Thankful Thursday

Last week, Nolan informed me that his obsession with Babybels finally took its revenge. Lesson learned here: don't leave Babybel cheese wax in your car on a warm day. Oh yeah - this was really fun to clean up.

 One of my little treats recently was to summerize myself. Since the days are longer and the temperatures warmer, I decided I need to start dressing the part. So I tapped into my swimteam days and put a little sunshine in my hair. Best part was still the stylist washing and massaging my head though - I swear, I go to salons just for that!

Since we're in recap mode also, I guess I should write a little about our hunts. The house hunt has all but dried up. There is little to no inventory for us to even consider, so we're kind of just playing the waiting game until something comes on the market. It's an adventure, and I can honestly say that I view it that way. I'm learning to live my life with less grip on the reins, and this is one area in which I have almost no anxiety anymore. 

As far as the puppy hunt goes...it couldn't be more opposite! We're all but holding our little pet in our arms! I've been filling out forms and chatting with the breeder, but last week I went to a dog show and I got to not only meet her, but also meet the Sire for our pup-to-be. This is a picture of him from a recent show - isn't he handsome?! I can't even tell you how bubbly I was with excitement after meeting all 70ish Vizslas at the dog show. This is 110% the dog breed for us! The Sire (below) is named Riot, and comes from an ancient line of Vizslas that was actually stagnant (dead), and then re-started via frozen materials. The mother-to-be is from an imported family of Vizslas in Hungary...so our pup will be the cream of the crop! SO EXCITED!!!

After I went to the dog show, I drove into SF to meet Nolan and some of our friends for a late lunch at Burma Superstar. We've tried for 7 years to go to this place, and each time it just hasn't worked out for one reason or another. Finally going there was a small victory! I had the tea leaf salad and it is absolutely all that the Food Network and other ravers say it is :) Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture that day, so this is the best I got (see the orange sign in the distance...haha!).

As you can see, we stopped for Boba afterwards as a treat for the drive home. Haven't had that nectar in years! So.worth.it. 

Fortunately for you, my readers, I went BACK to Burma Superstar yesterday with a friend, and got the tea leaf salad again (and so did she because it's BOMB), and this time I remembered to take a picture. Mine is the mixed together one and hers was about to be mixed. Same thing though. They actually go to Burma to get the fermented tea leaves, because you can't get them here. Tasty!

 I started posting signs for Nolan celebrating his last shifts in residency! As exciting as this is, neither of us are on Facebook much, so when I started posting these each day and tagging him, he informed me that I need to stop. Hah! So...I'll just celebrate here at home so he doesn't get so many notifications :) I can't believe we're down to just 8!

And on that note:

1. I'm thankful there are only 8 (7 as of tomorrow morning!) shifts left in residency for Nolan. I can't for him to start working less hours and have more time to pursue other passions.

2. I'm thankful for the "7 year itch". Personally and also relationally, this has been a huge season of growth for us. It hasn't been easy, but the horizon is blindingly bright and we're so excited about opportunities for growth and getting to know ourselves and each other more! Who knew that such a wives' tale could be such a beautiful thing? Growth and struggle are always > complacency and mediocrity.

3. I'm thankful for 8 more days of me working out of the San Francisco office. I love working at Corporate Headquarters, and now that we're down to the home stretch  before I go to full-time working at home, it's sad and a little scary to think of leaving it. I'll have to find lots of excuses to make the drive to the city very often.

4. I'm thankful for things God's bigger plan. Even though we technically don't have an address to move to and need to be out of here by the end of the month, and even though there are a lot of unknowns in our near future, I'm learning more and more each day that all of these little things are known and planned and purposed. Why worry about tomorrow when today has trouble enough of its own? And such lovely troubles they are, when we're so blessed to have these types of "first-world problems". Seriously. Whenever I feel stressed or worried or pity myself I remember how many people I know or read about or see that have so much more on their plates and such burdens on their lives, and still reflect joy. This is like when Nolan told me he saw a patient in the ER who came in because she had a hangnail. A HANGNAIL. That's how I feel, with my little worries, compared to the person struggling in the next bed.

5. I'm thankful for graduation this weekend, because it means we have lots of excuses to celebrate, see family and friends, and really just enjoy our last times together with the other residents. Truly bittersweet, this whole "finishing" thing.

What are you thankful for?

Friday and I'm still thankful

Sometimes I have a really hard time keeping track of what day of the week it is, particularly when there is a holiday weekend or something to throw me off. This was obviously one of those weeks. So I'm just off a day with this post, I guess.

We celebrated one of my colleague's 40th anniversary with McKesson this week. It's mind-boggling - she's been with the company over than a decade longer than I've been alive. This woman is the most incredible person to work with, but also a good friend. It was so nice to be able to celebrate her with some of our colleagues and her family! This is her below, giving her speech :)

Yesterday morning on my way to work I took this picture outside of our house because I hadn't noticed the baby lambs in the little pasture next door. There are about 10 sheep there now, and some of them are these little cute things like below. They all bleat though, and worst of all: they cause a disturbing amount of people walking around the neighbourhood to stop, hang over the fence and yell loudly, "baaah! BAAAAAHH!". I've debated pulling out my airsoft gun to discourage the behaviour, as it's SUPER annoying to always hear that.

It's been a fun week, what with BBQs, game nights, work dinners, and date nights like last night, in which we noshed on homemade gazpacho and chicken while having a conference call with our financial advisors, went for a bike ride/run, and watched our favourite show before bed. Tonight's a girls' night, and tomorrow is either mountain biking or windsurfing, so the weekend looks promising ahead. Yay summertime!

1. I'm thankful for our a/c (have I said that before?). It makes sleeping so much more bearable.

2. I'm thankful for friends to relax and catch up with.

3. I'm thankful for my excellent co-workers and company. It does make a difference!

4. I'm thankful we have a BBQ. I can't imagine only cooking with an oven, indoors, during these hot days. Phew.

5. I'm thankful for fun potential plans with Nolan in July. Research currently underway - stay tuned :)

What are you thankful for?

Sunny-side up

I thought I had more pictures from the wedding we went to last weekend, but apparently of the many pictures that were taken...only 2 were actually on my phone. That could be a good thing, because I wore a dress that I'm pretty sure will turn out in pictures as either really not-flattering or slightly slutty. Either way, it's clear how classy I am.

Anyway, I'm trying to hunt down others, because these are not great. Like this mid-chomp shot across our table of some of our friends and colleagues.

This one actually is okay. Nolan's super good at selfies, so we took this one while waiting for dinner to come out :) I need lip colour, but Nolan looks perfect of course. 

