Thailand!

Just a quick post to let you all know we made it to Thailand and are currently trying to figure out which of the numerous islands to bask in the sun on.

Nothing else to blog about just yet, so we'll leave you with some fun facts about our time in India.
In the past 2.5 months, we...

* Can count the number of times we've eaten meat on one hand
* Have not worn a seat belt
* Formed a new definition of an awesome bathroom: (toilet paper is present). And "best bathroom in all of India" definition: (toilet paper plus soap).
* Learned how to roll a cigarette on a camel
* Realized how much $ we're willing to fork over for a good cup of coffee
* Become oblivious to maneuvering around cows while walking the streets
* Increased our attention to feet placement while walking, but still managed to average stepping in poo once a week.
* Found the cheapest airport food in the world in Malaysia. (2 months of cheap food in India and we were still excited at the deals we found in the Kuala Lumpur Airport)

"No Woman, No Cry...No Chapati, No Chai" ~Bob Marley spoof as sung by our hostel owner

We've re-entered Indian culture in a big way, emerging from obscure Himalayan towns to the pulsing bigger city tourist scene. A startling contrast, especially after 10 days of serenity and solitude. Quite overwhelming.  Honestly, we are a little burnt out on India and some of its repetitious behaviour, but overall we have absolutely LOVED India. It has been such a varied experience, with each place holding its own special character. We constantly felt like we chose good places to visit and good things to fill our time, and were really lucky with all of those results. Currently, we sit in Dehli, awaiting our flight to Phuket, Thailand...from where we really have no clue where to start when our plane lands.

Just as quickly as we were celebrating our trek with some locals in Kasol, we quickly realized that we only had 12 days left before our flight. So we traded the blissful mountain air for the hot desert to the West. Making a mad dash for Rajasthan State, we found ourselves in Pushkar...30 hours and 5 buses later. The long bus trip was made tolerable by the fact that we found and ate at a Pizza Hut in Jaiper, just as we were reaching our max with buses.
Pushkar is a small holy city with ghats that surround a lake. Gandhi's ashes are scattered at one of the ghats. Every year they host an annual Camel festival and we arrived on the evening of the last night, so naturally, there was chaos. The festival includes all types of wild carnival adventures from walking on coals to camel racing. There were 5 ferris wheels and other rides, games with prizes, greasy food, and of course a cotton candy man. All the makings of a legit fair. Camel drivers and tourists come from all over to see the madness and to buy, sell, and trade camels. On top of that, it is also a time when hundreds of Hindus make a pilgrimage to bathe in the holy water. So needless to say, the place was hopping when we staggered into Pushkar at 9pm, carry our packs and weary from clocking 30 bus hours. We just wanted a hotel and a bed. Glad to have missed the full throng of people and the sky-rocketed hotel prices, it was still exciting to see a bit of the action, as the carnival stayed in full swing for an extra day.
Next we headed to Udaiper, which is dubbed as the "Venice of India". There are 2 islands with palaces on them in the middle of a small lake, visible from shore. City Palace is huge and looming on shore, and every other structure in the area is beautifully painted white, full of arched windows and domed rooftops. The city was especially magical viewed at night from one of the many rooftop restaurants, when all the palaces were lit up like a fairly tale backdrop. We were informed that Shakira was there to do a private concert for the 80th birthday of an outrageously rich Indian business man. He rented out an entire island and invited 400 guests at $40,000/head...including Ricky Martin and David Beckham. The newspaper showed throngs of young men gaping from the shores during Shakira's concert, even though the island is far enough away to barely see or hear anything!
Udaiper's major claim to fame is that part of the James Bond movie, "Octopussy", was filmed here. Nearly every restaurant will roll out a TV for you to watch the movie with dinner...so we figured we'd better get on board and watch the infamous movie as well, which we did while consuming an absurd amount of food! Also, embarrassing as this is, it was my first James Bond movie as well.
Lastly, we headed to Jaisalmer for a look at the golden sandstone fort, which is slowly sinking its way into the earth. The fort itself was a beautiful maze of narrow streets with intricately engraved temples and havelis (ornate homes). Then, as a last hurrah for India, we splurged on a camel. Meaning...we did the slightly cheesy camel safari that everyone and their brother offers in Jaisalmer. It was only 2 days and one night, but it was enough to give us saddle sores, and a great way to end our time in India.
Every place we went in Rajasthan, there were rows and rows of market vendors with beautiful handicrafts to buy. So now our bags are popping at the seams, and we just hope to make it onto the plane with only carry-ons! Next time you hear from us...it will be from the beaches of Thailand!

Pin-Pavarti Pass Trek: Check!!

