May 10, 2004
Home on the Range
Well I've been home for almost a month! Amazing... I finally got around to getting my photo galleries updated. I lowered my standard a bit this time around in order to provide a better idea of what my journey has been like, even if the photos are a bit out of focus/have mist on the lense/etc :) You can see the galleries here.
In order to provide complete coverage of my trip, I'll back up a bit. I did head up to Paihia and dove on the Ranibow Warrior. It was a very interesting wreck above the water and reasonably nice underwater, although I was COOOOOOLLLLDDDD :) Not actually that bad (I'm sure all the European divers on my list will be bombarding me with COLD stories now ;) but enough to detract from the dive. I then went to Poor Knights Island and did a couple of dives. The first one was absolutely fantastic. I totally loved the underwater setting, we spent most of the time in a swimthrough that was gigantic, just noodling around. I had two buddies who were into taking photos so we didn't swim a whole lot, just explored, looked around. The rocks were covered in something that looked a lot like lichen... I'm not sure if there is underwater lichen or if it was some form of coral. It was everywhere and loads of colors and textures. Everything was in-tact. Such a different experience to diving in Thailand and Indonesia where you are always having to deal with the devistation wrought by dynamite fishing.
After diving Poor Knights, I headed back to Aukland for a few days. Which I mostly spent on the internet starting to look at work possibilities.
The night before I flew home, I finanly got a copy of Tim Guest's book My
Life in Orange. Tim and I lived in a few communes together while we were growing up and this is his story... So in a way it is my story too... I ended up reading it on the plane, got through the whole book between Aukland and LA. I laughed, and cried, I struggled to understand, and I enjoyed stiring up old memories. We had a lot more experiences in common than I realized. And yet I feel that the effects of our childhoods was quite different for each of us. What it is to be individuals! I found Tim's pros alternately very tender and cuttingly direct.
When I got home to Boulder, I had a great appartment waiting for me. I have mostly moved in. I'm right next to the heart of down-town, and somehow I still have an empty lot next to me with loads of wild flowers in it! I have an internet connection and I'm in the process of re-launching my consulting company. I'm working on an eCommerce solution with Pekoe Sip House, which is a gourmet tea shop here in town. And I'm in the process of moving rupda.com to a new server and portalizing it. This is a community site for kids that grew up in the Osho commune...
I'll probably make one more post to this weblog in the next week or two and then I'll let it go dormant. I'll leave it up on the net as a testement to my journey, but future rants will go to my company weblog which is currently under development.
Many of you are old friends. Thank you so much for staying connected while I have been on this amazing journey. Some of you are friends I have met along the way. You guys, please keep in touch. If you visit the US, come stay with me! Or just drop me an email every now and then :)
This journey has been such an amazing experience. I've met so many wonderfull people, I've seen so many amazing things. I've lived on beaches, eaten in 5 star hotels, I've drunk tea with street people, fallen in the ocean with my clothes on in a drunken stuper, hiked mountains and traversed canyons to see spectacula sunrises, I've been on all sorts of transport from planes and helicopters to mules, motorcycle taxies, boats, trains and of course busses. I've eaten so many new things, from Paroda and Egg Curry (breakfast) in Kerala, rice with raw eggs (gross! breakfast) in Japan, to Circadas in China. I've had fantastic food from street stalls in Bangkok and I'll never forget the pancake man or the samosa man from Koh Tao... Stinky Tofu in Taiwan... I've enjoyed tea culture on 5 continents. I've been to markets selling clothes, cattle, food, flowers, jewlery, "antiques", fish and just about anything made of wood or plastic! I've read nearly 100 books, from Harry Potter to Confessions of an English Opium Eater. I have no idea how many temples I've seen, but the number is astronomical! I've been touched by people who are a world away and yet they feel so close. Above all I have found a ground inside myself which feels firm. But not too firm! ;)
I'm excited about what the future holds. Thanks again, for hanging out with me on this journey, and please keep in touch!
Very Much Love,
-- Bindu
