It's Surreal

Ten days here, and I'm beginning to feel it's almost surreal. 

I kind of have this feeling of being far removed from reality. Everything is just so very different, and unlike anything I've known..... like all senses and even ones cognition, being overwhelmed by new experiences.

The people, the language, the landscape, the flora, the fauna, the volcanoes, the ocean.......and that there are no animals. I mean, with a backyard as lush green as this and no snakes, in fact no snakes anywhere on the island, like not even one....just no animals. There's only mongoose and rats and even those brought in through human contact, otherwise no animals on the islands at all.

For now, I felt this surrealism, at one level got represented in the botanical gardens we visited the other day. The board at the entrance reads 'A beautiful garden in a valley on the ocean' .

I hadn't read that before I walked in, and walking through that thick, luscious, tropical, landscape to suddenly reach the ocean.....was so unreal. Even the flowers, be it the orchids or the ferns, they just seem more alive.

It felt like out of 'Alice in Wonderland'.... after drinking the magic potion.

Here's pictures, and there's many of them :)

It's not anything like a garden....it's natural thick forest, paved through, and also planted with some exotic orchids and flowers.

There's these really tall trees, all with these other creepers growing on them....parasites, sargophytes.....whatever kind.....there's all kinds here.

Strange looking flowers huh

Look at these orchids

There were so many which seemed so not like flowers, look closely and its like they have animal features

Thick overgrowth there

Bablu and Sailesh as we were walking around

This flower inside looked like an alien, it's hard to tell in the picture but it sure was creepy looking

Bablu and me on the walk

More orchids. Sailesh said it best, he said "there's a different kind of consciousness that's manifesting in these plants...it's almost at a different stage of evolution kinds". That was beautifully put. He's a chiropractor by profession and guess he understands these things more intuitively.

How weird is this one....the middle was like thick rubber and two petals like pretty gauze paper

Mushrooms growing on the tree

Just green stuff

 A local god, and us

First sighting of the ocean

Proper view of the ocean

Us chilling by the ocean front

One of my favorite pictures, looking up at the sun through the palms, just see how tall they are

And another favorite where I caught a nice splash of wave

Spending time in the botanical garden was like a natural energizer... Diksha said it had become one of her favorite spots in Hilo...she's already been twice, and Bablu apparently goes there quite regularly. Can totally get why.....it seems to enable a natural deeper connect with yourself.