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Full payment to be made by Jan 1, 2011. Refunds will be made up to two months prior to date of departure. Initial deposit will be 50% refunded. No refunds after February 17, 2011. |
Please join Stu and Sandi for a week immersed in wonders – all taking place at Basunti, a private lakeside
retreat center sitting at the heart of a wildlife reserve, surrounded by water, with commanding views of the Himalayas.
Here are the details:
Accommodations and Prices:
Each room has two twin beds and a private bath. A shared room (with one other person) is $695 per person for 6 nights. A private room is $1045 for 6 nights. Prices include all meals and as much (or as little) yoga and meditation as you desire. Basunti is a small resort, and its use will be exclusively for you and the other members of this group during your stay. All yoga equipment (i.e., mats, blocks, blankets, etc.) will be provided. Throughout the week, live music will add to the yoga and dining experience, as Stu finely blends his guitar with the sights and sounds of nature's surrounding symphony.
Dining at Basunti is supervised by David Butterworth, a co-founder of Neal's Yard Bakery and Restaurant of London. He will be serving Indian village vegetarian cuisine with a number of Western dishes. Much of the fruit and vegetables are grown organically in the garden. Fresh juices are made from the garden's fruit trees. Fresh bread and cakes are baked on site each day. Meals are served buffet style on the spacious verandas or in the lounge of the main house. Alcohol is available for purchase separately.
Wi-fi internet access is available on the veranda of the main house.
When not yoga-ing, there is hiking, birdwatching, canoeing, swimming, angling, napping, reading, tea-sipping, and luxuriating to be had.
When feeling adventurous, you can choose from day excursions to temples, shrines, monasteries, fortresses, villages, islands and, yes, even markets, for those souvenirs....
Location:
Far from the bustling cities, Basunti sits in the northwest corner of India, lying in the western edge of Kangra Valley in the hill state of Himachal Pradesh. The nearest towns are Pathankot (just over the border in the Punjab) and Dharamsala, the administrative center of Himachal Pradesh.
Getting There:
The nearest internal airport is in Dharamsala, approximately two-and-a-half hours from Basunti. There are daily 90-minute flights from Delhi via Kingfisher Airways to Dharamsala.
The nearest international airport to Basunti is Amritsar, which has direct flights from London and Toronto plus internal flights from Delhi and Mumbai. This route offers an opportunity to spend a night in Amritsar to visit its golden temple. Transfer to Basunti is approximately three hours.
Basunti is accessed best by four-wheel-drive vehicles. Transfers in and out will be arranged by the hosts. See below for further information on transfers.
By rail and road:
Chakki Bank near Pathankot is the nearest rail station serviced by an overnight sleeper train from Delhi, leaving at 9 PM the night before and arriving at 7 AM the next day. Alternatively, there are day-time trains. The transfer from Chakki Bank to Basunti is 90 minutes. As an alternative rail connection, there is a five-hour express train between Delhi and Amritsar followed by a three-hour road journey.
Weather:
Average temperature in mid-April is 80 degrees, with little to no rainfall. The average low and high are 64 to 94 degrees.
Required Travel Documents:
Passport and visa. No worries, you have plenty of time....
Sample Itinerary:
Note: All yoga and meditation are optional. (Feel free to lounge about or arrange an excursion instead.)
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SUNDAY, APRIL 17th Day of arrival and settling in.
MONDAY, APRIL 18th
TUESDAY, April 19th
WEDNESDAY, April 20th
Wednesday will be a day of leisure. Feel free to use the yoga hut for your own practice, to take an excursion, or to luxuriate in or by the pool. A group excursion including lunch will be pre-arranged free of charge. Destination to be decided by participants (possibilites include nearby temples, monasteries, etc.). THURSDAY, April 21st
FRIDAY, April 22nd
SATURDAY, April 23rd Breakfast and then head home, or to your next Indian destination! What's Not Included in the Price: Flights, transfers, and additional tours (i.e., excursions to destinations previously mentioned such as temples, markets and islands) are not included in above pricing. One group tour on Wednesday will be included in the price. Additional group or individual tours can be arranged by the hosts for a separate fee. 
Transfers:Current transfer rates are as follows: 1. $125 from Amritsar to Basunti, in an air-conditioned jeep that holds five persons. So, if traveling with four others, rate would be $25 each. 2. $117 from Dharmasala to Basunti, which again is divided among passengers of up to five. 3. $109 from Pathankot/Chakki Bank (connects to Delhi by train), which also can be shared among passengers. Since everyone will be arriving and departing the same days, ride shares can be easily coordinated. Deposit: A $150 paypal deposit will reserve your space for a shared room. $200 will reserve your space for a private room. Click the icon below to reserve your spot. If you'd prefer to place the deposit via check, you can make the check payable to Sandi Boerum, and send me an email (sandi@yogigirl.com) to let me know. I'll send you my address and hold your spot. |
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