This weekend was another jam-packed one. Here I thought we'd end up bored and whatnot due to our change of plans, but no. Friday was a workday, but I managed to catch a quick lunch with Nolan at a great Mediterranean place that I so wish I'd discovered 3 years ago. Bah! After work, we grabbed dinner at our favourite Vietnamese place. Saturday morning, we had more friends over for waffles (yay!), then drove like bats out of hell to Sacramento in memorial day traffic to make it to a couple house-viewings with our realtor. Finished the day with dinner in Sac with some friends, then a nice drive back. Sunday we woke up, opted to spend some relaxed time together at home instead of church, and then headed to Pulgas Ridge to run the trail there. It's my favourite trail run thus far, though I certainly can't do it all the time or my calves would implode from the effort. It's only 5.3 miles, but MAN the elevation change is brutal. You go up, up, up, then plunge down into the bottom of the gulch, then you climb agonizingly way up to the top of the ridge along a series of many, many switchbacks, before having another long set of downhill before the end. There are about zero flat stretches.

This was us at the top of the ridge. VERY happy to be done with the switchbacks.

Post-run pic. I always feel accomplished after this particular run, so I'm glad we captured it this time :)

What can I say? He's jacked and I'm one lucky woman ;)

After we did the run, Nolan had a lunch meeting and then chess with a friend, and I did some errands, read my book out in the sun, did a bit of weightlifting and stretching, then picked up Milo and headed to our friends' house (where Harley lives!) for a kitty play-date and dinner. Nolan had to work, so it was just the three of us. Milo was so anxious the whole time about me taking him in the car again, that he didn't take advantage of the playdate until the last hour or so. Lame!

Monday was an incredibly luxurious day. I woke up, did a long yoga session, went for a nice run, then did a bit more reading outside in the sun. So nice! Then Nolan woke up from his post-night shift recovery, we hung out a little bit, and then we went over to his colleague's house for a memorial day bbq before Nolan had to head back to work for another night shift. We're down to just 15 shifts left now (JUST 15!!!) standing between him and the end of residency. So crazy!

Thankful Thursday

Last weekend was packed. We put an offer on a house (but the counters were crazy so we stopped that pursuit), had dinner with my Dad, had some friends over for a waffle breakfast, went to a super-fun wedding of one of Nolan's colleagues and danced the night away, did some work, and then I went to a Thai "massage" Sunday afternoon. Really, it was more of "pulling on all my limbs and chanting buddhist exhortations while inhaling incense for an hour and a half" instead of a massage...but it was relaxing. I think I'm cancelling my second session (even though it's free), as I was hoping for more of an actual massage, but I will say that just laying there and letting my mind relax and even meditating on some of the general thoughts being chanted about happiness and bringing joy to others and learning to let things roll off of you was a good exercise for me. No matter what religion you are, there are some truly beautiful common threads like those that I think we can all learn and benefit from. This is partly why I like travelling, and really soaking in some of those nuggets of wisdom that we can glean from others with different belief systems and cultures.

This weekend is going to be super different than planned. We were going to head up to the ranch, look at homes, maybe go up to Tahoe for a day...and now we're sticking around our house, having waffles with more friends (who doesn't like healthy waffles with friends on a Saturday morning?), grilling with friends on Memorial Day, maybe mountain biking, maybe making a day trip to Sacramento to view homes if needed, maybe just lounging around...we'll see. I had a fun work dinner on Monday, then we hosted a big party at our house on Tuesday, and are going to another one tonight at someone else's...so it may be a chill weekend. I also have big plans to take Milo to my friend's house for a playdate with his little girlfriend, Harley. He's been acting out a bit recently and I think he just needs some friend time. But now I'm blogging about my cat. So...let's move on.

1. I'm thankful for the slightly cooler weather, even though it means I've actually been cold at times this week. The heatwave last week was too.hot. Oh yeah, and I'm thankful for our little A/C that helps make life more bearable during those hot times!
2. I'm thankful for the beautiful area we live in now for running! Every direction is interesting and pretty, and if we want trail runs, all we have to do is hop in the car for 5 minutes for our choice of preserves to run in.
3. I'm thankful for Milo, that turd.
4. I'm thankful for Nolan, and our times of growth and learning together - buying a home and transitioning out of residency are both big, stressful things, and I'm so glad that we can learn from them and grow through them together.
5. I'm thankful for a long weekend, in which I plan to maybe not open my work laptop at all! I love my work, but it's good to practice that balance and let yourself do nothing sometimes.

What are you thankful for?

Thankful Thursday

This house hunting thing is a real trip. We're going on random trips to look at places, locations, changing all sorts of parameters, and learning about ourselves in the process. Whew. I'm excited to find our home but I won't be sad when this part is over :)

Last weekend was one of those random trips up on Saturday morning, supposedly just for a quick few hours and then back home again, but we ended making a lot of changes and even staying the night to look at more homes the next day. It was fun to get together with friends for dinner, see new neighbourhoods, and see my family a little bit on top of that.

Sunday morning, I decided to go for a nice run on the ranch while Nolan got some work done...but I hadn't brought anything for working out. So I threw together a sportsbra from high school, a shirt from my college freshman dorm, my mom's socks, the shoes I leave up there, and a pair of my brother's tiny running shorts...which ended up being just my size (almost). Win!

I took Captain with me for the run, and he kept up the whole way, but by the last few laps the poor guy was flagging. He stayed right here (below) until we left. Haha.

That's a little bit how I feel lately, what with the hot weather and all these upcoming changes. Just kind of pooped. Still: I shouldn't complain! Look how many great things I have going on!

1. I'm thankful for Nolan's residency coming to a close. It's been great being down here and meeting new people, but residency is just as tough as the stereotype says it is.
2. I'm thankful for free massages! I was going to use a groupon massage today that I bought awhile ago, and the masseuse had to cancel last minute - so he offered me an EXTRA free massage, and we booked both for within the next 3 weeks. w00t!
3. I'm thankful for the A/C unit in our little apartment. Yes, it is tiny. Yes, it is loud. Yes, it is huge and inconvenient. But YES it does make life more bearable when it gets super hot like it's been this week.
4. I'm thankful for our neighbour. She watches Milo and FDR when we're gone, she is super kind and thoughtful, and today she killed and disposed of a really nasty spider for me when I just couldn't.
5. I'm thankful for my food processor. Every.Single.Day.

What are you thankful for?

Thankful Thursday

I realized recently that I've been too casual about thankfulness in my life. I say I'm thankful for a lot of things (and I am, really!), but I don't let that thankfulness manifest in my everyday life. For example: I say I'm thankful for our home and where we live, but I complain about the traffic or the single-paned windows that never seem to keep the heat in or out  (depending on what we need at the moment). Instead, if I'm truly grateful, I can look outside my window as I am now, and appreciate the lush green of the trees right outside, and the quiet of the breeze blowing and the birds singing. I can go for a walk through our beautiful neighbourhood and think, "this, this is a great place for us right now, and I'm thankful for it", even if it means I'll be stuck in Bay Area traffic this weekend at some point.

Is thankfulness really thankfulness, if you don't stop to consider what it means, and just say that you're thankful for it? If I said I was grateful for a roof over my head and a full belly, but just superficially consider it to be true and don't actually absorb what that means or feel how truly grateful I am for those things...am I really appreciating those blessings? I don't think so.

