can get email notification now

now you can get my postings sent to your email. just go to the lower left hand corner where there is a little blank space that allows you to fill in your email address to get notifications of new blogs. Then you won't have to keep coming back to check for new updates!

Still raining heavily in Dharamsala. Rain comes and goes. Was told not to do laundry too often. Everyone smells!

Leaving for Ladakh tomorrow night. Hopefully things will turn out ok. It is afterall next to the moon! Another thing is: my internet access in Ladakh will be limited as the location of the teachings would be lagi ulu (extremely remote). Hence, it would still be a better idea to sign up for email notification for further updates.

Monsoon, vermins and travel

Hi folks,

More news from me. The monsoon season has started, the infamous monsoon season of Dharamsala that makes your mattress into a mushroom farm that you could smoke the whole season and get high on. Then there are the spores that grow on your walls and clothes, leaving spots that cannot be washed off till the day Maitreya Buddha appears on this earth. Spores that grow on everything, makes me wonder if they will take over my body and brains and turn me into a major time cordyceps...will be worth lots of money!!!

Then there are the fleas who have found me. If you think mosquito bites itch, you should try getting a flea bite. They last for weeks and turn into welts that never heal. And they don't bite at one spot, but everywhere. Have been reciting om mani padme hum for them, since I remembered Rinpoche saying that reciting 1000 manis per day benefits 7 generations of offspring due to the "blood connection". Well since these are the only offspring of my blood, i think i can look forward to seeing 7 generations of fleas attaining rainbow bodies and floating around in orbs of blissful rainbow light. though i can't imagine having to search for their mortal remains since I can't even spot them in the first place. Karmic chains la, you know how they say the iron chains of karma in the three principles of the path by Lama Tsongkhapa. Thinking about karma really generates renunciation. Since I don't have the karma to sit in an office cubicle to be eaten away of my time and strength by fellow coworkers and mean superiors that load on extra work, here i am being devoured alive by vermins in my own room.
Finally got my ticket booked for Ladakh. Whopping 111 US dollars one way from Jammu/Kashmir. Not much for the typical Orchard shopper to spend on one shirt. But sure a fortune for an incomeless vagrant. Seems like the norm for people here to escape to Ladakh to avoid the monsoon weather in Dharamsala. Hence the flights are all full, and am glad to grab a seat at this last hour. Hope to find accommodation when I get there amidst acclimatization problems, then rushing to the empowerment event.

Hey, I have changed the comments setting, so now people can leave comments directly on my blog without having to mail me separately. For that you'll have to click on the individual blog links on the section to the right of your screen, which will display the individual entry then you can post a comment on the bottom.

I will try an email feed soon, so that just by subscribing to it you will be able to receive the blog in your email. like that no need to check all the time lah!

empowerments done

empowerments were finished yesterday at Gyuto Tantric University, we had tsog at the end of the whole event.

My cold is improving gradually, thanks to a secret recipe by friends - MO FAH KO! Wu Hua Guo in chinese, a commonly overlooked junk food that has amazing benefits for cold sufferers. Comes in little plastic bottles that grandmas used to buy along with dried plums and other preserved stuffs. I think MFK is a kind of fig, and apparently has cancer battling properties! My taiwanese friends gave them to me when I was having a cold coming on in Nepal, and it worked! Didn't need to take any nasty meds for my cold (except Ibuprofen which I took for my headaches). MFK helped to reduce the coughing, phelgm, fatigue and aching in the body. amazing....

Also been drinking leh berry juice, which is available in Dharamsala. Another wonder fruit, the drink is called leh berry because the berries are found growing predominantly in the Leh, Ladakh region of India. The actual name of the fruit is seabuckthorn. I think you can run a google or Wikipedia search on that. The fruit apparently has many healing properties also, and vitamins etc. Sure did help my cold!

The leh berry drinks in Dharamsala have different flavours, mixed with blackcurrant and apple and what have nots. But I prefer the original flavour, which I suspect has the highest content of seabuckthorn inside. This said because I feel stronger from drinking that as when compared to drinking the other flavours. So try it out when you come to India the next time. Especially those of you who forgot to bring your vitamins (esp C). It's only 65 rupees (2.25 sing) per regular carton. Dun forget to check out the expiry dates and get the freshest pack available though.

Another wonder cure I have found is the Wakamoto digestive aid from Japan. Don't think it is available in many places, but widely available in Taiwan. It comes in mini tablets which are supposedly live culture. Have heard of whole families that take them, ranging from the 2 year old kid to the 80 year old grandpa. Cures diarrohea, indigestion, constipation, bloating etc. All the usual stuff that people experience in third world country expeditions. Was just wondering how many of us at Amravati would have benefitted from that....

Dharamsala is packed with people...they say so many at this coming teaching that there is a possiblity of people not meeting each other at all during the event! But won't be as terok as Amravati, i think.

So here you go, yet another boring blog with nothing exciting or worth mentioning in my life. but maybe the secret recipes might be of interest to a few!

still surviving

hi folks,

still roughing it out today. cold is still progressing. took ginger tea last night and dried everything up, but i think too dry for comfort la. must be purification. lots of people pouring into town these days as holiness's teachings are about to start www.tibet.com

You can imagine the look on the indian tourist's faces as they see people from different nationalities dressed in different outfits. been stopped in my tracks and asked to pose for some shot snapping guy. (oh i think i hear our fellow singaporean indian amravatian kalachakrians: NOT AGAIN!)

Managed to hitch rides for yesterday and today and tomorrow's teachings. the resident geshe of Namgyal Monastery has a whole jeep to himself, and offered a ride to me. His name is Losang Dragpa (gee, where did i hear that name before....) and somehow I had translated for him when he was teaching a course in tushita centre up the hills. Thing is...I DON"T REMEMBER DOING THAT!!! Well i suppose it must have happened because they have pics of me and the course people posing with Geshela and CDs too! Evidence of a task i do not recall committing. Dangerous! I told you translation is hazardous work!

HI folks,

created this blog so that you can track my whereabouts without me having to mail you individually or reply your smses/text messages (roaming costs a bomb!). So keep checking back for further updates or boring snippets of what's happening.

Arrived in dharamsala now. After arriving in Delhi on Friday evening (16 June 2006), took a cab to railway station, stood in many lines to buy tickets, met my friend at 3 am (17 June 2006), went to queue in more lines again for tickets, boarded train at 5 am, stood till 9 am in train till we got seats, arrived in Jammu (near kashmir), hunted about with out luggages for a cab, then found one and arrived in dharamsala at 12 midnight. Phew!

Rested for a day on Sunday (June 18) , felt as though I have mild altitude reaction...fatigue and bloatedness. Still have it now...

Monday (June 19) went to Gyuto monastery to receive teachings from Kyabje Denma Lochoe RInpoche, one of Kyabje Zopa RInpoche's Gurus. Rinpoche will be tentatively visiting singapore this coming NOvember. Met up with Ven Sarah for tea, apparently on an indefinite break like myself. Felt an allergy attack during the day, eyes watering and itching, asthmatic and face bloating. Must be purification from the blessings during the day. Took antihistamine during the night and felt better this morning. Now feel as thought I am recovering from a cold. Weakness and stuffed nose. Face still like a balloon.