ok so in fairness I took this photo about a week ago, but with the slash and burn tactics in the jungles around town the sky is getting worse and worse that I'll have to settle for this as my last beautiful sunset over the Mekong. What I planned to be 1 month in Laos quickly escalated into more… and now 11 months later I'm packing up and heading to Bhutan. I've had an amazing time and and found myself in situations I didn't plan for. Making great friends, having a few doggie nephews who i love deeply, working teaching yoga for a top hotel and having their guests LOVE IT! (not to mention traveling to other locations with the company), finding a very cute and caring girlfriend, and, well… being here for so damn long. But now as my time approaches I must leave it all behind… at least for now.
Today I couldn't find my japa mala (the string of 108 beads i wear around my wrist for prayers of a sort). I was looking hard for it and then resigned to the fact that it may be gone and time for me to move on. How fitting of a situation to find myself in when I am forced to deal with non attachment of my life here. My life, like my mala, is what it is. nothing more nor less. when it's time to go, it's time and that is it. And so I will work on my non-attachment and move forward. though saying goodbye to people (and dogs) and a life you've lived for nearly a year is much harder than saying goodbye to a semi-sacred item of yours.
...and what of my mala disappearance. turns out my friend's sister some how got the mala placed into her purse before she left for Vientiane today. She said she'd mail it back to me but I think it more fitting for her to take it and use it and for me to move on and find a new mala. Further cementing this notion is that she just bought a Vietnamese buddha (which is very different than a Thai or Lao one) and my mala was bought in Hoi An, Vietnam last year. They belong together, and I belong wherever my new direction will take me.
safe travels!
ReplyDelete