Backwater Kerala

Vinod and his oarsman

Oh, what a day yesterday was! Everybody has been telling me I have to take a trip into the backwaters of Kerala. Yesterday I got to do it, and I can see why.

Best of all, it wasn't a tourist-organized trip. Here's how it happened -- my friend Vinod came and picked me up and took me to his parents' place. On the way there he explained that this wasn't just a social call ... what he wanted to do was introduce me to his parents, take me on a tour of their property and outline the plans they have to make it a tourist resort specializing in yoga, meditation and ayurvedic medicine.

Specifically, he wants a North American investor and he is hoping I can spread the word. Which I am happy to do because it is a phenomenal place. His father owns about 30 acres (which gives you some kind of an idea of their economic status .. in a country like India with over a billion people, that's a big chunk of land).

Right now the property is used as a farm ... coconuts (10,000 of them each year), pepper, cloves and prawns (BIG tiger prawns). The month to be here is April when the prawns are ready to fish and the mangos are in season (no fresh mangos right now, sadly) They also have their own cows to make yogurt and produce milk (Vinod's mother is a really good cook ... we had a traditional Keralan lunch of rice, fish, dhal and two different kinds of vegetables with yogurt. Yum)

Then we went for a walk on the property and they introduced me to all the plants growing there, including wild medicinal herbs. I needed a medicinal herbs sound bite for one of my stories, so this worked out well.

Then we came to the river, the backwater, the canal .. not quite sure what the terminology is. We got in a simple large wooden boat and got the river tour of the property. It was navigated by one of their servants who pushed it along with a long bamboo pole.

We were on the water for about 90 minutes, and Vinod and his father showed me where they were planning to build the tourist huts, and what they would look like (luxury but not out of range of the budget traveller either). There are resorts springing up all around them, but they are mostly of the eco-friendly type, spaced out with lots of room for solitude. In addition to the ponds and backwater canals, they are a very short boat ride from a large freshwater lake, and then the sea. (Vinod's wife Lily's family also owns 20 or so acres of waterfront acreage closer to the ocean that they are also planning to develop. So there seems to be no shortage of land and people who want to do something with it)

His father also told me they are planning to buy a houseboat for longer tours of the backwater. (These are like floating hotels .. there is a large houseboat trade in the Kerala district. I think his main reason for wanting to have a houseboat is to be able to offer the tourists another option).

He also plans to buy an elephant. I asked him how much an elephant would cost, "More than a car?". He said yes, but tourists won't come to India to ride in a car. Well put. There is also ancillary income to be made if you buy an elephant. It can be rented out for weddings and ceremonies at the temple. Besides, I would bet an elephant doesn't depreciate as fast as a car and is not subject to the ups and downs of the oil market.

I told Vinod that I don't have $10,000 to invest right now ... that's all they're looking for. One or two partners at $10,000 apiece would really help them get the work done. They're also putting a lot of their own money in. When you consider that there are people in North America who spend that much on a timeshare, it hardly seems unreasonable. I appreciate their enterprising spirit even if I can't do much to help them out monetarily. But I will show everybody the pictures, spread the word about their enterprise. And at the very least, encourage people to come here when the resort is up and running.

On the way home, Vinod continued the tour by showing me a resort which looks like what they are planning to do. (To get in to see the resort, we pretended I was a North American client who was bringing a group of people to consult with Vinod's computer company).

The resort he showed me was beyond description ... very polished, with thatched roof traditional looking huts with all the modern conveniences, its own private pond and garden, living room and a balcony looking out on the backwater and at the palm trees.

Sure is beautiful here. I leave tomorrow morning for Sri Lanka. They seem to be behaving themselves right now. With peace talks happening in Switzerland on the 28th and 29th, hopefully the tensions will continue to dissipate.

At any rate, I am being met at the airport by someone I know and I will be staying at his home in the suburbs outside of Colombo. What I've learned is that insurgents don't target residential areas. I am feeling much more confident now that I've had a few days in a peaceful place where nobody's fighting with each other (this sure is a fightin' kind of continent, though. I wonder if the heat has anything to do with it?)

Many things to ponder after I get home and start composing my radio pieces and writing my book. Kerala is known locally as "God's Country" and I can see why ... of all the places I've visited, this is the one I've been the most impressed with. It's peaceful, tidy, educated (90% literacy rate, which is even higher than Western standards).

Pretty amazing. I must come back here. Next time, Vinod says, not to work. One week of houseboating, one week at the beach and one week of Ayurvedic (traditional Indian medicine) treatments and yoga. Such bliss.

Coconut Milk .. Right from the Source

Madam, you want to buy ...?

Day three in Trivandrum. Nice to settle in. People are getting to know me here. Which is a mixed blessing ...

I am still getting used to the Indian style of commerce. Business pundits over here and elsewhere say that India is poised to become a major world power. If you think the Americans are aggressive in business, you haven't seen nothing until you've tried (or tried NOT) to do business here.

Every day now, I walk down the street. And shopkeepers say "you will come in Madam?" and I say "not now" and they say "you promise .." and I say "I'm here for another couple of days. Not now". They don't forget what you say to them. You indicate an interest in a green shawl and they have a stack of green shawls to show you next time you come by. It's relentless.

I have figured out what I need to do. I can only handle a couple of hours being out and about and then the constant trying to sell me stuff really stretches my capacity to be compassionate and understanding. So I give myself permission to go back to the hotel and leave it all .. and then an hour later I'm primed and ready to get going again.

I wish I could make some of these people understand that I'm more likely to buy if they just leave me alone. But they don't do things that way so there's no point wishing for it.

Hope I'm not sounding bitchy. I don't mean to ... still having fun, it's still beautiful. I do miss the dispassionate distance of North American society sometimes. But there's another side to that too.

Off to the Trivandrum zoo today. Vinod and his wife Lily are going to show me the sites of the town. It's Diwali right now. Which I have been told is mostly a northern festival but the southerners have been adopting it too. Lots of firecrackers.

More later
V

Mmmmm..

My Masseuse with the wonderful hands
Today is "take care of myself" day. No work. So this morning I went down to the Ayurvedic (traditional Indian medicine) clinic of a friend of my friend Vinod's. What an amazing experience.

I've had massages in Canada before, but this is different. The massuese was a woman named Sunhita .. she did the whole massage dressed in an elegant blue sari. It was a very oily affair ... hot oil drizzled on just about every part of my body. And the oil didn't have that typical North American pharmaceutical smell .. it smelled of green plants, earth and a little bit of woodsmoke.

First she massaged my head. For twenty whole minutes. Around my eyes, my ears, rubbing hot oil in my scalp. Then the shoulders, down the arms. She even massaged each finger and toe and cracked each knuckle. She pinched, lightly slapped, patted and rubbed. All this took placed over 90 minutes or so.

Then she left, leaving me lying on the massage table wondering what to do next. The table was dripping with oil and so was my body. I got up and started towelling off the oil.

Then she came back in with two buckets .. one with a pink kind of soapy water. She said it was Ayurvedic medicine of some kind. Then she had a small bowl of a light brown powder which she mixed with water to make a paste. We went into the shower room. She spread the paste all over my naked body, all over my face and into my hair line. Then she took the pink liquid and washed down my entire body and hair.

It's been a long, long time since anybody else scrubbed me down. It felt really incredible.

Now I am in an internet cafe dodging the early afternoon rain showers. The monsoons are over so they should be subsiding by now. But it still rains in the early afternoon.

I just had a nice lunch of prawn biryani (a rice dish) with cashews and dried fruit with a kind of yogurt dressing. The food all over India (except for the night when I got food poisoning) is great. Food in Kerala is even better. Just spicy enough, and they use lots of coconut milk and fruit.

Better still, it is very hard work to spend more than $5 a day on food here. And even that's a stretch. Most of my meals have topped up at 100 rupees, which is about 2.40 Canadian. And at that, I can't even eat it all.

More later. Still assessing the situation in Sri Lanka and wondering whether to come home early. Don't know what to do ...

Kovallam

I am being richly rewarded for all my hard work. I am now in the far south of India, close to the tip. There are coconut palms outside my window, a balcony that looks out on the waves crashing on the rocks below. The waves lull me to sleep.

I just went for a walk along the beach and got wet up to the knees in the Arabian Sea. There are lots of tourists here swimming and surfing, and I am looking forward to getting out in the water with them. The monsoons are over, the days are sunny and it is wonderful to be here.

