Posts from the ‘Southeast Asia’ Category
Every once in awhile, I have a crisis of faith, of wondering what am I doing, being on permanent vacation (is that really what I am doing — being on vacation for 9 months?!)? What am I doing – but going from coffee shop to restaurant to reading my books to eating food? To not having a purpose? To just sight-seeing day after day?
Today is one of those days…
It is raining today. which makes it harder to figure out what to do. Do I sit in my room and read? Do I try and go to a festival that is at a temple somewhere near-ish? Do I just keep eating and spending money as I wander from place to place?
I like having purpose (for evidence, see the past five years of my life) — and sometimes I just am not sure what my purpose is right now… as you might imagine, I am not one of those people who are really good at just sitting on the beach! So, maybe that is my purpose – to learn to just sit. To be here, without a purpose and wait for that purpose to come to me. Or for me to find it. Or to figure out that purpose can mean lots of different things — that it is not all about goals and checkpoints.
But, please, don’t get me wrong — in the grand scheme of things – i feel tremendously blessed and lucky to be here — to witness the world and expand my horizons. But, sometimes when I get caught up in the details of every day life and miss the comfort of home and friends – it is those moments that i wonder what i am doing out here.
Or maybe it was just all the pictures and stories of turkey and thanksgiving food all over facebook that did me in….
I am trying to figure out if I should head out of Kochi, or if I should stay another day and go to the festival, or if I should go elsewhere in Kerala, or if I should go to Hampi, or if I should…. you see the problem? There are so many options… how do I pick the best one? or to not be paralyzed by the multitude of options and just do nothing?
I guess I will go drink a cup of chai and try and figure it all out. or maybe just read my book.
be well friends. thanks for being part of my pupose — to be able to share my thoughts and observations with you all.
hope you can avoid black friday! 🙂 i am doing my part and just shopping locally.
I took an overnight train from Chennai to Kochi two days ago — the train ride itself was fairly uneventful – although I made myself laugh. When I bought the ticket, I asked for the lower berth so I could see out the window – forgetting that it was a NIGHT time train – so obviously I could not see anything.
Once I arrived here on the west coast, I had to take a ferry over to Fort Kochi – which was pretty cool. A 7am ferry across the bay to the peninsula tip. I could see at the southern end, there were massive tankers and tugboats, but Fort Kochi itself is way mellow! Besides being harrassed by two super friendly men who wanted me to stay at their homestay (and they were really friendly, just annoying), everyone said hi, good morning and lots of smiles. It was almost eery how friendlyand laidback everyone was!
Kochi is beautiful — buildings are all painted different colors, men are selling their catch on the waterfront, the iconic Chinese fishing nets are on display. It is very chill and very beautiful. It is definitely set up for tourists – of which there are two types – the westerners (the euros, the israelis, and then the assorted american, kiwis, etc.) and then the Indian tourists – of which there are plenty. We all walk along the boardwalk at sunset and take pictures. There are also great cafes in town with good coffee – you almost forget where you are (seriously, this morning I could have been in Northampton, the cafe was so hip and cool and the coffee so good – though the difference might be in the fresh fruit platter!)
It is thanksgiving, so though I am not celebrating it with anyone (though I met a couple of American girls this morning who are from Martha’s Vineyard who invited me to dinner tonight!), I am doing my part to overeat and overindulge! 🙂 I won’t embarrass myself going into detail on all I have had today – but suffice it to say, I am joining all of you in gluttony today! 🙂
houses in Kochi
fish stands
baby hammerhead
Chinese fishing nets
sunset over the Arabian Sea
Kerala, the state Kochi is in, is pretty different from the rest of India. For one thing, as many people have proudly told me, there is a 95-99% literacy rate and it is a democratic-socialist state. People are proud that they speak english so well (and as someone told me, even the government schools teach english!) and that it is a well-educated place. Teachers here are revered (and they seem to be in most places I have been, so I can only imagine how much more so here!).
It is fairly diverse — having had Portuguese, Dutch, and Jewish ‘residents’ over the years. I have seen a number of people with green eyes (as opposed to the traditional black hair and dark eyes of much of the rest of the country). There is a Jewish community here in Kochi with a synagogue.
besides making me laugh, this sign denotes where jew town is in Kochi
In any case — happy thanksgiving to you all!
