About this blog (Updated)

Hello there!

So glad that you're reading this blog...I'll be updating this post as things change with the blog.

August 10, 2012

Writing this blog has been one of the highlights of this trip. When I experience something really interesting, I'd be inspired to share it with you. I'd start composing the blog in my head, think about how I'd structure it, imagine the pictures I'd share, until I just couldn't stand it any more and I'd head to an Internet cafe to write.

I would gingerly enter the Internet cafe (some I just couldn't bear to go in), hand over my passport, and be assigned a computer. If I was lucky, the computer operating system was fairly recent, the keyboard worked, and it had the software I needed to compress my pictures. When not so lucky, the computer would be ancient, the internet connection really slow, or the power would go out mid sentence.

On my last day in Delhi, I went to two Internet cafes. This is a description of the conditions of the second cafe under which I wrote the post about meeting H.H. the Dalai Lama:

• No air conditioning -- After an hour, I could feel the rivulets of sweat rolling down my belly and soaking the top of my pants
• Doors were wide open; so there was no barrier between me and the incessant honking traffic a few feet away
• The TV was turned up to about volume 55, to be heard above the traffic
• A live mouse ran around the wires at the back of the computer table--I'd jump every time I saw it until I got used to it
• My computer was connected to the scanner, so I was in charge of pushing the "Scan" and "Done" buttons each time they scanned someone's passport,

Part of me thinks that next time I would bring a small lightweight laptop so that I could write my blog from the comfort of my room, when the impulse hit me. The other part of me wouldn't trade those Internet cafe experiences for the world.
 
I am home now. My plan is to add a couple of blog posts in the next few days. One will include the impressions/reflections of the trip from my travelling buddies, another will be a comprehensive packing list in case you decide you want to travel to India.

I would also love to summarize the Buddhist teachings and my impressions of what I learned on a deeper level. Being in Vancouver, on my own computer, this might be possible. In the Indian Internet cafes, it's hard to dig down deep in your soul when your physical body is being assaulted with heat, humidity, and general intensity.


Thank you so much for your interest in my journey (so far, the blog has 1,500 page views!). It was a pleasure to share. Stay tuned for the last coupe of posts.

July 24, 2012

Sometimes I like to update a posting. If only because I'm a writer and have a strong need to edit my work. But also to reassure people that their loved ones are OK (for example, to update you that Tekla is now completely recovered from her mountain sickness). I'll preface the change with Update: so you'll know what's new inside a post.

July 22, 2012

I just changed the Comments privileges to open it up to anyone. By default, Google sets it to only allow comments from Blogspot users. I just did some poking around and found the setting to change that. So please feel free to comment on the posts! Would love to hear from you.

Your intrepid traveller,
Allyson