If your buttons can be pushed, what is the button? A button is a raw place the psyche is defending.

- Claudia Welch, Acupuncturist and Ayurvedic Physician

Eureka comes when mind chatter stops, we begin to listen and wisdom comes. When we are thinking, we aren't listening, we are unconscious. In the shower, let the stream of water touch the forehead, that is daily shirodhara and the mind is free.

I am drumming but without hands.
I am in asana but without a body.
I am singing but without a voice.
I am just dancing with my being,

-Joseph

p456, Ayurvedic Pharmacology & Therapeutic Uses of Medicinal Plants, Vaidya V.M. Gogte

Being in the moment comes without effort, without thought. Being with our feelings is different from thinking about our feelings. When the mind is without thought, we are totally open to receive whatever sensations are coming, right now. There is no thought of self in self realization.

said by Ram Dass in "Be Here Now"

I was sitting in Hong Kong airport, mid-march equinox, listening to ambient Frank Sinatra Christmas songs. With two meal vouchers in my pocket to a nice Chinese restaurant overlooking the hazy, humid, green tropical mountains of Hong Kong Island. It reminds me of Asheville in the summer. Yesterday was an adventure to say the least! As we watched mechanics repair the wing of our plane in Los Angeles, the clock slowly tick-tocked until I missed my connecting flight. Finally they changed planes and changed gates. But a broken down bus in front of the gate prevented the new plane from entering its parking spot. So they changed gates and buses again and gave us some free potato chips. One of the cross-eyed flight attendants pacified the crowd by singing love songs from the deep south.

Finally in the sky en route to Hong Kong, weather conditions rerouted us to Taipei for fueling (click here for how to avoid jet lag). I arrived at 1am, missed my connection to Bangladesh, and spent a restful nights sleep in a beautiful hotel right at the Hong Kong airport. The airline gave us a nice breakfast and I sat on balcony/garden outside my room enjoying the humid air. The moisture is refreshing after a few months of the high desert in Albuquerque.

Hong Kong airport is high tech, clean, and the architecture is beautiful, light and airy. Even though it’s cloudy I feel refreshed. There are fun shops without feeling like a mall. It’s cosmopolitan; I’ve seen people from all continents (except that only penguins live in Antartica). Best of all, I have two meal vouchers and there are lots of nice restaurants.

Here are the highlights of Hong Kong and four delicious days in Bangladesh.

Honey Dew Smoothie with Aloe Vera Jelly (HK Airport)

Other recipes coming soon:
Century Old Egg (HK Airport)
Ginger Chips (Westin Hotel, Dhaka)
Ginger Orange Juice (Westin Hotel Dhaka)
Bottle Gourd and Asparagus (Personal Creation!)