I am so thankful that you all are part of my world and ‘with’ me on this journey.
much love — aurora
Bay of Bengal
I arrived in Pondicherry yesterday – which is a totally different scene than Mamallapuram. For one thing, it is French. Well, it was once a french colony, and I am staying in the french area, so the streets are wide, the signs are in French (Rue de…) and the houses are all very beautiful and quaint. But – on the streets are auto-rickshaws, multiple lanes, motos, street-carts — in other words, it is still India! Another difference is there are no ruins here. In fact, there might be more churches than Hindu temples. Also, it is the location of a very well known ashram, the Sri Aurobindo Ashram – so people come from all over. In fact, the guest house i am staying at is run by the ashram, which is wonderful — set close to the rocky beach, a beautiful garden, clean and simple rooms.
The ‘beach’ side is a walkway set over a rocky coast. Last night it was amazing to walk up anddown it — it seems as if all of Pondicherry is out walking, eating, talking, flirting, visiting. It was GREAT! I loved just people watching (and people love watching me!) I had two little girls in beautiful dresses come up to me and shyly ask me my name. They were followed by two little boys who giggled over my name and then they all wanted to shake my hand goodbye.
Then, this morning, the rising sun woke me – so I went to walk out by the water — where, again, people were jogging, doing yoga, walking and getting all sorts of exercise. I cannot wait to go for a run tomorrow morning!
In any case, i found wifi — so here are some pictures from my travels — starting with Kolkata!
awesome self-portrait
flower ghat, Kolkata
marigolds
huge strands of marigolds
And here are pictures from Mamallapuram:
beachside rock carvings
sunrise over the Bay of Bengal
shiva, in front of a temple
all my new friends
ruins, 8th-6th century AD
shore temple
rock carvings
sign in Mamallapuram
And a few from Pondicherry — mostly from the Ashram guesthouse:
view from my room in Pondicherry
sign at the Ashram guest house! love it….
Spent a while this morning, sitting at a cafe eating a delicious chocolate croissant and drinking great coffee (in the french quarter of town) — planning out the rest of my trip. I have less than a month to go in India and there are so many places I want to go — but do not want to spend all my time (and money) on trains and buses — so trying to be strategic about where I am going…..
But tomorrow afternoon, I will head back to Chennai by bus (3.5 hours) and then take an overnight train to Kochi – which is on the other side of the country — the west coast. It will be good to spend a couple of days over there — and then…. we shall see. Hampi? Goa? Mumbai? I don’t know yet…. My only goal is to get to Delhi on the 14th or 15th to visit a schoolthere that is affiliated with Expeditionary Learning before I fly out on the 18th. We shall see…..
I am guessing that I will have internet over in Kochi, but if not — have an amazing thanksgiving! I know i have much to be grateful for — but mostly the support and love of my friends and family who are very much in my heart and mind while I travel! much love to you all!
good morning mother ganga
It has been a great couple of days in Varanasi. My favorite parts (and pretty alI did) was walking along the ghats, people watching and going to the festival in the evening. But, I did take a morning boat ride on the Ghanges. Here are some pictures from that:
morning boat ride
morning boat ride
For those of you who have never been to India, it is hard to describe. But I made a some observations that capture a little of what India, or Varanasi, is. Varanasi is…..
- Straight razor shaves on the street
- Boys flying kites
- Dips in the ghanges
- Shared fear (and laughter) of being trampled by a cow
- Holiness everywhere
- Marigold strands
- Boys diving into the river
- Women smiling back at me (after I catch them staring – and return the stare with a smile)
- Cobras in baskets (oh hell no! how do you know it won’t come towards me???)
- Grinning sadhus in orange
- The stench of piss and cow shit
- Skinny little dogs everywhere
- Shrines and little temples tucked into every street
- People, strangers, who genuinely look out for me in crowds
- Beautiful, bedazzling, colorful saris
- Pollution and trash everywhere
- People sleeping just about anywhere
The last night I was there was the big festival. There were 24 Brahmins (priests) performing the puja on the water front – though every ghat had their own ceremony. During the afternoon each ghat was preparing with laying out the oil lamps and mandelas on the pavement.
oil lamps for the festival
even though the river is polluted….
pouring oil in to prepare
I found a spot in front of the main stage but that was definitely one of the most crowded areas. It was so busy and crazy! Thousands of people started to fill the ghats two hours before anything even started.
