Avdentures

The thing about adventures is they are so unpredictable. You can make plans but you can't plan the outcome.
Whenever I travel alone to places overseas I don't have much of a plan. I like to land somewhere, find a room ans see what I feel like doing the next day. After all if you've never been to a place before how do you know how you are going to respond to it?
Sometimes I would have a few places in mind to visit or someone I wanted to meet. When I arrived though it was a matter of feeling it out.
Sometimes I would know that I was in a place I wanted to explore properly and that it may take several trips and a lot of time. Bali and India were like that. Other times I would know that I just wanted to get the hell out. Saigon comes to mind.
Other adventures took me on an inner journey and although challenging were always worth the effort in order to learn from the experience and grow as a person. They humbled me in many ways too.
How have your journeys contributed to your sense of self, to your understanding of the world and your place in it?
I have found that even the most negative experience can be turned into a positive if I learned something from it.
Recently someone told me that I should spend my nest egg on travel and GET A JOB! What they failed to understand is: that writing is a job. You are self employed when you start out. It's difficult, solitary and requires perseverance, discipline, patience, persistence, skill learning and experience. And the courage to expose oneself in many ways. And to make do with no income for a long time living only on your hard won resources. That's another adventure!

Vietnam and another adventure

Hoi An is a great place to have a relaxed stay in Vietnam. I stayed there in 2009 as I had been there before and wanted to soak up more of the river town. It sits roughly in the middle of the coastal strip in Vietnam and there is a beach not far away.

Heritage listed Chinese shop houses are a special treat and I am fortunate to have a Vietnamese friend who owns one. In my book I describe the town, how we met up again and what we did. The old town is unique and there is something very special that happens there on full moon nights. Islands off the coast provide great snorkeling and diving - as do the islands off Nha Trang.

Vietnam is such a picturesque country: Halong Bay, the mountains near the Chinese border, the towns and rivers. Hanoi in the north provides interesting architecture, an Old Quarter, sophistication in dining and art, in contrast to brash Saigon. And the hill tribe people of the north with their hand embroidered clothing and fabrics are a colorful delight.

Have you been to Vietnam? From there China, Cambodia and Laos are accessible too. All wonderful places to visit.

I'm off to Italy tomorrow. Another adventure awaits.....

Thailand and temples

Thais are rapidly embracing a more westernized life in many areas of Thailand. Not just in Bangkok and other cities. However Buddhism is practised throughout Thailand. Most boys enter a monastery for a period of time. Some stay on and embrace the monastic life to live a simple life making daily alms rounds with their bowls. Villagers believe that they accumulate spiritual merit by offering food to the monks as dawn breaks and the monks eat only what they are given.

Temples are elaborate and the traditional gold and red colour makes them stand out among urban or rural landscapes. Magnificent golden spires reflect a golden light outside at the large temples. Buddha statues positioned around the grounds and inside are plastered with gold leaf. Incense and lotus buds are placed in front of them as the Thai people kneel to pray and perhaps consult a monk who blesses them.

I visited a very different kind of temple in Northern Thailand. In my book I describe it  and how it came into existence.

Love and simplicity

Love is not a simple concept is it? There are so many kinds of love: love for your children, your husband or wife, your lover, family, friends and so much more........

We say we love all kinds of people and things but what do we mean by love?

Do we mean unconditional love? Or are we attached to the person or the thing being a certain way to give our love?

If there is passion is it necessarily love?

If there is attachment to the object of our love or dependency what will it mean if that object is no longer there to fulfill our need?

Do we love our idealised version or the real thing? Do we try to make it fit with what we think it should be to enable us to love?

Can love change to something different like warm affection without diminishing or demeaning the object?

Why is it that we can love someone then not even like them later?

Have you ever asked yourself these questions? Or tried to define love? It can help to simplify love if we understand it through examination but it can be difficult and maybe confronting.......

Quotes and Instincts

All those who are adventurous,

May meet with the mysterious,

They may meet the untoward -

But they will not be bored!

Diana Deer

I wrote this last night. Throughout my book there are quotes from people as diverse as Einstein to Woody Allen. I thought I'd insert one from me. 

I've always liked quotes that remind me to be all I can be. Not to try and meet the expectations of others but to follow my own path. It may be an unconventional philosophy that I live by but at least it's mine. Developed though reading widely, listening well and following my deepest instincts. 

Often when I have rationalized away an instinct it has bee detrimental to me. So I have learned to trust my instincts about a lot of things. What about you?

India travel

India challenges you in every possible way and delights you in ways that are unexpected. Some people love it and some hate it. I love India! Its diversity of people, the aromas (and smells), the color and vibrancy, the ancient historical buildings, the Himalaya, the desert, the hills and vast waterways and the sheer energy are a delight. People are so humorous  there that I think that I've had more laughs there than anywhere else in the world so far....

Have you ever been to India? I've been there several times over the years. Each experience has been different. It's a place that teems with every strata of humanity: from those who eke out a day to day existence and may live under a piece of plastic to the obscenely and conspicuously wealthy. It's a place where you can come face to face with yourself too. That can be shocking sometime.

 I went to India at the beginning of my journey to a simple life. To seek support from a spiritual man who is a great teacher.

It was an interesting month in 2008 and one that I will always remember for a number of reasons....

Life's Questions

Let me ask you something...

What does friendship mean to you?

What about love, truth, enemies, trust, work?

These are some of the things I explore in my book. It's interesting when you try to really define what these thing we talk about all the time are for us. Just try one and you'll see.

Take truth for instance. Now there's a tricky one because at first glance it seems so straightforward. But is it? Mmmmm. What if there was a situation where if you told the truth you may harm someone?

And friendship. Friends have helped me so much and been there when I've needed them in Bali. Like these two. New friends I made in Bali who really support me. There's a lot of trust between us too. But I had to examine trust to know what I really meant by it.