We made it! This trek made our last one look like child's play. It was one of the most challenging backpacking trips either of us had ever been on. For one, the cold...we had fairly good rental gear, but nothing like what we would have normally brought for winter camping. Firewood, we knew, was scarce to non-existent after Day 2, and we didn't know what the weather had in store for us. We were totally okay with the knowledge that any number of factors could force us to turn around at any time. So, we took it day by day, became familiar with the weather patterns of the valley, and scavenged for resources. It was like detective work, problem solving with the environment to allow us safety, shelter, fire, and wind protection. In general, everyday started sunny, wind would really pick up by about 3pm, and light snow started by 4:30 depending on the direction the clouds came in. We would try and find camp, get firewood, and set up by this time...warm ourselves and cook on a fire...then clean pots, make a hot water bottle for the sleeping bag, and crawl in bed by 8:30 where we would shiver and hopefully sleep and not leave that spot for the next 12 hours until the sun came over the ridge again. Inevitably, we would have to pee at some point in the night and that was always The Worst.
The valley we followed was littered with small caves that shepherds sleep in during the summer months. These caves made for some miraculously enjoyable and snow protected evenings. Whenever we passed an abandoned fire ring, we would scavenge for remaining firewood and carry it with us. This tactic allowed us to actually have a fire and hot meal every night and almost every morning.
The actual 9-day trek follows the valley up and up in elevation until it goes over the 5300 meter pass on day 7. Then you end up in a small village on the other side and have to take a 12 hour bus ride on a sketchy road to loop back to your starting point. The problem is that the road closes this time of year because of snow, and while it was still open when we started the trek...we didn't want to risk getting stuck on the wrong side of a very high mountain pass. So instead we decided to do the 6 days in to the Pass, and then double our mileage on the way out (with delightfully lighter packs and downhill gravity on our side) and get out in 3 days. I broke down each day for those of you whom I know love the detailed accounts of things.
Day 1:
Took a bus to Barsheni and hiked 10 km up to some hot springs called Khir Ganga. This hippy place was hopping! There was actually a few small restaurants. We were very excited about the hot springs, but by the time we got there it was getting dark and we were way to cold to think about stripping down and getting wet, even in hot springs.
Day 2:
We left the hot springs, and that was the last time we saw any other people for 8 days. A dog followed us all day. We felt sure he would turn around after hours of hiking, but he faithfully stayed by our side. We named him "Hobo". I lost my sunglasses somewhere on the trail which is a bummer because they are the only expensive pair of polarized sunglasses I've ever bought. We made it to the next official camping spot, marked by 7 cascading waterfalls, and we had to reach it by crossing the river over the worst lopsided bridge I've ever seen. We actually crossed it one at a time, it was that bad. It started snowing pretty heavy and we freaked out because we were already above tree line (so not alot of good wood) and no shelter. So we backtracked 45 min to a 3-sided cabin we had seen that was back in the pine trees, and stayed the night there. Hobo stayed with us through it all, and we felt bad and fed him some oatmeal.
Day 3:
Got up and the sun was shining. Most of the snow actually melted so we decided to hike up one more day and see where that got us. We carried some firewood, just in case. We ascended above tree line and found there was little scrub bushes that we could burn if we found dead ones. We re-crossed over the sketchy bridge, and later had to cross the river again by cable car. That was a rush! Hobo was afraid of the cable car, and he howled and howled as we left him on the other side of the river. We felt horrible. Found a small cave that faced away from the wind and protected us from a light dusting of snow that came that night.
Day 4:
Sun shining again and melting all the snow at ground level, so we press on...carrying more firewood but always finding stashes of more along the way. Crossed the river two more times via huge boulder bridges. The landscape turned really arid and there was nothing but grasslands and rocks with huge snowy mountains all around us. We found one pile of huge boulders and within them a HUGE cave. Very sheltered and awesome fire! Also, found a broken pair of sunglasses and fixed them with duct-tape.
Day 5:
Made it to Mantalai Lake, where there is a small Hindu shrine to Lord Shiva. So beautiful here. Glaciers all around, and we found a small cave by the water to stay in. Too small to set up our 2-man tent, so this is the first night we sleep without it. My coldest night by far. The cave blocks ALL the wind, and we spent a glorious hour in the afternoon basking in the sun and being really warm. Later, we got smoked out because there is no place to have a fire in there without all the smoke going in and gagging you.
Day 6:
Woke up super early and hiked with only light packs with water and food up to the Pass. Scrambled up an ice-fall where we would have loved a pair of ice axes. Made it to the Pass and it was gloriously beautiful and so serene. We had lunch in the sun, taking in the Himalayan views. Then it started snowing, we started hiking down fast, we lost the minuscule trail. We finally found it and made it back to camp wet and cold. We realized that we needed to move our camp to where we could actually make a fire to dry off by it, so we packed up and moved to a different cave we saw earlier that morning, farther down the lake. En route, Clay slips and drops all the sleeping pads he is carrying, and they fall into the glacier water of Mantalai Lake. This is the WORST time for this to happen. I drop my pack and run back along the trail to try and save the pads with my trekking pole, but quickly realize this is stupid because the river is about 20 feet wide and my trekking pole is 4 feet long. Panicking, I look around for anything longer and all I see is the flagpole on top of the Shiva Shrine. I feel horrible to have disgraced the shrine, but I dislodged the pole and ran to the river, praying the pads would float by on my half of the river. The pole barely reached, and Clay sacrificed one foot in the water to make the final snatch...but we got our sleeping pads back, and were able to dry them off later that night!
Day 7:
Left Mantalai Lake and starting hiking back. Went a third of the way back, no cave to camp in...but stopped at a place with lots of leftover firewood. Weather was super clear and beautiful.
Day 8:
Hiked back to our beloved cabin and beloved pine trees. Collected so much firewood and had a fire for many many hours! I was about to crawl in my warm sleeping bad and realized that the hot water bottle had leaked. So we spent the next hour drying out the bag, sleeping pads, and fleece liner. Very frustrated at the bottle.
Day 9:
Hiked back to Khir Ganga and this time arrived around noon. The place was nearly deserted, everyone having left for the winter. The sun and lower elevation made it super hot in the sun, and we soaked ourselves in the hot springs pools for a long time. It was, literally, amazing. Then we made a small fire and some spaghetti, and hiked the final portion of trail back to Barsheni. We caught the last bus back to Kasol, and made it back in time to get a phenomenal meal at our favorite restaurant in town. Then we slept super-well under 2 wool blankets each and didn't get up until the sun was streaming in through our windows this morning.