The area I was started to fill up quickly, but fortunately the people around me were looking out for me- from the sassy teenage girl tapping people on the shoulder who stood in front of us and elbowed me in the side reminding me to pray to the group of twenty-something men who simultaneously made fun of me and offered for me to stand in front of them so I could see (and who immediately stopped their laughter and jokes once the puja started) to the policeman who wad basically hitting people with his baton to get them out of the walkway but exchanged smiles with me and made sure I could see!
and this is before it got crowded!
the masses
Following the ceremony, I attempted to walk down the ghats to see some of the oil lamps but the crowd was intense and I was immediately being knocked around by the crowd. I heard a voice next to me saying ‘just stay with me, follow me’. Not wanting to be trampled by the crowd, I put my trust in this guy and he safely pulled us to the side out of the crowd of thousands trying to go in either direction.
This guy introduced himself as babu, but that is the word for little boy [which cracks me up every time I hear someone shout ‘hey, babu!’] so I didn’t really believe him but he invited me to a small Shiva ceremony that he and some friends were going to have soon.
Though it sounded sketch, I thought I would check it out. The shrine turned out to be right on the ghats but hidden away – I passed it a dozen times but never noticed it before. When I got there three men were preparing for the ceremony – putting flower strands on all the ‘statues’ [my bad in advance for not knowing the correct terminology]. Babu had me help light oil lamps which lined the shrine and sprinkle marigold petals in the main area. A family came in at one point and made an offering of rice and prayed. But Babu and his buddies were waiting for the Brahmin to show up to perform the ceremony and since it was late I bide my farewells (it was about 10 at that point and I felt strange being in the shrine with a bunch of dudes, holy as it might be). But I wish I had pictures of the shrine to show you as it was so beautiful.
And that my friends was my adventures in Varanasi!
family that befriended me
hello — greetings from southern india!
After my 26 hour train ride — in which I was the only foreigner and one of a handful of women in my compartment, I reached Chennai. The train ride was actually fine – and everyone was really friendly and helpful. And it was super fun to stand at the end of the compartment and lean out the door to see India speeding by!
I arrived in Chennai and was overwhelmed by being in a city again (and the awful case of bedbugs from the Kolkata hotel) – so I hightailed it out of there to head down to Mamallapuram – which is south of Chennai on the coast – on the Bay of Bengal. Mamallapuram is known for the rock carvings – old ruins from the 8th-6th century AD. pretty amazing! It is a very touristy town — but right on the beach — so that is pretty awesome. and now that I have confidence, I have headed into town for actual indian food — which is way cheaper. And Katherine – thank goodness we learned how to eat with our hands – as most meals are eaten that way!
But besides a beautiful beach and amazing rock carving ruins…. i was in a photo shoot!
Ok — here is the story — it is a good one!
The first night I was here, the owner of the hotel asked me if I would join a group of tourists to be in a movie – we would get paid for the day and go to Chennai. And it turned out that the guy arranging it had been on my bus from Chennai down here – so I said sure! The next morning, our group met – we were:
- Polish
- Spanish
- Italian
- Cameroon
- Kenyan
- Jamaican
- Irish
- English
- Swiss
- French
- and me – the one American!
We arrived at the building where the sets were and were given our costumes — we were all FBI agents – and some of the men were dressed up as FBI SWAT team members (or whatever you would call it with all that gear on). And then we had breakfast on the rooftop of the building (theme of the day was us sitting around a lot). We tried to get some information about the movie — turns out that a famous Tamil actor is the main actor, director and producer and it is about terrorists and apparently, the FBI. There were people running around all over the place – which totally kept me amused since I could not understand them (they were speaking tamil) but it was fun to imagine what they were saying.
Eventually we were called in for our photo shoot (we later learned that we were just there for the advertisements for the movie — so we will not be in it – but on the movie posters…. or something). They took all sorts of various pictures of us posing — the only picture I was in was a group shot while wearing an FBI jacked and pointing a gun at the camera. oh yes, there was a make-up man. and a hair man (can you believe it?! he BRUSHED my hair and then teased it out. Um, hello?! what part of curly hair don’t you understand?!). It was very glamorous (in a very non-glamorous way….)