So this week, I'm keeping it simple, and saying and meaning these 5 things that I truly, sincerely, am profoundly thankful for each day. My goal is to really feel how grateful I am for these things, so that I don't let complacency rob me of the true joy I should and can feel at all of these blessings.

1. I'm thankful for my relationship with the God of the universe, and His relentless pursuit of my heart.
2. I'm thankful for my true media naranja, my husband. He is my world.
3. I'm thankful for our time in the Bay Area, even as it comes to a close. I have learned so much while living here, and have truly enjoyed so much of it.
4. I'm thankful for my job. I hope I don't take for granted just how lucky I am to have a job that I love.
5. I'm thankful for my families, and truly appreciate how blessed we are to have godly, loving families on both sides of our little sub-family :)

What are you thankful for?

Things white people like.

A fitting title, when you see my two displays of glorious pictures for today.

A couple of days ago, my dad sent me this picture, that he said he took when he had to drive by Jack in the Box a second time just to make sure he wasn't seeing things:

Who knew that any 4-wheeled vehicle could go through a drive-through? Classy.

 Today Nolan had to get some dental work done, so when I got a text with this picture, I decided that I need to make sure and look this awesome next time I go to the dentist. Seriously, why didn't I think of wearing sunglasses to guard against the hellish lights? Why didn't I think of bringing my own music so I don't have to listen to Celine Dion one.more.time. while I'm sweating in that chair?

Seriously though.

This week is chock-full of work, both professional and personal. Each day, once I'm done with work-work, I start on other chores and things on my to-do list. Pretty normal for me, except that this week that involves more house-shopping, which I semi-really love and semi-loathe because I just find it exhausting to get excited that much. Hah.

Wish us luck!

Thankful Thursday

It's Thursday again, and I sit here with a belly full of avocado and sore feet from a lovely run early this morning. This week has been crazy busy, as a lot of new things come down the pike and a lot of old things come to a close. I've gotten to spend time with out of town colleagues, good friends, and try a new lunch haunt with our developer that I'm adding to my short list of good places to eat. However, this week has also been crazy productive and you know how I thrive on that feeling. Woo!

I've already written down my massive "to-do" list for the weekend, and I still have another workday between now and then.

Anyway - let's get on to the good stuff.

1. I'm thankful for a bit cooler weather. For awhile there, I thought it was time to haul up the huge A/C for our bedroom again. Phew.
2. I'm thankful for a wonderful Easter with family again, and that our families love each other and love God.
3. I'm thankful for chocolate avocado mousse! Hah! For real, though.
4. I'm thankful for my little lacrosse ball that Natey got me, because it saved my quads from some real bad soreness this week.
5. I'm thankful for the many homes we are able to search in order to find just the right one for us. I know many people don't have that luxury, and I am so looking forward to finding something perfect for our family.

What are you thankful for?

mint condition

Ah, Easter. The season of bunnies and peeps and green grass and family. We kicked ours off with a trip to our favourite sushi spot with my dad and our friends John and Julie. Please note that Julie and I controlled ourselves this time and didn't get the all you can eat. It was a tough decision. Possibly also the first meal where we haven't eaten more than our husbands, as is our habit.

We also spent a little time house-shopping, and got so close to finding what we're looking for. It's exhausting, but exciting. We've narrowed it down pretty far at this point, so I think one of these next forays will lead us to "the one". Phew.

Saturday morning we celebrated my father-in-law's birthday (Happy Birthday, John!) with our traditional breakfast out at Sweetie Pie's. Nolan and I also spent part of Saturday learning how to recycle his "baseball cards" (business cards a la Stanford), since he won't need them anymore. Hopefully my dad's rental car company won't mind finding an extra picture or two laying around of some random dude from Stanford. It's nothing in comparison to the plethora of these babies that lurk in odd places in my parents' house, waiting for discovery.

The rest of Saturday was spent with family, celebrating Easter up on Easter Hill, and enjoying the gorgeous weather and good people around us. This is a terribly nondescript picture of some of us, but I was eager to get back to the festivities, so I didn't bother trying to get a decent one.

Sunday while we were driving back, I came down with something. I think it was mild food poisoning from the symptoms, but not really sure. Anyway - after making it home and deciding to suck it up, we drove over to our friends' for a game night and dinner. We drove separately because Nolan had to stay until about midnight to work on a residency task, and I had grand plans of nursing myself to health again with an early bedtime. That plan didn't work, because I barely slept at all that night. Blah.

Anyway. As I was driving, I get a text with this in it:

And I got another one tonight as Nolan was headed to work. These make me laugh out loud and smile to myself at how full my heart feels when I think of him :)

Thankful Thursday

You know, it's past 10, I have to get up before 5, and I'm still here. That's commitment to trying to get back to my blogosphere right there.

This weekend we're celebrating Easter with our families, visiting with some good friends over sushi, and house-shopping (yay!). So I am totally hyped up with anticipation, and I'm thinking that's why I'm okay not being in bed yet.

I took a picture last week of my fancy pearls that Nolan bought me for my birthday (in July...hah), and was going to post them last week but totally forgot to blog so...here it is. Aren't they gorgeous and glow-y?!

I finally was able to connect with a breeder today about a potential puppy litter that would allow us to adopt our dream dog in the Fall. I didn't want to wait that long, but Nolan's right - we've waited this long for a dog, so we might as well get exactly the one we want and wait until that's possible. 

This house thing is exciting but tiring too. I almost have a hard time looking at homes these days because I just want to find the right one and stop weeding through duds! Nolan seems okay with it - he's spent hours looking at homes, and doing a lot of work on that front. Ah well, maybe this weekend will be fruitful! Speaking of which:

1. I'm thankful for the opportunity to own a home soon.

2. I'm thankful for a job that will allow me to move to that home and still keep working and doing what I love for a company and a team that I love.

3. I'm thankful for hopefully finding a good breeder to help us get our puppy! EEE!

4. I'm thankful for a tiny bit extra time to cook recently...almost every night! It's been awesome, and has yielded some stupidly delicious food that happens to be healthy, too!

5. I'm thankful for productivity and opportunity. Even though it's been a super busy time at work and at home, it feels good.

What are you thankful for?

Real World: Bay Area

Back to real life. After I got home from our vacation, I spent a day in the office and then flew down to Scottsdale for an offsite with our Corporate partners. We stayed in a gorgeous resort at the base of Camelback mountain, and enjoyed lots of great discussion and learning, awesome food, and the most beautiful weather. Friday morning, we all even fit in a long hike up to Piestewa Peak, and enjoyed the view of the whole valley. 

As you can see, by Friday, many of our colleagues who had joined us had already flown back home, and so it was just a large party of women left. Fun!

