an important day

Today not only marks me hitting my coverage of 18% of countires in the world as I enter Thailand, but it also marks a pretty pivitol point in my journey as far as I see it. Today, I actually moved CLOSER to being back on California time. I have spent the past 7 months slowly moving away from California time...inching my way eastbound across this little planet of ours. Except for my little jaunt in Australia and then backtracking to India, I have always been moving more or less east, and thereby gaining hours (and of course worldly knowledge of the "future") ahead of all of you back home. India was 12.5 hours ahead of Cali, and Nepal (just to be different from India) was 12.75 hours ahead. More than a half of a day. You were sleeping, I was getting up. I was going to bed, you were just starting the day I was drifting off to sleep reflecting upon.
But today I moved closer to all of you back home. I am now 11 hours ahead of you...and will only get closer and closer to catching back up. I guess to me it signifies that, although I still have some months left, my grand adventure is starting to wrap itself up.
Time. It's a weird thing. Sometimes it passes so slowly you think you will never escape your current situation. Othertimes it flies by so quickly you aren't really sure where it went at all but you would do almost anything if you could just stretch it out and make it last a little longer.
For all of you reading this is the morning, don't worry...today turns out to be a good one. :)

kayaking and thinking

My kayaking trip was amazing. I finally figured out how to roll in a kayak, so when I capsize (in white water or flat...let's be honest) I can roll back up instead of pulling myself out and swimming to shore. I was so happy. Unfortunately, no pain, no gain and the backrest in the kayak kept sliding down. I didn't want to complain (I tend to be a big baby) but I was leaning on the metal clamp when I rolled, which, after a day, felt like I might have a little cut there. When we got out to camp that night I checked my right hip, only to find a fist-sized bruise there. Ouch! The guys fixed my kayak (duct tape truly can fix anything) and aside from not being exactly bikini-ready with this massive hematoma, I'm fine.
It was wonderful to spend so much time outdoors in Nepal. I think I had forgotten how much I need that.
Coming back to India was intense. After serene Nepal, I had almost forgotten the chaos that is India. We headed for Varanassi, the holy city on the Ganges. You can easily identify the tourists who are taking pictures while carefully not touching the water and the Indians who are bathing, washing, and even having swimming lessons in it. All within meters of some of the burning ghats where the cremations are happening.
And now we are on a train, back to Mumbai. Currently we are 21 hours in with hopefully 7 hours to go. We are in the ac car, which is nice and we have sleeper seats, middle bunks and have been laying down the whole way because the seats are too shallow to sit up on. On some level I have an entirely new appreciation for the middle passage. The good news is, I've been able to catch up on a lot of sleep.

Tomorrow we will leave India and head to Thailand. I don't know what to expect from SE Asia because it is a part of the world I've not yet explored at all. I'm excited (and my brother and David are coming...yipee!) but am still trying to process so much about India in particular. You just can't come to India without really pondering the tragedies and injustices of life, and especially as a westerner, how privileged you are. I have seen so many things and somehow I am often paralyzed by not knowing how to truly help people and especially children. Somedays I feel like I have so little (and by western standards I probably do). A depleted bank account, an upside down condo, a mortgage I can't escape from, no car, blah blah blah. But here, in comparison, I have so much. I'm not wondering if I can afford food, water, or clothes. I have a job to go home to. I choose which of my 3 pairs of shoes I want to wear depending on the purpose of my day, and which will be most functional. I guess I just am scared to forget, not just what I have seen, but what I have felt in these past months. When you are comfortable, it is easy to not remember those things that make you uncomfortable.

A little more of an explanation

Well, now that I have had a decent night's sleep to recover and a good day out of the Phewa Lake learning (or attempting to learn) how to river kayak, I have a few minutes to explain my last adventure before heading off tomorrow morning at 6:30am to start the next one. This is definitely a great spot to come and play...as if I hadn't mentioned that before!

So we started our six day trek in the Annapurna mountains with the intentions of doing a circuit (loop). Not too strenuous, but a good 5 hours of hiking a day through foresty-jungle and up and down mountainsides. Well...the locals won't actually call them mountains unless they are over 5,000 meters, so I should really say "hills".