After all that hard work, we had lunch. And then sat around a whole bunch. and then had tea. Well…. let me correct that — we had chai, milk coffee and lemon tea just about every half hour. It was awesome! And for this day of ‘work’? yep — we got paid! 800 rupees for the day (which works out to be about 16$ or so). Supposedly the actor and actress, who we saw a few times, are quite famous. And there were a couple of americans working on some of the props — they were from LA. I was very curious about how they ended up there, but they had no time to talk while they were painting body parts to look like they had been shredded…..
All is all, it was a pretty amusing day – and fun to talk to the other folks from all over. The Kenyan lectured me on American politics. The italian was all fired up over politics in her own country. The french woman might travel with me this upcoming week. We all had a beer together afterwards (and for the record, indian beer is just as bad as nepali!). all in all — it was a pretty fun day and evening!
In other news…. here are some highlights:
- a large group of 11th grade girls descended on the ruin i was at this morning and swarmed me saying hello (and hello over and over since that was about the extent of their english) – though a few got out that i was a teacher. lots of smiles — i have a great picture of them all!
- fun to walk along the beach – dip my toes in the water — though Tamil is fairly conservative so it is frowned upon to wear a bathing suit or wear minimal clothes
- southern indian food is SO good! one of my favorite parts is that we eat off of a big coconut leaf (or banana leaf?)
- bedbugs f’ing suck and they itch like hell…. and they sure don’t look that good either…. hoping i am done with that and not carrying them with me…. but there aren’t really power washers around here…..
hard to believe that i have just a month left in india…. it is such an amazing country…. there are times i hate it and want it just to be easy (um, that would be when my arms are covered in bites and people are honking and staring and trying to rip me off and …..) and then there are times that I just love this place – for the craziness, for the kindness of strangers, for the smiles. Tomorrow, I will head south to Pondicherry – an old french colony. I will stay there for a few days and then head back to Chennai for an overnight train to Kochi – on the other side of the country! I am not going to the absolute south, but I figure I will get enough beach time between here and the west coast.
hope everyone is well. I of course have tons of great pictures that I look forward to sharing at some point….
much love — aurora
Instead, I will tell you about Kolkata!
I was a little nervous about taking the train - as it was my first first experience with it -- but when I got to the station, I had a seat and waited - I accidentally got there several hours too early - so I had some time to people watch. Or should I say - I gave people time to watch me?
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Stepping out of my guesthouse and into the narrow alley ways was …. well, it was a bit of a shock. Glad I had been to India before! It took me a few minutes to get my bearings and to remember to ignore or just say no to so many of the requests coming my way (music lessons? tea? silk? hashish? boat ride? see the cremations? see my store, no you don’t need to buy? where you from, madame? how are you today? need a male companion?)
alley leading down to the ganges
I got directions from my guesthouse to head down to the Ganges – and there I headed. I got turned around in the many alley ways and ended up on the main road – full of stores. It was a pretty insane re-introduction to India, though it got me on my feet pretty quickly. I was followed for a short distance – though as soon as I stood next to the police (which seem to be at a lot of the intersections) he disappeared. I guess it pays to not be super friendly sometimes! 🙂
I tried to make my way down to the Ganges – but got stymied by a procession of people (which I later discovered — when I saw the beginning of the procession — was a typical procession of people headed down to the Ganges with a body to be cremated). But eventually I made it down there — and then spent my time wandering the ghats –there is a total of 80 of these bathing steps that go into the Ganges. Here is where a lot of the propositioning came about while I walked along the river.
boats for hire
not sure what this is… but one of the many religious icons on the ghats
clothes drying
bathing in the Ganga
mural along one of the ghats
boat ride for pilgrams — they loved waving up to me!
My best moment though was when two young girls called me over to talk — we talked about school (their favorite class is english… and science.. and math…. and all of them! when asked which class they did not like? none of them! um…. something tells me they weren’t telling me the truth! 🙂 and we took some pictures. they were very cute. And I thought that they were going to be my first interaction that did not have an ulterior motive — but no, one of them called over their dad to see if I wanted a boat ride. But – none-the-less, they were pretty great! I told them I would share their picture and their names with my students!
my new friends!
peace, yo
Varanasi is one of the holiest cities in India for Hindus. They pilgrimmage here to wash away their sins or cremate their loved ones. I saw lots of people washing in the water (who knew Indian men liked tiny tighty-whiteys so much?!), doing their laundry and of course – cremations. Also, you can take a boat ride out on the Ganges – which I hope to do during morning time.