One of the best parts about being back and settling into routine again is cooking. I love cooking, and have been able to make a whole bunch of new and delicious recipes, mostly from the wealth of deliciousness at paleomg.com (like this one! serious caution: only use half the cayenne and chili called for; even with half the amount, it was really hot. I'm also going to add a little sweetness next time, per Nolan's request :)). No, we're not paleo - we just practice clean eating, and these recipes fit the bill for a fantastic dinner! Try this one and this one, too - they're both going in the rotation as they are fabulously delish!

Milo's been loving having us back home again, and been very affectionate in the hours we spend with him around the house. But his habits haven't improved. This is what I found (below) the other day when I got out of the shower and had been letting my cooked broccoli cool so I could eat it. When my parents were over this past weekend (fun!), he made off with a piece of asparagus and was ferociously growling over it. Seriously, I can't even trust him with greens. The vet told me I have to be careful about him stealing veggies, too, because the calcium in those babies isn't good for his already-susceptible urinary system. 

Last night I was supposed to pick Nolan up from work after my bible study ended, and since I was a little late, he started biking and told me to find him from my location. Since I had a good guess which route he would take from Stanford home, I had to estimate where he would be along that route, and at which point in time so I could intercept him while I was coming from another location also. After his challenge, he was dismayed (but I think impressed!) when I pulled onto a street and flashed my brights at him JUST as he was coming towards me on it. I demanded my prize and felt very pleased with myself for guessing just right. And this was before I had time to read the tiny street sign in the photo he sent me!

After a serious lack of energy for the last couple weeks, I'm finally starting to be back to my normal levels, and back to getting in hard workouts and checking a million things off of my lists. This includes buying a house, finding a puppy, and starting to de-clutter and pack up things in our house. We've got a lot of fun stuff coming up, but a lot to do in the meantime. It's good to be back and at it!

Leavin' on a jet plane

Time to finally complete my travel musings, before I forget all the adventures!

Friday, we slept in a little and then set out to explore Jaipur. We took a cab to the fort on top of the hill, and hiked up the staircases carved into the hillside. The fort itself is massive and beautiful. It’s built into the side of a mountain, and overlooks the whole valley. It was originally a home and stronghold for Mughal emperors, and now is simply a truly lovely tribute to Mughal workmanship and culture. The fort itself houses several palaces. One of them is the palace of mirrors, and it actually still has all of the mirrors in place. The sun and everything in the courtyard is reflected a thousand times off of the mirrors, and it’s just beautiful. We also walked around the outer walls to view the surrounding mountains, and explored a tunnel down into the bowels of the fort that was filled with dust and bats and smelled, frankly, of urine. On our way out of the fort, we heard music playing and stopped to see what the deal was. Snake charmers! I forgot that snake charming is a thing out in the western and northern states of India. We watched (Nolan was HORRIFIED) as cobras rose out of baskets, swaying, and occasionally snapping around other directions. I thought it was fascinating.

Afterwards, we went back to our hotel to try and find a good lunch spot. We were originally going to have our driver take us around for the day, but listen: something we learned in India is that everyone has an angle. If someone offers to show you to a good restaurant when you ask them for suggestions, it’s because the restaurant they choose happens to give them 20% commission if they bring us there. If someone helps you in any way, they ask you for a tip. If you happen to give someone a tip, they tell you it’s not enough and demand more. If you don’t give them what they ask for, they turn nasty. We discovered, sadly, that you have to be pretty independent and firm to save yourself from getting scammed at every turn and emptying your wallet needlessly.

Anyway: we started wandering around to find lunch, and ended up taking a rickshaw to a restaurant somewhere in Jaipur. We were more or less lost, as we had no map. So we ate, then went with Nolan’s gut on how to find the main road, and…he led us straight there. Guys, I have to tell you one other thing I learned in India: Nolan’s sense of direction is impeccable. We were constantly ending up in confusing places without maps or directions, and he always led me by the hand straight back to where we needed to be, without asking directions. SO impressive! Not to mention all the other things he handled swiftly – the bartering, the arranging of getting around, and figuring out how to use the train system in India…the list goes on. I often don’t even look up when we cross streets anymore because I implicitly trust his guidance in just about everything.

After lunch, we walked along the main road for awhile, looking for a money changer to exchange our Nepali bills, and then finding a ride back to our neighbourhood. We stayed in our room for a few hours, enjoying the A/C and getting work done, and then sat on our rooftop at the hotel restaurant and ate our last meal in Jaipur and sipped masala tea. Confession: I ordered some fries and a veg “burger” because my last few curries had literally burned through me, and I needed something safe 
Next morning, we got a SUPER early ride to the train station, and boarded our train to Delhi. Once we got there, we took a rickshaw to our hotel, which was in the busy tourist area and easily accessible to the metro station and airport. As in most hotels abroad, they asked us for our passports, to make copies of those and our visas. What I was about to discover, was that my passport was nowhere to be found. The compartment I usually keep it in was open, and there was nothing anywhere. I tore through my bags in our room, but still couldn’t find it. I had copies of the documents in my suitcase, so I gave those to the hotel, but was panicking, as our flight home was the next day. The hotel manager was trying to reassure me by saying, “At least you’re not here as long as one of our customers from America, Mr. Alan! He has been here 3 months. But he is different, it is because he had drugs in his suitcases.”  Hah.

So Nolan started researching and calling the embassy, the police station, and figuring out how we needed to go about getting me an emergency passport and exit visa. I realized then, that I had no memory of my passport being handed back to me at our hotel in Jaipur. So the hotel manager kept trying to reach the hotel, and finally got someone who told him, “I’m at the temple, I’ll call you when I go back to the hotel.” Great. An hour later, still no response on the phones. We managed to get an appointment at the embassy, so as we were about to head out the door to file a police report (you have to file one and bring the receipt to the embassy in order to get an emergency passport, but the tricky thing is that once you file that report, your Indian visa immediately becomes void…so there’s no going back), our hotel manager said, “let me try one more time on the phone.” On the last ring, they picked up, and said that they had my passport at the hotel. PHEW. What you have to understand is that getting the emergency visa would take a day or two or three, so I might have to get a new flight…but getting an Indian exit visa could take weeks or longer, depending on when they felt like processing it. So to hear that somewhere, someone had my passport? LIFESAVING. I was willing to even get back on the train for 6 hours out to Jaipur and come back in the same day just to make my flight. But what we were lucky enough to get was a taxi driver in Jaipur who was willing to drive it to us. Our awesome hotel manager arranged everything, and we ended up paying only $50 in the end, which is pretty incredible. The best part was, he had a sense of humour about the whole thing. When we got back that night and asked if the driver had arrived with the passport yet, he said, “Oh, actually he lied. They now say that they cannot find the passport. I am sorry.” He said this so sincerely, and since we had experienced very similar issues in India, we totally believed it to be true. Nolan started freaking out, I was dying a little bit inside…and then the manager said, “no, it’s only a joke. It’s here.” And pulled it out. Best trick ever. Nolan didn’t think it was very funny.


So we thanked both the manager and of course the driver, PROFUSELY, and then put our minds at ease with an ice cream and settled down for the night.

