About Samia Shalabi

Recent Posts by Samia Shalabi

Discovering Fab, India

We went to Fab India.. Is there really more to say.. 5 women at Fab India. Running around looking at all the cool stuff. Trying on clothes and getting excited about it all. We purchased our ‘items’ as an Indian would say and gathered into 2 rickshaws to go to the market…

Oh but before I forget, a sort of panicky thing happened. On our way to Fab India, we stopped at an ATM. The machine swallowed one of our cards. I ran into the bank and the first guy I talked to said. ‘Sorry Madam, the card is automatically destroyed’. A small, tinge of pain went through my body, but I knew better… So, I asked to talk to the manager. He said, “No problem Madam, the man will be here between 4 and 4:30, it is best if you come at 5 or 5:30. Your friend will need her passport and we will have the card.” Ok.. That was a much better answer.. And we were on our way to Fab India..

So.. After Fab India two rickshaws to the market.. Devaraj Urs market is spectacular, unless there are 5 Indian guys following you around with gourd flutes and small trinkets. We could not, for the life of us get rid of them.. So, we tried to ignore their insistence. We wandered through the fruit section, the flower section, the stainless steel kitchen items section, and of course the puja offering section. It was time to have lunch.

mmmm… Traditional thali at the Dasaprakash, of course, we all mmmmmm’d our way through the meal and that was that.

It was a busy day. One thing after the next. So we then went to the scarf shop and whirled our way through, making a thorough disaster, looking at so many things. We had to go though and meet Kumar and see his workshop so we took a rickshaw there, spent an hour with him, asking questions and seeing what he does. He had to leave. So we wandered through the goldsmith section of town and I tried to explain what I could of goldsmithing in India.

On India Temples & Palaces…

Our day was spent with Kumar, the master of many things, one of which includes, epic and amazing journeys. We took in a beautiful temple outside of Mysore India and then drove to Melkote, a region about 1.5 hours outside of Mysore. The main Temple at Melkote is a temple for Narasima, a lion God and incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Although, we are not sure exactly how old the temple is, it is nearly 2000 years old. In India, temples are built, on the highest spot, to be closer to the heavens. So, we climbed the well worn stairs to the top and were blessed by Narasima. The carvings at this temple were magnificent. The energy was strong and we all enjoyed a fresh coconut on our way back down.

Many people who are trying to have babies go to this temple at Melkote and pray to the God. If they then conceive they return and thank the God at the temple as well as at our next stop, Kalyani, a 2000 year old bath.. surrounded by stairs on four sides down to the bath. We sat there for a minute.. and rested. We saw babies being dipped in the blessed (and dirty green) water and the happy parents thanking their Gods for the blessings of their child.

From there we enjoyed a beautiful snack prepared by Kumar’s wife. Idly is a steam rice and lentil cake. We dipped it in coconut chutney and we mmmmm’d our way through.. This time Latha (Kumar’s wife made special pumpkin idly and it was fantastic).

We drove from there to a special spot with no name and no explanation, but kumar thinks they were going to build a temple there and never finished. It is a beautiful spot with intricately engraved columns. And, then onto Sri Rangapathnum to see another temple, this one to the Lord Vishnu, in his laying down form. It turned out to be an auspicious day. They had just dipped his entire body in butter and decorated him. I don’t know the significance, but there were hundreds of us there waiting in line for peak of Vishnu and his blessings…

We then had a cup of chai by the river, watching people dip there bodies in to receive her sacred treasures of healing and protection. Then to the summer palace of Tipu Sultan, the man who defended and protected the Mysore area!

On Gratitude: Shankranti, The Harvest Festival

This is is Shankranti, the harvest festival. A day to be thankful for the fruits of the labors of the cow. Kumar said, “We are worshipping the cow like our mother, because the cow gives us milk.”

Kumar suggested we walk part of the way down to the big Nandi Bull and he would pick us up. We agreed it was a fabulous idea. There are over 1,000 steps to get up to the top of Chamundi Hill. We did not climb them today, but it was fun to walk part of that path down to the sacred Nandi Bull (Shiva’s vehicle). Kumar was waiting there for us.

