Sasank's posterous

The Medicinal Homestretch

With two days left, my treatments are just about wrapping up. Over the last few days, there's been a rice massage in the morning. It starts off with a very short oil massage, after which you're massaged with bags containing milk-cooked rice and herbs. By the time they're finished, you're coated with a mud-like rice mixture that cools and helps strengthen your muscles. Or maybe now that I've been fully marinated, they're starting to bread me - I'm not sure yet.

In the afternoon, I've been getting an oil enema (yes, it is as unpleasant as it sounds), and more sirodhara (oil dripped across the forehead). It looks like from here on out, I'll just have the rice massage and the sirodhara, and then Saturday morning we leave. Somehow, they manage to keep you relatively busy all day - morning tea, then breakfast, then morning treatment. Then there's lunch, the afternoon massage, afternoon tea, yoga, dinner, and of course bedtime. There's enough free time though that we're all starting to get antsy.

It's been surprising how tiring the treatment is. It's definitely doing something to the body beyond just massage. At some point during the treatment, all three of us have felt sick, presumably as the toxins make their way out of the body. We'll see how we feel in the days after we leave. But for now, I'm looking forward to seeing India again, to seeing my grandma's house for perhaps the last time, and to spending time with family. And did I mention eating real indian food? Treatment center food is pretty bland, so I will soon be stuffing my face silly!

Meditating at the Tip of India

Travel back in time with me, Good Reader, and watch the spilled milk slowly hop back into your goblet - not too far, just a couple of days after my arrival to India. At some point, I'll post my actual itinerary, but for now I offer a multitude of curry and chai to the first person who puts it all together. 

Kanyakumari was the first highlight of the India portion of my trip. Sitting at the southernmost tip, it's rife with symbolism (the only place in India that you can watch the sun rise and set over the ocean at the same point) and spirituality (one of the rocks is said to bear the footprint of a goddess). And so it makes an amazing place to stop, sit and reflect with the warmth of the sun and a cooling ocean breeze - as Swami Vivekenanda did in deep meditation for two days straight. Just off the tip lies two small islands, one bearing a temple and memorial to Swami Vivekenanda, the other with the statue of a Tamil poet. Unfortunately, the latter was closed, but we had plenty of time to explore the temple and memorial.

Perhaps just as impressive, the government does an excellent job of keeping it well-maintained, keeping order among the thousands of people that visit it each day, and seems to genuinely care about the visitor experience. Highly recommended.

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Steam and the dreaded PuRgATion!1!

The treatment's started to change up a little bit over the last couple of days. Yesterday, I had a shortened oil massage followed by a steam bath in a contraption similar to the one in the pictures. Came out of feeling great! 

Today, I was awoken at 6:30am to take a sweet, spicy, thick spoonful of tar-y goo which has proceeded to empty out the digestive tract. As you can imagine, not the most pleasant of days, but it marks the transition of my treatment from detoxification to rejuvenation. My first rejuvenative treatment was a dripping oil across the forehead (see pic below). The oil slowly drips as the lamp sways from left to right. It feels a bit like a light massage, if said massage was given by, say, a jellyfish - without all the stinging and what have you. Definitely felt good, and looking forward to having it again when I'm back to 100%.

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Getting the hang of the loin cloth

After getting to India, we spent a week traveling around Kerala (pics coming hopefully), and now have spent the last few days at an Ayurvedic treatment center. I'm going all out of order now, but Dear Reader, you're subject to my whimsical fancy, so sit back and listen as I weave tales ancient and current about the Indian system of medicine known as Ayurveda. 

So what is Ayurveda? Go ask the Wikipedia, it can probably tell you better than me. Instead, I'll focus more on the oily massages and herbal concoctions which comprise Panchakarma. The theory seems to be pretty straightforward. Your body purges water-soluble waste easily, but tends to absorb and retain oil-soluble waste. Panchakarma is a detoxification process which saturates you with medicated oils in order to release all these toxins.

Day to day, this has so far translated to a morning massage. With oil. Lots and lots of oil. So much oil in fact that when the masseuses need to adjust my position on the table, they just slide me around like a hockey puck. It's a one-hour long two-masseuse extravaganza, and it feels fantastic if you can get past the feeling of being basted. Did I mention that you wear a loin cloth while this is going on? There will be no pictures. 

In the afternoon, I've been getting steam inhalation, followed by, you guessed it, oil - this time up the nose, to clear out my sinuses. 

I'm not sure what other treatments are involved over the next 8 or 9 days. There's supposed to be some stress relief and relaxation treatments coming up. And at some point, all these toxins need to be expunged from the body. Let's just say I haven't asked too many questions about that yet. I'll post daily updates on what's going on, but won't be broadcasting to Twitter or Facebook, so check back if you're interested in following the play by play. 

Why I Love Singapore (aka This Is Why I'm Fat)

Because clearly and simply, Singapore is a literal melting pot of already rich food cultures. Also, Yinj makes me eat like a horse. Sample itinerary:

Breakfast (11am) 
- Lamb murtabak
- Teh tarik

Lunch (12:30pm)
- Fish head curry
- Hainese chicken (dessert apparently)

Dinner (7pm)
- BBQ stingray
- Chicken and lamb satay
- Chicken wings
- Char kway teoh
- And I can't remember what I else, because I'm pretty sure I passed out at that point

(PS - apologies for the overly narrow depth of field - I'm still working on this camerificatin business)

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I survived Hell's Gate and all I got were these lousy photos...

(had issues posting these earlier, but better late than never...)

Survived camping in Hell's Gate despite: 1) Almost getting caught in a storm (thank you Europeans!) 2) Not bringing enough water 3) Or enough food 4) Hyenas in our campsite (that is one creepy creepy laugh) - luckily we had a cute sounding critter hanging out with us all night protecting us Here's a few teaser pics -- it's hard to take pictures of animals!

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