We did a semi-leisurely hike the first day and got to a little tea house just before the rains came in and thunder and lightning and heavy rain on little tin roofs pounded at us all night long. That is where I met a few British trekkers who were coming down from a different route, the one that goes up to Annapurna Base Camp, or ABC. Usually it takes much more than six days, mostly because people are not insane, take their time, and stop more often. They do this to a)enjoy the scenery and the great little towns and b)acclimatize because base camp is so high up and c)they are not overly-ambitious Annette.

So while Rahima was sleeping, I got some altitude drugs from one of the girls (who obviously didn't need it anymore) and planned our new route: to do in 5 days what most do in 8-10. Rahima, being the amazing friend that she is, knew how much the idea of "getting to the top" really inspired me, so despite her concerns that we had NOT prepared for this as far as gear and clothing were concerned (we're talking 90+ degrees at the bottom of this trek, and literally freezing at the top), she let me run with it.

It was hard. Hard. Rahima is like the mountain goat/pack mule of hiking. She sees uphill and puts on the turbo-boosters. I have hiked with her enough to know this. But somehow it never ceases to amaze me. She is just the little engine that could, and the only living thing that actually GAINS speed while going uphill. I, on the other hand, make it. I'm not saying it's pretty...but I get there.

Most of the time we had beautiful views, blue skies and cooler weather as we got higher up (yeah for me, bad for Rahima). We did get rained and subsequently hailed on as well at times. Not as fun. And who knew that ladybugs, yes ladybugs, live by the billions all the way up to 4100meters?!?! They were absolutely everywhere.

So going up was great...but coming down (end of day 4) either something I ate or drank caught up with me a bit and let's just say thank goodness for Immodium, and we'll leave it at that. :)

Met some really cool people along the way, and saw porters (both local and for tourists) carrying the most amazing loads and running both up and down the hills I was struggling with. And even more amazing than that...they oftentimes are doing it in rubber sandals and flip-flops!

I have so much more to say, but my time is up and I am starving...so I'm gonna run for now, but I'll be back in three days with some (hopefully) good white water kayaking stories.

Cheers!

made it!

Just a quick note to let you all know that we made it up to Annapurna Base Camp (not our original trekking route...but well worth the change) at 4130 meters.

We also made it back down. :)

More later...

made it!

Well, after arriving at the jeep/taxi stand at 7am on Wednesday morning, we got in a jeep at around 8am (due to the elections in India many of the jeeps were not going that day, or the following two days). We then waited until almost 9am for it to be filled to the brim and headed down the hill from Gangtok to Siliguri. After passing an accident that had just happened, a dead dog, and getting and repairing a flat tire, we made it to Siliguri around 2pm. From there we took a one hour taxi ride to the border town of Panitanki, where (surprise, surprise) due to elections the border was blocked to cars. So we walked the 1k over the border into Kakurbita, Nepal. After obtaining our visas, we were lucky enough to just catch the 18 hour bus which left at 4pm, heading to Pokhara. It is usually a 12 hour ride, but was going to be 18 due to the strikes in Nepal which are somewhat ongoing and block the roads until the police and army come to allow safe passage to the buses again.

So around 7pm we stopped, with all the other buses, and people just calmly got out and waited, watching the sun set and the fireflies come out. (I had never seen fireflies before, and they are INCREDIBLE! I think my ability to be completely entertained by almost nothing really helps me cope with travel inconveniences!) Promptly at 8pm all of the electricity went out, which is apparently a daily thing here in Nepal. No electricity from 8pm until midnight. Then there is power from 12 to 4am. From 4-6am it is out again, and then returns for the day at 6am. You can set your clocks by it.

