick currents.



Every evening, the crowds assembly at Har-ki-Pairi and the river comes alive with flickering flames for puja.



Floating offereings are released onto the Ganges. Haridwar is propitiously located at the point where the Gnages emerges from the Himalaya.



The ghats sit on the western bank of the Genges canal and every evening hundreds of worshippers gather for ganga aarti (river worship ceremony).

Amritsar & Attari, Punjab, India: 18June07

The India-Pakistan Border "Show"

In the end, we decided to go to another Hindu holy city, Haridwar, instead of spend that much of time in Delhi. We got the train ticket then we moved to the free accommodation by Golden Temple. We roamed around the temple, took the free lunch and 'visited' the said, world biggest chapati machine. The temple has a very good ambient, even though it is crowded.

The border ceremony between Pakistan and India was very very dramtic. It was a kind of festive feel that both sides are trying to 'roar' down the other side. This is probably the highlight of my trip. We cheered and roared together with the Indian. Something like "India is the greatest nation." A ceremony which is supposed to be serious has somehow turn ut to become a public show. For me, it is a funny show too. (Try to imagine a platform at each side of Singapore and Malaysia causeway with thousands of people watching the soldiers lowering the flag.)

We met a young Indian couple on the way to go back from the border to the town. They got married themselves without the permissions from their parents and this is really unusual for Indian. We joint them to the temple of their caste and that was a really nice hindu temple. They invited us to join their honeymoon to Jammu but we decided to stick to our plan to Haridwar. Their honeymoon is a one week visit to different temples, hoepfully to have a better future and get blessing for their marriage.

We got back to the dirty free accommodation quite late. To my pleasant surprise, there were two Malaysian students were staying there as well. They were the second and third Malaysian that i have ever seen in India. They were here in India for some university exchange and social work. One at Delhi and another at Jaipur. i was happy to meet people from my country and speak in our national language!



Golden Temple is opens to all and no-one asks for any money, even for the shoe storage. We have to remov shoes, wash our feet and cover our heads.



All are welcome to sit on the floor and enjoy the lentil soup and chapati. The logic is, everyone is the same and there is no different in social level.



The kitchen where there is a chapati machine and where they prepare chaptais for around 30,000 pilgrims a day.



The platform and crowd for the border bravado.



After the gates are slammed shut, everyone surged to take photograph with the tall and handsome soldiers.



i do take pride as a Malaysian. This is the basic ethnic group to comprise Malaysia: Indian, Malay and Chinese.
(i put Harish and Hazwan's picture with me without informing them. :)

Amritsar, Punjab, India: 17June07

The Sikh's Holiest Shrine, Golden Temple

The train was longer than we expected, 19 hours. It was very full with passengers too. We basically had to sit separately at different seats. This time also, nobody really treid to engage us in a conversation. One or two but not as many as any of our previous ride. (Indian like to talk to foreigners.)
When we arrived at Amritsar, we took one hour to find a clean and cheaper guest house in the rain, with a cycle rickshaw. Then we just somehow fall aslept. When we wake up, we lingered around the holy and crowded but shomehow yet peaceful golden temple.
The town was so small that there was nothing much to explore around the temple. We went back and slept again. :)



This was an unusual night with the sickle shaped moon and star on the sky.



The causeway leads to the two-storey marble temple. This stands in the middle of the sacred pool, Amrit Sarovar (pool of nectar), that gave the town its name.



The bustling and grimy alleys of the surrounding of Golden Temple.

Jaipur-Amritsar, India: 16June07

The autorickshaw who supposed to bring us around didin't turn up at the guest house. So we did the sight seeing ourselves happily. Local transporatation such as bus at Jaipur is easy and not that crowded.
We went to the Wind Palace and astrology central, skipped the City Palace. The Wind Palace got the view of the city. The building itslef looked like a bee hive. The astrology centrel is an amazing place for the ancient knowledge. We engaged a guide and got many useful information such as how does a sun dial works.
We proceed to Amber fort and Joghur fort then. Both forts are said to be extensive and interesting, but unfortunately, we spent so much time at Jaigarh Fort that we left no time for Amber Fort.
The dinner before we left for night train to Amritsar was a very delicious Thali.



