I've Found the Magic

Like Seth mentioned, India was easier for me to handle than for him.  But, that doesn't mean that I wasn't confounded or appalled at times.  As a matter of fact, upon leaving India I ended up becoming so infuriated that I was barely holding myself together.  If I were a different person I would have started punching people, but luckily I have a thread more of patience, but really it was only a thread.

We began to see enormous mountains peeking through the clouds from the airplane.  It was really exciting.  But the real excitement came when we began to walk around the area surrounding our hotel.  We, luckily, booked a crap hotel in a good area.  Thamel is the super touristy area, but that means that food is basically safe wherever you go.  There are tons of shops, overpriced of course, but many things to look at.  Bustling streets, live music, and the best part… no cows!  And when there are no cows, there are no cow patties.  And, on top of that, the streets are clean!  I can walk without looking down.  I can look at shops as I walk past.  It's amazing.  But, what I really found here in Kathmandu on our first night, was the magic that was missing in India.  It was clean, safe, and smiling.  I felt as if a huge weight, that I didn't even realize was there, was lifted from my shoulders.  I'm not going to say that I completely disliked India, because there were parts that I enjoyed.  But, I don't think I felt as relaxed, comfortable, or happy one single day while in India, as I felt this first night in Nepal.  

See ya later stink town!

So, Berkley has been a bit more kind about her description of India than I would have. The last month in India has been above and beyond the most frustrating, and at times perplexing, portion of our trip so far. I don't even have the energy to write about India. Lets say it took quite a few of these to make me someone Berkley wanted to travel with.

We left Delhi (after an infuriating situation at the airport) and took a short 1:45 minuet flight to Kathmandu, as soon as the plane touched down it was like the monkey on my back had jumped off. (pun intended)

It feels great to be out of India, Kathmandu has been a wonderful change.

Back on American Soil

Sorry to tell you guys this after the fact, but we made an unexpected trip back to the US.  We strolled along American soil where most everybody spoke english and things were clean and well kept. Um, well, here's the thing, at our food tour we were part of a group where four out of the seven of us worked for the US Embassy.  We became friendly with a couple, and they invited us to see the Embassy.  The US embassy in Delhi takes up 3 large blocks.  It's quite impressive.  There are offices, living quarters, a 'country club', an acclaimed international school, and so much more.  It was a really neat experience.  Neither Seth nor I had ever been to a US embassy, so it was a first!  It was, also, really interesting to get the perspective of living in India with a family and hearing about little things that you wouldn't think of otherwise.  Of course, the school and her kids were really intriguing to me. Hearing about their experience was important for me.

You'll notice that there are no photos of the embassy.  That's because you can't take photos of an embassy, duh.

Because they are just lovely people, they invited us to have dinner with them at their home, which happened to be right around the corner from the place we were staying.  It was a bit of a shock to catch a glimpse into their fridge and their kitchen, because it was packed with products that I haven't seen since early June.  Working at the embassy they have access to American goods.  We had a delicious meal of a cobb salad (planned?) and baked potatoes, with rice crispy treats for dessert.  Yum! It was so welcome.  It was really nice to swap travel stories and hear about their experiences.