Hello, Namaste!

I'm here! I live in a house (which is discussed in blog #1) with Chef Simone. We're working on a few excellent projects. We're developing the interior sculptural layout of a Bar in town, as well as an exterior terrace restaurant. We're also developing a networking platform to promote the synergistic qualities among different fields, developing retreats to promote this synergy, and contacting ambassadors to write on their fields of expertise. We also dance, adventure, and play with the downstairs neighbor's dogs. Life is good, and India is an easy place to visit and stay. Cheap, friendly, and beautiful. They say "India Changes people! You may hate it, you may love it - but you'll never forget it..." Come visit! (Or at least visit my on my blog!)

Ahh, The Sky!

Hello friends,

its been absolutely beautiful here in Manali as of recent. The sky has been clear and morning hikes have been lovely. I've never felt quite this good in my body. A few days ago we hiked to the top of a mountain near by - sat on a big rock, and I could see the big, rocky himalayas laying beyond our wussy grassy mountainous foothills. It was really lovely. Then I showed simone a waterfall I had found a few days before, about a four hour hike, all in all - but incredible. The vista is clear and perfect, and the water is fresh. Privately tucked up into the hillside, at least 500 meters up from where anyone travels, it is completely sacred feeling. I washed and sunbathed on the rocks, overlooking the hills. Nice.

This morning I hiked out to Vaschist for another bath. Had breakfast with Chhape, and enjoyed an apple, picked fresh off of our apple tree. The sun was out, I saw a woman on her porch combing and braiding her daughters hair, and by the time I hiked back all the children were walking through the mountain trails to school. I was the blonde one in the middle of the pack.

Have had a chance to spend some more time roaming about and making some friends. Got to spend a little more time with the Italian guys from the soccer courts - and Marco took me on another motorcycle ride... I'm getting to be a better passenger! I've now made enough good friends with motorcycles that I'm training myself to be prepared to take a tour with one of them... riding on the back. Eventually, I'd like to learn how to drive one, but I'm being patient with that longing!

In terms of work and such, it's been a pretty eventful week. I had an interview with the founder of Boticca (www.boticca.com) an online independent designer shop - promoting awesome designers in fashion, handbags, jewelry, accessories, etc. Anyhow, his partner is helping her mom with a Gallery in Paris - so I'm working to get my portfolio in order to share with her! We're interviewing them to feature them on the networking site - and they are going to be contributing some content for us! It's always great to find partners in our venture - find people who are ultra motivated and want to collaborate... it's so encouraging!

I also have organized an interior sculpture for Manali! While the first bar I came over here to work on is a bit on the backburner, I decided to search out other opportunities. I will be doing an installation in my favorite Restaurant (with my favorite owners!) Drifter's Inn come October!

Also, Alistair (simone's boyfriend and our 3rd business partner) got in town yesterday. I went out for a walk - and the whole house was turned upside down! They rearranged all of the furniture, and it looks really great. So the buzz is alive.

Also, I'll be out of town for a bit on business. Keep a look out for words from the road!

Don't leave til next week, but I don't know if I'll post again before then - so - just FYI!

OH YEAH!

And, My roommate from College, Ms. Sarah Starr was published in Newsweek recently, please check out the following http://www.newsweek.com/id/210895?tid=relatedcl its on our college experience - well done my dear friend!

Well, All, BIG LOVE

and a HAPPY HOG ROAST TO THE HOOVLER CLAN!

AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA MARY!

ahh, the lovliness!

Zoe

A Puppy! A Phone! A Fall Down the Mountain!

Yep. All of those, in two days!

Yesterday was a very exciting day... all mostly related to P's:

Power went out, so we went to town and took a lovely walk. Where, I bought

Paintbrushes! To continue my watercolor work, nothing final done yet, but sketches up at my new art site: http://www.society6.com/ZoeLive... then we came home, and found a really adorable

Puppy! It was so cute! so, we took it in. It whined, wailed, and peed all night, so this morning we returned little Yogi back to the forest, after realizing that right now: we're too busy and too preoccupied to care properly for the little tike. and, we need our sleep.

Also yesterday I got a Phone! not that I recommend you calling it, because it'd probably be expensive, but if you need the number, mom has it (and a few various others, sarah, dan etc); so you can reach me in case of a USA emergency... or an India one, too, I guess.

