10 days left.

It's bizarre, scary and incredibly exciting to know that I have only 10 days left until I depart India and endure the 20 hours of traveling back to Arizona. I have never been so homesick. India has without a doubt been wonderful, but I miss miss miss America. Mostly I miss my friends and family as well, some of which I haven't seen in over 7 months (crazy!).

My relationship with India is what I would classify as "complicated" on Facebook. Part of me loves it here. I love how patriotic all of the citizens are... always asking me how I like "their" country. In America this concept is relatively unheard of, at least in my opinion. America is not "my" country. America is where I live, where I was born and where I grew up. But to me, it is everyone's country since it is inhabited by so many different races, nationalities, etc. The feeling in India is so different. In America, many people want to travel and explore the world. And while these people in India exist, most people have no desire to leave the country they love. They see no reason to.

And while I love India, so many of the people, the culture, the food and the sights, I also hate India. I hate how many people are living on the street and the government could care less. I hate how disgusting it smells and how I inhale 10 packets of cigarettes a day due to the pollution. I hate being stared at like I am a zoo attraction, although I know it is mostly harmless. And I hate being charged up to 7 times the actual price, just because my skin is light and I am thus assumed to be rich.

I was really unsure of what to expect when I first came here. I was told India was spiritual, I would be able to practice yoga everywhere and the culture is intoxicating. While I have met people of many religions and few, if any, who are not religious or spiritual in some way, I did not have a spiritual experience. You cannot do yoga here because you cannot breathe the air. So that was out of the question. While I have grown increasingly more patient the more time I spend here, it has been a true test of my ability to keep sane (far from spiritual) as I am crushed up against tons of other people in sweltering heat whether I am in the bus I ride every day to work or the train I ride on the weekends.

And yet, despite all that I hate about India, I do want to come back. When that will happen, I am not sure. There is just something about this place that despite everything that should put me in a bad mood, I have learned to ignore it or just to be patient. Somehow, the chaos of the entire country just works. This is not to say that things are still not terribly wrong. Street children still dissapear for various reasons on a regular basis and the police dont have time or care to help. Or maybe they just know it is a lost cause. Whatever the reason, India is in need of endless improvements. Luckily, there are thousands of willing people in India who are working at NGOs and related organizations just for that reason. Maybe it is this hope for the future paired with a strong connection to the past that keeps the country moving... and keeps me wanting to come back.

And with a week left before I leave for Mumbai, I thought it would be fitting that I read a book about an Australian who goes to Mumbai and lives there. Just by reading the back of Shantaram I was intrigued but the excitement that the book seemed to hold.

And now I must say, 650 pages into a 932 page book, that it is one of he best books I have read in my life. Now, I know I said this about White Tiger as well, which is also true, but this book is wonderful, amazing and incredible for different reasons. It is the story of an Australian man who escapes from a high-security prison in Australia and travels directly to Bombay (Mumbai). There he lives in a slum, works as a gangster in one of Bombay's top mafias and even spends time in an Indian jail. There is everything anyone is looking for in this book. Philosophy, excitement, danger, love, drugs, you name it. And as this blog slowly turns into a book review, I URGE you to buy it and read it if you have any interest in India and especially Bombay. It is simply fantastic.

India has also taught me about something else I have yet to have much experience with--defending the US. I remember back in my first semester sophomore year when Professor Stephen Krasner came to speak to my American Foreign Policy class. As a man who has worked in diplomacy under the Bush Administration, he told those of us that were considering diplomacy as a career path that we should be aware how difficult it is to defend America on a regular basis. Here I met my challenge. He came in the form of a tall, 25 year old Greek who resembles a slimmer version of the men in 300--Angelos.