I should probably mention that while we were anxiously awaiting news about my passport, we took the metro and checked out a couple Delhi markets. The metro in Delhi is super impressive. I can't believe I'm saying that about any kind of train or transportation in general in India...but it's true. It's way better than Muni or BART, and that means it's cleaner (gasp!), faster, goes more places, and is so easy to use. We definitely noticed the British influence in the metro system they've put in place :)

For the most part, the markets we found were retail shops and expensive goods, though eventually we found the Delhi Haat, which was the handicrafts market. Once there, we continued Nolan's hunt for an elaborately carved Kashmiri wooden box. One of the vendors took us on a long rickshaw ride to a shop that actually ended up having exactly what we were looking for. BEAUTIFUL stuff. But, very expensive. So after a couple hours of negotiation, we left empty-handed.

The next day, we woke up for breakfast, then hopped on the metro again and went to about a million shops, emporiums, etc. on a few different rickshaws and MANY peoples' advice on where to get the box we were looking for. Nobody was right, and they all got commission from where they sent us. So we were a little ticked by the time we decided to take a break and head over to a giant temple for some sight-seeing. The temple was beautiful, but due to a recent terrorist threat, we weren't allowed to bring the camera or anything else inside. It was recently built, so not a historical monument, but definitely built in the old Indian style architecture, and very ornate and gorgeous to look at. We hopped back on the metro again to Connaught square, and sat down for some Indian fast food (had to try it!). A random guy found us, and ended up putting us in a rickshaw to what we decided would be our last attempt at finding a shop to buy this box. When the rickshaw pulled up, it turned out to be the perfect (but expensive) shop we were at the day before. Nolan decided to give the negotiating one more try with the bullish shop-keeper, and after almost 4 hours, some ice cream and diet cokes that the shop-keeper bought us (loyalty measures, haha!)...we finally had our prize! Nolan did an amazing job of negotiating down to a price we felt good about, and he's now the proud owner of an amazing, one of a kind (the sculptor is no longer living) Kashmiri piece of art. You'll have to come admire it sometime.

After our long day, we headed back to the market for a last sweep of looking around, then back to our hotel. I feel like we got to be pros at the metro system.

Our awesome hotel manager scored a huge win again when not only did he give us our room for free until we left for the airport, so that we could shower and nap and pack (so great!), but also when we asked him for the best restaurant around, and he sent us to a place that served what I think was my favourite meal in India. We ate slow, as we had a few hours to burn before our taxi to the airport, and it was THE BEST meal ever. We ordered chicken tikka, and the chef humoured our request to make it spicy and served it in a "mutton gravy" which was pretty similar to a rogan josh sauce. SO delicious. The mushroom palak was also super tasty.

We walked around a bit more, bought one last pistachio kulfi, and then sat in our hotel lobby chatting with the manager (who ordered us free chai from the street's chai walla!), and waiting for our flight. The notorious "Mr. Alan" walked in, and we finally got to meet him and hear his story, which was crazy and involved 90 days in Indian prison, drug smuggling, and numerous tales of medication woes. The man's an older gentleman from South Carolina, and if he really ever does write a book like he's threatened to do, I'll be the first to buy it just to hear the end of the story.

When we finally were on our way and waiting at the airport, we finished watching 12 Years a Slave, and said our temporary goodbyes, since we had different flights home. We watched the clock turn to midnight and Nolan's birthday, and got on our respective planes. He had a layover in Beijing, and I had one in Seoul. Though it sounds like his layover was spent in massive security lines for hours on end due to the Malaysian plane disappearance, mine was rather pleasant, and spent  watching a South Korean cultural show at the airport cultural center, and walking literally every inch of the International Terminal. 

When we finally both got home, we kissed the ground (almost literally), and smelled the fresh California air. I picked up Milo, did some laundry, went for a run, and then we went out to dinner at Pluto's (fresh, cold greens! Heaven!) for Nolan's birthday, and finished off the night with a stop at Cream for ice cream sandwiches :) Hey, when you're technically still on vacation, you gotta enjoy the treats on your last day! Especially when it's the birthday of your favourite person in the whole world.

I guess you could say we had an exciting trip. It was definitely an adventure, very stressful, but very fun at the same time. It was such an interesting place to go, and though I'll do things a little differently next time we go back there, it was a great way to spend the last 2 weeks.

Onward, ho!

Monkeys be the boss

Taking advantage of the wifi while I have it-sitting in the airport in Seoul, South Korea. I have a 4 hour layover, which is just an hour shy of how long you need to do a layover city tour, so I've walked every inch of this place and now have about an hour left to wait before boarding. Not too bad. Let's keep going with the adventure re-telling, though, or I'll start to forget stuff!

The day after Holi, we woke up early to catch our train to Agra. It took an hour for a rickshaw driver to show up from the time Nolan first had requested one (hey-oh, Indian standard time!). Our train was a quick 40 min ride or so, and we had the nicer A/C chair car class tickets. INFINITELY better than sleeper class. We had our own seats, air conditioning, and they even served us breakfast and free water bottles. You have to understand that this is very fancy in India.

We arrived in Agra and met a rickshaw driver who dropped us at our hotel and then drove us around for the rest of the day.  He took us first to see the Baby Taj Mahal, which was built as a tomb and memorial for the in-laws of Shahjehan (the Mughal emperor and builder of the actual Taj Mahal), who were Iranian. It's very beautiful and has a lot of the delicate scrollwork and intricacies of Persian architecture. Then we saw a few smaller sites, stopped along the river for sweeping views of the Taj Mahal at a distance, and stopped for lunch at a little restaurant and garden in some random back alley that our driver knew.

After lunch we went to Agra fort. I feel like the Taj Mahal gets so much hoopla that nobody hears much about Agra fort, which is actually very impressive and beautiful. It was built by 4 Mughal emperors over 95 years and stands on top of a hill in lovely red walls and entrenched by double moats. Inside are several palaces made of red and white marble- some decorated with mirrors, others originally with gold and gems, others simply marble with Persian script. There are old gardens, breathtaking views of the city and river and the Taj Mahal itself, whose royal builder was imprisoned in the fort by his son and had to view his masterpiece through windows in the wall.

After Agra fort, we finally arrived at the famous Taj Mahal. We've seen many of the world's wonders, and this one certainly did not disappoint. All the pictures you see can't prepare you for the beauty of the place. It is so perfectly designed that it looks fake in pictures, and when the sun is setting on it, it looks like it's glowing. We walked through the actual tomb, around the other areas and temples and took pictures for a long time, just enjoying such a gorgeous place. Nolan took this picture of me enjoying the view during sunset. Nice, eh?

Our hotel was walking distance from the Taj Mahal, so we wandered home to rest briefly before finding dinner and looking for wifi. We found both at a weird little place that turned out to have the best chicken tikka masala and palak paneer we'd had yet. It was fabulous-and so spicy that I could feel it burning its way through me. Ah well. A little ras malai cured the burn quick.