So today I woke up, and it was really beautiful outside. Really clear, some nice puffy clouds around the caps of the mountains, and I decided I wanted to take a hike. I met some other foreigners along the way, and we took a lovely 4 hour hike to an amazing waterfall. On the way, simone gave me a buzz on my spankin new phone (which is really just her old phone), and I, being a first time trek-and-talker, was a little distracted when the land started to fall out from under my feet. I tumbled down the mountain (mountains are hard, by the way), and bummed out my knee a bit. I was still able to walk home, but it is bruised and swollen and sad.

Now I'm just sitting here doing some work - having some popcorn (simone mis-estimated how many kernals to put in the pan, and we ended up with a kitchen full of popcorn).. and finishing some things before bed. Tomorrow, friends from Delhi arrive (with new watercolor brushes & paper in hand!) and we're planning for a dinner @ the Italian place in town... nice!

Big Love from Mother India,

To Shoja! To Jailori!

Hello! Namaste! Greetings!

It's been a little bit, and not for a bad reason: we left town! I left four days ago to go to breakfast with a friend of ours that was visiting, Subash. You may remember Subash from the grand drinking fest that was my first night in Delhi. Well, Mr. Subash came to visit. We went for breakfast, and accidently left town for 3 days.

After a lovely meal at Johnsons (my favorite food in Manali), we met up with Hemroj, Subash's friend, and the owner of Ishaan Resorts: the owner of the restaurant/bar proposal. Well, Subash, Hemroj and Simone decided we'd better take an adventure, and that we should drive somewhere out of Manali to see the beauty of the mountains. Besides the constant chain smoking in the car, I was more than excited to get in a little new-site seeing...

So we hopped in the Car, and Hemroj called some people. An amazing talent of Indian people: give them a cell-phone and a challenge: and they can create something out of nothing "no problem!" Hemroj knew some people working for the Government - and India has this terrific (for us, anyway) deal where Government Officials have permanent reservations on these houses in their districts. The ones in the mountains are called "Forest Rest Houses". Anyway, only govt people can stay here, or their guests. We were invited to stay at a really lovely FRH near Shoja... a very high mountain town. The FRH was really nice, clean, with a huge lawn. It was next to this really beautiful village, in which and of which we took many pictures.. a few for you:

This is Hemroj in front of our Lovely Abode.

Simone, Hemroj, Subash. I love this photo. They were trying to call back the "driver-ji" to tell him to get lemons. No one got up, but everyone was actively involved in the calling.

Some boys from the village near the house.

lousy exposure, but a veiw of the village from the lawn of the rest house.

Look at the sweet little ladder! I loved this! We climbed over that ladder, down to the river, and back up the hill on the left hand side to get to the village. You can sort of see the village from this picture.

Anyway, after the trek to the village, we came back, had dinner, beer, etc. And went to bed. The next morning, Simone and I were interested in taking a walk. The men wanted to go to Shoja and then drive to Jailori pass. Shoja was "only 5km or less" so we decided we'd walk there, and meet them. So we started walking. Turns out, it was a decent bit further than 5km, and perhaps more importantly: it was certainly not a flat hike. Shoja was approx. 1500 meters up from the Rest house. I was weary with 3 km to go. But then, I had some space, and the clouds started moving in. I'll share with you breifly the words that passed in my mind then:

I'll not choose because of Fear,

How do the heaviest things

seem to rise the highest?

How is it possible, that so much mass

accumulates so high

That the world lives with such mass

That I live with such mass, underfoot.

I'll not make my choices because of fear.

From Here, the Clouds and Mountain tops

shift and collide,

and become indistinguishable.

The vacancy of truth falls into the valleys of the

himalayas,

the Strength of Millions of Tons

Of Rock

and Millions of Miles

of grass.

There are people Milling the fields,

terraced farms, built on inclines impassable by motor

or by machine

Each morsel of land that is tamed

can only be tamed by hand

Less, it runs untamed. And I

a simple observer

seeing shapes shifting in the sky,

my legs only another trunk

of millions plunging into the earth

another conduit, springing life

up and out of the incredibly massive

incredibly heavy

rock of the earth.

