Mar 2009

Hey everyone! We arrived in Kathmandu a couple of days ago, and now are getting ready to head out on a 28-day trek on the Annapurna Circuit and Sanctuary. The trek will have us staying at small lodges and tea houses in the equally tiny villages of Western Nepal. The scenery looks to be amazing and the people apparently are wonderful, so it should be an incredible experience and the perfect way to mesh culture with our favorite activity. We won't have much in the way of internet access for quite a while, but those of you who are interested in more info should check out the following site:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapurna

Love you all!

An out-of-date blog, but one that we couldn't miss...
One of the most efficient things in India is its rail system. We took a sleeper train down south from Rajasthan (14-hour train!) and were seated with a nice family. We were able to easily talk to them without the craziness of the streets and normal noises of daily life in India. It was very comfortable with bunks, sanitized sheets, blankets and pillows. The best part was witnessing the food and drink that are available at each stop. You can buy chai or fried goodies from any number of vendors outside and inside the train. One of the memories that sticks is seeing the chai man running alongside the train (trying not to spill the tea) to get the last order in, and the customer sticking the 5 rupees out the window to claim his/her hot drink. Or, the customers who had gotten off briefly to satisfy their hunger urges and seeing the train slowly take off, running with their newspaper-wrapped goodies to hop back on the train before it picked up too much speed to leave them in the dust.

Inside the train was fairly clean and neat, but after looking at the tracks before getting on, we knew what kind of bathroom conditions there would be. No toilet paper (normal) and waste being deposited directly on the tracks; in fact a hole straight down.

But, like any train ride, it was interesting (sometimes good and sometimes sad) to watch life go by: one moment you could see beautiful rice fields and the next you would see little boys taking their shower in the local swimming hole (or open sewage).

One of the highlights of Kerala (Southern India) are the channels, side rivers and waterways that make up the Backwaters. The "best way" (or Lonely Planet says) to see this part of the country is by getting a houseboat and moving along the water, equipped with a bedroom, chef and captain. So, Nate and I decided we would go for it and after checking out the boat before booking, we drifted off around 2:00 pm with an 8:00 am return the next day. The cruise was wonderful and what we have come to expect after being in India for a month now - bits of beauty mixed in with realities of India - garbage, sewage, floating water bottles, etc. But, the fun part was cruising by the villages on the canals, where kids were waving, riding bikes and blowing kisses, and young guys were secretly drinking Kingfisher bee. The highlight was our chef, who created some amazing dishes: red banana fritters, chickpea curry, tomato curry, and idli (steamed rice cakes). Besides seeing the reality of garbage in these backwaters mixed in with the beauty of the foliage, there was a more selfish low light of the trip - it seemed that whoever put the fan together, put the blades backwards. So, as Nate and I crawled into a not-so-well designed mosquito net (by that, I mean the net was laying on our faces and hardly tucked into the sides - can you say claustrophobic??) to find out that actually no air was moving in or out of the boat at all, even though Nate could have jumped into the water from his open window. So, with about 95 degrees F and 90% humidity, we had a hilarious/horrible night's sleep. Our creative way to cool down was to grab our cold water bottles and try to find the most strategic place on our bodies to maximize coolness. Nate ended up squeezing the water bottle under his chin the whole night; not sure how his throat was not sore after this. I think the tummy was a good place for my water bottle, but the whole night was pretty funny.

The next morning was peaceful, and the small lake where we anchored for the night slowly came to life with fishermen in their boats. We had at least 3 cups of masala chai to get the cobwebs out from the night before...thank goodness for chai! It was great to watch the surroundings come alive while sitting just above the surface of the water.

One of the most interesting/annoying parts was the argument that we overheard after sunset. There was another houseboat anchoring in the same lagoon and supposedly (according to our man, Manosh) they had been trolling after sunset, which is against the law (but not so well enforced). Well, the houseboat had ripped a fisherman's net and the fisherman had gone to the houseboat to collect for a new net; you can imagine what happened after this....I think they were arguing for 2 hours about paying for the net. And, Manosh told us that this was because we had gone with the government boat (ours) and not the private boat (the one who broke the net). Interesting.

From lassis (cold, refreshing yogurt drinks) to fruit to curries to chapathi to seafood to payasam, India has so many fanciful delights to offer. I think instead of getting the Delhi belly, we'll be getting the Indian belly from stuffing ourselves....can anyone say Freshman 15 part deux??

It's hard to explain and describe all of them in this one writing, so I'll try to give some highlights:
- Saffron lassi with pomegranate seeds
- Warm jalebi (like a thin donut)
- Fresh prawns and butter fish (from down south)
- Pasayam - close to rice pudding, but with vermecelli noodles, cashews, dates and milk, served warm
- Masala dosa - think pancake-like bread sometimes stuffed with vegetables and dipped in masala curry (Nate's favorite breakfast dish)
-Fresh Juices - just avoid the dark carrot juice...it will curl your toes it's so intense!
-Curries, Curries, Curries - totally different depending on the region
-Barfi - one of the many bite-sized sweets that you always have room for
-Streetside chai
-goat's meat - sounds weird, we know, but it's actually quite good

Just wanted to give credit where credit is most certainly due - I wouldn't have caught or seen half of the fish that I did without the help of my buddy, Corry. Thanks for taking me to your best spots and showing me how it's done down there!