Interested in sparking a conflict with me from the start due to his grounded disposition against the US, one of the first times I spoke with him was about 9/11. Considering he just finished watching Zeitgeist, a conspiracy movie about 9/11, he was convinced that Bush and Cheney planned the attacks. Now it might be because I was brainwashed in America or I simply felt the need to defend "my" country, but I disagreed with him completely. I tried to make him see that I was not a fan of Bush myself and I was well aware of the countless mistakes he made during his administration. This does not mean he planned 9/11, however, at least in my opinion. I even resorted to dropping facts about Osama Bin Laden's life and the creation of Al Qaeda to prove my point. He didn't believe me. In one of our most recent arguments, he even went so far as to say I frustrated him because I was like a gullible 10-year old. Too far.

So while I have been exploring India, I have also been practicing my skills as a diplomat (a job I am strongly considering pursuing in the future). And as I try to be the best representative I can, other Americans have been scratching the reputation I have been trying to build (a new American guy just arrived and would fit quite nicely into an American Pie movie).

And that is where I am at right now. Last day of work is on Wednesday (!!!!). Until then...

PCRF

In response to the request to post more pictures from work, I have compiled a few just to give everyone a better feel of what goes down at PCRF (Public Cause Research Foundation). Today is Friday.... so I guess I only have 4 more days of work counting today... weird!

Here is a close-up of the thousands of letter we are sending out to citizens who have filed RTI applications. In order to appropriately assess all of the Information Commissioners to see who is most deserving of an award, we must ensure that when they ordered for information to be provided, it was! So the letters have been flowing...


Here is Ram (left) and Abid (right) working on the letters! This is also the area where I sat for most of my time here with one of those lovely desks on the floor. How Indian of me.

And here is Yuliya (one of the international interns from Ukraine) with all of the letters! Both her and Hanna (an intern from Poland) have been addressing and stuffing these letters as their full time job for the past few weeks. A bit mind numbing but they survive.

So from the left... it is Riya, Dennis (Hong Kong), Seema, Yuliya and Amit. This was taken fairly early on in my internship and these three were definitely the most welcoming when I first came. Riya was wonderful and invited Dennis, Yuliya and I to her home for dinner early on and it was delicious. Her husband and her were so welcoming and hospitable. She has been so wonderful this entire time - I'm really going to miss her!


Just a picture of where I work in the office - as you can see in the front, someone is drinking water from the huge water bottles we reuse. You don't touch it with your mouth ever .. just pour it in! After spilling water on myself for the first week I think I've finally gotten the hang of it!


Just a picture of the main part of the office.


Abid's birthday! From the left: Seema, Riya, Mehtab (the chai guy), Sweta, Swati (the boss) and Abid. And just to clarify about a few things... Mehtab's job is to most importantly, make chai and serve it twice a day in these adorably small tea cups. It is spiced tea with milk and lots of sugar and is incredibly common in India. You always accept chai if it is offered to you by someone! That is definitely one thing I am going to miss about this place!


Swati, the boss here (other than Arvind who founded and funds the foundation), is only 24! She is incredibly kind and really tries to be less of a boss and more of a co-worker when she can. Of course, she has to be strict to a certain extent sometimes. She is an avid and devoted social worker though, and only makes Rs. 10,000 per month. This equates to about $200 US dollars. It is barely enough to live on your own I think. But she is so humble and giving to the cause of working against corruption... I am consistently impressed. She also goes on meditation trips twice per year. The latest one she went on was for one month - no talking. I don't know if I would be able to do the same.

Here is Riddhi smashing cake into Abid's face - hilarious! I didn't know this was a tradition in India before, but apparently on your birthday, everyone grabs a piece of the cake and feeds you it whilst putting it all over your face!

Riddhi (the girl on the right above) is the main girl I work with here. She is a master's student right now in English and journalism. Her English is fantastic, as expected. She is very fun and bubbly, always with a smile on her face.

Below is a picture of the day we ordered pizza for lunch - such a special occasion that we took a picture! For some reason pizza is so gratifying here...


Yuliya's going away party... she left just about a week ago now. She arrived just a day before me so we went through a lot of orientation with the foundation together. She is such a colorful girl!

So from the left here is Dennis, who was here a month before Yuliya and I but will leave at the same time I do, Ram, Hanna (from Poland and arrived about a month after I did and will stay til October), me, Yuliya, Feroj, Amit.
Yuliya cutting her cake...