Turns out that I am here during a big festival, the Ganga Mahotsav. Last night was a large event – a musical concert and then a large puja on the river front. I was sitting alone on these stairs trying to figure out what was happening – and a family came and sat next to me. Mom offered me a cookie (though Lonely Planet has me all paranoid about accepting food from people b/c of some folks were drugged on trains and all their stuff was stolen) and the son told me about the festival. They had traveled 3 days to get here with the goal of bathing once in the Ghanges. They were perplexed why I would be traveling alone – but were happy enough to sit with me and tell me about the puja that would begin.
The actual ceremony was pretty amazing — full of lights and chanting and bells and incense. I would say there were thousands of people there — out in boats or up on the stairs. I found a seat right below where the puja was happening (that was after I was totally ripped off by some lady to put a diya (earthen lamp – candle with marigold in a banana leaf – i think….) in the water. She then proceeded to do the same with every tourist in the area…. but the upside was she lead us to a river front seat). in a few nights, there is the culminating event – which will have thousands of diyas floating down the river and chants and incense — the program says that it will ‘make you believe that you are in heaven, witnessing a celestial happening’ – definitely something to look forward to.
preparing for the puja
Today was spent taking care of business — found an ATM that worked (well with the help of my new buddy, a security guy at the bank who laughed at me ‘reading’ hindi (which is what happens when you see the same screen in english and in hindi OVER and OVER again!), got a new SIM card for my phone and spent 4 frustrating hours trying to figure out trains and the rest of my trip (so much for doing with the flow! who knew, in a country of a billion people, you should make your train reservations WELL in advance! like 3 months in advance…. not quite sure what will happen since i am waitlisted for every possible train I wanted to take….)
I picked up a great book today that i cannot wait to sit on the steps of one of the ghats and read tomorrow – called The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga. I can already tell it is one of those books I want to read slowly so that it will not end. But — I will leave you with this image about the Mother Ganga (ghanges):
“No – I urge you not to dip in the Ganga, unless you want your mouth full of feces, straw, soggy parts of human bodies, buffalo carrion, and seven different kinds of industrial acids.”
Oh, India – where else would that be one of the holiest sites?
From mountains to lakes to the jungle – Nepal seems to have it all. What an amazing country. I found the people, for the most part, kind and helpful. They wanted to help – and not just to, you know, ‘help’. For instance, one morning, while running, I saw a guy hit a dog on his motorcycle — down he went and skidded down the road (the dog ran away). People ran from all over to help him pick up his bike and his shoe and move to the side of the road to make sure he was ok.
Yes, I solicited stares a lot of the time – but I think that happens anywhere where you are different (amazing to think what a homogenous country it is – especially as compared to the US) and when you travel in a place where women have, for the most part, a very specific role. And the stares seemed more curious than mean or harsh.
Kathmandu is big and dusty and dirty and polluted, but people helped out when I needed directions – or smiled when I smiled at them. Children seemed well cared for and I loved seeing them with their parents – both mom and dad seem to have lots of love for them!
But, that is not to say that it is a Shangri-La. The day before I left, there were police in riot gear everywhere and then that evening there seemed to be a street fight breaking out near where Lisa and I bought our veggies (and right near where Katherine and I stayed when we first arrived in Kathmandu). There definitely seemed to be an undertone of something more – perhaps as it is a country that is just coming out of civil unrest and still does not have a constitution?
But all told, it was a great two months and I would for sure go back — there are still so many places to climb and trek and areas that were unexplored! Thanks Nepal — what a great way to start my journey!
Chitwan is a large national park that creates a large part of the southern border between India and Nepal. It is well known for its inhabitants – tigers, rhinos, elephants and the Tharu people – who amazingly enough have a natural resistance to malaria.
