Friday, October 14, 2011

Journey to Delhi

Journey to Delhi

I made the wake-up calls at 5:25am to JohnE who's room was right above ours, and to Joey who was already up and adam though i quoted my grandfather nonetheless... singing in a way that was way-too-chip-chirper-for-the-time-of-morning "wakie wakie eggs and bakie!"

It sunk in a little bit while i stood under the hot maranatha shower that i was really leaving Padang for the last time this season...
At 6am Shayne, JohnE and I had coffee and waited for Joey who arrived in the taxicar that would take us to the airport
I said goodbye to Shayno, who's side I have literally not left in over 2 months.
The taxi cruised quickly through Padang in the early morning.
We sipped our caramel flavored coffees that Joey had brought us.
The sun erupted over a mountain over my right shoulder- shooting rays of lavender and pink over the palm tree lusciousness and into the breaking day.

Our flight was relavtively empty and seemed to fly by as I wrote about the fall and falling...
Then we landed (with a thud) and the noise and chaos of our destination seemed like it was deafening.
Joey hurried off to catch his flight to LA by way of Taipei...


John and I meandered and took our time... (we had 9 hours to kill afterall.)
We cleared Malaysian customs grimacing at the signs that say in no uncertain terms "DEATH TO DRUG TRAFFICKERS"...
They don't mince their words huh?
We waited and waited around the carousel watching these beautiful Cambodian monks peacefully waiting for their bags and boxes, seeming to float above everything that was transpiring around them in the baggage claim terminal.
(I want to remember how to do this)... we hadn't seen these monks earlier on our flight somehow.

Suddenly we realized we were at  the wrong carrousel and my backpack was on the floor next to the now stopped empty carousel behind us.
We laughed at ourselves and wondered how long we would have waited if the unfamiliar peace wielding monks hadn't given away our mistake.
We came out into the LCCT- had a starbucks and started to shrivel in the heat and noise and energy around the terminal that seemed devoid of oxygen all together.
We had to get away.
We were both fully repelled by the chaos and decided we needed a tree to sit beneath in a park... So we just started walking.
No clue where to...
Pushing our luggage, power walking to who knows where in our flip flops.

Wandering KL with our bags stacked on the airport trolly we realized we were rockin the full-on homeless hobo style.
Gypsy vibes.
We found ourselves running the wrong way down a highway with no sidewalk towards something that looked like nature.
We just want to find a tree to sit underneath. Apparently a lot to ask for turns out.

We found the closest thing- some chairs under a shade structure... There were trees nearby so we could breathe and it was relatively quiet. We were stoked on it and burned a few hours talking about astrology and then Togat Nusa's last season and the crew/family! (and how rad Ainsley is who's holding down the island while her husband plays gypsy traveler with me for a few weeks)

Around 1pm we decided to maneuver our homeless-style stolen trolly up and down awkward staircases and sketchy gutters back towards the airport- navigating ourselves around the notedly wheel-chair unfriendly area.

We found a nice pub with indo food, comfy chairs & fresh juice... Then suddenly it felt like it was time to head back and check in.

New machines allow you to check  in by scanning a barcode off your iPhone- JohnE has only been out of Indonesia about twice in 10 years. The last time i think was a solid 5 years ago.

He was like whoa- the touch screen check in kiosks where you type your confirmation number is already antiquated before I even figured it out.

Everything moves at the speed of buzzzzz....

Another coffee and we had successfully SMASHED our 9 hours in KL... Before we knew it, we were boarding our Delhi flight and greeted with "Namaste" by the air hostesses.

"this is so cool how this fell into place!" I said as we boarded the flight!

Spontaneity rocks.

I walked up the stairs of the plane only to find that I'd spontaneously been bumped up to business class bulkhead! 
Woo woo!
Thank you universe for that little gift.
JohnE was not so lucky with an enormous man's ass cheeks smashed on his lap the whole flight.

I fell into Patti Smith's novel for the whole 5.5hour flight.... 
"Just Kids" 
Cary left it for me when we were in Thailand and I'm in love with it.

My reflection in the airplane mirror showed highly bloodshot eyes but I could not stop reading even though my vision was going blurry.
My little round light poured down over the pages as the rest of the flight slept.

I was just so captivated- relating to her like nobody I can  think of that I've ever met.
Between the poetry, music, art...
Her voice... The tempo that her words seem to spill out in...
I feel so incredibly inspired.
It made me to excited to see AARON! He's up in the Anapurnas in Nepal right now but we'll be meeting up within a week or so.

The main cabin lights came on as we started our descent and a voice came over the speakers notifying us that we were about to be fumigated before landing (yes... fumigated) and that it was advised for us to cover our faces.
I have no clue what that's all about.

Further and further the plane dropped down through the clouds, my face covered- buried in a sarong that smelled like ocean.
I felt like I could see/feel through my closed eyes this seemingly mustard colored sea of energy buzzing beneath us.

We were entering the Indian atmosphere and I felt it... Strongly.
I felt strangely claustrophobic... Imagining being surrounded by people and suffocated by people and noise like at KL airport earlier this morning when we had to run away and find a tree!

Below us there was a sprawling metropolis of that same chaotic energy.

I felt the desire to fly up up and away instead of descending into the thickness of it...
I felt a fear contraction for a moment... And then suddenly the feeling vanished and I visualized the Cambodian monks at the luggage carousel and the sense of ease and comfort they exuded.

They seemed to float right through it all... Softening and calming every atom around them... As though lilies would sigh and gracefully unfold, bowing to their peaceful presence.

This is what I needed to remember to embody and maintain as I enter this vortex...
But I'm ready.

I have arrived and am ready to discover what the Universe wants of me in India.

My eyes are crossing. Time to sleep... "Cottage Yes Please"
yes... Please. You're adorable. I'm so glad to be here!

More tomorrow.

With peace peace peace & chai tea...

Namaste my friends

 

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