Even though it wasn't her birthday - we still got cake and kept up with the tradition! But this time Yuliya struck back at Feroj haha.

Ah and last - one of my favorite pictures. Seema looks so small compared to us! Seema was really a shining burst of energy and fun when I first started working at PCRF. We would constantly joke about how Amit loved Dennis... and Yuliya... and Hanna... and I would ask her questions about getting married. She is from a village and has very conservative parents, so she is required (or else she will be ignored by her family I assume) to marry a man who is Indian, from her caste and is older. Without these three requirements, the marriage simply cannot happen. So her family is on the search for her husband.

I learned so much about India's system of getting married from her. She really does not want a love marriage. She just wants to be married. She is a bit worried because she is "getting old" (she is 29) so she knows she needs to find a husband within the next year and a half or so. She has had some possible husbands in the mix, but they seem to always ask for too much dowry. (In India the women must pay a dowry to the man.) So she is still stuck in what she considers limbo.

She was fun and bubbly in the beginning and we would laugh a lot. However, after a few weeks she started to get more serious and the pressure was put on to get more letters out and get numbers higher for assessing commissioners and public information officers. Plus, she has a three hour commute from her village to work. Since teaching is her passion, she teaches a class for kids at her house at 6 AM, then takes the bus to work from 7AM to arrive at around 10 AM. Then she leaves at 6 when the day is over and doesn't get home until 9 PM, when she teaches another class! That is pretty impressive to have the kind of patience, if you ask me. So as a result of all this, she kind of died in a way and was no longer happy at work. Then eventually I think it all boiled up and she quit for various reasons one Saturday (the day we don't work)... so I was sad when I thought I wouldn't get to see her again. But luckily... she finally came in today! After a week or so of cooling off about her tiff with the bosses, she came in to bring back some information she had and to tie up any loose ends.

She also invited me to her house next Friday! So the plan is to end work on Wednesday and head straight to the train station to take a train to Varanasi with Thijs. Then we will spend the day in Varanasi (the holy city in the north along the Ganges River where they burn dead bodies), and return by Friday morning. Then I will pack, and take the 2.5 hour bus to Seema's village (I'm so excited to finally see a village here that I have heard so much about!). Then Saturday will be my last day in Delhi - so sad!! It is also Allie and Maria's last day in Delhi as Allie is coming with me to Mumbai Sunday morning and Maria heads off to Srinagar in Kashmir.

It is so weird to think that in less than two weeks I will be back in Arizona.... I can almost smell the Paradise Bakery cookies!

As for this weekend, I am off to Jaipur for an elephant festival! Not really sure what that entails, but I guess Kylie, Maria and I will find out when we get there!

Happy Birthday Grandmom!

Considering I am 12 hours in the future and my sense of time is totally off, I wanted to send my love to my wonderful and sassy grandmother. So...

Happy Birthday Grandmom (alias Mum-z) !!

Thank you so much for always providing your hospitality and love whether I am in Upper Darby, Arizona, New York or even India!

Amristsar!

Amritsar! But a few words first...

Where has the time gone?! The past month and a half has gone by much faster than I expected. Now I only have one month left - what a weird thought. Three weeks of work - two more weekend trips, and if all goes as planned, I will go to Mumbai for a few days with Dennis and Allie for my final week.

And after one month and a half how do I feel... well, I no longer want to go home. Three weeks doesn't seem like enough time left here to do all of the things I still want to do. India is HUGE and you need 3 months alone of just traveling to even begin to see it all. I also feel very well-versed in Indian culture and current politics - even a bit of history. To be honest, I knew nothing about India before I came. I knew where it was on a map and that is about it. Now I know almost all of its geography - and if you name a city I can tell whether it is in the north or the south. And I feel so much more comfortable talking about Hinduism. I can identify about 6 gods (not much considering there are over 330,000,000) but before everything sounded foreign. I also know about the politics thanks to the book I bought before I came (In Spite of the Gods) which I recommend. I have also read White Tiger, The 3 Mistakes of My Life and Holy Cow!. All of which i strongly recommend to anyone who is interested in learning about India. Especially White Tiger. Definitely one of the top ten best books I have read in my life. Almost every intern has read it here and a ton of Indians im sure as well.