View from Jaigarh Fort. The city looks blue instead of pink! But this is a town which is 11km away from Jaipur city central.



The magnificient Amber Fort on the rocky mountain.



The train from Jaipur to Amritsar. There were many Sikh in the train as Amritsar is the beting heart of the Sikh religion.



Golden Temple. The golden dome is said to be gilded with 750kg of pure gold.
Four preiest inside the temple keep up a continuous chant in Punjabi from the Sikh holy books and this is broadcast around the temple complex by loudspeakers.

Jaipur, Rajasthan, India: 15June07

Hindi Movie!

We skipped all the sighseeing and merely wondering around the street, eat street food and went to watch a Hindi movie!

The Indian in the cinema who sat beside of us have more interest on us rather than the movie. He was laughing ike hell when he knows that we don't understand Hindi and we were merely watching at the picture. But it was a comedy, so i wasn't that difficult to knows what was going on without the understanding of language. But the intermission of 20 mintues for a movie was kind of "unbelievable" to me. We only get "intermission" for theatre performance!

Jaipur have small city central and yet very very crowded. In the city central itself, everywhere is people, animals and human powered or motorised vehicles. The cycle rickshaw drivers and auto-rickshaw drivers just wouldn't let us off. Every shops that we passed by, it was always "Come to see my shop. See no money."



You could have an elephant ride on the busy and crowded street!



There was some kind of parade or celebration on the street.



This is how busy was the street during normal weekday and "non-peak hour"!

Jaisalmer-Jaipur, Rajasthan, India: 14June07

The pink city is not pink

We returned to Jaisalmer town central in the afternoon and the hot weather and the camel ride had made us really tired.
The train to Jaipur was in the afternoon. When th train passed by or crossing the desert, we have to cose the window or else the sand would fly into the cabin. So the whole compartment was like a sauna. We were perspiring like hell.
At night, i couldn't really sleep as it was so hot that i couldn't stop sweating! We shared the 8 persons cabin with two families. There were 3 children crying and crying. We couldn't lie down to sleep as well and we got middle and lower berth and it was too early to sleep (but we just got really tired) so everyone was sitting at our berth. In the end, we changed berth with the family and finally we could lie down. By this time, we have started to feel the muscle pains from the camel ride.



Jaipur is Rajasthan's pink city, the capital. However it doesn't look pink to me at all. Indeed, this is the most polluted and most crowded place i have ever been in Rajasthan. (i purposedly took this photo in black and white. Anyway, the city is not pink! It look red, so color doesn't matter!)



'Street scene'. People cooking milk to make sweet by the street, just outside of the sweet shop. Indian like ridiculously sweet Indian candy, a kind of sweet made from milk and a lot of sugar! Some taste ok but most taste weirb to me (and most of the non-Indian).

Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, India: 13June07

First Time Desert, the Golden City

This should be a romantic and sentimental journey. My first time to stand at the sand dune, camping out at night, huddling around a tiny fire beneath the shed of stars and listening to the camel drivers' songs.
The dessert is very winding and the sands flying every where in the wind. The people here look older than their actual age, due to the harsh living environment.
Riding a camel is not as romantic or as easy as i thought. The inner thigh and butt got really pain from the ride. i am glad that Mathieu was with me, or else, i won't think i would come to this camel safari and stay at desert with 2 camel drivers. :)
Jaiselmer is Golden City, most structures here are built from the yellow sandstone. However due to over development and without serious conservation efforts, this Golden city is now one of the world's most endangered monuments. Unlike the well preserved Jophur Fort, Jasalmer Fort look like a mess with contructions all around both inside and outside of the Fort.
Like any other Indian city, animals are every where in the town but besides from cow, they are camels and donkeys here. Indian is really incredible. They can live in peace with animals, sharing their living quarter with the animals. Back home, living with animals is unhygiene. In Malaysia, the government cull dogs while in Singapore, the government cull cats and birds. i wonder, are development and 'civilisation' making us lost something valueable in our human nature?



Behind is the wind turbines that kind of thing to generate electricity.



The sunset at the desert. It is impossible to sleep at the sand dune as the wind was so strong that we got sand all over our body, We slept on this platform in the desert and when we woke up in the morning, we was covered with a layer of sand.



