Travel Update: Leaving Town Again

One last hike while up in the mountains took me to St. John's Church of the Wilderness. What a way to say goodbye to this beautiful mountain town. It's hard moving on sometimes, and this is one place where I will always have a little piece of my heart.

The Church of the Wilderness brought up a lot of metta (love) for Christianity, despite it's flaws. And also I was feeling a lot of love for the contribution that religion has made to architecture. I think, maybe, spiritual architecture may be one of the coolest achievements of mankind!

So, I'm getting on a bus tonight - third class, government bus. I think it's hit or miss whether I will regret this or not. It's a 12 hour overnight ride - just hope I have a friendly seat-mate.

I will end up in Rishikesh at some point tomorrow morning, where I'll be staying for one night. I'm excited about Rishikesh, as it's where the Beatles went to study with the great Maharishi. There's a bunch of yoga, ashrams and hippies there now.

I'll spend one night there, and then I'm going through Hardiwar on my way out of town the next day - on an overnight train to Sattal for my retreat.

Haridwar is currently hosting the 2010 Kumbh Mella, which is said to be the largest spiritual gathering on the planet (sometimes up to 10 million pilgrims). I wanted to see it, but not really be in it. Too many crowds for my taste. So, I'm happy that I get to simply pass through for the day.

Let's hit the road!