Photos at the bottom 😊
3rd October 2022
We arrived in Kasar Devi yesterday, after 4 hours of driving the winding hills. The scenery is jaw dropping. The twists and turns are stomach churning.
Kasar Devi is known for being one of the three energy centres of the world. It lies on the Van Allen belt, a zone of energetically charged particles trapped in the magnetosphere of the earth. It’s believed that the people who end up visiting this place are drawn here by some magnetic pull, which is also one of the things which makes it difficult to leave again.
The likes of George Harrison, Bob Dylan and Timothy Leary have all been here. It’s a spiritual place. It is! According to many, the best place in the world for the deepest meditations, along with Machu Pichu and Stonehenge (the other two energy centres on the Van Allen belt), so yes, I could have stayed in the UK to “find myself”.
We’re staying on a long road with various accommodations and cafes dotted about. There isn’t much traffic. It’s quieter here.
Our room is nice. A little basic. I’m always a little frustrated when there aren’t any surfaces for our bags but still, we manage.
A decent sized spider, creepy enough to keep me paranoid but I’m grateful it’s here as it should deal with most of the mosquitoes. I’ll call the spider Pauly. We’ve found in the past that giving creepy crawlies names makes them waaaay less scary. Not that we were scared of them but we once named two lizards in our bedroom in Indonesia Nigel and Chris, after my parents and it was really nice to have them stay over :)
Last night we rambled around for a bit to get an idea of the area. To our delight our jaws dropped to the floor as we saw our first snowy peaks of the trip.
We hung out with some nice Israelis on a roof top as we all admired the sun setting. One of the guys had the balls to clamber onto a roof top to capture the ultimate photograph. Seeing as the roof didn’t cave in I carefully followed in his risky footsteps. I politely declined a go on the joint that was being passed around, letting everyone know that there’s neither a hospital or a psych ward close enough to take care of me had I had a puff. I snapped a photo of a sweet man who was having a little difficulty grabbing a half decent selfie. He was verrrry sweet and told us he was here with his son.
We found a cool place to have some momos, which we’d both been craving since we saw the hills.
Two nights ago we were chatting with our friends at Heal Farm about the how there aren’t many piano tuners in this country. We look up from our momos and and see a young guy sit down at a piano, he pulls out a tool kit. Random AF!! Right?! What… ??? So, as I do, I went over and said hello, that the best way to start a conversation with a stranger. In the short time we chatted, we discovered that our new friend, Shawak Singh held a world record for being the first person in the world to tune a piano at Everest base camp. Photos below! He was here with his father, a sweet man who was, a little earlier, having a some difficulty grabbing a half descent selfie. We shared contact details and said we’d meet up for chai when we’re back in Delhi.
Chana Masala for our bellies and then we both fell asleep during our meditations.
6:00 UP! Clothes on. What?! Sunrise? Ok, where? Ummmm… this way? I’m still in my PJs but…Sure! WOAH!!!!!! No words. Photos below.
The Kasar Devi temple didn’t look too far on the map so we walked there. I hummed various songs from ‘This too shall Pass’, by George Harrison, hoping I was walking in his footsteps. Since the ‘Get Back’ documentary, he has become one of my favourite songwriters. I CANNOT believe those songs existed my whole life and I wasn’t tuned into them.
The temple was amazing.
The internet, the sages, the tourists, they’re all right! There is an energy here. We sat. We meditated.
When we got back to our room later that evening I wet the bed. It was a precursor for having a difficult night. There’s not much space in our room for ‘things’ so I’d tossed my water bottle onto the bed and moments later realised the lid hadn’t been tightened up enough. A puddle had formed on my quilt. Major bummer.
Our bed, despite the photo on AirBnB is a twin. We pushed them together when we arrived but the crease down the middle is brutal so it’s either get cosy on one side, get an injury sleeping in the middle or get wet sleeping on my own side. We were both super tired so took an early night after some delicious thukpa and a bowl of boiled veg.
After a terrible film on Netflix I rolled over and turned the light off. The whole socket fell out of the wall. The wall is mad of mud.
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4th October 2022
I did not sleep last night. My mind was pure madness. I typically sleep like a baby and have zero problems falling asleep. My thoughts raced. Did I take something???? Anyway, I’m sleep deprived right now with mild anxiety, yay!
Despite the lack of sleep, we set off at 6am for the temple again. Fewer people and fewer monkeys. A little cooler too. Delightful temple music echoed around the hills. I love this music. It’s sooo different to the pop songs on the radio in the west.
Serenity.
