"Washington my home, wherever I may roam..."

(And in your head, you should be hearing the Sicko version of the song.)

I'm home.

Nepal continues to Teh Awesome

As predicted, my posts are tardy.

Trekking Recap

I spent a couple more days in KTM planning my trek. I met another American who advised me that for a first trek in Nepal, Annapurna Circuit is the way to go. I hopped a bus to Pokhara, found a female guide, got my permits, and off we went. The trek took 13 days from Besisahar (a few hours' bus ride from POK) to Nayapul (another couple hours on a bus). The circuit has an AMZAING amount of variety. I'll spare you the day-by-day (you can read descriptions online), but I had a great time and returned filthy (some showers are hot on the trail, the bathrooms are too cold to shower, though), tired (some days I hike 30+ km), bruised (I got hit with a bucket helping at a fire in Manang), sick (some form of upper respiratory infection from which I am still recovering despite antibiotics), scratched (no idea how these happened), chapped (wind and sub-freezing AM temperatures), sore (looong stairway down the last day) and as happy as I have ever been.

It's probably time to return to work

I've been spending the remainder of my time playing super-tourist in KTM. I am a lousy tourist, though, and hope to meet with a Nepali Mifos Specialist today to talk about microfinance challenges in Nepal. However, I've seen a number of Hindu temples and Buddhist stupas, all of which have been interesting. Friday is Holi (which I may celebrate by playing, um, golf). I've been eating a little too well--ALL food in Nepal is great. Every last bit. Added bonus: I've been provided with a guest room (and washer!) at a friend's house, so I get to live outside the tourist ghetto, have unlimited hot showers, and play with a dog. The things I enjoy most are walking around the city (I tend to taxi out to a site and then walk home) and talking with Nepali people. They have a very intense political history, as well as important elections coming up in April. Despite all the tensions (and before my trek, fuel shortages) I was relatively unaffected as a tourist.

Nepal is FANTASTIC

You must all visit this country. Just go start researching now.

I spent 3 days walking and riding elephants in Royal Chitwan national Park. I did not see any tigers, but I saw rhino, a bear, two types of deer, monkeys, a garial, and crocodiles. Birds are everywhere in Chitwan, and I will never get tired of standing in the forest and listening to them. I stayed an extra day and rode out with the elephant drivers to see them harvest tree tops for the elephants to eat (roughly two trees of twigs, per elephant per day, cut by hand with a machete, amounting to about two hours of hard labor on top of all the other work the guys do). I have pictures you can see when I return. I also played volleyball with the riders, elephants watching in teh background.

Today I am in Kathmandu finding a guide (hopefully female) and will probably go towards the mountains after tomorrow.

I'm in Nepal

So far, I like Nepal a lot. I've only been here a few hours, but people are nice and the food is good. Even the salespeople don't pressure you! I'm staying in a tiny guest house on the edge of the tourist ghetto. It's not fancy, but it's cheap and I won't get bedbugs (but I have my sleepsack, just in case).

Kathmandu has fuel shortages right now (a road blockage by the Maoists), so it'll be interesting to see how I'm going to get around the country to see the sites. Tonight I saw people waiting in lines blocks long to get fuel.

You'll note that any post I may will likely be short and sloppy. The internet here is sloooow, and I am more interested in doing things to write about than tapping away at a keyboard.

I will miss many things about Bangalore, but...

..not the small shocks I get from electronics. When I get home, I'll sit next to my grounded sockets and weep at their beauty.

I will miss most Grameen Koota and my friends, an unsavoury group of entrepreneurs, VC's, and eccentrics who have made my time here MUCH more fun than it otherwise would have been. One friend is confirmed to visit Seattle for a wedding in in August, so you can meet my Bangalorean platonic life partner. Another friend will be settling in LA, so if you are there, please look after her for me.

I will also miss
the chai lady
Panni Purri
South Meals
North Meals
Easy, cheap food delivery
riding in autos (yes, really)
Indian hospitality

I'm looking forward to my Nepal trip and being home, too, though. I am compiling my list of things to do. Oh, Costco--how I missed thee...

No news is bad news

My laptop screen makes a quiet bzt and then smells of ozone. I'm hoping plugging a monitor into it will let me at least finish some work I need to do. On the bright side, Steve K brought me a SteriPen for my trip to Nepal so that I can avoid the types of illnesses I brought back from Assam. It was great to see a familiar face. Tonight I'm off to Hampi.

We had some unpleasantness with our landlady, but Liz may have worked it out. Hooray! I'm all but packed for home, and I've done a test pack for Nepal. It's a little heavier than I would like, but I'll be consuming or abandoning items along the way.

Souvenirs from Assam

Though I shook my food poisoning in a day and was able to go running Friday, something has taken residence in my body. I'm running a low-grade fever and sweating profusely, among other less pleasant symptoms. I even had to skip an afternoon tea (and it was going to feature a lovely crab curry!). I've already started my antibiotics. Some friends came in from Seattle and have brought me a Steripen so that I don't go through the same thing in Nepal.

The trip to Assam was a nice change from the city, but the work aspects of it were less than satisfying, and I had a mildly creepy experience (you can ask me about it, but I'm not posting it here). I really enjoyed the jogging, though.