I got to Trivandrum (the city closest to Kovallam) at 5 this morning and was met at the station by Vinod, a work colleague of Barry's who is doing a lot of his web work. This is interesting in itself .. Barry has been quite critical of globalization and yet he's hiring offshore workers. This is a good thing, though, and I am planning to do a story on how this kind of trend reduces the need for people in developing countries to become migrant workers. Ya, it's tough on us when we lose the jobs to other countries but I am starting to look at it differently. I am starting to believe that the West needs to equalize its income with the rest of the world. And this is a very productive way to do it which helps us all.

When I say I am being rewarded now, it doesn't mean that there haven't been rewards which came along with other parts of my travel. The whole trip has been rewarding but not necessarily in that kind of pleasant way that comes with being in a beautiful environment with nothing to do but bliss out. Getting to know a whole new culture is tough work. Documenting and organizing it into something that can be conveyed consistently, evocatively and factually is an even bigger job. So while I've been getting to know this culture, I have also had to figure out as I go along how to interpret what it is I am seeing and hearing. And that's not easy.

I am still planning to go to Sri Lanka next week ... I may end up coming home early depending on what the political situation is. I really want to do it but I am getting very tired of being in conflict zones. It takes a lot out of you. First Nepal, where there is peace right now but it's very fragile, and one of the main topics of conversation is the Maoists and whether or not the peace will hold. Then I went to Kashmir which was a wonderful experience but it is also a flashpoint in the world. then , just as I was thinking "oh good, I am now going to the peaceful south", riots broke out in Mangalore. I have been fine in every place, and I have the foundations for some great articles -- a travel article -- "How Much Risk is too Much?", and another on media reporting of violence and war. And lots of other things.

Today I am off to interview Vinod about how doing North American work in Trivandrum has affected him and his family. Then I am going to be doing an interview with an Ayurvedic doctor about herbal medicine, as part of a piece on how Western and Eastern medicine are becoming harmonized.

As you can tell, I'm in work mode. Took me a while to get here .. it took a lot of focussing that didn't come naturally in my first couple of weeks. I didn't really start relaxing until my weekend in the Holy City of Hardiwar. That is a whole other story in itself ... I ended up helping a young American woman who found herself in the wrong place in the wrong time. Made the mistake of saying "yes" when a young male friend she had met earlier in the day asked her if he could kiss her. He was jumped and beat up by three of his friends who saw the whole thing (might have been because she was white, or because he had a girlfriend already ... hard to say). Then the men started taunting her saying "kiss me too". I am glad that I was there when she came back to the hotel .. she was alright but badly shaken. Things could have turned out a lot worse.

Don't worry. I am not kissing any strangers when I am over here. My rule now is no romantic liaisons when you're travelling unless you've known him for more than five years.

Back to my tales of Kovallam ... there are lots and lots and lots of internet cafes here too (Question: why do they call them cafes when you can't get a coffee or anything here? Guess it must be the same reason why coffee houses are called coffee houses in Amsterdam even if they only serve pot). Lots of single women travelling here. So I'm not the only one being stared at (in my high school there was one black family. Everybody else was white. So now I know how it feels to be visibly different than everybody else.)

My hotel is absolutely lovely ... big windows overlooking the ocean, a balcony for having tea while watching the waves crash against the rocks and looking up at the coconuts hanging in the trees). And best of all, it's clean! (Clean is in rather short supply over here, not meaning to be critical but it's an objective fact at least by Canadian standards ...).

A note about my journey by train from Mangalore to Trivandrum .. Indian trains are great for sleeping in. And it's a good budget saver .. for the price of a hotel room alone, you can get to the next place you're going and also a place to sleep for the night.

More travel tips in later emails. I am back to my hotel room and then out to visit Vinod's office and do an interview.

I Wasn't Staying Here, but I appreciate the sentiment

one more from Mangalore

Mangalore .. from one of the seven hills

Just about ready to leave Mangalore. Got some great, great stories here. Can't believe the level of citizen activism. The larger story about Mangalore is that it is a beautiful, environmentally, sensitive zone where the fathers and mothers of the city are going development crazy. They (with the help of the World Bank and Asian Development Bank) are attracting more industries. Petroleum industries in particular.

This is short-sighted in a whole bunch of different ways. First of all, it's in an earthquake zone. And then there are the issues like, how is the city going to be able to provide the roads, the drinking water, the garbage disposal, the streetlights .. the list goes on and on.

India is a company that is very short on infrastructure. This is happening in many cities. One of the stories I am doing is about Mangalore and the challenges of unplanned growth. Which is a challenge we have over here in Canada too .. not as visibly, but it's also here.

On another note, I'm sure you don't need to know this but it makes me feel better.

Everybody told me I'd get sick once when I was here. Last night it happened. Threw up all night. Thought you'd want to know that. (The philosopher Wittgenstein said that when we express pain, it makes it go away. So there, I feel better).

I'm fine now after a sumptuous breakfast of sprite and dry toast. Getting on the train at 2:15 today to go to Trivandrum, my last stop in India before heading over to Sri Lanka.

For those of you who are expressing concern about the action over there, be assured that I am watching the situation. If it deteriorates further, coming home early is an option. I'm getting tired of all this fighting anyway. This is a very expressive part of the world, let's leave it at that.

Not much more .. I'm going to head back to the hotel to rest my poor battered stomach before catching the train.

winding down in Mangalore

Well, I have survived the most dangerous part of the job here in Mangalore .. riding on the back of a motorbike without a helmet. I know, this is high risk behaviour. But it was the only way to get around and nobody wears helmets (except that they're mandatory at the end of the month. Ya sure. Enforcement is a whole other issue).

No more motorbikes, my motorbike chauffeur has now left. Tomorrow I leave for Trivandrum on the tip of the subcontinent where I will be meeting Barry's colleague Vinod. He is coming to the train station to meet me .. at 5:10 am! The hospitality here is outstanding .. we can learn a lot.

I will be in Trivandrum until October 25th when I will be leaving to go to Colombo. Don't worry, I am watching the political situation very carefully. Colombo is fine and I will be staying with a lovely doctor and his family who I interviewed in Vancouver at the World Urban Forum. It will be safe, I am sure. If things take a turn for the worse, I can take an earlier flight home.

I will be fine. Just about of internet time. I found myself a lovely little shiny internet cafe that I've been in for the past two hours. Met many, many people in Mangalore and now it's time for a break. I will be doing some interviews in Trivandrum but also hanging out at the beach and relaxing.

Where is everybody?

Radio ads and radio guys .. the same everywhere (a billboard in Bangalore, where commercial radio has only been legal for a couple of years.)


My email is slowing down to less than a trickle. Come on, everybody ...

Still in Mangalore .. this morning I went down to the harbour to watch the fishing boats come in and sell their catch. Had breakfast in the Fisherman's Association Restaurant ... really good food here .. because I know local people I am getting away from the standard touristy restaurants (though room service in the hotel at night is good and really cheap -- I'm only spending $4 a day maximum on food). After all the meetings all day it's good to eat by myself accompanied only by Hindu TV, the Discovery Channel and non-stop American movies.

This afternoon I am going mosquito busting with a citizens group that is trying to stop the spread of malaria. Then off to meet city councillors. Tomorrow is All India Radio (they've set me up to meet the Chairman of the whole Corporation, which is very cool. I am going to talk to him about how he sees All India Radio working with community radio). Further on the radio front, I was amazed to learn that the first commercial stations only went on the air 4 or 5 years ago. Another 326 are coming on line in a month or two. And the predictions are that there will be 5000 new stations on the air within five years.

From what I've seen, commercial radio isn't going to be any more exciting here than it is in Canada. The marketing is the same too -- big beefy guys with cool sounding names who are trying to be funny and entertaining. Sigh ... this is not a stylistic export from America that I am happy to see here.

(Later Postscript -- when I was doing community radio interviews on Oct. 16 in Bangalore, the continuous lament from Indian community radio folks was that the government was never going to legalize community radio. Despite the legislation being on the table for 9 years. On November 16, just two weeks after I got home, it was legalized. That is big news ....)

Over and out for now. More tomorrow. Write to me!

Definitely getting more used to being here. Canada has started to become a bit of a haze ...

Mangalore by Motorbike

I am starting to make my way down the coast to Sri Lanka. Arrived by plane in Mangalore yesterday and was met at the airport by my friend Guru, who I met in Hamilton in October 2004. He's the exec. director of the Urban Research Centre and we have a very full schedule planned for the next few days.

