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Namche Bazar - 11,552 ft
Monday, 26 April 2010
We caught the 6:30am flight out of Kathmandu. It was so nice to get above the city and out of the pollution. We landed 30 minutes later in Lukla. This is where most people come to trek up to Everest Base Camp. Reuben and I had a cup of tea and walked about 4 1/2 miles to Phakding. We delivered a letter from Pam, a local Truckee Yoga student, to the owners of the Namaste Guest House. We got a free nights stay, thanks Pam! The food up here is simple and good. I stick to the dhal baht: rice, streamed/fried veggies and lentils.
The next day we started hiking at 7am. I was told that we were going about 4 1/2 miles but that it was uphill. The day before this same distance had taken us about 1 1/4 hours. It took us 6 hours to get to Namche Bazar!! We did stop one time in Monjo to have some milk tea and chocolate. Besides that we were in motion the whole time. Needless to say it’s steep!
Along the walk I did get my first view of Everest. Luckily, the sky was a brilliant blue and there were just a few clouds. The trail was full of trekkers, horses, donkeys, yaks, dzos, chickens, fuzzy puppies and playful dogs. By far, the most impressive people on the trail are the porters. They carry A LOT. Easily two big backpacks and a couple boxes piled high. It’s quite impressive....and very humbling. I had a wimpy back pack I bought in Kathmandu for $15 bucks and it was really uncomfortable. I was annoyed the whole day. Then a couple porters would walk by and I’d feel utterly pathetic. I actually ended up trading in the old back pack for a very comfy one. Cut me a break I’m on vacation! Plus, I’m lugging around my Maduka Yoga mat up! (at least it’s the travel light model) 
We spent the night in Namche Bazar and day hiked around today up to 12, 500 ft. I was tempted to have a glass of wine at the Everest View Hotel (once upon a time a 5 star hotel), but I decided to wait until the way back down to have a drink!! We plan to be back in Namche Bazar in 12 days. The mornings are still and glorious, and the afternoons are windy and cold. We’re usually inside by then, sipping lemon tea and playing scrabble. Love to all, write to you when we get back to Namche.
Posted: 04.26.2010
Kathmandu
Friday, 23 April 2010
(cont.)
I love how you need three people in India to do a one person job. For example, you are getting on the plane. One person takes your ticket, looks at it, and passes it to the next person. The second person tears the ticket and hands the stub to the third person. The third person then hands the ticket stub to you. Believe it, cause it happened when we got on the plane, when we got on to the bus, and when we got onto the next plane....three people each time! Don’t even get me started on the security line!
We arrived in Kathmandu at 4:30pm. There were many people barking out their hotels and guest houses like a hungry pack of dogs. Luckily, we had a reservation at the Tibet Guest House and a van to pick us up. The guest house is casual, comfortable and the right price (thank you Marin!). Each level has a balcony, and the top of the building has a beautiful garden with shade and places to sit and relax. It is located in the Thamel area of Kathmandu, which is incredibly touristy and busy, but the room is quiet enough us. The very tippy top of the guest house has a 360 degree view of the city. I’m not much of a city gal, but this view was unique and fascinating. I love all of the buildings, the garden roof tops and the nooks and crannies. There are cafes and delicious restaurants everywhere and oodles and oodles and oodles of shopping. We’ve already had Thai, Nepalese (the steamed dumpling veggie Mo Mos are my favorite) and a fire-baked pizza. Easy living.
I never blogged about my quest for a beer in India. We had been out in the country for about two weeks. There was little electricity and rarely any cold drinks. Drinking in India isn’t the social outing we’re used to, it’s done in seclusion; so try as I might I could not find a cold one. On our last night in India, I asked the hotel desk clerk if they had any beer. They didn’t, but the desk clerk assured me that there was a store just around the corner. So I stepped out into the heat in hopes of finding a refreshing beverage. Ugh.... busy streets, horns blowing...I had been in the car for about 6 hours that day too. I did see a bar, but was reluctant to go in solo. Especially since the bus stop was next door and there were some shady characters around. So I returned to the hotel and the refreshing AC. The desk guy then assured me that he would go and get me a beer from the bar (cause that’s how you do it in India) and bring it back to the hotel once his shift was over around 8pm. I thanked him and anxiously awaited my tasty beverage. I fell asleep and around 11pm the desk guy knocked on my door and told me that his shift was now over and would I like him to go and get the beer. Half asleep I said “no, too late”. I had failed, I was over it. Plus, I had to get up at 4:30am anyway to catch a flight. There are other stories like this one. I had tried to find beer other times, so this was the icing on the cake and the hilarious was nauseating.
You can imagine my excitement when we got to our room in Nepal and I discovered a fridge in the room fully stocked with beer! And… if you drink it they replace it the next day when they come around for cleaning. Lovely. 