Soon we head to the hot weather in Rajasthan, where we spend our last weeks in India.  

Happy Diwali!

And the winner is...Rishikesh! We decided to head there, not really knowing what to expect. What we found is the Sedona, AZ of India. For those of you who aren't familiar with Sedona, that means it was a town full of spiritual gurus, crystal wands, yoga classes, ashrams, and all around general enlightenment...often aided by smoking weed. We actually loved Rishikesh, because it was full of excellent food, great traveler community, and chilled out Indians. We saw more white people in 3 hours than we've seen on this entire trip. The town itself is separated by the Ganga River, and there are two pedestrian-only bridges connecting the two sides. So it was extremely quiet on our side of town, and every night we could walk out our door and watch the sunset on the beach. Right next door was a cheap restaurant called "Namaste Cafe", and we ate there every night, because each meal kept blowing our minds. They offered everything from hummus with homemade pita to lasagna, ornate salads, and pastries. And they put so much into the presentation! It literally fulfilled so many of the food dreams we've been having while in India.
While there, we took a one-day white water kayaking class. It was really good and eye-opening. We learned that it's much trickier than it looks, and that it is terrifying to be sealed into a kayak and upside down underwater with not the skills to flip over again. We have much more respect for our kayaking friends: Forrest and Lyndie!
Also, the nation-wide celebration of Diwali happened while there. People everywhere set off fireworks and lit candles. It was beautiful to watch, especially over the water. These were like serious fireworks too...we would never be allowed to buy them in the States! Our guest house host, Dori, invited us to his Diwali party with his friends. The night was filled with peanuts, whiskey, drumming, and singing...and it was great to be able to take part in the celebration with the locals.
So then we bus hopped for 17 hours and found ourselves in Kasol, a minuscule town in northern India. It is nestled in a valley with mountain views out both sides. We are gearing up for a 10-day trek in the Pavarti Valley tomorrow, and spent most of the day today gathering rental gear and buying food. It will be VERY cold. Most people don't do this trek this late in the season, but we will be good if the first snow doesn't hit. So we're going to go for it, and we can always turn around. The Pavarti Pass stands at 5300 meters. So, we're off to eat a good meal and mentally prepare ourselves for the cold weather!
In other earth-shattering news: Due to the lack of fruit variety in most of India (apples and bananas), Clay decided to attempt to overcome his phobia of bananas. I'm happy to report that this morning, he ate his very first banana since he was 5 years old, and he LIKED IT!

