Hello, Thailand

Ah, where to begin..


Yesterday morning (9:30) I got in my maroon robes and went down to OSHO via auto rickshaw, which is about a 2 minute ride. I kind of regret not going to the earlier meditations, but I was so tired! Oh well, can't go back in time. So I arrived for the "Welcome Morning" and that was interesting. It was a three hour welcome program that include short examples of some of the meditations and a tour around the resort. There were about twenty of us in the group. I talked to a bunch of people, all much older. I don't really know names (oops) but they were from Australia, South Africa, Germany/Chicago, and some unknown Eastern European country. I did make a friend whom
I spent most of the day with. His name is Giampaolo and he's from Italy. He's probably in his mid 40's. I know that might seem a little weird, but then I remember that I'm actually pretty tight with some of my parents' friends (sup, Val and Chris) and former teachers (wuddup, D-Rad.) So yeah, he was really laid back and easy/fun to talk to. Something kind of funny about the Welcome Morning, the woman mentioned that you see a lot of people hugging because it's a great way to share energy. Then she added "but you can't just go hugging everyone, it has to be a mutual hug" and I felt like I was in kindergarten.

Unfortunately we didn't watch the clock close enough and missed the "Silent Sitting Meditation" by like three minutes. Soooo I only got to go to one meditation, the Nadabrahma Meditation. I spent 30 minutes humming, 7.5 minutes reeeeeally slowly pushing my palms-up hands from my torso out in front of me and then out and around...then 7.5 minutes the other way. Then 15 minutes sitting in silence. I could have stayed for the Kundalini meditation again because someeeeeone (coughdadcough) was late and I totally had enough time to stay. So that really sucks, two days and only two meditations. I really wish I had at least another day or two at OSHO. Maybe one day I'll go back...maybe. There's apparently a branch in Manhattan but I can't imagine that that'd be the same at all. I can't remember if I already mentioned that in my other post but whatever.

Oh yeah, no photography allowed at OSHO. Lame!

So back to the apartment I went. We left for Mumbai via car and got there around 10:30 or something. After finally being able to check in (there was a "suspect bag" or something) we finally got on the plane. I was so stoked to get the window seat of an exit row. Although it turned kind of bittersweet because I fiiiinally get that opportunity but then there was a row (of 2) with no one in it. So I took the chance to lie down across those two seats. It actually was not very comfortable...my back is killllling me today. So yeah, I slept maybe like three crappy hours on the plane before landing in Bangkok. Upon picking up my bag I saw that my Cayman Islands patch was ripped off :[[[[ I'm going to reinforce all of the other patches soon so that doesn't happen again. Sucks. Oh oh oh, while waiting in line for security at the airport, I legit saw a name on the news (TV) that read "Sheila Dikshit." Suckssss to the max.

I'm back here at Saladaeng Residence, where I stayed in December/January. We're here for one night, as tomorrow we board the sleeper train to Chiang Mai. I go to the Buddhist temple for two weeks on Monday! So these posts will cease. I'll be hand writing in a journal from then on out but I'm not really sure if I'll post it. Probably most of it but I can imagine some things will be kind of personal. I'm a little nervous to go to the temple. Two weeks is kind of a long time, plus the type of meditation is completely different. OSHO is all about dancing and relieving stress and celebrating life. Buddhist meditation is ancient and very silent and still. Whatever, either way it'll definitely be an amazing life experience. I'm sure I'll go on day trips and do some fun things. Apparently there are five or six others that will be staying at the temple at the same time. Hopefully they're cool.

Today I think we're going to go to Chinatown/Coffee Society/go get massages or something. Take it kind of easy. I've already done the super touristy things in Bangkok so it's nice not to feel like I have to go out and do a ton of stuff. Plus I'll be back here for two days at the end of my trip.

Tomorrow we're running(/walking) a 5k...we'll see how that goes. Yay Thailand! It's great to be back, I love it here.


(I'm not sure how to apply the new time zone to just one post...not sure if I can, but just add an hour and a half to each new post from now on)