Next morning, we were at the train station early for our early train, which was running a casual hour late. Indian train stations aren't the most pleasant places to wait for long times. I won't go into detail, but let me put it this way: Nolan refused to eat a banana there because it was so gross there that it felt like the filth may have seeped through the peel. Once the train arrived, we were on it (in little bunks) for 6 hours on our way to Jaipur. We went through desolate areas and remote fields, and I'm telling you: I saw people every second of the way. The population of India is just so large that people are EVERYWHERE.

Finally we made it to Jaipur and settled into our hotel briefly before hopping back into a cab to go see the water palace. It's a small palace built in the middle of a lake, and very pretty in its setting, though a relatively plain building in itself. Next we went to the monkey temple, and climbed to the top of the hill. Though there weren't monkeys in the temple itself (we are wondering now if we ended up at the wrong place), they were totally swarming the hill on the way up. They were all along the steps and street as we climbed up, wrestling, eating little nuts, scratching themselves, staring at us...a little scary to be surrounded by that many wild monkeys, but fun! They were super cute. We stopped for dinner, saw a couple shops, then went back to our neighborhood in the rickshaw and walked around for awhile and ate kulfi (like ice cream but made from actual thickened cream and in this case, pistachios). Mmm. Another fantastic day!

Holi Cow

Yes, this is my second time blogging in a day - we are resting in our hotel and taking advantage of wifi and a/c.

Monday morning we woke up and had our granola and peanut butter. We generally keep these things with us when we travel because often breakfast is either tough to find in other countries, at least before 10am, or it's hotel food and way overpriced. This way, all we have to buy is the milk- we borrow utensils from the hotels. After hearing about Holi from many people here and in Nepal, we had made the wise decision to buy super cheap clothes to wear for this day so we could throw them away afterwards. Smart, smart choice. Also smart: we wore sunglasses and brought a bottle of water. Not smart: didn't put oil on our hair or skin as we read about, and I really wish I had bought a facemask or something. Why? Sit ye back and I'll tell you why Holi isn't for the faint of heart.

Firstly, we decided to spend Holi in Vrindavan/Mathura, which is said to be the birthplace of Krishna, who is one of the Hindu gods. So this place is a sacred place and also is known to be the absolute best place to celebrate and experience Holi around India. When people here in Jaipur even ask us about where we "played Holi" (that's what they say), and we say Vrindavan, they all go, "Oh! Very nice place for Holi!"

Secondly, we had targets on us as there weren't a ton of tourists around, and as it is everywhere we go people come up to us and either want a "snap" (picture) with us or want to ask all about where we are from. As a side note, they always ask Nolan these things-including if they can "take a snap with madam"...like I'm his pet or something. Nobody talks directly to me, and they often disregard anything I say. This doesn't keep men from staring at me or saying inappropriate things to me, for which I've had to keep Nolan from lashing out a couple times...but I digress. Inequality and disrespect for women in India is something I could say a lot more about from my brief experience here so far.

It sucks that I can't walk out to find us ice cream by myself here.

So, Holi: we put on our cheap clothes and ventured outside our room. Before we even made it out of the hotel courtyard, we had been sprayed with purple liquid dye, smeared with turquoise dye powder and blessed with a sprinkle of pink. Again, before we even made it outside. Still feeling excited and adventurous, we went out into the streets and...it was utter chaos. People hanging out of rickshaws and motorcycles and pelting you with dye as they zoomed past yelling, "Happy Holi!" Wild little kids with literally buckets of dye that they poured on you even if you said no. Other wild little kids who slung cow poo at you (here cow poo is good luck-they apparently often bring a cow into new houses and have it poo to bless the home) and mud. The ladies politely wish you a happy Holi and touch your forehead and hair with dye powder. The absolute worst villains of the day are the men-particularly young men. They walk up to you and smear it on your face, in your hair, and take liberties wiping it all over you on the one day they can't really get into trouble for molesting you. For me, they would dump it down the front of my shirt (which wasn't low cut even!), or more particularly shove it in my mouth and all over my lips. 

As a note to you readers: generally this isn't edible dye or nontoxic even. The standard here is industrial strength material dye. So...now re-imagine all that I just described. Our water bottle was used primarily for rinsing out our mouths and lips and even eyes. 

EVERYONE wanted pictures with us again, and I gained a small amount of sympathy for celebrities as it's exhausting and very irritating. 
"You said 1 snap, that was 1!" "No sir, now another".

On Holi, you cannot say "No" to people, you cannot escape them, and the only place you may find five minutes to eat your roti without a thousand million hands on your face is right next to the food seller.

So many hands touching us. So, so many. Even the poor cows had dye on them, and the monkeys were scampering nervously away on the walls.

There are basically 3 forms of dye used on Holi. First is the liquid dye. This stains easily and is often applied by the bucketful, but is easily wiped away from orifices. Second is the powdered dye. Ooh, I hate this stuff. We bought 2 bags so we could play too, but we threw it pretty mildly I think. This stuff sticks to you, stains (it all does), fills your mouth, ears and nose, and makes it hard to breathe or drink water or see out of your glasses. It also clumps in your hair and forms a sort of shell. Third and worst is the foam. All of the above, but it sticks easier, is difficult to wipe off, smells awful, and is always, ALWAYS aimed directly at the face.

After about 2-3 hours of this madness, we beat a hasty retreat to our hotel, hopped in the shower, and scrubbed each other for quite awhile only to find that the dye wasn't coming off of our hair and skin and would be our companion for a few days. The harsh chemicals dried out my skin and especially hair. I'm still a little afraid I'm going to wake up missing clumps. We hung up our ruined clothing and ran stealthily to the hotel cafe for a safe meal avoiding the chaos. The rest of the day we spent indoors trying to get wifi, debating sticking our heads outside to look for milk or bottled water, and I actually spent it napping since I wasn't feeling so hot. Nolan was brave enough to venture out for granola, fruit and milk, and we had that for dinner as we waited out the rest of the crazy day in our room. Holi is exhausting!

As I write this, Nolan is pointing out that it sounds like Holi is terrible. It's not. I just want to convey the intensity of it, which we were wholly unprepared for. It was beautiful, crazy fun and so interesting to take part in such a joyous holiday with another culture. It was everything (okay, and way more) than I imagined, and I heartily recommend it, if you're up to it. However, like I've said, it's not for the faint of heart and there were definitely parts of it I was uncomfortable with...but that's part of the experience!

Happy Holi!

