deer park

hey there party people-
After a long week of traveling we have finally made it to Deer Park in Bihar colony. There is a lot to recap since our last post was from sikkim. So here is goes...
From sikkim we took a taxi to darjeeling. Darjeeling was pretty rainy and cold, but we tried to make the best out it. We visited the tibetan self-help center where they sell hand made products (shawls, shoes, coats, hats etc.) for tibetan refugees. We got to see them sow leather shoes, spin wool and weave carpets, which was awesome. Another fun group activity was catching the sunrise over the himalayas from tiger hill. We got up at 4:00 in the morning to make it to tiger hill before sunrise, which we pulled off easliy (performing). Willa did her infamous introduciton to our taxi driver which got everyone laughing and has kept us laughing to this day. When we got there, however, there were tons of tourists and the sun was lost behind a haze of fog and rain- double bummer. We managed to enjoy oursleves anyways. The sun peeped out for a breif moment and we were all satisfied with that little glipse of heaven. The taxi ride back was great- we listened to a cassette tape tittled peacock and pretty much jammed out the rest of the ride home. It seems like Darjeeling just flew by and we were already planning our way back to delhi to head to amritsar.
We took a 2.5 hour taxi ride to the airport which was pretty uneventful. When we got to the airport it turns out they wouldn't let drew take his peanutbutter and nutella on the plan so we all hoovered it down at the security checkpoint... huge sugar buzz for the three hor flight to delhi. The flight was uneventful as well. When we got into delhi we headed back to our very first indian home, the Shelton Hotel. We were all amazed at how different everything felt. We don't know if the city had actually calmed down a bit or if we just weren't phased by it anymore... either way we all noticed a change. We spent the night and then woke up for an early train to Amritsar to see the world famous golden temple.
The train ride was long, but enjoyable. We got into amritsar late afternoon and quickly settled in and grabbed some grub. The next night we headed to the golden temple for an out of this world experience. The temple was huge and absolutely amazing. It felt like we were stepping into a time warp. A part of the sikh religion is they don't turn anyone away... which means this temple is always packed with people. It's said that the kitchen serves anywhere from 10,000 to 40,000 people a day (24 hour service too!). The dinning experience was crazy. We all grabbed plates and were hearded into a long hallway were they let you into a dinning hall that have long matts laid down on floor for you to sit and eat on. We were pretty much the only white people there so we definitely attracted alot of attention. All throughout the night people came up to us to talk and to ask us questions. Many of the men there asked us to find them some good american wives! so funny. Their curiosity and friendliness grew tiresome and a bit frustrating when it came time to sleep because they wouldn't leave. Eventually we got the point across and laid our heads to rest in time for a few horus of shut eye. Some of us just decided to give up on the idea of sleep all together and pulled an all nighter. The next morning the group decided to split up- healf waited to stay another night at the golden temple and the other half wanted to head out to deer park. So we went out different ways and began a long a crazy day of traveling to Bihar Colony. The group that left first got to deer park later that night after a 6hour cattle-like train ride and a few more long hours in a taxi . We were grateful for deer park's hospitality and flexibilty as well as thier dry, warm beds. The rest of the group joined a day later, tired and exhausted
from their travels. Once the group was reunited, we went about planning our days at deer park. As a group we decided to spend ouur mornings (9-12) on volunteer work, which includes earth day preparations, ecology survey, organic gardening and building a compost. The afternoons are off, giving us free time for whatever we want to do (going to town, checking emial, hiking, reading, meditating... anything is possible). Then at 4:30 we have meditation class with a deer park staff member, Malitas, for about an hour. We've had two classes so far, that were focused on basic sitting positions and breathing techniques. Today, we are going to try out walking meditation, which sounds awesome. All in all, Deer Park has been a sancutary for all of us- mentally, physically and emotionally. namaste, graham