The sun rise at the desert.



One of the camel drivers. He was preparing our food: dal (lentils) fried, rice and chapati.



On the camel.



Hey hey... The sand dune.



One of the havelis, buidling built by wealthy merchant. The sand stone building has incerdibly fine scupltures.



The fort. About 25% of the old city's population rsides within the fort walls.



The town itself is like a mirage in the middle of a barren desertscape.



The local main market area.

Jodhpur-Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, India: 12June07

The Majestic Fort

We went to the well maintained and well explained Majestic Fort or Meherangarh. I always prefer to explore a place at my own pace by walk. The audio tour allowed us to wander around the fort at our leisure and taking a fix of information when we feel like to.

The disaster (there is at least one for everyday) of the day was we spent 2 hours at the train station reservation office (after walked under the scorching sun for 30 minutes with our full backpack), trying to sort out our train tickets. The queue wasn't long, but the people always cut queue and bought another 4 or 5 more tickets for others who aren't in the queue. Most Indian don't have the habit to queue up.

When we finally done with the logistic, we was cramped into the hot and the usual ridiculously crowded "express" bus to Jaisalmer. Indian can easily drives you crazy with their way of doing things. Most of the time, traveling with a partner really make the whole situation to be different. One is more acceptable to the situation and more capable to treat things like jokes.

In time, i feel a bit sorry for Math. He has to handle the bargaining with rickshaw driver himself. i always tend to be a parasite when i have someone i can depend on. I don't bargain that much for almost everything as having a partner to travel with has already kept my cost down. However Math has a tighter budget than me. He probably can do it in a cheaper way without me, such as living in an Indian dorm and eat at the real dirt cheap Indian eatery. i won't mind to pay some extra to the Indian, well, i can treat it as help boosting the country's economy. I won't mind to pay the price different of what Math wanted to pay and what we were quoted too. But i know, this suggestion would never work as it probably will hurt a man's pride. So i have never suggested this to him before (i hope he never read my blog to learn about this too). :)



This numerous tragic tiny hand prints are near to the Lohapol, the Iron Gate. They are the sati marks of Maharaja Man Singh's widows, who threw themselves upon his funeral pyre.
It is always not easy to be an Indian woman in India, even for now.



The view from the 124m-high hill of Mahenrangarh.



One of the splendid rooms in the fort.



Near to the main entrance of Mahenrangarh, a child was dancing while the musician was playing the traditional musical instrument.

Udaipur-Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India: 11June07

The City for Krishna

Jophur is dry and hot. My nose started to bleed almost immediately upon arrival.
The bus arrived in the late afternoon, so we didn't have much time to explore. We went to the market and shopped for fruits and 'looked' at different kind of spices.
The market or bazaar is nice. They sell fruits, vege, garments and spice. They are donkeys on the road.
We have get used to drink tea by the small stall at the road side. It even doesn't bother me as much now even if a bull shit is right in front of the stall.
i like this blue city. This is a place where people really lead a life and the shops or bazaars aren't just there to cater tourists. They are there to serve the needs of local people and may at the same time for tourists.
i think if one could find at least one partner, then coming to India during this hot summer is not that bad after all. May be provided both could stand the heat. It is hot, but you see more local than tourists and you almost get cheaper for everything. At least, in India, they don't have tourists menu like in Vietnam. You pay the same as local if you eat in restaurant.



Scene on the way from Udaipur to Jophur.



Jodhpur is at its bluest in the old city. Traditionally, blue signified the home of a Brahmin, but non-Brahmins have got in on the act too.



Clock Tower and Market, the old city's commercial heart.

Udaipur, Rajasthan, India: 10June07

The child beggar threw stones to me!

The weather at Udaiphur was nice. It was colder than any other places in India that i have been , so far, and yet drier. So we didn't perspiring like hell.
The town area or toursit area itself wasn't as large. We went to the palace, museum, hindu temple and put an end of the day by the very energetic Rajasthani dance and music.
The room we got was windy and facing to the lake. It was indeed really a nice good place for honeymoon.
The not so nice experience was probably that a young beggar snatched my mango drink empty tetra-pack, thinking that it was a full drink. When he found that it was just rubbish, he threw stones at me! i was shocked. He was just may be 3 or 4 years old and he already started to beg and snatch things. What would he do when he grows up?
For those kids from normal family, how do they feel and think to see young beggars around their age struggling for a living? How does the parents explain to their children?