On we went to a spectacular event. The running of the ‘bulls’ of sorts. During Shankranti, people decorate their cows in honor of the festival and bring them to an event where the cows jump over the fire. We drove down from Chamundi to an open field and Kumar said, ‘Here we will see the cows jump over the fire’. So we parked and thought maybe we should leave and come back, but suddenly, we heard drums and 20-30 decorated cows proceeded around a corner running toward us.. We all kind of hid behind the car and the cows ran past us. It was totally amazing. We followed them into the field and took photos. They stood throughout the field in their colorful array of decoration. Kumar said to me, “Samia, shall we go to the rooftop?” The owner of the building across the street invited us up to the best view in the house.  After they lit the fire and the cows ran through, it was said and done in 1 minute and 45seconds.

India’s Shankranti 2012

Here is a short video of our experience of Shankranti, the harvest festival devoted to the cow.. thanking the cows for all they give us! Enjoy.

Koh Phangan: Luck of the Draw

I just spent 2 lovely (and kind of crazy) weeks on Koh Phangan, a Thai island. The energy there was strong. I thought I would be relaxing on the beach with some friends, but little did I know, we ended up spending many nights dancing til the sun came up. I think I’ve had my dose of that for a long while and am happy to be in India now.

But before I go into my India love. I must tell this story. I arrived in Bangkok the day before my departure to India. I wanted to wander a bit, see some temples, do the tourist thing (for a few hours at least). Just outside my guesthouse, a tuk-tuk (rickshaw) driver was sitting, I went up to him to discuss.. And out of nowhere a man came up and started talking all about Buddha week and how lucky it was to be here etc..

He asked if I had a map. I did. So I gave it to him. It was perfect because I didn’t really know where I wanted to go. He started numbering places on the map. First go here, from there go here and so on.. He marked several places which would add up to a nice day of touring. Perfect and all for $1 in the rickshaw. Wow. How could that be?? Only $1 for being driven around all day. I was a bit skeptical of this good news, but I went with the flow and knew if the energy shifted I could jump out. So.. first stop, Big Buddha. There is a huge standing Buddha just around the corner from my guesthouse.. and it’s not on the map. It was beautiful. Second stop.. Thai export showroom, this is where the glitch in the plan came, but it was fine. During this Buddha week, there are all these showrooms open and everyone can buy high quality jewelry and not have to pay tax. Plus the drivers get a coupon and make money taking people, like me to these places. It didn’t bother me, I thought it would be fun to look at the jewelry, it was ok. Totally not my style, but nice to look at. Next stop black Buddha, this was my favorite temple. It was serene and surrounded by many black Buddha’s, each Buddha was sitting in a different position representing something auspicious. I felt calm and excited at the same time. It was absolutely gorgeous. Next stop the Lucky Buddha.

Now this was amazing. It is only open to the public one day a year and it just happened to be the day I was there. It was non-descript and definitely not all fancy like all the other temples, there was only one man there, praying for good luck to his family. He spoke for a while telling me how lucky I am to be here today and that tourists never come here. I gave Buddha a little bow and did some prayers for myself and others and spoke to the man for a bit. He explained the subsidized driving and the export expo and Buddha week. He kept saying you are so lucky!

It’s true, I am a very lucky person. Go with the flow and let the feeling take me. That’s what I like to do. Traveling expands my being and I feel so lucky.. so very very lucky!

I Walked into a Buddhist Temple in Thailand and There She Was…

Last night, I arrived in Bangkok after a long journey from Seattle..  I only had one day in Bangkok, so what should I spend my day doing? I asked the owner of The Shanti Lodge (my guesthouse in Bangkok), if he knew of any good walking tours and he replied. “You should go to Koh Kret”. The word Koh, in Thai means island.