The second book I mentioned is an easy read, a fiction novel about three cricket-loving boys living in Gujarat (a state here). But it included political and religious elements as well that I was proud to understand thanks to reading In Spite of the Gods. Im so glad I enjoy the politics as well because my hope was to come to India as a jump-start for expanding my expertise from the Middle East to include Pakistan and India. A bit ambitious, but I like options. The last book, Holy Cow!, was written by a woman from Australia who travels through India when she is 21, hates it, then returns and has countless religioius experiences as she tries to find her spiritual self. Very good as well.
I realized just how much I have learned when Maria, Kylie and I were watching Slumdog Millionaire after we returned from Amritsar in the afternoon. I felt so cool knowing some of the Hindi! And for those of you who live and breathe that movie, remember back to the beginning when the two boys' mother dies due to a mob of people coming in and killing almost everyone. During this part the two boys see a young child painted blue in a sort-of dream like state, which the Millionaire host lets us know is Ram (a Hindu god), when he asks "What is Ram holding in his right hand?" Before I didn't even question why the boys saw a child version of Ram in the first place as they were running for their lives.

Now, correct me if I am wrong, but I believe I understand now. The angry mob was an agry mob of extremeist Hindu men who were incredibly mad due to there being a mosque on what they argue to be the birthplace of Ram. Now my details are a bit fuzzy on who started what, but essentially there was some act of violence done by Muslims against Hindu people, so the Hindu extremeists retaliated by bringing down the mosque in Ayodhya and subsequently killing mass amounts of Muslims, women and children included, in terrible terrible ways. This happened in 1992, but plans to burn down the mosque were probably in circulation since 1984. So it makes sense that the boys, who were Muslim along with their mother, would see Ram because it was this controversy that caused the killings in the first place. Phew.

Sadly, this entire controversy is still a very important political point and goal of the BJP (previous ruling political party in India), who still wishes to create a Ram temple on the mosque ruins. But the construction has yet to happen and remains incredibly controversal since the Congress party, a secular party, is currently in power (and for many other reasons of course). Sorry for the excess writing - but I really haven't blogged in a while so I have a lot to say! Now onto Amritsar...

Amritsar is known for primarily one thing: the Golden Temple. It is the mecca for the Sikh religion, and a significant number of Sikh people live in India. It is also the most visited sight in India for Indian tourists. So it is basically busy all day long, all year round.

So the North American four, Maria, Kylie, Allie and I, all boarded the train for our third trip as a group. After the sleeper train there, I somehow have the ability to sleep the entire time, something the rest of the girls are quite jealous of, we arrived in Amritsar. So we headed straight for the temple. And here it is in all its glory.

Beautiful, no? And it is entirely painted in gold! The temple sits at the center of a huge lake (man-made) and is surrounded by a rectangular marble pathway with guest rooms on the sides and an entire cafeteria. The best part is, you can sleep and eat for free! Since so many people travel here, it makes sense. But its not just the Golden Temple that is so hospitable, this is true for all Sikh temples. Although we didn't get a chance to, you can go to the cafeteria and get your basic chapatti and some sort of bean-ish food with it. As much as you want.

So we took a few pictures -

Just me!

Oh and I forgot to mention, you do have to cover your head - both guys and girls. In the lake surrounding the temple men can also bathe. So you will often see men undressing (they leave some sort of long underwear on) and bathing in the water. So the women have to bathe in a separate area - which seemed a bit small to me from the outside although we didn't go in... again, not sure why not haha. Here are the women:

So after walking around for a bit, barefoot of course, we waited for 45 minutes in the long line to enter the temple. We gave about 10 rupees donation each (you give as you can) and we received a banana leaf full of this brown stuff. Then once you make it to the front of the line and you can enter the temple, the men there take half of the brown food as an offering to God. Then you get to eat the rest! It was terribly greasy but so delicious and sweet. So we ate that and walked around the temple which had similar marble and stone designs as the Taj Mahal. Oh and the gold.