However good the beer, food and shopping is, Kathmandu can be rather exhausting. After 36 hours you are over the pollution, traffic, horns, pushy merchants, and beggars. It’s time to get to the good stuff! We fly to Lukla tomorrow for trekking. We will be west of Everest in the Khumbu region and we hope to see some good views. I am ready for some exercise in the fresh mountain air, and to be in the majesty of the grand Himalayas. I’ll send you the next blog from 12000 ft.
Posted: 04.23.2010
4:30am to 4:30pm
Thursday, 22 April 2010
We awoke at 4:30am in Kochi, India. The taxi ride to the airport was rather mellow. Just a few honks and rick-shaws, but not too many people on the road. The airport was quite interesting. We both stood in line to show our tickets, and then found a seat next to a coffee stand. The coffee in India is not the best so we opted for a 4oz hot cup of tea which consists of: 1 oz black tea, 2 oz hot milk and 1 oz of white sugar.
The counter for Air India finally opened and the people briskly walked forward. Personal space as well as making lines do not exist in India. They will crowd you from behind and squeeze you in, and of course blatantly cut you off. It’s the way of the country, people sickened with the “hurry up and wait syndrome”. Needless to mention, I was ready to be over with my two week holiday in India. It’s a lot of work!!!
Once we got past security, we found ourselves in a huge room with rather comfy looking arm chairs all facing the window. Which would have been fabulous if we were gazing upon the majestic sea. Instead, we were watching the typical mayhem of India. Which can be entertaining, but at 6:00am on three hours of sleep and no latte, I was over it.
The first leg of the journey was alright. The man next to me fell asleep and was leaning over the already cramped middle seat I occupied. This was not too out of the ordinary. I gently pushed his arm back to his side of the divider and he woke up. The next hour he continuously hocked boogies and swallowed them and itched and picked his nose rather violently. It’s an Indian thing I think. They can clear their throats for 15 minutes straight, rub their nose for two, make strange neck movements for three and then start the whole cycle over again. Must be an ancient kriya 
We arrived in Delhi and retrieved our bags. Then we waited for a shuttle to take us to the domestic terminal. Had we have walked there it would have taken about 2 minutes. Instead, we waited 20 minutes for a shuttle, went through a security check to get out of the building, another check before we got onto the bus, one when we got off and another to get back into the other terminal. We drove around the entire runway field. It was ridiculous. There was a dog hanging out at the international terminal when we got off, I wondered how this guy got in here and if he had a valid passport!
The next leg of the journey was to Kathmandu. This Air India plane was ready for retirement! Our seats were filthy, reclined a micro-millometer, had tray tables that continuously fell down in our laps, and a convenient medal bar that plunged into our mid-backs. Thankfully, Reuben had some spare duct tape so we could temporarily tape the tray tables up for the duration of the flight. You have to laugh at it all, or else you’ll just cry your eyes out!
To be continued................
Posted: 04.22.2010
Sweaty!
Tuesday, 20 April 2010
I am still in Kerala but out of the cool hills and into the hot and busy city life of Kochi. Reuben and I helped his parents pack up their house and we set off Monday around noon. We stopped by Sasi’s Tea House for one final chai. Sesi makes the best tea. First you boil half milk & 1/2 water with a little ground cardamom. Once it boils you add the black tea and let it sit. Then you add sugar and strain. Then you begin to mix with two separate containers from grand heights. You hold each cup an arms distance apart and pour the liquid back and forth without spilling a drop! This helps make the chai frothy and oh so delicious.
After that we headed to Munnar for lunch. I had my usual vegetable Talhi meal with rice and various spicy curries. We drove on through the rolling tea region. It was a much faster and cooler ride this time since we were in an AC taxi instead of the local bus. The roads are very windy there. The roads are filled with more eager, horn-blowing, crazy drivers. After about 2 hours we got into the outskirt of the ecity of Kochi. We almost hit a moped who was trying to cross the raod, three busses, 2 cars, and we dodged a few cows. I tried to just keep my eyes off the road.
Kochi is a big city with oodles of stores and mounds of garbage. They don’t have land fills here. Perhaps they think it will all just bio-degrade. They don’t recycle or have trash facilities. So they burn everything. I have to admit that they do reuse quite a bit. You’ll see food wrapped in newspaper or banana leaves.
