hi all.

just want to give y'all a heads-up on some of my goings-on . . .

on april 13 i'm scheduled to leave on a month-long trip to india . . . this is something i've always wanted to do, and am finally, before i get too old and frail, going to do it . . .

i'll be flying to delhi and then am planning to go north into the himalyan foothills where i expect to spend a couple of days in the dharamsala area (home of the exiled tibetan government) while i acclimate to the altitude, and them am either going further (and higher) into the mountains (toward the edge of the tibetan plateau) into the heavily tibetan buddhist ladakh area, or will head east toward darjeeling . . . i hope to take in varanasi (formerly benares) if i do head east . . . travelling alone and with no real itinerary, i plan to follow my intuition . . .

my desire is to see the himalaya in the light of crisp early morning, to visit buddhist and hindu holy places, to meet extraordinary (and ordinary) people and to come back with experiences and insights to share with my children and friends . . .

i will carry with me two or three small stones from our vortex here in yalaha and will place them where it feels right to do so, connecting the energy between here and there . . . to complete the circle (and if it feels right), i will bring back with me to yalaha a stone or something similar . . .

i had hoped to publish the next issue of yalaha! magazine before i left but don't feel business-wise it's smart to publish and not be here to properly distribute and represent, so i will publish the next issue after i return home . . . i had hoped by now there would be more than just me working on the magazine, but that has not been the case, perhaps the timing has not been just right (for me and for others), perhaps that will change in the near future . . .

if all goes according to plan, i'll return home on may12 after a short (1.5 days) stay in paris.

while in india i do expect to visit internet "cafes"where i'll be able to dash off emails letting you allknow what's happening. emails will be received not from this yahoo mail account but from one i've set up just for this trip,it is mwguv@yahoo.com -- the name is an odd one, it stems from a private joke louise and i share, so if you want to write private email to me while i'm away, mwguv@yahoo.com is the place i'll see it.

so that's it . . . i had this trip planned once before (two years ago) and opted to ditch at the last minute to attend wil's graduation from elementary school (yes, a happy day!!). this time, with 13 days to go, i've just gotten my shots and it looks like full speed ahead.

mark

ps, travel tidbits, personal experiences and advice gladly accepted