Udaipur is said to be the "white" city.



Lake Pichola and the city centre.



The usual India scene, people washing openly. Not every house has their own water supply.

Bangalore-Chennai-Singapore: 24Aug07

End of my Holiday...

Good bye, India. i woke up in the morning feeling excited. i am going back to the modern, clean and real world today!

i took my breakfast and then called Mathieu. We didn't talk very long, as i thought the phone call will cost me a few hundred rupee and i need to keep some rupee for my subsequent transportation fees. However in the end, the call was merely 60 Rs, well, i think this is quite dirt cheap.

i did my final shopping to use up all my rupee. By noon, i took the auto rickshaw to the train station, boarded my train and arrived at Chennai 7 hours later at 9pm.

Obviously the auto-riskshaw drive knew that the tourist will have extra rupee to give away, so they were eager to take me to the airport. The fare was supposed to be 165 Rs, but i gave him 200 Rs to finish off my rupee. Unfortunately, the flight got a delay for more than one hour and i was hungry but i have no rupee to buy food. :) (They don't take US dollar, not to mention Singapore dollar.)

i would say that, it got one last "Incredible India" experience. i now reaslised that my arrival to India 3 months ago was at the basic domestic airport as the flight got a transit at Trichy. So i am pretty much surprised with this modern, clean and air-conditioned international airport. However this modern airport immigration needs more than 2 hours for immigration clearance! I think every depature tourists will remember the bureaucracy and inefficiency.

i am very happy to finally leave here. i don't see how myself will come back in the near future. May be, one day, i will go back to India again, but i would definitely don't want to come back to India alone. The country has much to offer, but dealing with the people here is just too much for me.

O Reeva, India! May be we will 'see' again!



My train from Bangalore to Chennai.
I don't like Chennai, so i don't want to stay a night there. That is why i purposely took the flight at 2am, so that i can leave Bangalore in the noon and get to Chennai airport as soon as i arrived at Chennai Central Railway Station at night.



Meter of long queue waiting for immigration clearance.
A young Indian lady trying to cut my queue and i politely asked her: "Madam, are you cutting my queue?" She then 'gracefully' go behind of me and cut the queue of the Indian man. The Indian man is normally kind of 'gentleman' to let lady first. :)

Bhuneswar-Chennai,India -20Aug07

My Last Long Long Train Ride

* This keyboard has problem with "h". So if i do not hit the keyboard hard enough, the 'H' will be missing. !#$%^*&(&%

One whole day of train. My last long train ride in India. Like usual, food and books. "Picnic" at my upper berth.
There is a family from Bangladesh sharing the cabin with me. Te grandson said the grandpa is going to Bangalore for a bypass operation. it took them 3 days by bus and train to go to Bangalore from Bangladesh! The grandson later invited me to stay with them, but i said i am meeting my husband. :P
During this boring and trapped almost 22 hours of train ride, i have finished 3 books! One book is about the life of the Muslim women in India. It makes me feel that, many Indian muslim women is the victim of men intepretated Islam. Not allowed to go out alone or go out from the house without chaperon means the woman is not pure. Of course they are some women who go against this, but with great hard time from the society and even her own family. The other book is about Kumari, the living goddess in Nepal. Interesting story about how a gril living as or worshipped as the living goddess for 8 years and eventually or inevitably go back to her own family and live as a mortal again. Some of her stories especially in school reminded me of my time from Primary school until university. The other book is about Vippassana meditation, a book which teach us to be happy. :)
i also recalled that, when i first arrive in India, i won't eat anything that people sell in the train. i am always sceptical wit te hygien issue. But now, i would look forward to see what i could eat! Someone took an airconditioning coach told me that, they have guards for AC coach and food is included in the inflated ticket price. Of course in tis case, it is safer as no people other than the passengers with ticket is allow to go inside to the cabin. However i would think, they actually miss the fun of people shouting, "Chai, Chai, Chai!" (Tea) or "Samosa, Samosa!"
Back home, it is impossible for me to buy food wrapped in newspaper. But in India, this is a norm. i am now eating peanuts, samosa, pakoda and whatever in newspaper 'container'.
May be one of the reasons that people should come to India is to let you yourself realised that, while you have many choices in your life, but many are not as fortunate as you to have an option.



