"Incredible !ndia"

so weve made it hear to india! i really wanted to post some pics but indian internet hates me and wont let me. more like im just impatient but thats not the point.

back in our last week in luang pragbang we went on an elephant mahout experience for 2 days which eug did last year and highly recommended. it was tons of fun we got to ride elephants and wash them in the river and i must say, riding an elephant can be a slightly frightening experience. i like to be dramatic and say i nearly died when on our first elephant ride, i was sitting on the neck and our elephant whom i named mary (and then later on was renamed crazy mary) decided to veer off course and go eat branches....right over a giant ditch. i only got very concerned when our mahout (the elephant's caretaker) put a death grip on my arm and was shouting at the elephant who refused to listen. so that was interesting. then i got to ride another elephant who's blind in one eye and i named bessie. she veered off course as well and bonked her head on a tree. then it started dumping rain and she wouldnt let me off. i had such good luck with the elephants.

to wash them we got to ride them down to the river and with us on their backs they just dunk themselves right into the water up to their trunks. we used big bristley brushes and just rubbed them down good. i got mary again and she pooped during her bath. overall, elephants = A+ good times!

and then for my last couple days in laos i checked myself into a swanky hotel and took a hot bath with the air con blasting which is just completely unnecessary but oh so enjoyable. and on our last nite in laos we headed off to an authentic laos disco! there was first a live band when we got there and they played a very extended version of 'happy birthday' which the locals seemed to love. but then they also played 2 akon songs to which i thought, "is 'i wanna fuck you' really an appropriate song for this place?"

and so me and eug bid a sad sad farewell to laos and headed off on our unmerry way for we were about to depart on a long long journey to mumbai, !ndia (eugenes estimating 37 hours. and im doing the "!" cause thats their whole tourism motto and i find it amusing.) we indulged ourselves by taking a flight from luang prabang back to vientiane (laos air is apparently either termed 'flying tuk tuks' or 'flying coffins') which saved us from going on an overnite bus. the plane is the smallest ive ever been on, with only 15 rows, and it is not for those with a weak stomach. i was very very glad when we landed. and then we took an overnite train to bangkok, flew to kuala lumpur, and then finally to mumbai! and now here we are: me, eug, angelee, meghan, krista, and 2 of angelee's friends from waterloo.

on our one full day in mumbai we took a boat ride to elephanta island which had....caves. me and eugene are both drawing blanks right now to what exactly was on the island. (we are very very tired.) but it was excellant, that i will recall! the most outstanding thing so far is that locals are in love with us. madly in love. we get treated like movie stars and everyone just wants to take photos with us. (or they'll video record us when we walk by which is a little wierd but sure why not) i dont particularly understand the fascination with me since i aint white and im so tanned now im practically brown but its all good fun. people shove their kids our way, want their kids to kiss us, and entire families will get their photo taken with us. actually i just got an email from 2 little girls we met on the island saying they miss me and want to be my friend; now even i think thats cute.

and today's been a long day, we set off at 5 am in a van we rented that had AC!!!! and it took about 7 hours for us to get to our new location, a town called aurungabad. we went to the ellora caves which was absolutely fantastic. basically caves carved into the mountain but the main cave had giant sculpted buildings in it. everyone else knows more details about the caves so perhaps theyve blogged about it now (i am so useless) so perhaps you should read their posts as well.... it kind of reminded me of angkor wat. but really more than half our time was spent posing for the locals' photos but no complaints here.

anyway it is damn hot here but no monsoon yet so so far so good. and though ive been steadily packing on the pounds my entire trip i think finally the weight gain will stagnate cause the heats totally reducing my appetite and im just not loving indian food the way i love...all food. but anyway i think this joint's closing up and we now have an a/c room to look forward to going home to! so hopefully i can post some pictures soon but, mom and everyone home, dont worry, ive made it to india alive!