I have already met a whole bunch of people who are doing important environmental work .. many, many people to talk to. And I am having fun zipping around on the back of Guru's motorbike, all the while trying to figure out how the women sitting sidesaddle wearing saris can hang on!

The hotel here is pretty good as well. Very cheap .. would have been cheaper if I'd gone for non-AC, but since this is a malaria hotspot I figured I'd have a better chance of dodging the pesky little buggers if I didn't have to open the windows (my family knows how much mosquitos like me for some reason).

I have a whole bunch of other people to meet and tomorrow we are going on a field trip to search and destroy mosquito larvae.

this city is small compared to Bangalore. Other things .. let's see ... bigger Christian influence here than anywhere else I've been in India. The rickshaws have names -- "Sacred Heart", "Infant Jesus", "Hail Mary" -- that's because you have to invoke prayers when you get behind the wheel on the roads over here.

Just thought I'd let you know the latest. Internet access is not as common here as in other cities so if you don't hear from me for a couple of days, don't worry.

The Same Road Bill Gates Uses

Needed -- Four Lane Highway for the IT Industry
Whew! What a day!

I am in busy, dizzy, Bangalore. I came here specifically because my friend Frieda wanted me to meet her friend Indu, a fireball of a journalist who is 70 years old and going stronger than me.

She asked me what I wanted to do and I said I wanted to focus my time on talking to community radio folks. First thing off the plane yesterday I called her and she said "The people from Voices (community radio group) want to talk to you but they'll only be there until four. Call them (It was 2:00) So I took a cab right over there and got to work right away.

This morning she picked me up and took me to meet a woman with a dynamic development and communications group. Just about all women, doing marvellous work. And I picked up a great idea from them .. they have negotiated to give every woman over 45 an extra 15 days a year in "wellness" time because they realize we're at an age when we need to slow down and take care of ourselves. I say Yay!

Indu also took me to All India Radio and I got a good conversation with the Director General of the Southern Region about how AIR regards community radio.

The reference above (the road Bill Gates Uses) refers to the drive Indu took me on to go to Electronics City, the big fancy shiny place where the big high tech companies live. The road to the City is dusty, crowded, noisy, hot .. and Indu said to me "even Bill Gates has to take this road". It stuck with me.

Another thing I saw today -- the Man with the Big Hat from Curious George. Seriously, it's the outfit the people who direct traffic (or try to direct traffic) wear.

Lots of other notable things -- fewer cows in the city here in Bangalore. An occasional goat, but fewer cows. And a lot of stores that I recognize .. Bangalore is a moving, happening, modern city. Of all the cities I've seen, this is the nicest.

Indu has arranged some interesting digs for me too. I am staying at a private club called The Bowering Institute (don't worry Dave, it's within budget anda everything here in Bangalore is much more expensive. So it's a good deal). It's a club set up by the British in 1847. At the time, Indians weren't allowed to come in. Except as servants. Now it's all Indian, the room is sparse but comfortable with hot water even (have I told you that most of the hot water taps here are because you can't buy a set of taps without a hot water tap? Purely decorative. It's got air conditioning too.)

It's hotter down here in Bangalore but I am not doing too badly. Not swimming in sweat like I thought I would do.

So, tomorrow, first thing. Plane flight to Bangalore where I will meet a person who I met in Hamilton in our living room three years ago. He runs an Urban Research Institute and we will have many things to talk about. There is also an exchange program between Hamilton and Mangalore that has been going since the '60's. So there's some good stuff there too.

Must check my email. Just wanted to pop in so y'all wouldn't worry.

Another Day in Delhi

The Scotial Bank


Yes! I am finally getting the hang of this. I went all by myself to Connaught Place to find a bank. Scotiabank has a branch here, so now I know when coming to Delhi, to make sure I have a Scotiabank account.

I had trouble finding the bank, though, and I kept asking people where it was. They would repeat .. " .. the Scotial-bank .. the Scotial-bank is at .." I think the name is now forever changed in my mind. Every time I see one in Canada, it will forever be the Scotial-bank.

I also now know how to negotiate with rickshaw drivers. Rickshaws are these little three wheel two stroke engine machines with a driver in the front and barely room for two in the back. They are all over this country like little exhaust-spewing fleas ... getting rid of these or modifying the engines would be a great step towards cleaning up the environment.

When you negotiate with these guys, you have to tell THEM what you are going to pay. So first you need to know from the locals how much the trip from here to there is likely to cost. So whenever I step out to talk to one of these guys, I name my price, they tell me they can't do it for that and I say "okay then, don't". It's all a game and I am starting to finally get used to how business is done over here.

Today I had the longest rickshaw ride I have ever had. This guy did not know where he was going. He stopped and asked no fewer than 35 people where the place was I was going. I knew I would get there. It just took a long time.

If I sound a bit exasperated tonight, it's because I am. This city and country is quite exhausting and it's now 7:30. But I've had a wonderful day and spent the afternoon having lunch with a friend of a friend at her beautiful apartment. She had smoked salmon from the west coast.

I am giving myself permission to occasionally seek out things that are westernized. Today I went into the Oxford Press bookstore and it was like being in England. Everything in balance ...

Back to High Speed Country

From the patio of my digs in Delhi


Oh joy and bliss. Fast internet. I am back in Delhi staying with the Karnai family. Just got back on a slow train from Hardiwar today ... had lots of company, lots of people who speak English to talk to.

After two weeks and a bit on the road, I have decided that there is nothing wrong with wanting to speak to people from "back home". I also discovered a good travel tip .. if you want to meet other tourists and maybe somebody from your part of the world, pick up your Lonely Planet travel guide and see what restaurants they recommend. Go there and voila! instant company.

In Hardiwar, the place to go is the Big Ben Restaurant. They serve very good Indian food but it's very western. After the previous blog post, I decided I had to get out and meet somebody. So I went to the Ben and met a group of women who are in India working on a humanitarian relief project. We went up the mountain to the Masi Devi Shrine, didn't actually go in the shrine because it was too crowded, but had a great time just hanging out on the patio and watching the monkeys fight.

I am happy to say I am FINALLY getting over the culture shock. The secret is, in my humble opinion, is to not make comparisons. Don't think of home, just be here and let this place be what it is. It is not Canada. It will never be Canada. And it doesn't want to be Canada either ...

Night Train to Hardiwar

Trying to Catch a Train

Well, last night I had my first experience of train travel in India. Once I settled in, it was pretty comfortable. Of course, before I did that, I found my way to the WRONG car (sleeper ordinary class, no airconditioning, and a couple of men fighting very loudly over a very large trunk that was taking up somebody else's seat. It was like a scene out of Abbott and Costello). It was about half an hour before the person I was talking to mentioned that there is another sleeper class. We looked at my ticket, and sure enough, I was supposed to be five cars up.

The car I was in was much nicer than the one I was in at first. I managed to sleep pretty soundly from 10 pm to about 4 am, then couldn't sleep because I wanted to make sure I got off at my stop. Few people spoke English, so I was wondering "how am I going to know if I'm there?" But I just took another deep breath and reminded myself that I have already successfully navigated the Jammu train station (no small feat) and the Kathmandu airport. I told myself, it will be obvious.

It was. So now I am here and will probably have a sleep before too long. There is lots to see here -- I will be tired before too long so I don't know how long I will be up. Found myself a reasonably clean hotel with a comfortable bed and modern plumbing (though I am realizing that the hot water faucet is more for decoration than anything). I had a shower and feel a little less grubby (I am perpetually grubby over here).

Yesterday's trip from Srinigar to Jammu was really stunning -- through the mountains, lots of things to see. I had a really amazing time in Srinigar .. though I am glad to be out of the militarized zone. There is a very strong military presence up there which can be offputting for us Canadians who don't have much of a military.

Back to Delhi on Monday morning. This internet connection is the pits, by the way -- if you've sent me an email I might not be able to answer it right away because things are so slow.

I mostly wanted to let everybody know that all is well.

Love
Victoria


Seeking Holiness in the Ganges

Ramadan on Nagin Lake

Fast email is pretty slow here in Northern India. Actually, everything is except the driving. But it's not as frantic up here as it is in Delhi and I am so glad to have the break from the car horns and traffic.

I am staying in a houseboat on Nagin Lake, which is just outside of the city of Srinigar, in a valley of the Himalayas. My host family, the Dandoos, are wonderful, peaceful people whose attitude is to take what they need and share the rest around. In the high pressure commercial world of India, this attitude doesn't serve them very well.