I hadn’t really thought of that before I embarked on my expedition, but it didn’t matter. I hopped on the express water taxi near my guesthouse and asked the conductor where I should get off. Once I disembarked, he lead me to a man with a half way buttoned up orange shirt, red eyes and no front teeth.. The photographer, talked to the orange shirted man for a few minutes and finally looked at me and said 600 baht..

My boat man arrived in a totally pimped out canoe, freshly painted red with a badass motor and a 4 foot exhaust pipe. I hoped in and we were off and 20 minutes later we arrived on Koh Kret.

It is beautiful. I arrived at a complex of Buddhist temples which I walked through and then wandered around the small walkways of this tiny island. The walkways connect homes. There are no streets and I could see the residents were still trying to make their way back from the destruction of the floods two months ago. It was an interesting place, very calm and quite nice.

I decided to enter one of the Buddhist temples to meditate. I sat there for a bit and suddenly..

There she was..

An older woman sat right next to me and took my hand and ran her fingers along the lines. She studied them for a bit, looked at me with her aging eyes and gave me a big toothless smile and a thumbs up. We proceeded to have a very lively conversation.. Not understanding a word the other said. She took my prayer beads and showed me how to use them. Then she counted to beads to make sure they were the right number. She took my hand again and looked at my palm..

Another thumbs up.

What more can I say?

We silently left and I helped her down the stairs.

I got back on the boat and we sped back to Bangkok.

The Backwaters of Kerala Sparks Magic On The Island

I heard about it 2 years ago. It had been in my mind since then. A quiet island in the middle of the backwaters of Kerala. This year, the opportunity arose and I took it.

I stayed on the island only 24 hours, but it seemed like it was days, as time completely shifted to something slower. The taxi dropped me off, and the dirver said to me, “you take canoe taxi to the other side.” We waited for a bit and a man in a hand carved canoe arrived from the other side of the water, we put my luggage in and paddled to the other side. I exhaled.

The island does not have roads, or even motorized vehicles. It is quiet and tranquil. It has walking trails and they weave in and out of rice paddies and waterways. I felt like I was in a different world, at a different time. It was so laid back and so wonderful.

I settled in, and they served us lunch, a beautiful tasty Keralan lunch. And yet again, I had to pinch myself. I had also heard the guesthouse led tours around the island and I wanted to take one. That evening we left on a wonderful 3 hour walk, learning about the plants, the culture of the island, the rice paddies, and much more. It ended with a canoe ride back to the guesthouse singing folks songs.

There is only one guesthouse on this island, it is still very very traditional. People take water taxi’s to get around and walk everywhere. It was an absolutely amazing experience and we are going here for the tour I am leading in January.

Inspiration: Teaching in North Kerala on the Shores of the Arabian Sea

For the last several days, I’ve been with my teacher and his family in a remote part of N. Kerala on the shores of the Arabian Sea. It’s been a wonderful, relaxing and very HOT (and humid) time.

Yesterday, we traveled to Thelacherri a city nearby, to deliver 3 pieces of gold jewelry Balan had made. To get there we walk along a palm lined path to the tiny winding road, catch an over packed bus to the main road and then another bus to the city. We got off the bus, took a rickshaw to the small goldsmith workshop of Balan’s (my teacher) brother. He did a little work for Balan and we took a short cut to Balan’s other brothers gold jewelry showroom.

This is where I would like to pause for a moment.. You see, sometimes this amazing experience becomes like any other day. And I need to really pinch myself to say no Samia, this is extraordinarily special. The magic hit me as we were taking a short cut to his other brother’s showroom. It was a small path between busy roads, along it were tiny goldsmith shops and one man sitting his shop sitting with his back against the wall weaving leather around a wooden drum. He was a drum maker. Something about the tranquility of the moment, the space and the light beaming into the space, made me squeal with excitement. I had to stop and sit with him for a few moments. It was beautiful, silent and sweet. It was the magic moment that popped me out of my mind and back into my heart. It was real and I am feeling so blessed.

We left the shop, found our way to busy road and sat with his brother and drank chai.

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