We finally left about 10pm, only to go down a road and get turned around by police about 3 hours later, which sent us backtracking who-knows-how-far. In any case, our 18 hour journey 21 hour ride. The last few kilometers were some of the bumpiest roads I have ever traveled, and they were exacerbated by sitting in the back of the bus. Literally we kept getting jostled and tossed about 2 feet up in the air, landing off our seats or on each other. Funny for the first few minutes, but then pretty annoying. :(

Pakhora is looking pretty amazing. We were warned off of Kathmandu a bit, and steered towards this popular trekking spot instead. Looks like we will do a six day trek starting on the 2nd. When we return I think I am going to do a 4 day white-water kayaking course while Rahima takes off on a 3 day mountain bike trek back into the mountains. Nepal is truly an outdoor paradise, with everything you can imagine...right down to the grungy/hippie/outdoorsy tourists. ;)

death cabs

We have had a great few days here in the state of Sikkim, India. It is the second mallest state in India, and like Darjeeling, it is a town precariously balanced on a hillside in the himalayas. It is amazing how these multi-story buildings literally balance on steep hillsides.

Today we took a taxi out to one of the monestaries in the area and then walked the 14 kms to another one. It was a beautiful walk, through the mountains/jungle, passing through a few little villages and seeing lots of schoolkids doing the same walk, only a bit shorter for them, and in school uniforms, giggling at the sight of us!

Then, we took another taxi back to Gangtok, and let's just start by saying that these roads are windy, steep, and not well maintained. Many of the drivers drive uphill, but turn off the engines and coast down these perilious roads. Our particular taxi had the squeakiest brakes ever, convincing Rahima and I that they were about to give out and send us over the edge at any moment. Picking up speed as you roll downhill in a minivan, careening around turns and honking (if your horn works while the engine is off) and attempting to avoid other cars (even though the roads are really only wide enough for one), potholes (aka small craters) and pedestrians. (FYI, if the choice is pothole or pedestrian, hit the pedestrian).

But we made it and will start the day to two-day process of crossing into Nepal tomorrow. That means staring with about a 3 to 5 hour jeep ride, downhill, probably mostly coasting...

What have you accomplished today?

Let's see...
I woke up. Walked down to the clocktower in Darjeeling. Got in a jeep. Waited for about 15 minutes for it to fill up with other passengers and then headed to Tiger Hill to watch the sunrise and light up the Himalayas as it did so. We watched as the 3rd highest peak in the world (Kangchendzonga) changed from a shadow in the distance to a pinkish hue, to beautiful white-capped mountain-tops. On a very clear day, you can even see Everest from there. (We weren't so lucky). Then, we headed back down to Darjeeling, 12 kilometers away...but we chose to walk instead of returning in the jeep.

About 5 kms in, we stopped for a breakfast of momo and tea. Momo are similar to gyoza. Boiled, but sometimes fried, dumplings. The food in this region of India includes a lot of Chinese-influenced foods, such as dumplings and noodles. Then, we continued on, back to Darjeeling and our hotel. Where I showered, read, and then decided that at 9am, I might as well go back to sleep for a bit. :)

The adventure started at 3:45am...just a mere 4 hours after returning home from the pub where our newest travel buddy, Brad, has pretty successfully explained the game of cricket to me. He is Australian, and I think glad to have someone else around who is even remotely interested in cricket. It is huge here in India as well, so there are matches on constantly...and everyone is glued to the tvs. Kids in the streets and on rooftops are constantly playing. South Africans were crazy about it as well...so in the last few months I have tried to figure it out, but you really do need a translator to explain it to you as you watch a game.

So I took a quick nap, and then headed out for lunch, and wound up here at the internet cafe. I am still exhausted, and somehow can't believe that it is only 2pm. Feels like 8 or 9 at least. Darjeeling is amazing. It is beautiful and peaceful and completely different from any other part of India I have ever experienced. Yesterday Rahima and I got permits to head to the state of Sikkim in a few days. It was another experience in Indian bureaucracy. We had to go to one end of town to get the form, fill it out and have it stamped. Then we had to walk that form to another building, clear across town, to have it signed and stamped there as well. Of course, then we had to walk it back to the starting point to have it stamped a third time, and now we are allowed to go. Hmmmm...okay. Why wouldn't that process make sense to everyone?

The computers and connections aren't really consistent or fast here, so sorry for the lack of pictures as of late. I'll get some up as soon as I can. Now I just might go back for another nap. Mmmmm...