But it does serve them and the planet well in terms of peace and harmony in the world. The Dandoos are the family of my friend Nazir in Vancouver, which is how I came to be here. The houseboat I am staying in is called "Silver Bell" and the Dandoo family has had houseboats here for generations. Times are tough in the torism business here and it is very hard for them to make ends meet while they wait for the good times to return. Their guest books include wonderful notes from all over the planet, and very well deserved.

You will hear all about it when I get back .. this is just a brief snapshot.

One of the most amazing things about Nagin Lake is the Ramadan prayers ... there are no less than 20 prayer locations all around the small lake and when it is prayer time (4:30 am; 11:00, 4:00, and the big prayer at 8:00) the sound is amazing. (There is one more prayer time too but I have forgotten what it is).

I am doing well .. I think I said before I am not an easy traveller, but I do think it's important to do. This trip is less about pleasure, and mostly about education. And believe me, I am already seeing the world in different ways than I had even two weeks ago. The poverty is staggering. The need to redistribute wealth in this world is so, so important.

One thing I forgot to tell you about .. when I was in Kathmandu, I met two people who finally (after 5 years in applications), got their visa to move to Canada. They were 18 and 15, and I started to feel very motherly thinking that they were moving there by themselves. Finally, someone reassured me that, no, their parents are coming too.

It was fun to talk to them. They were so excited. One of their biggest questions was "do I need to know how to speak French?" They are moving to Mississauga or Brampton, so I reassured them, no, they don't. (Note to my sister Marianne -- the 15 year old is nervous about school .. I told her you worked for the Peel Board where she will be going to school and you can talk to her to help her settle in. They are leaving on October 15th). Their other questions were "are clothes cheap?", "what about CD's" and they were amazed to find out you can still buy a VCR in Canada .. those are long gone in Nepal.

People are people everywhere.

So, I am off to Jammu tomorrow to catch a train to Hardiwar, which is closer to Delhi and a good yoga/meditation place. This is more of an R&R trip .. I am going to stop trying to learn quite so much for a bit. "Try Easier", as many people have told me many times.

PS -- The men over here are something else. Let's just leave it at that for now ...

Back in Delhi

(apologies if this repeats anything from my previous post)

I am back on the subcontinent. Delhi feels like New York City after Kathmandu. Tomorrow I am heading to Kashmir to stay in my friend's parents houseboat in Srinigar and work on a story about the challenges of making a living with tourism in a conflict zone.

After that I am heading to Rishikesh to hang out in an ashram to do yoga
for a couple of days. I will be coming back to Delhi on October 9th.

I am fine and starting to acclimatize. I had a hard time eating for a
whle because I was feeling jangly and out of place but now I am getting used to it. I really am having a good time. And I have started to write my first book, based on my travels and other travels in the past five years. It will be called "Tea with Shiva -- Encounters with the Creator/Destroyer". Shiva is the Hindu God who mows down everything so that creation can begin anew. Fierce rebirth (Barry -- Ganesh, who sits on your shelf, is Shiva's happy son. Didn't start out happy -- he has an elephant head because somebody cut off his human one. But he's a god of abundance, prosperity and overcoming obstacles now, so all has worked out well. I've been seeing Ganesh all over the place here too)

I will be leaving Delhi to go south on October 11th. Here is my itinerary
and I will sent you contact info:

October 11 - to Bangalore. I will be meeting with Indu Ramesh of the
International Assocation for Women in Radio and TV.
October 14th - to Mangalore to meet with Gururaja Budhya, who came to see
Barry and I in Hamilton a couple of years ago.
October 19th -- heading down to Trivandrum -- Barry, if you are talking to
Vinod, could you please tell him I want to see him when I am there. I will send him an email but if you're talking to him anyway, please tell him I haven't forgotten him. I will be flying from Trivandrum to Colombo (Sri Lanka) on October 25th, and returning home to Canada on November 10th.

It really is a fabulous trip. At times (many!) times I feel like a fish out of water
but I think it's necessary to feel this way to grow as a human being. I am finally
relaxing. People are taking care of me, I have not spent one night in a hotel and other than plane tickets, I have only spent $100 bucks so far.

I am glad I did this.

Not sure how internet access in Kashmir is going to be, so if you don't hear much from me in the next week, don't worry.

Love
Victoria

Happy Dasain!

Yesterday was the beginning of Dasain, the most significant holiday of the Nepali year. Faruq set me up with an appointment to visit South Asia Partnership Nepal yesterday morning. I was surprised when we got there and thirty people were all sitting cross-legged on the floor waiting for .. something .. to begin. I couldn't tell what.

Then someone came around with a big plate of bright scarlet paste and yellow flower petals. Everyone (including me) dipped their finger in the paste and then touched their forehead with their fingers, creating a round red circle between the eyes. The flower petals were sprinkled on our heads. The round circle, I have been told, is a tika. Need to find out more about that.

Then plates were passed out and servants starting dishing out food .. a type of dish made from legumes, fried ginger (yum!), water buffalo (tasty but very chewy), bamboo soup and a whole bunch of other things. It was really great.

The festival of Dasain is a festival to honour the goddess Durga. Durga is the partner/consort/wife of Shiva, the Creator/Destroyer. During Dasain, all the monsters and evil spirits are chased away by Durga. Keeping all the lineages of the gods and goddesses here is difficult. Especially since there are more than three million of them!

Dasain continues for another nine days. I will be leaving tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon to go back to Delhi and then up to Srinigar for five days. I am really happy with how the trip is going. Most of the time I am feeling very comfortable. Every now and again I do a doubletake and ask "WHERE am I???!!" but then I just get back to my writing. Staying focussed on the work at hand is a good way through this.

And by the way, I am finally starting my first book.

PS -- for those of you who are asking for my pictures, I'm afraid it will have to wait. Uploading is proving to be a pain, so I will just keep taking them and add them to the blog likely when I get home.

Visit to the Old City

Ah Kathmandu .. I like this place. Had a great day yesterday meeting with some of Faruq's friends who work in journalism training here in Nepal. There are many things we can learn from these people.

And I also talked to another friend of his about people who have to leave Nepal to find work abroad, and some of the challenges that they face. I learned a whole lot about how families work over here, and the roles of men and the roles of women. Which are very well defined.

One of the things that is awkward for me is how to answer the question "are you married". And then I say "my marriage is ended", then they ask "do you have children" and they look at me expectantly as if to say "why not?" Then they develop this look as if to say "you poor thing". Makes me realize that the "childless by choice" concept is pretty unique to the Western world. Reminds me of a story another former Canadian friend told me about .. he was travelling in Central America and the question of his not having children came up (this was an exchange between two men). When my former friend replied no, he was asked "are you an egotist?". He was, and is, but that's another story.

Had my first experience buying lunch for myself yesterday and it was quite an adventure. Faruq was off to a meeting so I hung out in an area called Patan City (which is so close to Kathmandu that it's almost part of Kathmandu. A lot of organizations in the development sector live there). It's a very, very old city with all kinds of temples and palaces and street vendors who are selling their wares.

I went into a nice little cafe called "The Third World Cafe" and had a lovely bowl of carrot soup while listening to the temple bells (which I recorded). I got up to pay and handed them 500 Indian Rupees, which I was told is acceptable currency in Nepal. Not at this place. So the cafe owner, who spoke very little English, took me, who speaks no Nepali, door to door until we found a money changer that would change the money. A lesson learned ... don't always believe what you're told.

This afternoon I am catching up on emails. Faruq's computer is on Ottawa time and the time reads 4:56 am. So you're not even up yet. The time is easy to figure from here. Just add 14 hours -- change 4:56 am to 4:56 pm and subtract 2 hours and voila, it's 2:57 here.

I'll try to upload some pictures.

Morning in Kathmandu

The View from my Window

The Small But Vital Reporter* has landed!

What a trip. So much to say that it's all I can say ... trippy in many senses of the word. left Thursday from Vancouver, landed in Delhi at 2:30 in the morning, was met by the brother of my friend Nazir who took me to their place to sleep. Got to bed at 4 am and didn't wake up again until 12:30 pm. Despite being in a very busy household where there was a lot going on around me. Their hospitality has been outstanding .. after I got up, I suggested that it might be time to find a hotel, to which they replied "no friend of Nazir's is going to be staying in a hotel. You must stay here". It's a two bedroom flat so it's not like there's a lot of room. Nonetheless, they gave me the king sized bed all to myself.