Pindari Glacier Trek

We are fresh off the trail of the 6-day Pindari Glacier Trek, which begins and ends in the town of Song. We were led to believe by our trusty Lonely Planet Guidebook that we could get info about the trek and arrange guides, porters, and supplies in Song. We weren't planning to hire a guide or porter, but we did want to pick up some food, maybe rent another sleeping bag, and definitely get some info about the trail route. While waiting for a jeep in a town 38 km from Song, I happened to see a small guide service, so I went in to see if they had information. They were able to sketch me a map of sorts. Great...I did something useful with my time. Little did we know that when we arrived in Song, there was little waiting for us but a dirt street with a dusty snack shop. Obviously confused and not sure what to do, we asked where the trail started, and the locals pointed us to a path leading "up". So we inadvertently started our trek much sooner that we expected, carrying everything we brought to India, and armed with only a hand-drawn map of the trail. We DID know that there was huts to stay in along the way, and some kind of food available there, and the distances between those checkpoints.
We lumbered up the trail, asking anyone we met if we were heading the right way. We eventually found a man who offered us a place to stay for the night, and cooked for us. He also let us keep some of our extra weight luggage at his place for us to pick up on the way out. The next day we plunged into the mountains, and were met by a HUGE landscape of jagged cliffs and a rushing glacier fed river. There was water everywhere, so we never had to carry more than 1 liter on us at a time. The sun filtered through the dense greenery, and the rocks all glittered when the sun hit them (much like the vampires in 'Twilight'). I know this is three movie references in two sentences, but we decided that the scenery was like 'Jurassic Park' meets 'Fern Gully'!
Out on this trail, it is all about supply and demand. Huts were cheap enough to spend a night at, but food was definitely pricey and limited. We have now eaten enough rice and potatoes to last us a lifetime. Vegetables are rare, and fruit is unheard of...but the one thing you can always count on finding at the end of the earth in India is a cup of chai. The chai was amazing, especially for all the chilly nights we spent huddled in our sleeping bags. Another interesting thing was that everywhere we stopped, the hut host was literally pleading us to sell him our headlamp. Mine is an old one with a crack that I would perhaps sell, but we need them for our next trek. We turned down offers left and right. Finally, on one of the last nights of the trek, one man kept upping his offer to Rs. 700 ($14) plus he'd throw in his own hand held flashlight. So we finally parted with the cracked headlamp. Supply and Demand! So a tip to anyone ever trekking in India: bring a bag full of old headlamps, and you will make a profit AND be everyone's best friend along the trail. They are all the rage in rural Himalaya!
Anywhere we stopped, we were always asked, "You have no guide? No porter?". It was nice to be on our own, and in truth the trail was very easy to follow, and we hardly had to carry anything since food and huts were available. The trek lead us into a sanctuary of snowed capped peaks, where we climbed a small hill and sat basking in the sun for 2 hours, surrounded by the beauty. This trek was exactly what we were looking for, and it was a good warm-up for our next one, which we hope to be longer, more remote, and carry our food and rent a tent. So, 90km and one broken Chaco later...we are back in Bageshwar, where we are still deciding which bus will we get on tomorrow morning at 5 am. Joshimath or Rishakesh...I'll let the suspense of that one hang with you until next time!

Bobble-head Indians and Hotel Haggling

What is with the Indian head bobble?!? It is starting to drive us crazy. It's this side-to-side head shake in response to a question that could mean "yes", but it could also mean "no". So we try to rephrase our questions and are met with the same response: A blank eye stare and that side-to-side head shake. Argh!