Shortly after reaching Shoja, the monsoon started. We sat in a little cafe and had soda water with lemon. We couldn't find the Men. And, between the Monsoon + The total isolation.... there was no cell-phone signal (I know, gasp, startling, etc... but for some reason, we hadn't thought twice about having signals in one of the highest village in the region). We looked around, and there was no finding the men. So, we decided to start hiking up... toward Jailori Pass. Well, it was 2 km into THAT wicked steep hike, when we finally got a little cell-phone reception. There was a great deal of confusion, we ended up hiking up to 9000m high, and then took a little hitchhike to the top of the moutain. We were pretty much stuck up at the Jailori pass, we found the driver, but he had not had any contact with Hemroj or Subash. The Clouds were so thick they enveloped the mountain. We were standing on top of a mountain, and literally all you could see was white in every direction. It was difficult to see across the road. People and Cows would emerge from the white void and into my vision, It was amazing, and strange. There was nothingness in my eyes: just whiteness all around. And, if I got close enough, I could also see this beautiful Temple. I took some pictures, but they arent great --- because it was SO misted in WHITE!

Temple at Jailori Pass... beautiful!

This was our omlette walla (walla means "guy"), he made us yummy omlette, and also tasty Rojma (kidney beans).

Misty Cows Emerging from the great white beyond.

This picture was taken at the beginning of our hike! Neat donkeys - no one in sight to be directing them, just walking along the road. Also, to the side of this, there was a funeral and all the local villagers were building a huge funeral pyre in the river. Amazing.

After 4 hours, eating yummy omlets and rice & Dal, the Men finally reached our driver on the cellphone.

It was raining pretty wildly, we were all exhausted, lost and wet. We travelled through the rain on the scariest roads I've ever been on in a car. I was pretty ambivalent about whether I was going to live through the day at all. We made it back to semi-solid land, eventually - thankfully! We found a guest house, Doli Guesthouse, and the guy rented us a lovely cottage in a sunflower field. The next morning, we came home. My tummy was aching from too many windy roads and funny indian foods & water. I've been in a minor recovery since! This morning we went over to Vischist to scout out Yoga Retreat hotels... that went pretty well, and I've been inside enjoying the rain the rest of the day... and my tummy is almost back to normal.

This is me! Finally in the dry warmth of the Doli Guesthouse! Whew! I think I'm laughing, but it's hard to tell...

Also: I just wanted to tell you all that I've gotten inspired to start sharing all the beautiful things I'm seeing and finding in India. I want to buy all of it and bring it back to the states (or wherever you may be), but I simply don't have the dough or baggage space to do so! So, instead, I decided I would post beautiful things I find here, and can act as a sort of 'personal shopper' abroad. I've started a separate blog for this purpose: http://welltraveledwonders.blogspot.com -- I'll try to feature objects that I find that have a great story, a unique attribute, or are just really great indian businesses to promote. Today I found awesome eco-friendly sketchbooks.. they are beautiful! And for $2-$7 (depending on size), you can have one! Anyway, they are produced by the Tibetan Refugees, and really lovely. But, I'll be adding more things as I find them!

Oh! I'm twittering now, if you're into that kind of thing: @ZoeLive, and @TraveledWonders

Anyway! It's been a crazy, wonderful, insane last few days - and I'm ready for bed!

Keep well, Be Well,

and Much Love from The valley of the Gods.

Waiting for Photographs

But still they haven't come!

It's not that they are on their way, it's that I thought I'd be taking some - but, alas, I haven't.

I also was waiting to tell you about this crazy adventure we were going to go on - and then, well, we didn't do that yet either! So finally, I'm just going to send a little update!

Well I've not mentioned it yet on this blog, because I've been working really like mad on it - but actually we've adopted a different project than the restaurant for a little while. We have the basic sketches drawn up for the bar, and are waiting on financial figures to be figured on fingers than arent ours. So: alas, we have time to put our energy elsewhere.

