A story about the very beginning of Zalah Crystals.
In 2016 I quit my job, sold all my belongings and was currently on a one way ticket around the world. I had been away from Australia for about 7 months with nothing but 2 backpacks and a yoga mat. I had no plan on visiting India at this point of my journey but while I was in Vietnam deciding on what country to visit next, India had suddenly popped into my head.
I had heard a mixture of things about India especially from all the backpackers I was meeting along the way. I’ve always had this intuition with myself that whenever this voice pops inside of my head I know this is what I have to follow and that something magical is about to brew.
When I arrived it was like another world, it’s true what they say that all five of your senses will be entertained whilst your stay in India. Note, try not to arrive in a foreign country at midnight. I was immediately scammed and scared for my life being left in the street, forced to withdraw money to get a taxi ride out of there within 3 hours of arrival. After the initial hiccup I started finding my feet and experiencing the rawness of the country and culture. As a photographer and avid traveller it was a dream combination and a lot cheaper than the countries I visited previously.
After about a month of making my way up north i had finally made my way to a place called Dharamshalah, which was a refreshing and cool place up in the Himalayan Mountains.
The first time I had heard the name of this place sent chills down my spine. It sounded so mystical and it technically kind of was as I found out the Dalai Lama recited there after escaping from Tibet.
The moment I arrived I was in love with the place and would eventually stay the remaining two months of my Visa there, as there was so many things to do and so many unique individuals to connect with. Within my stay there I spontaneously completed a yoga teaching training, an Ayurvedic cleanse Panchakarma and bought myself a little flute to practice while I found myself a sweet little apartment way up high in the mountains.
On the long walk back home one afternoon I saw a man from the corner of my eye sit on a ledge with a bunch of crystals laid out on his handkerchief. My eyes lit up and I asked myself “Omg is he selling crystals?”. It had just started to rain and I picked up some of the crystals to examine closely. I had never seen anything in my life like them before, these ones were different to many that I was exposed to. They were so imperfectly unique, so clear, some so very vibrant. Without knowing if I was going to see this man again I chose four crystals to purchase and we made the deal to make them mine.
Little did I know he was going to be there for another two months so the panic buy wasn’t super necessary but hey I guess that’s what the FOMO of crystals does to you. I would see him set up in different areas around town and where he would continuously bring new crystals that I would inspect. We bonded more and more and he introduced himself to me as Peter and every time I would see him we would have our little crystal talk and I would ask questions about all of them.
I told Peter before I was going to leave I wanted to purchase a few more crystals that I could take with me and gift to close friends because after all who doesn’t want to receive a crystals as a present. I had arranged a time for him to take me to his place which was way up high in the mountains so I could finally see his full collection of crystals.
When I arrived I was in complete awe as there were so many, big ones, small ones, pointy ones, blue ones, clear ones, heavy ones.
How could I pick when there were so many unbelievable raw beautiful options?
After a decent amount of time I had narrowed a whole room to only five. I was kind of disappointed as I wanted more but my backpack was already at full capacity and some were so delicate. Peter saw the despair (or opportunity) in my face and said if you want to take more I would give you a good price so you can start a business in your country.
I had absolutely no idea what even a good price for crystals was (or any real knowledge of crystals) or when I was planning to return back home. All I knew is that something was drawing me to them. There was so many questions rushing through me head - Could this actually be a viable new business venture when I do get back home? What if I’m being scammed again? What's the worst that could happen - I’m going to have a whole bunch of crystals at home? What if they arrive broken or don’t make it to Australia?
After some solid contemplating I had NO for my final answer, but in that moment for some reason a voice inside me spoke and I changed my decision to YES! Looking back I believe, it was the crystals calling me as I was surrounded in a room full of them.
Before you know it I had chosen 30 kg’s of the finest crystals in front of me ready to be shipped back to my parents house to hopefully see again when I indefinitely returned. With some excitement I called Eva and told her that I had just purchased a bunch of crystals and spent a stack of cash. I didn’t get the reaction that I was hoping for as I’ve made some questionable purchases this far, but little did she know what crystals were coming and how it was going to completely change her and our life.
About two weeks later my parents had sent me a photo and my two boxes of crystals that had arrived to their home in one piece. I was super excited as it was the beginning of something unknown. I couldn’t wait to return home, see these crystals again and begin the journey of Zalah.
Click here to watch a vlog of my stay in Dharamshala and here to view more of my Dharamshala adventures.
With love,
Jason Lim