So I have been staying there, enjoying the wonderful food (and learning to eat with my hands .. they offered me a fork but I decided to do it the way the rest of the family does it). Supper is on a cloth on the floor and we sit around the cloth cross-legged. It has also been an enlightening cultural experience because I got to observe the first day of Ramadan with them. They didn't expect me to get up for 5:30 prayers, and they offered me food throughout the day despite the household Ramadan practice which is no food until sundown. Wonderful and gracious hosts, and I am so grateful to Nazir and his family for their outstanding hospitality (they also own a travel agency so have been helping me organize plane tickets and itineraries and such.

They also insisted (and rightly so) that I needed to visit the Taj Mahal. I got a
picture of myself sitting on the bench made famous by Princess Diana (huge lineup for bench space .. I don't think anybody thought much about sitting on it before she did).

We went to Agra (where the Taj is) by car and I am SO SO SO glad I was not the one doing the driving. From what people have told me about India, I think the traffic patterns are an appropriate metaphor for Indian life. Picture this ... cars, bicycles, camels, horses, people pushing carts of vegetables and anything else with wheels you can imagine. And cows. Lots and lots and lots of cows. Even though the roadway looks like our four lane highways, with a centre line and divider in the middle. But people don't drive in the lines. They're all over the road. And they don't use turn signals. Ever. They use their horns. All the time. Loudly. And every now and again, somebody would turn around and drive the other way. Like, we're talking large trucks coming straight at you fast. Whoa.

And now, here I am in Kathmandu visiting my friend Faruq who I've known for about ten years from Ottawa. I arrived by Cosmic Air. Cosmic, huh? Faruq is a development worker here in Nepal. This morning I woke up pretty early to the sound of cows ... I asked Faruq about this because I didn't think Kathmandu had the cattle population that Delhi has, but he tells me that Kathmandu is Hindu as well. So yes, there are cows.

The things I am learning range from the sublime to the truly heartbreaking. This
morning Faruq and I went to a little tea shop which he goes to often. Faruq lives in palatial quarters behind fancy iron gates (he isn't the kind of guy who looks for places like this, but he just happened to luck into a good deal). The streets are paved, the gardens are beautiful ... you walk outside the gates and it's another place entirely. little shops, some made of corrugated tin with no front walls or doors. People trying to make a living the best they can and not succeeding very well. Mud on the streets, muddy mangy dogs. But the people are really beautiful. One of the things that amazes me is that, even in the poorest areas, the women are beautifully, colourfully dressed in stunning saris and two piece suits and scarves (can't remember what they're called). And the smiles ...

This morning Faruq introduced me to one of the shopkeepers he has developed a close
relationship with. She is a young woman with a six year old daughter and another baby on the way. She opens her little open-air restaurant at 6 am and doesn't close until 9 pm. She works very hard and a lot of money goes to send her daughter to school.

We sat and talked to her while she served us tea (Faruq speaks Nepali, as well as Hindi, Urdu, French and English .. he's very handy to have around). One of her friends came over with her beautiful little 5 year old daughter and she asked Faruq "If I can get a passport, will your friend take her to live with her in Canada?" I thought she was kidding, but she repeated it three times, asking her daughter "do you want to go to Canada with your big sister?" So much said in that one question ... it is not a fabrication to say that many people are desperate for a better life for their children. If that means giving them up, some parents will do that. (I felt like adopting her little girl in a minute ...)

Friends who have been to this part of the world have told me that the poverty would be very difficult to look at. Another story -- When we went to the Taj on Sunday, one little girl followed me for half an hour trying to sell me a set of pens. It was hard to deal with because she was really obnoxious about it. When I got in the car she waited outside the window and stared at me as we drove off. It was tough. I was tired, I was hot and I needed to remind myself "she's only ten". The problem is, she's not likely working for herself. And paying them only keeps the cycle of slavery happening. She's also likely to get beat up by other children or adults if she is more successful than they are.

Oh, and another thing that's hard to get used to .. I was also warned about this by
friends. The Indian style of Commerce is something else. They say how much they want, you say "no, I only want to pay this much". They say "no, I can't sell it to you for that, how about this much" and you say, "no, I don't think so". They say no. You start walking away. Slowly as if to say "I'm walking. See, I really am" and just before you get out of earshot they say Okay.

Now, given the poverty of this country, I have a whole bunch of white liberal guilt
about haggling with them. But it's expected. My shopping trips have to be short
because I get too damn tired. Also, if someone says "do you want to pet my monkey?" the answer is no. I did and found out that it cost me a hundred rupees "Please ma'am, I am poor man ... 200 rupees, please ma'am you have money, I must feed family" Which is true. I have lots of money by their standards ... though I am not at all sure what to do about that in this context. Just giving them money doesn't help in the long run. I have the same difficulty with panhandlers at home. Think I'll do a story on solutions to the panhandling/begging issue. That much I can do and maybe in some small way it will make a bit of a difference.

So many stories. Lots of pictures too. Must update my blog, and I'll see if Faruq's computer will let me offload my camera. So those are some of the highlights so far and the trip is just beginning.

Write to me! Home seems like another planet and every voice from back home increases my comfort zone (it's been exciting but also uncomfortable being out of my element.

Over and out for now, thanks for reading and being there for me.

Love Victoria
* for those of you who don't know the "Small but Vital Reporter" reference -- the title comes from the long-running (now over) CBC Radio comedy show called "Double Exposure", in which there was a character called "Victoria Penner, Small But Vital Reporter". To this day, there are people who think it was me playing me. In reality, it was Linda Cullen, a Vancouver comedienne. I liked the character -- earnest, streetwise and stopped at nothing to get her story. I sometimes (often!) need her energy and drive!

The Taj

Queen Victoria on Princess Diana's bench


My hosts insisted (and rightly so) that I must not leave India before going to the Taj Mahal. Seeing that my trip is getting booked up, they hired a car and took me out to see it today. Pictures to be posted when I get to my friend Faruq's place.

It was a four hour drive to Agra, where the Taj is located. I got to see some of the countryside and the various people who live here. The roads are something else to behold ... they don't look any different than North American roads, white line in the middle, paved and all that. The difference is that roads in Canada and the US are not shared with camels and cows. And people drive in one lane instead of the middle. Here, they drive in one lane when it is convenient, and in the middle of the road when it's not. Occasionally you will even see a car or a truck, or a horse, turn around and drive straight towards you. Because they missed their turn, I guess. I am glad I am not driving anywhere here. It's bedlam.

The Taj Mahal is incredible. To think that it was built in the 1600's without any equipment except animal and people power. It is truly amazing. Got lots of good pictures.

I'm feeling a little tired .. I saw an awful lot today and it was rather noisy. Drivers don't use signal lights, they use car horns. I got great sounds of traffic so I will have to do something which focusses on traffic. No great stretch there ... transportation is a big issue everywhere in the world these days.

Tomorrow I am hooking up with a couple of people I need to interview in Delhi, and then I am on an 8:00 flight to Kathmandu. I will be there until next Monday, then back to Delhi.

Thanks to everybody who is leaving comments. Your emails help make me feel closer to home. I do get a little bit homesick at times.

Shanti, shanti ...

On Indian highways, You Share the road with everything ..


My new friend Manzoor introduced me to this concept this morning. "Shanti, shanti" means "slowly, slowly". He can sense my North American energy .. and he gave me some good advice. He says that nothing in India is organized. Which is what I have heard from many people already. The only way to do it is to go slowly and just let it happen (For those of you who think this is not possible for me to do, stop laughing!).

I arrived last night at the Delhi Airport and Mansur (a brother of a friend of mine from Vancouver) was there to meet me. I was very tired but also so overtired I was actually quite wired.

My first introduction to Delhi was in the dark. It is very busy at 3 am. We came back to his place, which he shares with family members. I went to bed a few minutes later .. somebody gave up their bed for me, which is so nice. I slept until 1:00 this afternoon then got up and have been visiting with them ever since.

I mentioned needing to find a hotel, to which they responded "why do you need to go to a hotel?" So I am staying here until tomorrow when I go to Kathmandu. At least I think I am going to Kathmandu. Plans don't always work the way they do in North America, I am finding out. Still firming up my itinerary so who knows where I will be tomorrow.

Regardless, I am safe, happy and comfortable and almost overwhelmed by the generous hospitality. We North Americans could learn something from this ...

Free Internet in Hong Kong!

Well, isn't this handy ... I have an hour or so to do something with and I just happened to find a public computer with free internet. Yee haw. Life is always grand with a high speed connection.