And thank goodness! Basically since I've arrived it's been full throttle on a seperate project. We're developing a global networking site focused on bringing people who are engaged, inspired and wanting to do or doing good work in the world together. It's sort of like facebook, but with many more collaborative capabilities. The software was developed by some guys in Canada, and by a long line of "right places right times" sort of deals, I have become part of the essential launching/visionaries for the project. The network is sustained through a number of communities, created, maintained, and supported through us. The communities are Culture & Travel, Outreach Work, Wholistic Food & Cooking, Yoga, Natural Healing, Green Solutions and ... of course: The Creative Arts! My appointment has been as the Creative Arts director, so I'm having a fabulous time contacting artists all over the world, for collaborative efforts and designing a promotional video. I've also been a strong part of the Creative Marketing team for sending out press and information, as well as doing all the graphic design for the network. The network is planned to launch in October... and many of my ventures recently came as a result of my work - which is why I am choosing to share it with you now!

So, Last wednesday (I think), We had friends here from Delhi. Akhyl and Elizabeth had just gotten married and were on part of thier Honeymoon. Elizabeth is a emergency and disaster medicine expert, who has done alot of work here in Asia, espcially with the Tsunami. She lives in NY most of the time, as she just finished her Residency with Columbia. Anyway, since they were here: we all got massages - then, since we were so oily- we went to Vaschist for the hot spring baths. Always an adventure in Vaschist! There was a big, town-wide wedding, which meant the temple was closed for cooking - and people lined the streets for eating (this is the traditional way). The Women's bath is in the Temple, so we were feeling discouraged. Then we found the men's outdoor public bath. Women are typically not allowed. Well, we were greasy and oily and really wanted a bath - so we went in anyways. Two british guys were sitting there and one said something like "it seems the ladies have gotten a bit confused!" and I turned and sort of barked, "No, We're not confused! We're just Dirty, and there's no bath for us!" "Ahh yes, of course, well come on in then! Take a Dip!" And thus the beginning of a lovely friendship.

The Brits are actually motorcycle tour guides for the Himalayas. They have been guiding trips here for 3 years, and live wherever along the way, but mostly near by Manali and Vaschist. We talked about creating a retreat through the network, promoting travel/culture with perhaps photography - who wouldnt want to ride through the himalaya's and take photos?! Now all we needed was a good photographer. Anyway, the Brits offered us a motorcycle ride - which is what I was waiting so long for to write ... but Simon had to get a root canal, so now those plans are a little on hold!

So we were left without plans on Saturday (was to be the day of our motorcycle ride), and decided to go for a walk. We ran into this group of three guys from Delhi who spoke immaculate english. Turns out: they'd studied in Canada for quite some time, but now were living and working in Delhi. I asked what they did - they were a creative team! Salman, 24, is a freelance photographer here, and Sid (short for Siddhartha) is his producer. Danish does all the financing and also works in Advertising. Salman's photos were incredible. He'd just done a shoot for Harper's Bazaar, and the images were pretty amazing. It was nice to be around intelligent, creative, inpired, english speaking people my age! Anyway, we also talked about lots of great collaboration things for the network. Salman does some great work in Delhi with a large photography group... so the possibilities are endless.

Anyhow, we spent a couple days working and playing with Salman, Danish, and Sid. Then they went back to Delhi... back to the wicked HEAT.

We, on the other hand, took yesterday morning as a great chance to go up the river and swim in a pool there. It was SO cold, it was like taking an icebath when I used to play soccer. Maybe worse. Wicked chilly but so entirely wonderful. It felt good to my aching muscles, and the sun was out and hot. If I could put a feeling into words, so that you could have it too, I'd send you the feeling that I had after coming out of the water. My whole body was revived, it was like emerging from a cocoon - or shedding a skin. Everything tingled and was wonderful.

No pictures, sorry sorry! But hopefully soon! Perhaps Salman will send some from their time here... then I can put some up! Nice Yoga this morning, and a trip to town tonight, and a meeting with the owner of the hotel in which we're designing the restaurant/bar give good evidence that every day will continue to be a discovery.

Much love from the "Valley of the Gods"

Zoe Live

About

A blog for all the wonderful travels and adventures I'm having. Documenting incredible people, places, and experiences in an effort to share the wealth of richness that is here in India with the rest of the world!

Hello, Namaste!

Ahh, The Sky!

A Puppy! A Phone! A Fall Down the Mountain!

To Shoja! To Jailori!

Waiting for Photographs

Zoe Live

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