Outside the temple you could see all the carp in the water as well. They were the most beautful orange fish.

And on our way out to get our shoes, Allie and Maria were stopped by a family who wanted their picture with them. I wanted to show this because this happened about 234872047 times on this trip. It's quite funny actually when Kylie is in a bad mood because when men ask her for a picture they really wish they hadn't. But for the most part, we say yes to women and families, and absolutely no to any men. As for the families, we're not sure whether our faces will end up on the mantle in a frame or just in a family album. Mom with the Golden Temple, Mom with the white people, Mom with the kids... just normal.

So after that we went to the Jallianwala Bagh memorial. Basically when India was fighting for independence, the British were often unruly with their response. So a group of Indians in Amritsar were holding a peaceful protest, and the British general ordered in troops to stop them, and the troops just fired at the people who had no way to defend themselves. So many died on the spot and many died trying to save themselves by jumping into a huge well (all of these people died as well). So they made the area a beautiful park and you can see the well which is still there. So we spent some time in the park and layed in the grass and read a bit.

Then at about 4PM we got a rickshaw driver to take us to the border closing ceremony. This is a huge ceremony that happens every night at around 5:30 or 6, where the border closes between India and Pakistan. That's right, I was about 100 meters away from Pakistan!

So the entire place is packed and filled with screaming Indians who are brimming with nationalism. Then there are also men or should i say guards, who a dressed in a bizarre and hilarious costume.

So the ceremony begins with a man screaming into a microphone "HINDUSTAN!" (ie, India) and then the crowd responds with something in Hindu. I was cheering it with them, but Im still not sure what I was saying - oh well. And from where we were sitting you could see a huge crowd on the Pakistan side as well doing the same thing. Although Im pretty sure India had more people and was much louder.

Then they have countless numbers of people alternate running to the gate at the border and back with two Indian flags. After that, they played about 8 upbeat songs (which im sure were patriotic) and there was a huge dance party on the street with about 50-100 people. Man those Indians can dance - and they are good!!

Then the actual ceremony began. A picture would not do it justice. First, one of the men in "uniform" screams into a microphone for what seems like an entire minute without taking a breath. Amazing. This happens a few times. Then simultaneously, different Indian men stamp up to the gate while Pakistan's men do the same (similarly dressed in an absurd costume). This stamping march includes high kicks and screaming. Then they thrust the gates open, stamp some more, shake hands, and throw the gates closed. This happens a few times. Each side stamps louder and with more energy each time to show how strong they are. So bizarre but incredibly entertaining.

It is at this point that I love India the most. They are so patriotic and such good dancers!! After this we head back on the one hour drive to the golden temple. At dinner, we have two types of Paneer, Malia Kofta (my favorite!) and Aloo Govi (my other favorite). We all share and dig in with our chapattis. Best Indian food I think I've eaten all summer. And the lassi in Punjab are twice their normal size - delicious!!

Then when we get back to the Golden Temple around 11PM, we set up our spot on the marble floor where we will be sleeping. The temple was so beautiful at night. We also captured some men holding hands (very Indian) so I thought I would share.

Its a little difficult to see, but you get the picture. The night was a little annoying because we had a stalker who wouldnt leave us alone, and about a crowd of 20 guys staring at us. Thankfully, one of the Sikh guards working there yelled at them to get away from us at one point, although new ones came back.

After about 3 hours of sleep, we were kicked and woken up with water splashed on us. They needed to clean the floors. We could have found a new place and slept some more, but we decided just to head for the train station to wait a bit before our 5:30AM train. Overall, I would say the trip was a success.