I’d picked up a mala a week ago in Kanchi Dham. Three rotations of the 108 beads is roughly 23 minutes. My mantra repeating in my head, my attention anchored by my breath with my thoughts pulling me away. Eyes closed, no visual aids to save me from grabby monkeys or the monster mosquitoes. I had to submit. This is the practice. I am not my body. I am a passenger. I think therefore I am. Auuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmm.
To Rainbow cafe for our dream breakfast. Porridge and a fruit plate sprinkled with our own stash of pumpkin and hemp seeds. The playlist was a little more on the spiritual side today after yesterday’s, Bryan Adams, Cher, Pet Shop Boys and The Village People.
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6th October 2022
A day of work and study for both of us yesterday. We set up camp in Rainbow Cafe where the food and coffee are both really good.
There’s an interesting and intriguing character that occupies the same spot in rainbow, at least every day we’ve been coming. I can’t place where he’s from, his age or what exactly he’s doing. Amy thinks he could be in his 50’s but at the same time he could be one of those baba’s that’s actually 195 years old. He’s intriguing because he often wears a puma tracksuit, a headband and some radical white, wrap around sunglasses. Every few minutes he erupts with a loud “Hari OM”, which could be his version of “My god” or “Jesus Christ” or maybe just a nice acknowledgement of the divine. Another call from his wild mind has been “Ooo Le Le Le Le”. Whoever he is, he is intriguing AF and very cool!
It was particularly amusing when he was making these noises when I was on a work zoom call. I obviously ignored these noises as I had NO IDEA how I could have explained the scenario to my client.
We’re moving accommodation today, only down the road but we’re excited as we are expecting it to be a little more comfortable and slightly less damp.
Yesterday we reflected on the bizarre world of internet reviews and how they can be so influential on decision making. I’ve certainly let Google reviews steer my thinking in the past: where to eat, where to stay… Amz and I make a point of digging into both the deep and shallow end of the review pool. It’s funny/sad when a place we’re considering staying has a one star review for having patchy WiFi or having creepy crawlies in the bathroom when the accommodation is clearly in the middle of a jungle, on the side of a mountain, 100km from the nearest city. It’s interesting how we allow ourselves to follow reviews blindly without knowing anything at all about the person who wrote them. How can I disregard a recommendation from a friend or family member, but be so easily swayed by an anonymous google reviewer I’ve never even met?
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Every day, there’s so much more happening than I’m aware of. Rammy D says “Quiet the mind and open the heart” - Rumi says "Away beyond all the concepts of wrong doing and right doing, there is a field. I will meet you there.” - Concepts. Language. Our senses, of course they have limitations.
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I took some shots of the flowers in the garden of our incredible new place. I started a new mandala.
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7th October 2022
Time feels like it’s slowed down to a snail’s pace. Not the kind of slow when you’re having a difficult day and you want to be done with it, more of a steady flow.
Amy woke up to a sunrise alarm but it’s a white out so got back into bed for a little longer. There’s a chill in the air. We’re shrouded in cloud. Those are two nice words that play well together aren’t they? Shroud + Cloud.
We took a walk to Rainbow Cafe for breakfast. We’d spent our evening there last night and learnt a load about the owner, a gentle soul named Harsh who has worked hard his whole life and has now settled in this magical place in which he was born. He told us about his education in Delhi, working as a flight attendant and how he just couldn’t wait to come back to the hills to serve people food because he truly loves to cook. It’s so nice to hear. His goals aren’t money focused, its more about the service.
We also got the pleasure of properly meeting the man behind “Hari OM”. A wise, kind and very private fellow,
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One of the funniest parts of the day is total classic toilet humour. Literally. Our toilet is blocked. There’s no plunger. What to do?
I sent our host Mukesh a message and was delighted that there were relevant emojis I could include to take the edge off.
It’s like watching a horror show. A gentle, young, friendly man (our host) shows up at the door. I’m lost for words and all I can do is move out of the way - we both know where he’s going.
There’s a fresh turd waiting for a fresh pair of eyes and the worrying thing is, he does not have a plunger!
We’re all kinda laughing at the absurdity of the situation.
He informs us the previous guests were not into the local way of cleaning up after themselves and that their toilet paper is the cause of the blockage. I’m happy he thinks this.
This, is unforgettable.
As if the situation couldn’t make us laugh any more, his technique, which is to pour a massive bucket of water through the system, causes the toilet to make a brassy and bold farting sound as the water presumably forces some air bubble through the pipes.
As Mukesh walks past us to refill the bucket outside, Amy offers up a light hearted “Natural, but disgusting” along with a friendly shrug. He agrees and we all laugh a little more.
I offer up “I guess we’re bonded for life now”. Again, Mukesh agrees.
We decide to leave him to it.
There’s a moment when I wonder if once he’s fixed the problem, he will lock the door and try it out for us.
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8th October 2022
No entry.