Rickshawing to Holi Town

Saturday morning, we ate a light last breakfast on the patio overlooking the river in Chitwan, then hopped on our bus to Kathmandu. It was relatively empty - just us and a couple other people on the whole thing, so at first we thought it would be a quiet, quick ride. Nope. The thing about these buses, is that the driver is paid through the bus company to drive these routes, and each passenger buys a ticket, which includes transportation to their city, and lunch. However, if the bus has any room, the driver pulls a little side business and picks up his friends and what we're pretty sure is every person he's ever met, and charges them just a small amount to hitch a ride also. So not only did we stop every 5 minutes, but the bus got noisy and crowded fast. By the time we got to our lunch spot, we were pretty over the bus thing. It would have taken us hours less to drive ourselves…though that still would have been more dangerous than was worth it (and that's from us, who drive and scooter in every country we visit). After lunch, we spent FOREVER on the second leg of the journey to Kathmandu. The roads were horrible, traffic was bad, and it was just exhausting. When we arrived in Kathmandu, the taxi driver had a hard time finding our hotel, since the area of Thamel we were staying in is like a maze. 

Finally we checked in, and headed out for the evening for dinner and exploring. We found a dirty little Indian place (seriously, Nolan was craving Indian food again BAD) that was almost literally a hole in the wall. Super tasty. After more walking around, and some tasting of Nepali sweets (tasty, but unbearably sugary!), we plopped down on the sofa at our hotel, and just chatted with one of the hotel managers, who made us hot tea and talked about world politics and random other topics. He had a book collection in the sitting room with a bunch of good reads…and 50 Shades of Grey. Apparently he thought it was a criminal justice book because of the handcuffs on the cover. Hah. We told him what it really was and he was super embarrassed and ripped it off the shelf.. 

Sometimes, those connections and conversations with people that we meet on our trips can make a day or place so much more colourful and enjoyable.

Sunday morning, we woke up for breakfast, then hopped in our cab to the airport. On the way, we stopped at the Boudhanath, which is a Buddhist Stupa that is very famous in Kathmandu. That famous picture of the eyes is taken from this Stupa. Very interesting place - many, many worshippers there singing and spinning the bell-like things on the side for good luck. After some pictures, we continued on to the airport, where we caught our flight to Delhi, then hopped in a rickshaw for 45 minutes to the train station, then ate a surprisingly very tasty (considering it was railroad food!) biryani lunch, and boarded our first sketchy Indian train. We had decided to brave sleeper class since it was only a 2-3 hour trip, and it was...interesting. Not the lowest class, so it wasn't like we had people or animals on top of us, but it was definitely very crowded, hot, smelly and dirty. I felt a little confined, so I ended up sitting on the step to the train for a big chunk of the way - for as long as I felt safe, hanging out of the train door while hurtling along the tracks. It was exhilarating and helped me forget about feeling off-colour. Finally we arrived at our station in Mathura, and got into a rickshaw to our hotel, which was NOT near the train station as I thought - but in the next town over. Oh well. So after almost 13 hours of various travel that day, we made it to our hotel. We set off in search of food, I had someone "bless" my white sweater with bright red dye in a pre-Holi celebration (Nolan had to restrain me from flipping out there), and we wound our way through back alleys just to find our way to the entrance to what seemed to be the only restaurant in town. Generally we like to eat a lot of street food, but street food here is very different...and very scary in that everything is dipped in or washed in or contains tap water, which is highly non-potable. 

After dinner, we headed off to bed to sleep off our travels and prepare to celebrate Holi the next day!

JuJu Dau and NorthFace

Our time in Bhaktapur was great - the medieval architecture and beautiful handicrafts there are truly unique. We caught our ride to Kathmandu airport and waited there for our next flight to Pokhara. The Kathmandu airport is one of the smallest I've been in, especially for a capital city. Oddly enough, it has the fastest wifi we've come across, so we were able to get some things done while there instead of just sitting and finishing a movie. Our flight was 30 minutes, so we just had time to get up in the air before beginning our descent again, hah. Also: one of the scarier descents/landings I've experienced. And that's from someone who's travelled a fair amount into random places. Pokhara is located just 30 miles from 3 of the highest peaks in the world, so you can imagine that it's a bit hard to get into, since it's surrounded by mountains. It also borders a big lake, so there's that too. You descend in jerks, and then bank steeply to the right as you're about to land - scary. 

Once we got settled into our hotel, we walked down to the lake and rented a canoe for few hours to watch the sunset from the water. Out on the water was so peaceful - you can see the World Peace Pagoda on top of the hill, and watch locals canoeing across the lake to their homes. There are definitely more tourists in Pokhara than Nagarkot or Bhaktapur, so we saw those too. After the boat, we walked to a little Indian and Nepali restaurant we found, since I have been loving Nepali food and Nolan's been missing Indian food. Compromise at its finest! Food was delicious, as usual. 

A typical Nepali set is called Dal Bhat, and means "soup and rice". You get some Dal, which is lentil soup, and then you get a plate that has a little bit of rice on it, some kind of a curried vegetable, other vegetables, pickled sauce, and then a tiny bowl of curd, to help with digestion afterwards. The curd usually tastes like plain yogurt, except in Bhaktapur, where they make a special type of curd called King Curd or "JuJu Dau". It's a bit more solid and sweet, and actually really delicious. In the Newari areas of the country (one of the ethnic groups here), you can also get a Newari set, which is similar to the Dal Bhat, but has fried vegetables (and really interesting kinds I've never seen, too!), curried something or other, pickled sauce, and then the rice is a dry, pounded thin rice (looks like dry oats) sprinkled on the middle of the plate with dry beans and lentils in it. I think it's actually super delicious. 

Anyway, after dinner we walked around Pokhara some more, and bought a fair amount of NorthFace goodies - they sell them very cheap since many are manufactured in the area. We tried a local version of a "cheesecake" on our walk back….not great.

Next morning we woke up before dawn to drive up to Sarangkot to see the sunrise. It was crowded and a long drive, but absolutely worth it. The top of that hill affords not only a view of the Pokhara valley and lakes, but more importantly: a front-row seat to the Himalayas and some of the highest, deadliest, and most majestic mountains in the world. The Annapurna range was within what felt like throwing distance, and ABSOLUTELY breathtaking. It's one thing to see pictures of mountains like that, but it is simply incomparable in reality. We stayed up there for awhile, taking pictures and videos, sipping hot masala tea, and just admiring the incredible creation.

Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel to eat a quick breakfast, and then put on our backpacks and headed up to the mountains for a day of trekking! We just did a 6-hour trek up to Australian camp, but it was challenging enough that we were exhausted afterwards. It was gorgeous up in those mountains, with an even closer view of the "scary mountains", as I call them. Air was fresh, we got to wander through isolated villages, and truly admire the beauty of the countryside. Since we were so tired, we walked back to the same spot for dinner as before, Nolan got a haircut (his first non-Anneliese haircut in many years1), and we walked the streets for awhile. It was nice to have a relaxing night, as I was recovering from 2 days of a really sore throat and congestion. I call this my Paris disease, as I get this same sickness every time I go to Paris or any other place where the pollution and air quality is bad enough to make me sick.