We took the train as far as it would go Northeast, to Kathgodam, where we unfortunately got in at 1 am. The WORST...because you still have to spend money on a guest house room, but you are only there for 8 hours. Plus most businesses have already locked their doors and gone to bed. By chance, we saw a man on his balcony who had a seedy little room that he charged us Rs.500 for (Almost double our normal rate). So anyway...we left the rail behind for bone-jarring buses and crammed jeep rides, and started inching our way towards the Himalayan. Often the roads are single lane and hug steep drop-offs, so we frequently have to back up a ways to let someone pass from the opposite direction.
First we stopped off at Nainital, which we decided was the Breckenridge of India. It's a super nice vacation town up in the mountains that surrounds a half-mile long lake. There is even a cable car that climbs up to a resort and Himalayan view, and gondola-style boats that you can pay a boatman to row around the lake. The street food is glorious here, ranging from filled pastries and omelets to seasoned corn-on-the-cob and hot chocolate made with a steamer. It was also fairly packed. we searched over a hour for a room and the prices were insane. One guy showed us a room by the light of his cell phone because there was no electricity. A "selling point" of the room was that it had a TV. Then he quoted us Rs. 900 ($20). We tried to point out that the TV didn't count since there was no electricity, and that the room was definitely not worth his price but that we would indeed stay for something more like Rs.250 (still a rip off for this place). He didn't go for it. After much toil and a literal miracle, we found a charming cheap room. Our time in Nainital was spent exploring and hiking the surrounding mountainside.
After spending a night in Almora and enjoying Mango juice in the bottle and the sunset from a rooftop hotel, we went on to Kausani. Kausani is a miniscule but beautiful town. We were met at the bus stop with the usual hustlers trying to get us to stay in their hotels and such. One man was so insistent that we look at his resort that we finally consented, even though we had told him our budget. He showed us a gorgeous, clean room with a balcony and amazing view, our own bathroom, and hot water and told us it was only Rs.1500. We laughed and said we weren't kidding about our budget and we were sticking to it. We started to walk away and he started dropping the price like mad. Finally, in desperation, he shouted, "400! You stay for 400!" It was pretty much a no-brainer at that point...so we splurged and stayed at a legit resort, watched movies in our room, and got room service! (We've found that room hunting is much like buying a car...you just have to NOT need what they are trying to sell you.) Also here, we spent an enjoyable night around a campfire with an Indian family who just kept giving us rum and pakora, telling jokes, listening to music, and taking photos with us/of us so they could remember us always.

How many Indian family photo albums will we make it into?

The closer we get to Delhi, the more we become something of minor celebrities. We've been asked countless times to have our photo taken with Indians, and they don't hesitate to position us...shaking our hands or draping their arms over our shoulders like we're old friends. We tried making some money off of it, and telling them it will cost 'em 5 rupees, but they all just start laughing at our joke. The best was a few nights ago, while groggy and waiting for a train at midnight, a young kid comes up to us and pantomimes a whole conversation to us. Eventually we figure out that he wants our autographs and whips out a pen and scrap of paper!
Pachmarhi was an amazing retreat for us. We spent one day finding cave temples all over the hillside. They have makeshift ladders and little steps chipped into the rock at some places, just when you think you won't be able to make it up the next cliff band. The next day we rented bikes again, and rode 11km out to a peak that many pilgrims climb to the temple at the top. We were definitely given many strange looks as we were passed by jeep after jeep on the winding road up. People would tell us on the hike that they saw us biking, and they thought that was just great. Then they would find out we were from America and all of a sudden we would be shaking everyone's hand in sight. Our third day we were a little hesitant about, because we wanted to see this waterfall, but it would cost us 200 rupees each. That's a nifty little charge known to be called "skin tax". For example, this same waterfall would cost an Indian 15 rupees. Or the TajMahal: Foreigners pay 750 Rs, and Indians pay 20 Rs. So we are trying to figure out a way we can get fake India citizenship cards made or something! Anyway...we decided that we would scout out the entrance station to the waterfalls, and then try and bushwhack our own path into the falls. We didn't think it would actually work, but by some miracle, we did find the waterfall, AND discovered some amazing cascading rock pools of water and cliff overlooks by accident along the way!
We did see the TajMahal (in Agra) yesterday, and had to suck it up and pay the fee, although I can't say we didn't have a look at the North side, bordering the water :). Not even us would ever be willing to get in that water to save a buck. The Taj is every bit as beautiful and breathtaking as you hear it is. We went at sunrise to get and sun's first rays hitting the dome. The other good thing about Agra is the vast array of really cheap and really good food here! We found a place that serves a big cup of chai, 2 eggs, and 4 pieces of toast with butter and jam for 30 Rs. We've been craving this "Western Breakfast" for so long, and anywhere else it costs 5 times as much. Yesterday was also the end of the Durga Puja Festival. There were parades in the street all day, with statues of the goddess. Everyone was dancing and drumming and covered in different colors of powder. We inevitably got covered in powder and joined the parade down to the river, where all the statues were being thrown into the water. Loud speakers are constantly blaring in the streets here, with some type of anthem or song (it's a common occurrence and we are starting to not even notice anymore) but yesterday they brought the volume up a couple notches for the parades. Just when we thought India couldn't possibly amp up the energy! It was crazy!
I'll leave you with a fun irony that we've noted. India washes before and after meals, and yet other hygiene issues don't seem to be a big deal. Like the street stand that Clay bought some food at...minutes later a cow roamed by and started eating directly off of the plate he had just bought food from. The shop owner merely shooed him away and then tidied up the food pile, munching on a few pieces while he did it!
Tomorrow: off to Kathgodam, the gateway to the Indian Himalaya. For the sake of time, money, and distance, we sadly decided to forgo the Nepalese Himalaya and get our glacier treks in a bit closer.