We’re Home!

Sorry, we couldn’t fnd a place to get on the internet in delhi…but Sara I arrived back in Cincy this afternoon with our parents awaiting…it was great to see them! Well, I’m going to try to make a dual effort to get over my jet lag and get rid of a little cold I picked up on the way home with a long night’s rest..I’ve stayed up until 8PM and I just can’t handle much more…(my goal was to stay up until 10PM).Well, for those of you in cincy, look for invitations to the India Party here the first weekend in Nov. For those elsewhere I’ll upload more photos from the trip here in the next day or two.Thanks ya’ll for reading and supporting us while we were gone…it was great to share a bit of our experiences with you along the way! peace-

 

Last Day in Dharamsala

Yesterday Craig and I went hiking on a mountain(I think).   We never made it to the top(the trail just kinda ended and we didn’t have enough time to explore) but we got to see a nice view of the city and itwas nice to get away from the honking horns of all of the cars.  Today is our last day here in McLoid Ganj and then we take the night train back to Delhi.  Then we only have two days left before we come home, craziness!!  I can’t think of too much else except that we have taken cooking the last three nights and it has been so much fun.  The Tibetans eat so healthy and it’s motivating me to eat more healthy when i get home.  I can’t wait to get back and start cooking some of the dishes that we learned to make.   Oh and just in case you’re curious, it’s been 12 days and none of us have fought yet.  We still like each other:> 

 

Fog lifted…

Hey guys! It’s been pretty foggy here in dharamsala since we got here, but today we went on a little hike up to Dal Lake (a very muddy “spiritual” spot where apparently some followers take a dip once a year…yuk!) and the fog lifted for just enough time that we could see some of the higher Himalayan peaks (someone told us they were 5-6k meters…about 17,000 ft). It was beautiful. The cooking class was awesome last night, so much that we are all going back tonight for bread night and maybe tomorrow night for momos (last night was actually soups..which included momos). Can’t wait to come back and cook! Ben says that if we go all three nights we can get some sort of certificate if we provide a passport photo (I think Ben should do this…it’d be fun to say my cousin is “a certified Tibetan cook”!). Anyway, the guy who teaches the classes is very interesting, he told us last night about how he escaped out of Tibet to become a refugee here in dharamsala. It was a 28 day trek through the mountains in the middle of winter (when the Chinese army is fewer) with just one other person! Sara and I are talking about having a India party when we get back to share photos etc. More details on that to come. On a different note, kathy what’s the plan for thanksgiving? Did you guys decide whether on not to have it down at my place? Apparently I might need to spend some extra time cleaning it after Jim & kathi trashed it with their wild parties this week (that’s the word on the street). Well, we have one more day here before heading back toward Delhi. Sara and I are planning to take a little longer hike tomorrow with our new map in hand (didn’t realize trail maps were available until today!). Well, the power keeps going in and out here at the STD (not sure what it stands for, but it’s a internet booth) so I’ll talk to ya’ll later!Oh, and I  agree…Sara is definitely cuter!Probably won’t post more photos, it’s a pain to hire someone to burn them to CD and then resize and upload…we’ll post them all when we get back.

 

Some Photos…

Today is our first full day in Mclead Ganj aka Dharamsala.  Our hotel is sweet!  We had breakfast and lunch out on the veranda.  From the veranda apparently you can see the Dali Lama’s house.  The town itself is very friendly and has a lot more westerners than i expected.  Our very first shop experience was with a man named Sheree who was convinced he had met Ben last night.  We didn’t understand  him at first (we thought he asked us if we were in a band), however, it turned out that he had met Ben last night and so we had a good laugh about this.  Tomorrow, we are going to go to a cooking class.  I think we’re going to be learning how to cook momo’s which we’ll be good because momo’s are a new discovery here in India and after we know how to make them Craig says that we will be eating nothing but momos for turkey day.   On another interesting note, I(Sara) have been outsleeping the boys.  They have been going to bed at like 8pm and i’m just getting started by that point:>  Then they have been waking up early and i’m sleeping in, quite a role reversal.  Mums, Dad, and Katy - I’m not going to be able to call so don’t worry and just keep checking the blog for updates.  Kassi, Craig has bought you a super COOL present that you will love as much as your birthday present:>  This time it will be harder to return.  Anyways, attached are some photos of our trip thus far:Sara with some “kitties” (at the zoo):Some photos at the Taj Mahal:Hanging with Sunil and PamA photo on the narrow guage train up to Dharamsala and then a street in Dharamsala.

 

The Longest Day EVER…

We finally arrived in Dharamsala today after a 10 hour train ride in a sleeper, then another 7 hours in a train very similar to the one at kings island (narrow guage) but much more crowded, then an auto rickshaw ride with 2 other people (which is a lot!) up a mountainside (barely made it up!) to catch a bus for another hour ride to finally catch a taxi for the last 15 minutes to the hotel.  Needless to say, it’s been a very long day!  So, more to come after we recover.  We’re planning to try to get a few photos uploaded in tomorrow’s post.note: Sara helped compose this post