It was a lo-o-o-o-ng flight. Left Vancouver at 3:05 pm on Thursday and they tell me it's now Friday night. We crossed the dateline. So it's a new day. Except it never got dark ... I kept looking out of the window and it was still daytime until we touched down in Hong Kong. I finally figured it out .. what we were doing was going in the same direction as the sun. And never caught up with it until we got here.

Guess that means that I will be coming back in the dark .. leaving Colombo at 2:05 am and getting back the same day in Vancouver. So I'll get back the day that I missed.

I've decided just to lose track of time for a while so that my body and mind doesn't get confused. It's going to be confused enough when I land in Delhi. A friend of mine says that what she loves about India is that it turns you on your head. Considering I've already been on my head for most of this short century, maybe this experience will set me right side up again.

The flight was uneventful, which is what you want flights to be. The Hong Kong Airport is just like Pearson Airport with more Chinese food (and probably more authentic). It's not really eastern and not really western either.

Talk about sticker shock .. I just about fell over when I saw that a bottle of water costs $12. Until I realized that there are 7 Hong Kong dollars to one American dollar. I also checked out the personal electronics (of course). $2900 for a canon digital camera. Divide by 7, of course. But even that is pretty pricey. I'm not going to shop here.

I land in Delhi at 2 am. My friend's brother in law has offered to pick me up at the airport. Which is really, really nice of him because I'm going to be really, really tired.

Over and out for now. Keep in touch, everybody.

It's raining .. so time to go

Got the visa, got the plane ticket, the money, and tomorrow's the day... we've had sun all summer in Vancouver. Now it's getting cold and I've heard that it is somewhere around 36 Celcius in New Delhi. So I'm going to have summer all over again.

Wow, I don't know what to say. Everything's arranged that can be arranged from this side. The rest is all a big adventure.

I expect the next time I will get to update my blog will be in Kathmandu on Monday (which would be Sunday for all you in North America since I cross the dateline). But I may be able to post from the airport in Hong Kong. That is, if I'm not spending all my time lusting after all the cheap personal electronics that I've told are a bargain in Hong Kong.

Just about every hotel in India now has Internet access. And bank machines. My bank says I can access money from ATM's in major cities in India using my Canadian bank card. And I will be likely be getting a cell phone when I get there .. airtime and cell phones are quite cheap and very useful for getting around.

So, I leave tomorrow, fly direct to Hong Kong, stay for four hours or so, get on another plane and fly to Delhi. I arrive at, like, 2:05 AM. I was really nervous a bout that .. I have been told that landing at Indira Ghandi international airport in the middle of the night after too little sleep is like entering another dimension. So I am really, really happy that the brother in law of a friend is going to be meeting me at the airport and taking me back to his family's home to spend the night. I tell you, it is so wonderful to have friends (and friends of friends) to help out. It all makes everything go so much smoother.

I have some jitters, of course. And sometimes I even have mild (and not so mild) panic attacks. So this is really good. Builds up my resistance and toughens me up. To put things in perspective, I remind myself that there are many places in the world where I have travelled. Like major American cities, which I think are among some of the most dangerous places in the world.

Case in point. See the picture of me at the top of this post? I took it in the train station in Seattle. The same train station where I arrived last week, expecting to find my friend to meet me. She wasn't there, it was 10:30 pm and they were locking the station. I tried to call her, she wasn't home (despite my having left a message with her the night before and, I thought, confirming my visit), so I was left standing on a very dark curb in a city where you don't want to be standing on a curb in the middle of the night. So, though I felt a bit panicky (a lot, actually), I hopped a cab and went to sit in a hotel lobby while I made repeated phone calls to my friend. Who eventually picked up the phone and we all lived happily ever after.

Having never been there, I can't say that Delhi is going to be a harder place to negotiate than other places I've been, but the U.S. is no picnic and I've been all over the continent successfully. So I think I am up for this.

All for now, gotta fold the laundry, pack my backpack and do other things to occupy my time. More later.

Puppies!

Oh yes, I almost forgot to tell you. When I was visiting Jackie and Laurie at Thistledown farm last week, they were anxiously awaiting the arrival of somewhere between 8 and 10 brand new little collie puppies. Well, it happened on September 2nd .. Happy Labour Day to mama dog Dusty. Eleven puppies in all were born, and sadly, two of them didn't make it.

But the rest of them are doing just fine and will be ready to go to good homes in about six to eight weeks. Wish I could have one but Ursalla is still the top dog in my life!

The Haven

View from The Haven


We ended up going to Gabriola and staying at a place called "The Haven Institute". It is another retreat centre .. one of the things I wanted to do this summer was a visit a few of these places to see how they worked. I am quite serious about wanting to set up some kind of arts retreat centre in Bear River so I wanted to see a couple of different models.

Hollyhock and The Haven both spring from the same roots .. The Cold Mountain Institute which was the predecessor of Hollyhock on Cortes during the '70's. CM morphed into Hollyhock, and a couple of the other people involved created The Haven.

The two places have different orientations .. Hollyhock is more spiritual/artistic and perhaps less grounded than the Haven, which was started by a psychiatrist and a medical doctor with a psycho-social rather than a psycho-spiritual orientation. An example of the differences .. at Hollyhock when we were there, the seminar in session was empowerment through singing, and another one on Yoga. At the Haven, the visitors were a group of people who were trying to work their way through depression.

Both valuable and have their place, and were wonderful spaces to visit. I am surprised that there are very few places like this in Nova Scotia. My vision would be to come up with a blend of the two .. more arts stuff than the Haven but maybe more grounded than Hollyhock. Hard to explain in a few paragraphs what I mean by that .. still working it out myself.

Overall, the past ten days have been wonderful for sitting on the grass looking up at trees, feeling my toes in the warm sand, reading, and just being. I'm getting really good at this R&R stuff ...

It was another great time, and now I am back in Vancouver. I have a few days of work to do and then I head down to Seattle. My trip to India is not far off .. I have to get grounded again and start to work on my To Do list. Today is my final travel-related shot (for Japanese Encephalitis so I don't end up with a swollen brain and drooling in a nursing home for the rest of my life. It's costing our project $300 for this shot alone, but since my brain is my most cherished possesion, I think it's worth it.)

Gotta go unpack. Laundry would be a good idea too since I have been living in the same clothes for ten days. Good practice for India, also it was a good time to find out how much weight on my back was too much. I need to find another backpack and carry less stuff ...


Looking Up ...

Farewell to Summer

We're leaving Denman Island today and going to either Bowen or Gabriola Island. Yesterday was the Blackberry Faire on Denman. Pictures to come. Just like the '70's all over again.


Since I've come here, my intuitions about the relationship between Denman and Hornby Island have turned out to be right ... Hornby is the more privileged of the Island, economically speaking. Denman is sometimes referred to as the doormat to Hornby. People have to drive across Denman to get to Hornby, a phenomena that is referred to as the "Hornby 500".

My travelling pal says it's kind of the like the relationship between Hamilton and Toronto. Poor little downtrodden Denman.

Wish we were here to take the last ferry from Hornby today. The Hornby residents have a traditional "Farewell to the Tourists" ceremony when the last ferry happens. They all go down to the ferry dock and wave goodbye to the tourists and yell "Thanks for coming, thanks for going". The ferry captain takes part in it to and there is much ceremony and blowing of horns.

But we will be gone to yet another island. I'm starting to feel like I'm turning a corner too. Already compiling my "To Do" list .. everything from getting final shots, to getting shoes, reminding Dave he has to send my my E-ticket for India, organizing the money supply, getting my visa for India ... I'm just easing my way back to work, just like everybody else is doing right now.

Oh ya, I almost forgot .. Happy Labour Day. Workers of the World Unite!

Not for Sale

What an odd little island this is. Still on Denman Island. Funny how each of the islands has its own personality. Went over to Hornby Island yesterday which was much different from Denman, which is much different from Cortes, Gabriola etc. I have now been on six of the Gulf Islands and the contrast between them is striking.

Denman and Cortes are really hardscrabble little places where you can tell how much people are struggling. Hornby and Gabriola are more gentrified. We won't even talk about Saltspring, which is positively suburban.

All of the islands are getting rapidly bought up by people who have much more money than the people who have lived here for twenty or thirty years. The islands have been a haven for back-to-the-landers, draft dodgers, artists and anybody else who wanted to escape. And they're not all taking kindly to the influx of city folk who are waving large bankrolls in front of the islanders. It's a big temptation when you're offered half a million dollars for a place that you might have spent $50,000 on. Even for the people who don't sell, it's changing the community.

