zendo

what would be life without a walk in the clouds and tea houses to curl up and read books..or without community living learning world cultures and the art of war--the zendo style where ur mind is trained for peace..
an early bus from blore to kodai drops u at perumalmalai n u hike or walk the farm n reach the zen retreat..after a needed sleep and lunch u get into the meditation cycle..n do ur bit of work..i ve been a gardener tending exotic salad farms, did dish washing for kitchen utensils and now part of their school for destitutes in the valley..
a day in the life is sitting in the pine surrounded glass bay windowed hall, treating to organic food, reading and walkin..n u emerge vibrant..
my first visit was a challenge and the monkey in the head was a riot..now the centre is a second home..i go to kodai for my bread, cake and chocolates and the city is sooo beautiful..
heres hoping to be there soon

masinagudi

sid is my online planner for getaways..he n me fix this jungle retreat thingy for all of us..i take a midnite flight to blore n we drive down to mysore for a bfast. n then the drive to masinagudi happens thru jungles..the usp of the place is the mineral water swimming pool albeit with troubles--the dog who drags u out of water the moment u take a splash..this was a pool where i dint get a tan..now the midnite drive to the forest was scary..eventful..we saw cheetahs, elephants n civet cats.
day 2 was for ooty n yummy chocolates..

coorg

had heard about this hill stn a lot but peeps dint tell me bt the leech community. neverthless it is a nice place.. our journey starts at blore n we drive to srimangala after a fillin bfast of a new cousin of idli n coffee. now we reach our homestays in coffee estates in time for a leftover chicken curry and a much better fried chicken n rice n dal n a funny potato sabzi. (due respects to the food but we peeps from plains are not into potato alternative other than the regular).
so we get set to trek up in rain to iruppu falls equipped with salt n lime leech protection gear..for all you guys who want to avoid those leeches..apply salt n lime on feet n calves..wear boots n carry a lighter..showing leech fire shakes it off they say..
so we all got our leech share..those of us who chalta haid the salt..falls was ok..but our drive along wynad to kerala for dinner was fabbb. fish is different there.
day 2 was white water rafting on ponya estate..what a tea estate n organic coffee..rapids were technical and fun..n then there was the drive to upper coorg..kushalnagar to say hello to buddha n we got to see a sangha meeting and debate...
drove back after a dinner at the tibetan market..
thank god for the weekend breakd