Since I was headed by land to India anyway – I thought this would be a pretty exciting – since I have never seen (in the wild) a rhino, tiger or elephant. I left Kathmandu on a morning bus full of Germans and Nepalis. Our ride was going well until a car, trying to pass a truck, side-swiped our bus. All I heard was swerving tires, felt our bus jerk to the left and then screeching of brakes. Nobody was hurt – though we ended up being on the side of the road for an extra hour or so. For a seemingly remote section of the road – it was amazing how many people showed up to say their part and stand around the car and the bus. The police showed up, paperwork was filled out and eventually we were on our way. I was able to follow the progress as I befriended my seat-mate — a young Nepali woman headed to Bangalore where she goes to school for physical therapy. We exchanged email addresses and promised to be friends on facebook! 🙂
Eventually we reached Sauraha, the town outside of the park entrance. There are all sorts of fancy places in the park where you can stay for multi-day packages, but that didn’t quite fit into my $30/day budget (by a long shot….). The place I ended up staying at was just outside of town and was opened by one of Nepal’s leading ornithologists. The courtyard was full of plants and gardens and had a few hammocks — really quite lovely. I was in the budget room, but it was pretty nice (as compared to the two places I have stayed since there! who knew I had it so good…)
The first day I was there, they sold me on my package – an elephant safari ride and a canoe with a jungle walk back. The price was a bit of a splurge for me, but staying with my friend in Kathmandu, I was able to save money – so I am still within budget (for all you yankee spendthrifts out there — you know who you are! 🙂 And they provided a free walk the first day – which was to go look through the community forest (that surrounds the park) for a short walk and then see some of the govenment elephants and learn some facts (for instance, did you know that elephants only sweat through their toes? and that Asian elephants age by turning white on their ears and nose?). We also saw a rhino chillin’ in the water — which was pretty damn cool.
half submerged rhino
The next morning, we went out for the canoe. It was short – but pretty cool to be out on the water. The canoe is carved out of one sal tree that is manuevered with a mix of poling and paddeling. We saw a bunch of submerged crocodiles – and then – a big one out of the water sunning himself! WHOA! it was pretty awesome! and a bit scary. Next to it, there was one in the water that the guide said was even bigger – and I think that they were all a little frightened because they all reached for their sticks!
We also saw a bunch of birds — couldn’t tell you what they all were but egrets, storks, kingfishers, peacocks, etc. I couldn’t understand the guide fully and then when they are birds you don’t know…. yeah, not so much.
Then we started the jungle walk – which frankly wasn’t all that exciting. The most exciting part was the guide telling me about the dangers – i.e. if we see a rhino, you should run but if we see a tiger, we should just pray, and as for the sloth bear – well, not much you can do because they can run, climb, etc. and they don’t like humans’ faces.
It was more of a sal forest, which was cool enough, but not very jungle-y (as one would imagine it to be). We didn’t see too many animals up close – but in the distance we saw spotted deer (I didn’t have the heart to tell him about how many deer we have at home), monkeys in the tree. And cool enough – we saw a tiger print and signs from where a sloth tiger had climbed up to a bee’s nest.
my guide carries a big stick to, you know, beat back the tigers
really cool bugs found all throughout the forest
tiger print (to the right of his hand)
As for the elephant walk…. well, it was interesting. There were 9 of us going out at the same time. The elephant platform can handle 4 – so I got an elephant to myself. which was cool b/c it was super quiet. If anyone ever tells you that riding an elephant is fun, tell them they are wrong! No, it is pretty cool but definitely not comfortable! We ended up seeing 3 rhinos – including a mama and her baby, which was very cool!! I couldn’t get over how cool the rhinos were. I know this sounds stupid, but they look just like they do in pictures! (and before you laugh at me, let me say this — they are such strange looking animals that you almost expect the pictures to be caricatures…. but they aren’t!!!) The elephant rides are cool b/c you can get up closer to animals (they are not as freaked out by the elephant as they would be if you were on foot).
the elephant i was going to ride. damn, they are big
the other two groups — now imagine that platform with just me!
The ride was for about an hour and a half and took me through the grasslands (which is pretty awesome – though being taken over by an invasive) and then into the forest — where I saw some hanging orchids which was really cool! Right before the ride ended, something must have scared the elephant (the guy said monkey, i think?) and the elephant started to run! I had a brief image of the elephant stampeding through the village with me hanging on, just, for dear life! Fortunately, the handler got it calm in a manner of seconds!
going across the river
rhino!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
trying to take a picture of myself while riding an elephant is difficult!
mama and baby rhino (not a great shot….)
The next morning before I had to leave I went for a great run near the river – through Tharu huts as people prepared for their day and passed a bunch of elephants and their handlers (so now I know, I run faster than an elephant saunters along. Good to know).
And that was that — it was time to leave Nepal and head out to big ol’ India and start that adventure! Who knew it was such a calm before the storm?! (ok – anyone who has been to india knew!)