Here on Denman, some of the local folks are doing their own form of "Hell No, We Won't Go". Mixed in with "For Sale" signs throughout the island are "NOT for sale" signs. The real estate company advertised has names like "Bananarchy Realty - Pimping the Planet One Acre at a Time". It's very funny. I'm going to go out today and get some pictures of some of the more unique ones (though they're ALL unique).

I can see what they're trying to protect. It's real tempting to stay here and never go back. This morning I went out into the yard and there were two does and four fawns grazing about ten feet away from me.

Yesterday we went to Hornby Island, which is a little more gentrified than Denman. It has a GREAT nude beach with clean, fine sand. Almost ended up walking 8 miles from the ferry terminal because of it, though.

We lost track of time and didn't catch the ferry until 7:15. By the time we got back to Denman it was starting to get dark and there wasn't much traffic to hitch a ride with. Fortunately we met a nice man who was out for a night time walk and we explained we were out on a VERY long walk. So, in typical island fashion, he offered us a ride.

The islands are really good for that kind of thing. Sure hope they can preserve that spirit in spite of encroaching development.

Oh, and did I mention there is a cougar and a bear and cubs on the island? Sure glad we got that ride ... "lions and tigers and bears, oh my!"

Killaloe with a View

My travellin' buddy and I arrived at Denman Island last night. Accommodations are slim pickings on the Islands this weekend since it is the long weekend.

We found ourselves a little guesthouse called The Denman Island Guesthouse. It's somethin' else. The Killaloe reference in my title is to a little place in the Ottawa Valley where time has stood still, and the Denman Island Guest House is also in that category.

How to describe it .. I will post a picture when I get back to Vancouver so you can see for yourself. In the meantime, here goes. It's a 1912 farmhouse that hasn't really been updated since that time. It's kind of like the house of an eccentric old uncle where everything in it has landed there over a period of time with no thought to planning and design. Or maybe it's like the summer cottage where all the outdated furniture from the main house has gone to die.

I expect a power struggle with my companion tonight over who gets the better bed. Last night he suggested he might need the bigger bed, I said I wasn't giving up that easy and we flipped for it. Tails I win. I did. Then again, because I snore (shh, don't tell anybody), he may just decide to go for one of the dorm rooms.

The house also has a brand new hot tub, which is becoming a theme throughout this blog isn't it? And a glorious view of the mountains of Vancouver Island. I think I'm going to have fun here for a couple of days. And it's only $20 a night, so the price is right too.

It also has a cafe with good coffee and yummy sounding food. And internet access, so I'm having my coffee, blogging away and enjoying the morning.

Waiting for the lights to go out ..

I'm leaving Hollyhock and Cortes Island this morning and over to Denman and Hornby Island. The power is going to go out any minute .. new power line going in across the water from Vancouver Island. So I don't have much time.

It's been a blast. Tour of the island yesterday, where people are still mad because somebody painted a yellow line down the middle of the highway ("I'm paying for both sides of the road so I can drive wherever I want") Typical rural community with the usual squabbles between people but they make it work.

Did yoga this morning. Yesterday was better .. hit the wall so had to ease up on myself. think I'll go jump in the hot tub for one last time before shoving off.

Wonderful time. I'm coming back.


This is The Sanctuary -- the place where the meditation happens.

More from the beach

Still here at Hollyhock. Amazing food. Many intense conversations in the hot tub... amazing to be here, just me and the ocean and the mountains and other people to connect with on a soul level.

And even a high speed internet connection. This is funny - I've been down to the computer room three times and have been the only woman here each time. Not many gear grrrls.

I'm having fun.


Fabulous food! Today, salmon and prawns

Movin' Up-Island

Left Laurie and Jackie's at noon today and took a bus to Campbell River, about three hours up-island. Then I caught two ferries and came to Cortes Island, on the edge of Desolation Sound.

I am at a place called Hollyhock for a few days, a very cosmic retreat centre. Check out the website at www.hollyhock.ca



There are workshops going on here -- one is a yoga workshop, the other on improvisational sound and the other on Wise Women stuff. I am just hanging out, reading, watching the sunsets and lounging around in the hot-tub and beach (which are clothing-optional .. quite a nice feature of the place)

I will try to get up for morning yoga and meditation. I thought I'd have an internet holiday but there is high speed access even up here so, yes I will check my email. Wish I could upload pictures but the computer doesn't have a USB port to connect my camera. So I'll post a whole bunch when I get back to Vancouver.

It is really peaceful, restful and beautiful here. I'm glad I came.

On the farm

I am at my friends Jackie and Laurie's. They bought a 20 acre farm near Nanaimo and invited me to come over and see it. J&L are two of the funnest people I know, so I knew it would be a good time.

I also knew I'd be following them around talking to them as they worked. I lived at their place in Ottawa for a few months so was always having conversations with them as they drywalled the crawl space, unfroze the pipes, fixed the fence .. and the experience of doing that has now doubled, tripled and quadrupled. Following them around 20 acres of farm is an even bigger job.

This morning it was out to the pond to watch Laurie trying to save the pump and himself from sliding into the slippery muddy bank of the pump (he saved the pump from going in, but not himself). Their B&B is still a work in progress and will be opening next year. Even now it is truly lovely even if the bathrooms aren't entirely operational yet. But hell, it's a 20 acre farm with lots of bushes.

This morning I am off to Cortes Island to splurge on a few days at a place called Hollyhock Retreat. Hot tub with an ocean view, gorgeous vegetarian meals, yoga and meditation to start the morning .. check it out at www.hollyhock.ca

Other than feeling like I deserve an experience of pure luxury, I also want to check it out because this is the kind of place I want to start in Nova Scotia. So my trip is even tax deductible. Got a new journal with me, lots of ideas and it will be a wonderful time, I am sure.

Back to Vancouver on Sept 5, then on SEpt 10 I'm going to Seattle for a few days. It's been quite a summer and just a warmup for the Asia trip.

I'll post pictures when I get back to a fast internet connection.


Jackie (not Laurie) almost falling into the pond.

Om

So when things get busy, time to do yoga and meditate. My little friend is Yuli. Her father is Chris, who I worked with at CBC a long time ago. I was very happy to see that his life has improved greatly with the addition of his new partner Charlotte and Yuli, who is four. They even went all the way to China to get her. Chris was a confirmed bachelor for years and I just never thought I would ever see the day ...

Getting Yuli to meditate and do yoga is a pretty tall order. Getting her to sit still is even harder than getting me to sit still. But we did it, and as you can see by the look of concentration on her face, she was intensely into the experience (Yuli tends to be intensely into every experience ... nothing mellow about this little gal) She is also intensely fun.

Hippie Heaven part 2

Still having a great time here on Gabriola. Went for a long, long walk this morning, hung out at the beach about an hour's walk from Ken and Donna's. Meditated, did yoga, read ... what a wonderful way to spend a summer day.

Walked on the tideflats looking at rocks on the shore .. this island has some really unusual rock formations that are like caves in the rock. I walked out onto the tide flats until I realized I was sinking ... Splashed mud up and down my legs. It was a messy business but the mud felt really good squishing between my toes.

Also started shooting a kind of impressionistic video poem on the theme of starfish clinging to rocks waiting for the tide to come in. It takes a long time for the tide to come in, and starfish don't do much while they wait. So that was a really meditative experience too. Maybe I should design a course on video-based meditation (I am only half kidding about this. You learn all about movement and being still when you're behind a video camera, Pretty intense body work) Audio is so much more flexible .. physical discipline is required there too, but the positioning of the mike doesn't often have to be as precise a the positioning of the camera.

Then again, I've had times when I've needed to hold a mike as close to the waterline as I could without getting the mike wet. This DOES require great precision. Less risky if I put a condom (unlubricated, of course) on the mike. Unprotected miking can be a dangerous thing, so it's good practice to have one in the mike kit. Quick movements and losing your footing are even more dangerous as all of your gear and you go tumbling into the water. (hasn't happened yet, though)

Generally, that's pretty good all round advice .. move slowly, don't lose your footing and always be prepared!

Life in Hippie Heaven

I am on the road for a few days visiting my friends Ken and Donna on spectacular Gabriola Island. Gabriola Island is one of the gulf islands, between the mainland and Vancouver Island, where a lot of hippies went in the '70's and decided never to return to civilization.