Its funny how some times I love India so much and at other times I hate it. It is a constant feeling of ambivalence. I loved India so much at the border closing ceremony when you see how wonderfly patriotic the country is. But then, when we are followed and watched by creepy men, even in the most sacred of Sikh temples, India can be very annoying. I guess that's the price you have to pay though. I'll reevaluate in 3 weeks.

I went to Nepal and somehow I lived...

So last minute .. that is, 5 days prior, I decided that I would go to Nepal. I mean, why not? It's located in the north above India to the east and its been proven that saying you went to two asian countries over the summer is cooler than just one. So i booked the train ticket there with Alvin (New Zealand) and Kylie (my Canadian travel buddy) and a plane flight back. So we left Friday night for what we thought was going to be 24 hours of train and bus traveling. Ohhh were we in for a surprise.

So we show up at the train station for our 5PM departure time and our hour later, without any announcement that says our train is delayed, the train has still not shown up. So we continue to wait. 2 cups of chai and 2 cups of fake coffee later, still no train. So Kylie and I go off to the "Enquiry" stations to find out what is happening. Turns out all of the Enquiry stations are closed for the day... typical. So we somehow break into the place where the train workers are working - props to Kylie - so we can get some questions answered. Still no one knows. How is this possible you ask? The answer... its India. So we head back to meet Alvin who lets us know that in the 20 minutes we were gone, the train both came and left. Fantastic. But lucky for us, its returning in 20 minutes. It was at this point that I think we created the "surprise scale" that we would soon use for the rest of the trip. Essentially, we assess at one level, from 1-10, we are surprised that something has happened. So about 40 minutes later, at around 8PM now, the train finally comes and we arrive in Sonali (on the border of India with Nepal) 14 hours later.

So then we get a taxi to the border and go to the Indian immigration office:

Yep, that's it. Surprise scale? Zero. So then we head through the Nepal border (very exciting!!).

Horray! Then we head to the Nepal immigration office with some new friends we made in the taxi ride - a guy from England who comes to Nepal every year in the summer to work with the same village, and a guy from Sweden who is traveling all over Asia. We were going to wait for the guy from Sweden because we were all going to Pokhara (another bus ride away) but we thought we wouldnt be able to because it took us 4 hours to get our visa from the Nepal embassy and he was buying his at the border. It took 5 minutes. Suprise scale? 6 - I was actually quite impressed. So then we head off to find the next bus leaving.

After we buy our bus tickets we wait around 1 hour for the bus to come even though it was scheduled to leave in 15 minutes. In India (and I guess Nepal as well) you must learn the art of patience. I've been getting better. So then we board this:

The tin can of doom. Let me first inform you of what the Lonely Planet book on Nepal says about the buses: "Bus travel in Nepal poses a significant risk of accident. It's uncommon to drive for more than an hour on any stretch of road without passing the burnt-out shell of a public bus crushed like tin foil into the canyon below. Travelling on an overnight bus is probably the most dangerous thing you can do in Nepal, and is certainly a bigger risk than that currently is posed by the Maoists and even more dangerous than the bungee jump (only kidding on that one). You are 30 times more likely to die in a road accident in Nepal than in most developed countries."

Needless to say, after I read this in India I refused to take a bus. But somehow... we ended up taking a bus. We talked to the experienced English guy who came to Nepal a lot and he said its only bad if you take it at night. So we said, sure not problem our bus leaves at 4! Problem. Not only did our bus not leave at 4, (somewhere around 5:30 to be exact) but the driver made three 20 minute stops within the first hour of movement. Our surprise scales we adjusting with every stop.

So by the time we were finally on the road, it was pitch black out. Then we began on the road that would last for the rest of the trip to Pokhara - a small barely-paved road on the side of gigantic mountains. To our left, there was the mountain. To our ride, I saw the largest drop (imagine looking down into the Grand Canyon) I think I have ever seen in my life. At least there was a river with rapids at the very bottom right? That is, if we would survive the 2 mile fall. Oh and there weren't any of those cushy barriers that exist in the US - oh no. It was just the end of the road and then plop! ..there goes my life!