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9th October 2022
I have no idea where yesterday went. I can’t find it anywhere!
It’s raining cats and dogs and monkeys and frogs. It’s cold, it’s wet, there’s limited electricity and the solar heaters for the shower aren’t working so we just had to fill up a bucket of lukewarm water, topped up with 2 goes of the kettle. My hands aren’t typing so well because of the chill, but I am not complaining. Nature is showing off again and the Gods are throwing another test our way. I’ve just spoken to my Nan back in England and she was describing how wonderful the weather is there. Of course it is! The only reason I want to be there is to give her a hug.
I think it’s been raining for 48 hours constantly. I can see my breath. It’s bloody cold.
The view that went on and on for miles when we first arrived is now completely gone. We met an Israeli today with amazing hair - she told us she arrived yesterday and is leaving tomorrow. She came for the temple and the view. She won’t be seeing either of them.
We’d heard that this state, Uttarakhand, is known for being landslide-prone during the monsoon season. A mini landslide waited for us just down the dirt track from our accommodation. A chunk of land, separated from the bank. An offering from nature and a reminder.
Everywhere we’ve been, we’re being told that the weather isn’t usually like this, the rains should have stopped a month ago. Climate change is affecting this region for sure.
A week ago, I was so impatient that our friend Atul, who was supposed to be putting a trip together for us wasn’t getting back to me. It was driving me crazy. My heart was set on a whistle stop tour of this state, 2 days here, 3 days there, tonnes of photo ops, home-stays galore… if we’d gone, we, for sure would have encountered some terrible weather in the deep north. The road would have not been fun to drive through in this weather. It’s so funny how much my mind changes in one week. We’re always where we’re supposed to be. I have so much work to do on myself.
We’ve made another friend here, Rhea. She’s a true beaut and a delight. We were meant to cross paths. Hari Om introduced us a few days ago. After the initial conversation took flight we discovered that the AirBnB we’ve booked next was somewhere she’d already been, which was rather serendipitous, especially as it’s off the beaten path. We then discovered she’d been staying in the room next to ours in our previous accommodation - trippy! The friendship is already growing healthy roots and there’s lots in common - one of the best things about travelling, meeting those friends I never knew I had.
We’ve spent the majority of time over the last couple of days just hanging out in Rainbow cafe, drinking soy masala chai, eating parathas and sampling the local Kumaoni cuisine. I’ve managed to get most of the way through Klara and The Sun which i’m really enjoying.
Amy has a mild eye issue. We’re not sure if it’s an infection yet but it’s feeling a little scratchy and uncomfortable. Bless her! Being the herbalist that she is, before she goes down the Allopathic route of some unpronounceable antibiotic she’s tried a Moringa tea bag and an Ayurvedic approach of coriander seed tea… let’s see.
We found out the other day that our brand of water bottle handles boiling water without warping, cracking or leaking, so we’re able to use them as hot water bottles. Considering my hands aren’t working so well anymore due to the cold, I’m gonna wrap up today’s thoughts and flick the kettle on.
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10th October 2022
07:00 Last night was icy cold. I slept with all of my clothes on + 2 blankets + my beanie.
21:05 At around 3pm the sun came out. It was received with so much joy. After 3 days straight of rain, rain, rain, the whole cafe we were in erupted with exultation. Life could continue outside of a cloud. Yay!
I can also consider sleeping without multiple layers, hats and hot water bottles. The feeling; immense joy.
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11th October 2022
Amy dragged me out of bed at 6am - the sun slowly rising from behind snowy peaks, teasing us with its rays, playing hide and seek behind the gaps in the clouds.
Silence.
We climbed onto the roof of our room, a panoramic view of our surroundings.
Silence.
The owner’s dog Tyson came and offered affection to Amy by nuzzling up against her thigh.
I haven’t been this excited about stepping into the rays of the sun for a long time. The light, the golden delicious, the warmth, the energy.
A slow day ensued. One of coffee, chai, food and chat. Nowhere to be, nothing to do, I wrapped myself up with the opportunity.
We took a walk to the temple and met Rhea there, she showed us the exact stone that George Harrison came to sit, mediate and trip. Our peace and tranquility was suddently compromised by a mean looking monkey. We couldn’t decipher his agenda but he was headed straight for us. The adrenaline took over and we backed up until we had no where to go apart from back in his direction (I’m aware of gender stereotyping with all species but the balls on this baboon where unmissable) - we gracefully swerved off of his path calmly and once we were clear we quickly picked up our pace.
A brief jaunt back to the Kasar Devi temple. Last time we were here Amy went inside for a blessing and I didn’t. The man inside had given Amy a blessing from Kasar Devi and a tilak (red dot in the middle of her forehead) - the next morning I woke up with one too…A phanton red dot right on my third eye which would not wash off. Weird.