Ken is working on starting a community radio station here. And wherever two or three are gathered in the name of community radio, there I also am.

I will have some great pictures to post once I get back to the mainland. Today I went into the village with Donna and met 5 Alpacas being led down the street. Sort of a little Alpaca parade (my mom told me a couple of years ago that she wanted an alpaca for a pet. I can see why. They are so cute, cute, cute. For those who have never met an Alpaca, they are mini llamas.

Ken is cleaning out the truck and we are about to set out to see the sights of the island. Tomorrow I'll go off hiking by myself, hang out at a few beaches, read and have a real nice time exploring. Friday we head back to Vancouver, stopping first at many Value Villages along the way and making a side trip to the (sadly) infamous Squamish Oil slick. (Ken is a fervent environmentalist so we're going on a fact finding mission). Hard stuff to look at. I have my video camera with me so I'm sure I'll do some documenting.

As far as what I'm going to do with it, I don't really know yet. Right now, I"m just getting used to the art of doing work with moving pictures so it won't be anything ambitious. Maybe I'll do my first video podcast.

Must go .. the tour bus is waiting. Pictures in a couple of days. Sooner if uploading from Ken's computer isn't a big deal ...

Tree Hugger

From the Top of the World

My friend Sara and I decided to take a trip to Whistler. "What do you want to go to Whistler for?" everybody was asking us. "It's just a ski town with no snow."

ya, but it's a ski lodge with no snow where the 2010 Olympics are going to be held. If nothing else, going there will mean we can say nonchalantly "oh yes, the last time I was in Whistler .."

So we went. The ski village is just that. A ski village. Pleasant enough, lots of restaurants. Had lunch. It was nice.

And then we figured that since we've come all this way, we had to go up the mountain. And up we went. Twenty-five minute ride in a covered gondola, and then up another ten minutes on an open ski lift.

And I've got to say I am so glad we did this. To be up there, close to the clouds, to the snowy mountain peaks was a sense of the eternal in one quick little trip. I didn't want to come back down.

Next time I do this, I am going to spend the whole day up there, 7100 feet in the clouds. There is a trail down to the next set of chairlifts that takes an hour and a half to walk down. And trails on the summit so you can walk around.

There is snow up there, little rivulets of water that are probably huge rivers in spring, little alpine flowers, no trees, lots of rock of all shades of grey and brown. Cold? You bet, considering I was wearing shorts and a skimpy top. The cold was energizing, and brisk and just made me feel totally alive.

What a trip. I'm so glad we did it. (travel tip -- if you go there and want to have lunch, don't eat in the village. Take the covered gondolas up to the first level and have lunch looking at one of the most spectacular views you'll see anywhere).

Makes me even more excited about my upcoming trip into the Himalayas.

Don't Drop Your Shoes!

On the way back down from the summit, I was finally brave enough to take out my camera and take some pictures.

Not that I'm afraid of heights, but I am afraid of dropping my camera. I chanced it. Camera arrived at the bottom intact.

I didn't chance losing my $80 Birkenstocks, though. So I put them in my knapsack on the way down. And in doing so, got to bring back some of the dusty mountain soil back with me.

What a fabulous trip. I have never ever been closer to the sky. (being in an airplane doesn't count).

Here's a view from the very top -- 7100 feet up. Glorious.


A View from the Summit

Living Organically

I've been experimenting with a new way of life. One that has been gradually evolving over the past few years, even though I didn't know it was happening.

It's about letting life evolve naturally, trusting my intuition, believing that things are going to get done without having to resort to timetables, to-do lists and day planners.

Back when I first started working totally independently, I would structure my day to begin at 9 am, stop for lunch precisely at 12 .. you get the idea. It was like I needed to punch my own time clock in order to stay on track.

A lot of this was born from the need to get things done and be "productive". How I measured productivity was by the number of words written, number of phone calls made, number of minutes of sound and documentaries composed. You get the idea. That's the way I used to define productivity.

Well, in the last couple of years in particular, I have not been able to define myself strictly by that criteria. My life had changed in a way that I was needing to define myself by other values. And ya, it was a struggle (and still is) to redefine myself in a way that doesn't rely on the merely quantifiable or definable to determine what has and hasn't been a successful day.

These days, I get up when I want to get up. I eat when I am hungry. I go for a walk when I want to. I play the piano. I go to the computer to send out emails when I want to and I "work" when I want to.

And do you know what? Things get done. The money has come in, I have food on the table and everything I need.

I still have a hard time trusting that following my own schedule and intuition will get me to a really good place. I want to fall back on that old tendency to run headfirst into my work with singleminded determination to achieve "results". The concept of "surrender" is something I still have a great deal of trouble with, yet when I run headlong into something, it has often turned out to be a wall (ouch). And I usually don't have a helmet on, either.

It's not that I haven't been "working" lately. Far from it -- in many ways, these past few years have been some of the hardest work of my life. Getting to the place where I am now has required great amounts of focus, trust and a firm idea of what I want. I don't even know if I even should use the term "work" .. it just doesn't seem to apply to the way I do things anymore.

And where am I right now? I am in a place and in a space I am really liking to be, doing things that really resonate with my soul. I am becoming the person I want to be, rather than the person I thought everybody else wanted. It's not been easy getting here, and I am sometimes (often, even now) really sad at what I've had to surrender up to be where I am now.

Yes, it's been hard work. But yet, the good things in my life haven't happened through any great design of my own ... I've often said to my friends that I've been living my life most recently on grace, luck and skill ... in that order. And much of the time it hasn't felt like my success has had very much to do with my skill, either. Things just evolved and took their own time. And no, I sure didn't often trust that I was headed in the right direction.

Still don't sometimes. I still want to fall back on my To-Do list and plan everything within a minute of next week. But the thing I've learned that is more powerful is that if we trust ourselves, trust the people around us, trust the universe, god, goddess or whoever, our To-Do list will take care of itself.

And there will be much more rich things when we review what we've accomplished than if we'd written everything done and done everything on the list in our usual singular, too-focussed compulsive way.

Because many of the best things that happen to us won't even appear on our list at all ...

Oh My God! It's the God Truck!

I remember saying to a friend before I came out here, "But is the God Truck still around?". And today I found it.

This one is probably more accurately called Son of God-Truck. Because it's not exactly the same. The old God-Truck was like a .. say, probably a three ton truck. The signs on it were made of wood and it was mounted on the bed of the truck like an A-frame. It looked like a cross between a sandwich board and an evangelistic little camper. You could take it into the rainforest and sleep in it when you're done proselytizing.

Son of God Truck looks like a camper van from one angle, and a monster truck from another (puny little monster truck, but the monster truck all the same). Stylistically the two are very similar -- if it's not the God Truck guy himself with an updated image, it might be his kid. To paraphrase a friend of mine .. "this is not indeed the God-Truck, but the God-Truckness cannot be denied".

The message has changed. No words about Jesus Christ coming to earth. Lots of political rambles, including the question "are you a sheeple?" Much railing about the evil media, evil oil, evil George Bush and a quote by (I forget his first name) Wolfewitz.

Guess these days he figures we don't have to talk directly about Satan ...

Good to see that quirky expression still exists in Vancouver. And that the spirit of the God-Truck is still alive and travellin' around.

Hangin' Out at the Beach

Just got back from spending a few days in the Okanagan Valley with my in-laws. The first picture is me, of course, about to dunk because the rock I was standing on was slippery.

The other picture is Crystal, Tyler and Kathy. Kathy is Barry's sister and Tyler and Crystal are her two kids (who aren't really kids anymore. Crystal is an ol' married lady now who just found out she's pregnant, which will make me a GREAT-aunt. I told her I wasn't old enough. And certainly her mother, who is only a few months older than me is not old enough to be a grandmother. Scary for those of us who aren't old enough, but real nice for Crystal and her husband Joel who are really excited).

I had a really wonderful time, possibly one of the nicest times I've ever had with all of them. As usual, Barry's mom and I were a (good) bad influence on each other, eating chocolate for breakfast, spending too much money, talking about all the relatives (especially Barry).

What was wonderful is how the whole Rueger clan have made a big effort to make sure I stick around. They have all gone out of their way to keep in touch and make sure I stay a member of the family, even if Barry and I aren't together anymore. Makes me feel really appreciated.

It was fun. And boy, was it hot. The water was wonderful. And so was the whole trip in general (saw a bald eagle on the way back home. Bonus. This is such gorgeous country.)