The next 12 hours were the most horrifying 12 hours of my life. I first hyperventilated for about 2 hours with a death grip on one of the bus seat ...like that would save me. Then as Alvin and Kylie tried to calm me down (somehow they were able to sleep even though they knew we also had about a 50% chance of dying) and I listened too happy music on my Ipod. Thank you, Hairspray. And of course, to top off the horrifying turns on a bus moving much to quickly for that altitude, there were other cars on the road. Oh and not just cars - trucks. So there would be a bus (usually us on the outside closest to our pending doom) and a truck on the inside. Wonderful. Then the driver also stopped another 4 or 5 times. One stop at about 3 AM lasted over an hour. Considering I didn't sleep at all because I wanted to be conscious when I was dying, these stops for who knows what became increasingly annoying. I just was praying he wasn't drinking... although that would have been about a 4 on the surprise scale.

Somehow... we lived. I literally kissed the ground when i stepped off the bus. Somehow we found a guest house to stay at when we arrived at 5 AM and we stept til 12. When we woke up - we noticed... Pokhara is BEAUTIFUL. Just wonderful. So after some delicious breakfast we headed out for a boat ride on the lake.

This was just the relaxation we needed!

After paddling for a bit we stopped at a small idland in the center with a temple on it. And here we took another picture...

Only odd part about the Temple Island was that there were a large number of decapitated pigeons. We asked our boat driver and he clarified our suspicions - they were definitley decapitated by humans.

After that we decided we would walk around and see the shops, town and get some lunch. The signs were pretty hilarious at some of the stores.

After lunch we did a few touristy things like see Devi's waterfall. Apparently a European woman, Devi, was bathing in the waterfall with her husband when she fell down it and died. It's now named after her. It was pretty.. but it makes me wonder who would bathe in it since its pretty obviously deadly. Then again, I did willingly take that bus ride the night before.

Then we went to a temple cave (we weren't allowed to take pictures of the temple though. Then cave was located right under Devi's Fall so it was dripping water down there.

Then we had some dinner (looking back we mostly ate there). And I got some authentic Nepali food! Basically like Indian, but with rice instead of chapatti. And they eat it all with their hands too! This was our view from the restaurant where we ate outside:

The next day we woke up at 5 am to go to the top of some mountain to get a view of part of the Himalayan range during sunrise. It was pouring but we had to pay our driver anyway (500 Nepali rupees each!!) It was incredibly foggy so we saw nothing. But then we went back at around 4 for only 300 rupees for all three of us (much better) an we saw it!They were SO TALL. It is difficult to describe. I know we have huge mountains surrounding us in Arizona but Dad, you would have died. It was amazing. This one's name is Annapurna and its is the 10th tallest in the world. Actually 8 of the top 10 are in Nepal - the other two are in Pakistan (K2 and another one).

This is us in our Indian squatting pose!

Alvin always looked off into the distance in every picture...

So then the next morning we went to our FLIGHT to Kathmandu. We were previously going to bus it there as well but I would rather cut off my toe than do that again. They could have charged me $300 and I would have agreed. Good thing they didn't..

This is our plane! We actually got to step only the runway and get on it (AKA one of my life goals). Check!! The plane ride took a total of 20 minutes and it was remarkably smooth - suprise scale? 11!!!

For the afternoon and the next morning we explored Kathmandu. It is like a typical Indian town but MUCH cleaner. We only saw one person on the street!n To kill time we also went to see Transformers 2 in theatres (it was awesome) and I started getting excited about next year because half the movie was set in Jordan (woo!). Overall, Nepal was great. The weather was amazing (I actually didn't sweat!) and the mountains were gorgeous. Kylie and Alvin even took the plane ride to Mount Everest in the morning on Wednesday - i didn't see it as worth it unless I planned to trek to see the mountain so I slept in :) But we were also happy to get back to Delhi where the prices are not so ridiculous (for some reason everything was so expensive there in comparison). And Delhi was happy to see us too - welcoming us with a big whiff of shit. Ahhh.. home sweet home.