Indian Railway, Sleeper Class. The train ride from Bhuneswar to Chennai. It was so long and everyone got so bored that most of the people just sleep. i got an upper berth.

Kolkata, India-15Aug07

Praying for my Friend, Zi Boon, in Memory

Jenny sms me the news that Zi Boon, our childhood friend and neighbour has passed a way in a road accident and asked me together to pray for his peaceful deceased.
i feel very sad, eventhough the last time i saw him was months ago during his brother's wedding and we didn't even talk. He was so young and yet he has just gone like this.
May his family be able to accept his deceased calmly.

In some way, i asked myself that, if i just died unexpectedly, what would i regret?
Especially on the Indian no-rule street, i think chances of die by knock down by a car is rather high.

i don't surprise that i don't think i have anything to regret to even if i just die. i have done whatever i need to, i have to and i want to. i have always do my duty to take care of my family, at least financially, i told the men that i like him so, eventhough i couldn't control his response and i always try my best to keep in touch with my friends. i like to travel, so i treated myself well to take a break from my work. In fact, these are the three things that came across my mind and i didn't even think about whehter i have a good career, reputation, money or asset.

i hope no matter how i die later, i would be able to maintain a peaceful mind and the one who loved me will be able to accept the impermanent nature of my deceased calmly and without much sadness.

May all beings be well and happy.

i wasn't in much mind to talk about my trip now, but, well, i have helped out as a volunteer for a day at Shanti Dan of Mother's House (for women with mental illness) and tomorrow, i will go to Prem Dan to volunteer at the centre for people with critical illness. More later ...

*Mother house is the charity centre or missionary by Mother Theresa.



The tomb of Mother Theresa at Mother House. The visitors are allowed to take picture of the tomb, but not the activities of the sisters in Mother House. There is a museum about the life of Mother and you could see her simple room, place she used to stay. Theare are daily Mass at the tomb chamber and the upper floor. i even woke up at 4.30am to join some other volunteers to go to the Mass at 5am. (The 5am in India looks almost as 'bright' as the 7am in Malaysia.)

Kolkata, India: 14Aug07

The Beauty and The Melanchody

i thought India won't give me anymore shock now, but i still feel so when i saw the human-pulled riskshaw and the poorest one just stay outside around the museum wall with merely a piece of canvas as roof and an iron bed.
However, in some way, in fact i like this place if compare with other Indian cities such as Chenai or Delhi.
Unfortunately, the reason is i could enjoy some modern facilities here (eg. REAL coffee with air-con, although the air-con is not really cold and modern CD shops... at least something quite similar back home) while seeing something different, something that i won't see back home (eg. the typical noisy and crowded Indian bazaar).
i tried to get a few days of volunteer work at Mother's House (Mother Therisa's Charity organization) but they only work on Wednesday and Friday and tomorrow is the national day of India. So no chance, as i am likely to leave on Friday.
Mother House is the first place i went in Kolkata. i sitted in front of Mother Theresa's tomb and saw people came to pray to her. The place has a peaceful feeling despite the honk and noise from just outside. This is the place where a human with great love and compassion once lead her life and took her last breath. For no reason, i just feel touched and there were moisture in my eyes.
As i roamed around the ex-British goverment area later, the buildings are impressively beautiful in the colonial style. This very much reminded me of Bombay and its beautiful buildings.
However in compare with Bombay, the poor and the rich in Kolkata is even more obvious. At least in Bombay, the slum is outskirt away from the city centre but in Kolkata, slums are around the crowded city area.
May be, it is about the time to go back home now, just another ten days. i found the heat , the flood and the annoying Indian young men are not as unbearable. The not so good side is, i don't put efforts to make friend now, since it is not as easy to find someone heading East and then South together with me. I do talk to people, but most of the time i don't even bother to ask where they come from or what is their name. Why bother to do so since i am not likely to see them again? :)



Human powered rickshaw （ 人力车）. i have only seen this in the Singapore TV drama which featured the live of the immigrants from China when they came to Singapore. Many of them work as rickshaw driver at that time. So i was rather shock to see this in Kolkata. I did not sit on this. Even sitting on a cycle rickshaw was making me feel bad. In Lonely Planet, they said: "You may find it morally unacceptable to have a man pulling you around in a carriage; the only compensation is knowing that you are supporting someone's livelihood." This is exactly how i feel when i hired a cycle rickshaw. This human powered rickshaw is just too much to me.



