in the blue city: back to sweatin'

so were back in india now! but from where we left off....i spent my birthday at chitwan national park and unfortunately we did NOT see any rhinos or tigers! we went on an elephant safari and it was the most uncomfortable thing ever. they stick you on a basket with one leg on either side of a corner pole and its just so bumpy. also me and angelee's elephant (whom we named maya) liked to lead with her left and i was on the left so i got scraped up real good in trees PLUS i got stung or bitten by some horrendously painful bug a few times. it was special! however, it didnt rain which was great and we went all throughout the jungle which was cool. and we did see wild pigs, deer, peacocks and some crocodiles. so still good!

and that morning we had gone on a village tour with our wonderful guide whom i call 'ketchup'. he's so cool, hes been kidnapped and kept in the jungle for days without food by maoists before! what a life story. anyway we got to go into one of the family's homes which i think was basically made out of mud. the kitchen's super tiny and dark with a fire pit for cooking. and then we went to another home where we got an awesome home cooked meal, i dont even remember my last homecooked meal. it was served in a bowl made out of leaves and we got rice, some chicken, veg and some little fried fish that we had bought from a local fisherman we had stopped to take pictures of. we got to park our asses on the floor and eat with our hand and it was really yummy.

then at nite we went only to the best cultural show of all time! we thought no one would go but it was fucking packed with people spilling out of the little concert hall! i think it was called the tharu cultural show and it was all men performing and they had different performances like dancing with fighting sticks combined. 2 of the most interesting acts was one with women twirling around like mad except they werent women....they were men in drag complete with fake stuffed boobies! plus for some reason there was a man dressed as a clown in that one as well. apparently they dont have women in their shows. and then the other wierd one was one man dressed in a giant peacock suit. trust me, it was wierd.

then it was back to kathmandu and we went out for a nite on the town for my birthday and angelee's going away. not really a nite on the town, but we did eat pizza and cake at a nice restaurant and then go to the one niteclub we always went to. but it was all good cause the dj loves us and played us our extensive request list.

after dear angelee left we went to a place just 15 km from the tibet border called the last resort which is where mini and eug went bungee jumping off a bridge. there is zero temptation for me to engage in such an activity. at the resort is my first time staying in a tent! so its like i went camping. and then the next day i went canyoning with mini without really knowing what canyoning is first. i was under the impression that its like sliding down waterfalls but its more like getting into a wetsuit and harness and then walking (more like sliding without meaning to) backwards at a 90 degree angle down waterfalls! i wasnt so prepared for that! the first couple waterfalls i got banged up a bit and i was like fuck i hate this! but then as you get used to it its ok. the last waterfall was 46 meters high and it looked pretty scary to me! it felt like forever before i was even halfway down the waterfall and then you look down and think fuck, im still seriously high up. but afterwards it was a good experience....but i dont know if id do it again! oh PLUS i got seriously leached! as we were walking back up the mountain (this part, very unfun) i got leached a bunch of times; i had like 4 leaches in my shoes and one on the spot between my chin and neck! how sick is that!? the sickest thing is the leaches make your blood all wierd so you keep bleeding after you get them off but its this gross congealy blood. naaaaasty.

so that was my outdoorsy experience in nepal! then back to kathmandu and then we took a day trip to a town called patan. they had a beautiful durbar square which i guess is like the town square and we had a guide show us around. he was cool and is half tibetan half sherpa! my first sherpa. anyway, the square is just all beautiful old buildings and plenty more temples with kama sutra carvings. there was one temple calle the golden temple that was particularly nice. and then we rushed through the museum which happened to be one of the nicest museums ever and is in a renovated old palace! something you woudlnt expect to find. A+ to patan.

and then after some serious shopping, back to delhi. i didnt particularly wanna stay in delhi but we had to and the up side is that i got a mcdonalds fix. and then of all places, we went to a T.G.I.F restaurant for drinks and chicken strips! the next day we went to one of the markets but then got stuck in a giant downpour so it was time to headback.

by the way, ih ladakh i decided that i need to start shopping since i really havnet bought anything for myself this entire time. but then it got a little out of hand....from then till kathmandu ive bought 3 wooden masks, 3 mirrors, clothes, paintings... stuff thats not so fun to carry around! so even though i bought an extra duffel bag (which is now broken, fuck!) it was time to ship some shit out. so $90 worth of post is now on its way back to vancouver....

this morning after a 15 hour train or something ridiculous like that....we have arrived in johdpur aka the blue city. the old part of the city has lots of buildings and homes that are painted blue, something about mosquitos? i dont know but it looks really cool and rising up above the whole city is a massive beautiful fort. so far i really like johdpur even though we havnet really done anything. so 2 more weeks of india pretty much and hopefullyi can find time to post photos soon!