Reuben and I went to the post office to mail a package home. Easy, right? Here were the steps:
1. Find a box to mail your stuff in. (found one at a near by shop)
2. Take a ride in a rick-shaw on busy and HOT city street to the post office.
3. Cross the street to a tailor shop. There they will measure your box and sew some material around the package.
4. Go back to the post office.
5. Try to write the address on the cotton material, which does not work.
6. Walk to the book shop and buy a marker for 7 rupees.
7. Go back to the post office and mail the package. (we got a good deals because the man behind the counter made some phone calls and we managed to get it ground instead of air)
8. Ride the rickshaw back to the hotel. Take your 3rd shower of the day.
It actually was quite fun. I was smiling in disbelief. It took us a little over an hour and the rickshaw ride only cost us 40 rupees (about $1) I gave him 100 rupees to the driver for all of his hard work.
Posted: 04.20.2010
Nod to the Left
Wednesday, 14 April 2010
I’m getting used to the head nod. It’s not up and down, it’s a slight left to right waggle, so “no” kind of means “yes”. And “yes” means “yes” too. They just don’t like saying “no”. Reuben and I took a fun rick-shaw ride to Marayoor. We tried to get on the Internet, sure enough there was no electricity. We managed to find a cold soda, which was welcoming with the heat. Mangoes are just coming into season. We replenished our fruit supply and headed back up to the cooler mountains.
After lunch we went on a hike up the Sholla Road. It’s a beautiful gravel road though the wilderness. We didn’t see another person, only gigantic squirrels (about 2 feet long). We tried to get up to the ridge but it was getting late.
Today we took a 2 1/2 hour bus ride to the town of Munnar just so I could get on the internet. So I hope you are enjoying this blog!! Ah, we also ate a delicious vegetable curry lunch (thali plate) and delivered some veggies to friends of the family. We are in tea land. Rolling, flowering, fantastically beautiful tea land. I love the rolling hills. Maybe we’ll take a taxi back home. I’ll try to blog again soon. Namaste! 
Posted: 04.14.2010
Coimbatore
Wednesday, 14 April 2010
We arrived around midnight in Coimbatore. It was hot even then. We took a taxi to the hotel. This was my first taste of the driving in India. I thought Athens was busy...or Rome, Cape Town even....but nothing comes close to India. Organized chaos. Mopeds, bikes, rick-shaws, taxis, buses, cars; all familiar to the average road. Then throw in monkeys, cows, goats, kids, elderly people, women carrying water buckets on their heads, men carrying wood and tools, and road construction (in the middle of the road with no warning or order!). Then add in fast drivers and lots of horn blowing. However, there were no accidents and no road rage. Truely organized chaos!
The next day Reuben’s parents, Joy and Andrew, picked us up at the hotel and we headed up to the hills of Kerala. After the first 15 minutes I had to force my self to not get absorbed into the road as it may have brought on a panic attack. I’d like to say that it got better once we got out of the city, but the roads remained quite narrow and the people drive just as fast. We did drive through a park and saw about 15 wild elephants. They were along side the road, little baby ones too. We stopped in a few shops along the way for some bananas and laundry soap. Everyone here does their laundry by hand. The way they beat their laundy is a sight to behold. They smack it repeately on cement blocks and wring it and whirl it all around!
We eventually got to Reuben’s parents house in Kanthallor (about 6000ft). It’s a beautiful place with a huge garden. They have broccili, beans, chard, potatoes, tomatoes, garlic and corn. It’s rare to get diverse vegetables here in India, the fresh food has been quite a treat.
The landscape is lush and green, terraced with farming. I wake up in the morning, meditate, have breakfast, and walk the beans (pull weeds in the garden). Then I do my Yoga practice and we walk to Sasi’s Tea Shop for lunch. It’s a shack on the hillside, and the food is spicy! Everyone eats with their hands, except me. I ask for a spoon. The rice and the curries and the sauces...it’s just too much for me right now. After lunch we take walk up in the mountains. At sunset we return home, pick some food from the garden and make dinner. Tea and bed. Relaxed, healthy living!
Posted: 04.14.2010
Japan & Singapore
Friday, 09 April 2010
Reuben and I are in the fabulous Singapore airport. Seriously! It’s awesome....guitar hero, free internet, a movie house, an outdoor sunflower garden, restaurants, meditation rooms… We might just skip India and stay here! Naw, we are looking forward to India. It was fantastic to see my friend, Leza, and her family in Tokyo. We went to a Japanese bath house, to the Giant Buddah in Kamakura, ate Macrobiotic food, and saw plenty of cherry blossoms. I got to attend Leza’s Yoga class too, which was fully needed after all of these long flights. Leza is a wise woman full of wisdom, patience and compassion and I really enjoy her classes. (For those of you who dno’t know Leza Lowitz, you can check out her book “Yoga Poems") Tomorrow, Reuben and I will be way out in the country in India, but I will write my next blog as soon as I can. I hear there is more snow in the Sierras, enjoy it! It’s 83 oF here, over 100 in southern India. I got my sandals on. xox 
Posted: 04.09.2010
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