This time I went in and paid my respects and attention. I left with a red dot upon my forehead and the desire to go and meditate.
FYI and for mine too, a quick google "Hindu tradition holds that all people have a third inner eye. The two physical eyes are used for seeing the external world, while the third focuses inward toward God. As such, the red dot signifies piety as well as serving as a constant reminder to keep God at the center of one's thoughts.”
Ahhh, keeping god at the centre of my thoughts. That’s much nicer than “check facebook, check news, want this, want that etc”.
Disclaimer: I do not see God as a man with a white beard hanging off the edge of a cloud. I’ll spend my life casually contemplating the word ‘God’, the title ‘God’, the label ‘God’ - for me it’s defo currently residing in the non dualistic area of thought.
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12th October 2022
21:07 Wow, I am T-I-R-E-D! Today was a rollercoaster.
Amy’s eye is better!
Up at 6am for a truly spectacular sunrise. Soft orange rays teasing us while clouds spilled like waterfalls over the distant hills. One cloud in particular mimicked the curve of the hill it cast its shadow upon. Better than any movie release this year, we stood and watched nature dance. Bird song filled our ears as we were surrounded by bulbuls, a woodpecker and yellow beaked long tailed magpies.
After the second pour of hot water over our moringa teabag and a ritualistic yoga session we ventured out for breakfast. Hearing some commotion coming from the main house we briefly popped down to see what was happening. Laxmi, the elder of the household (who had run the first iteration of this guest house THIRTY FOUR YEARS AGO!) communicated that monkeys were in the vicinity. Mukesh, our host, appeared. He informed us that during the rains, a group of monkeys had shown up and destroyed their crops, including pumpkins and various other vegetables upon which they sustain themselves. To say he was chilled as he shared shared this information (despite its catastrophic nature) would be a gargantuan understatement. I’ve only seen Mukesh smile and laugh since we arrived. His presence is soooo soothing and he omits an air of calm with all of our interactions.
We arrived at Rainbow to find a humungous, yellow web weaving, terrifying spider hanging in the balcony window. I mustered all of my courage and got as close as I dared to get some photos. For the next few hours while breakfast time turned into lunchtime, I saw various people wince in terror as they clocked the spider out of the corner of their eyes. I’m pretty sure I heard one dude audibly whimper when he saw it. ROFL.
The depths of my expectation/letting-go came back around for another serving. A day or so after I’d shared with Rhea that we no longer needed to consider any plans for at least a month now, as we had various things booked up - we learnt from another traveller that there’s been a real bad dengue outbreak in Rishikesh and Dehradun, the two places we are set to head towards… hmmmm what to do… ? Right now we’ve given ourselves a few days to consider our options, to watch the situation from a distance. We’ve put out the feelers to various contacts about how bad it actually is there. But, after 2+ years of covid and with ZERO actual commitments why would we head into areas on high alert for a terrible virus. Is it a virus? Need to check on that.
So, yea, what we gonna do????
Sleep on it!
Anyway, it’s our last night in Kasar Devi, we’re both packed up and ready to go. Amy’s doing some water colour which she’ll turn into cards for our new friends and I’m going to finish this writing and then try and finish Klara and The Sun. It’s an awesome book and reading a book about the sun in a place where the sun has been a constant consideration has been fantastic. During that spell of heavy rain and thick cloud, any sight of the sun was like spotting a tiger in the wild. Exhilarating stuff.
Ah the sun, let’s take a moment for the sun. Hallelujah.
A few people have told us that Kasar Devi - after whom the place is also named is a super powerful Goddess. Apparently, when you first arrive, she will decide wether she wants you to stay longer. Something to do with being able to watch you through the medium of meditating, maybe??? If she likes you, she welcomes you to stay longer and then she’ll make it really difficult for you to leave. It has been. We’ve extended our stay THREE times.
Following on from that, on our last visit to the temple we almost physically could not leave because of a pack of about 20 monkeys. They kept wrangling us like sheep into a pen. Every path we tried to use to exit the temple was cornered by big, big, big, scary, menacing monkeys. For about 10 minutes we kept having to go back up the stairs to try and find another exit.
Eventually we spotted a group of 10 Israelis leaving. Amy, Rhea and I pretended that we were just observing the scenery, played it cool. “Wow, what a tree, such a nice tree, look, what a beauty”. We figured that a pack of humans vs a pack of monkeys might be a safer way to leave. So, we hung about and then quickly joined the back of the pack. Despite now being in a group of about 13 people, the monkeys still lurked, lunged and leapt in all directions. We made it to the bottom but yikes, that was scary AF.