Next morning, we ate a light breakfast and hopped on a bus to Chitwan. Nice bus - for here, downright luxurious. It had wifi, air conditioning, power outlets, and they even handed out free water bottles. We spent 3-4 hours winding along roads to a lunch spot, then hopped back on for another 2 hours until arriving at Chitwan, where we made our way to our hotel. We took a walking tour through the local village, got to visit the elephant stables, then walked through the jungle for an hour or so to get back to our hotel for dinner and then a cultural dance show - not a typical thing we would do, but part of our hotel's offerings, so we thought we might as well take advantage of it. Afterwards we sat down for some hot chocolate pudding on the patio, and then headed off to bed.

The next morning we got up for breakfast, then walked down to the river for a canoe ride. We spent about an hour or more in that dumb boat - it would have been so peaceful except for the Chinese tourists in the boat next to ours, and sitting behind me. Seriously. The group was so loud and obnoxious even our guides were telling them to knock it off. Normally, flipping over in a canoe isn't too bad - especially in such a lovely river…but since this river has a remarkably high population of a "very aggressive" crocodile species in it…probably best to stay in the boat. Apparently 6-7 people are eaten by these crocs each year. 

Fortunately, we got to head off on our own after the canoe landed, and we spent almost 2 hours trekking through the jungles. It's amazing that our guide knew where he was, as we weren't on trails most of the time, and were just looking for animals and crunching through the underbrush. We saw a rhino from a distance, and several crocodiles…but nothing spectacular. Finally we got back to the jeeps and made it back to our hotel for lunch. By this time, Nolan's got some kind of sickness lingering - a fever and muscle aches with heavy cold symptoms. He keeps saying he has Dengue fever but who knows. He's been going back and forth between really cold and really hot, and we're hoping he's on the mend now after the Tylenol helped his fever break a little.

Anyway, after lunch we had about 2 hours to rest, which was great for Nolan to sleep and try to get better a bit. I was busy booking another hotel and checking email and such, and then decided to take myself out on a walk to battle some restlessness. I picked up some more waters, printed out our train tickets for India, and then got a couple little ice creams to perk us up before our Elephant Safari.

The Elephant Safari was fantastic. We rode on a sweet little elephant who carried us through the jungle for two hours. Since the animals can't tell the humans are on the elephants, they don't run off the same way they do when it's just people walking around. So we saw several rhinos, VERY close (10 meters or less!), lots of spotted deer, and of course loads of monkeys. At the end, we bought a bunch of bananas and gave them to our little elephant friend as a tip :) We headed back to our hotel, sat down for a nice relaxing dinner by the river, and spent our last evening in Chitwan peacing out before the next few days of travel.

MoMo Time: First days in Nepal

First off: internet here in Nepal so far has been spotty at best...so these posts may be few and far between. Travelling to get here was actually smooth and relaxing...until I was about to board my plane for Delhi in Munich. Until then, I had a great send-off to my trip by finishing EVERY SINGLE THING I wanted to on my work "to do" list, then had a wonderful dinner with my dad at this super cute Italian place in Burlingame before he took me to the airport. On the plane I napped, sipped coffee and delicious German food (love Lufthansa!), watched all the new Oscar winners since they had a fabulous selection, and just relaxed in my seat. So there I am, groggy in the Munich airport, wandering around deciding if I want to buy anything while there, and I get a text from Indigo airlines saying "hello, your flight today to Kathmandu has been cancelled. Sorry for the trouble!". Whaaaaat. So I'm frantically calling (note to parents: you may see a long-distance charge on the phone bill :( ) the airline, who basically tell me they'd be happy to put me on the flight two days later if I want! Hmm.

So since my flight was about to leave (I was literally the last person on the plane) I had to just get on the plane to Delhi, and hope I could wrangle a last-minute flight to Nepal from there. Whew. I landed in Delhi, and after much back and forth was able to find someone to get me on a flight (for more than twice the price of the original) to Kathmandu. It was one of the last tickets, and arrived in Nepal at the same time as Nolan...which was convenient. So I sucked it up and paid, got through security and went to wait at my gate for like...5 hours.

While sitting there, totally bored because wifi wasn't working and I didn't feel like reading, I get a text from Nolan. Seriously. He was asking where I was because he was looking for me in Delhi. Lol. To make a long story short, he had a 5 hour layover there also, which I hadn't realized, AND was on the SAME FLIGHT as the one I had just booked, which I also didn't realize! To make things more amazing, the ticket I booked was in the super roomy exit aisle and someone switched seats so we got to sit together! So we were reunited randomly in the Delhi airport, and spent our 4 hours until our flight eating a slow breakfast together and catching up. BEST SURPRISE EVER.

I wouldn't know how to top that, but it just got even better.

We arrived in Nepal, got our Visas, and hopped in the car to our lodging way up in the mountains, in Nagarkot. As it turns out, Nagarkot is AMAZING. You can see Everest and many of the highest peaks of the Himalayas from there at sunset and at sunrise. So we settled in as literally the only people staying in this beautiful lodge at the top of a mountain, sat by the fire in the common room, and sipped hot masala chai while having a private date together :) They cooked us a delicious Nepali dinner from scratch, and we had one of the most romantic and relaxing evenings we can remember in many years. It's so quiet and peaceful up in those mountains, and the air is so fresh and cold, that you can't help but feel removed and totally at peace. Before bed, we got extra blankets and two rubber water bottles to stick in our bed at our feet. Those babies stayed hot ALL NIGHT and made the room super warm. We still can't figure out how they stayed hot so long.

When we woke up for sunrise, the whole mountain was completely fogged in, so no sunrise mountain viewing :( But it was still beautiful, so we walked around outside for a bit before a lovely breakfast and more masala tea (I'm going to overdose here, I know it). Nolan surprised me again with a (very early - you know us!) birthday present he had gotten me in Hyderabad. Something I had wanted for a long time: really, really nice pearls, which apparently are a specialty in Hyderabad. He spoils me, truly. So now I'm feeling all fancy...and pretty nervous that someone's going to steal my luggage and my pearls before we leave.

We left Nagarkot mid-morning to stop at the view tower, which was still foggy, and then continue on our way to Bhaktapur in the Kathmandu Valley. It was foggy and also SUPER smogged in because of the Kathmandu factories. Sad. We arrived in Bhaktapur around lunchtime, and checked into our hotel and grabbed lunch after wandering around for awhile. This place is incredibly well-preserved and beautiful. It's a medieval Nepali town that's been preserved by fees you pay for entrance into the old part. The whole town is old pink brick, delicate and amazingly intricate wood scrollwork, and bronze statues. I'd post pictures of the place, but the internet is terrible. Food here is just okay. I really like the unique vegetables and the smashed dry rice and ALL the masala tea, but Nolan's kind of gunning for more Indian curry. We did get to try MoMos (Nepali spicy dumplings) and JuJu Dau (King Curd - like a sweet cream curd that's only really made here in Bhaktapur), and they were delicious!

Today we're exploring a little more, then heading to Pokhara and the lake there for a few days of mountain viewing, boating, biking, and getting to know more Nepal! The people here are lovely and kind, and as they like to say: always smiling. I've heard more people walking around singing here than anywhere else - it's a beautiful thing.

Hopefully will update again sometime soon.