It is common in Kolkata that the street got flooded when during monsoon. i had to walk in one of the street like this too. It is gross as the street is always with human/animals waste and rubbish. So i know i am walking in the very dirty water.

Dharamsala, India: 1 July - 12 July 2007

My Meditation Experience

The day when i left from Delhi to Dharamsala, i was hanging around Paharagaj and Connaught Place. One Indian young guy basically just came to me and asked me whether i wanted to have sex with him! i don't know what was wrong with me. It seems like i am some kind of easy target to unwholesome things.

People molest me in the bus, even when i was sitting in the rishaw, somebody could just came to me and touched me thigh. When i shaked hand with people, they could just said hintingly, "Soft skin." i have talked to the girls in the retreat, none of them are getting this kind of things that i were getting!

Initially i plan to stay for may be another 4 to 5 days in Dharamsala to do yoga , massage and others. But a scottish girl and a Isreali girl i knew from the retreat are going to Leh and Kashmir later in 2 days time. i think i am joining them then, for safety reason. :)

The retreat centre is beautiful and peaceful. Right in the middle of pine tree forest in the mountain and we were like living in the cloud.

Out of 10 days, it rained for 7 days and it was so cold at night that i couldn't really sleep.

We did not speak for 10 days and the meditation was wonderful . The best i ever had in my life and in some way, it gave me some realizations. The schedule was very simple. Wake up 4am, meditate at 4.30am until 6.30am. Then breakfast until 8am. Continue to meditate until 11am and lunch until 1pm. Then meditate again until 5pm, dinner until 6pm and dhamma talk cum mediation until 9pm. Sleep at 9.30pm. So we have to do meditation for almost 12 hours everyday.

The first, second and third days were difficult. So much wondering minds that i couldn't meditate. Merely sittiang there and thought about this and that. i thought about my family, friends, colleagues, career and my travel. Some people really impressed me as they have never do a meditation before and yet they signed up for this kind of intensive meditation and yet they pull through the ten day. This reminded me of some of my buddhist friends who are so phobia about this kind of intensive meditation. They don't know what they have missed.

Day 1: We were asked to observe our breath. All i could do was thinking this and that and hardly be able to concentrate for more than 20 minutes.

Day 2: We were asked to observe the sensation at the triangle area from our upper lip to the nose area. Same to me. i could barely concentrate without the wondering mind.

Day 3: We were asked to observe the sensation of our whole body without reacting to it. Same same. This is callled vipassana. i had too much wondering mind to do anything.

For the rest of the day after this, we were to do vipassana, which is to observe the sensation of our whole body.

The forth day i am able to meditate a bit and by 5th day and the rest of the days, the meditation was good. i was able to observe my sensation (eg. numbness and pain at feet) without reacting to it. Watching the numbness came and go away and came again was amazing to me. Doesn't this just like life? A lot of time that you think the pain and suffering were unbearable, but when you pull through, then it was fine again. But the next time, you just experience another kind of pain and suffering. It just comes and goes all the time.

i feel peaceful and blessed after this retreat.

At the 10th day, we were allowed to talk. The sudden flood of sounds was over whelming that i thought it was so noisy and unbearable. But this 'lift' of ban has helped us to prepare for the 11th day when we have to back to the 'real world' again.
In some way, there was a kind of link between the people who we have been seeing for ten days but without any communication.

i am glad that i attended to this retreat and i am sure that, there will be another time for me.



When the weather is good, the Himalaya range could be clearly see from the town centre of MacLeod Ganj.



The reception of the meditation centre. This was the last day and everyone was busying making donation, buying books, returning bed sheet or getting back our valuable things.



A Rinpoche giving dhamma talk to the pilgrims from Taiwan during the week long celebration of Dalai Lama's birthday at Tsuglagkhang Complex.