As I just got installed in my hammock (graciously given to me by Alex: merci!! je l'adooore :) with the laptop, we heard another huge THUD. A coconut dropping to the grown, only meters away. We keep wondering whether a human could survive that kind of impact on his/her head...

Yeah, this is not written from Bhutan. Right now I have a view of turquoise-white water, so light that it totally melts together with the blue-white color of a lightly covered sky. We can't perceive the border between the water and the sky, just like the skin can't perceive a difference of temperature between the air and the water as we wade. Only a dozen of palm trees, some aloe-like plants, Raphael on a chair with a novel, an old rented Bajaj vespa, and my foot resting on our balcony are between me and the water. R just passed me an old t-shirt to whipe the sweat off of my face.

This is the Andaman islands. A sudden turn of events... We met the Lama (name) in Siliguri. Actually, as it turns out, the title of Lama is an inherited one (often not much to do with being a monk), a title of honor or nobility. That explains why he had had no problem with telling a white lie to the government re. our « long standing friendship » (i.e. a key criteria to be afforded an invitee visa instead of a tourist visa). So, xxx explained that ever since the kingdom of Bhutan became a democracy, it has become increasingly costly to obtain a invitee visa (normal toursit visas cost 200$ per day per person). So, if we still want to go there, we have to come as his guests, with him functioning as a tour operator and guide (accompanying us everywhere, providing all food and lodging). After some discussion, he agreed to a price of 150$ for all of us per day (with all costs covered)......... This might seem affordable in Western terms, but around here it's a fortune (and also in terms of our one-year budget). Also, if we did agree to these conditions we still had to wait 10 days to hear back from the relevant government office to know whether the visa was in fact granted. What to do? Paie ton Lama? Paie ton Bhoutan? Anyway if we did decide to go, to be stuck in the noisy crossroads city of Siliguri for 10 days waiting for an answer was absolutely not an option. What to do?

So we went on internet for tickets and on the same day we found ourselves on a cheap flight towards Kolkata – and the next day on a plane to the Andaman islands....... So here we are. It took our minds and bodies over 24 hours to adjust (this is diametrically opposite to Bhutan!!) but now... mmmmmm....

After the change of plans, I was worried, at first, because my mind had come to associate the spiritual exaltation of the past weeks, with the purity of the mountain enviroment. It has indeed been an incredibly joyfull and peacefull time, a feeling of « THIS is why we went for this trip », a peace within and with Raphael that I have probably never experienced before. Just the gift of being incredibly close to the beauty of the present moment, and a delicious distance from negative mind patterns and enprisonment in past and future. Like grace. Like Vipassana without the retreat. A loving atmosphere, and a reinstored link with the spiritual dimension that was more or less lost from me the last 5-6 years. During that time, knowing very well that I had become « out of touch » I kept thinking it was something I had to « find back to », seek, deserve, merit, work hard for. When in fact, it was there all the time, it IS there all the time (just as the sun is always there although clouds or night might take it out of sight for a while). It's not about « getting closer to a goal », just about remembering what's already there, deep beneath the levels of mental conditioning and hang-ups and the ego's search for external sources of happiness.

So it is a lovely confirmation to see that the sun is still shining, even away from the power of the mountains :) The Now is still deliciously wonderful :) And if it doesn't feel like that anymore, it's not that I've « lost » something, just that I've « forgotten » :)

The kids have adjusted too. Noam has AGAIN found kind locals to help him fish. With nets and lines like they use here, not rods like in Pokhara. The Indians and Nepalese love kids, it's so wonderful. Not only do they enjoy hanging out with them. It seems like they enjoy discovering the « human » side to the whole travellers' world. They get such a kick out of seeing our kids fight or whine! ;-D How to say... As R puts it, their image of us must be quite weird... All these people that spend their days taking it easy, eating and drinking chai, talking and laughing, swimming and doing handicraft, reading tons of books, doing yoga and meditation and dancing, playing music and jamming for hours –- they must think this is what our lives are always like! That we're so rich, that this is how we live back there in the West too! Then, somehow, when our kids are grumpy and whining or pulling each others' hair (or when I complain about how quickly all of Noam's dirty t-shirts get dirty), they laugh and laugh and there's a totally new kind of connection established with them. I love travelling with kids! It helps to get closer to the people around here, in a totally new way.

We went snorkling out on a distant island yesterday and I have never seen anything like those coralls and the life in there... The colors and richness of life were breathtaking – R that has been snorkling in the Maldives, Indonesia, and Malaysia said that even he hadn't either seen anything like it. Amazing!! It's really peaceful and simple here – we're happy to be able to enjoy this place before the new International Airport is constructed (and the mass tourism industry discovers what a pearl there is here...). Love and hugs to you all from here***