Park Plaza Sylverton Mussoorie

... inundated with kids from 2-17 years old. Brad chased the young boys around the village, while Sandi took a hundred photos at the request of the kids. Sandi is a little homesick because the foothills reminded her of the Sierra Nevadas, the evergreen forest reminded her of Lassen, and the snow capped peaks reminded her of Shasta and Lassen. Except that when we passed through villages they had temples to cobra gods.

... patties, but when you haven't had any sort of burger in month, it was the best thing in the world. Plus they made some pretty decent french fries. For lunch yesterday they had sphaghetti. But today for lunch they said it's going to be rice, daal, and rotti. Which is Indian for steamed rice, yellow stuff, and burnt dried out naan. So I think we might eat out. Plus we have to go down to town to the ATM. I picked up my ...

... hostel for lunch, take a nap, and then study. Around 4:30 its chai time, then we study more. Then 7:30-8ish is dinner. Dinners at the hostel are different everyday. Last night was mashed potatoes, peas and carrots, and tomato soup. The night before was pasta, the night before Chinese, the night before Pizza. We go to bed around 9, exhausted. Mussoorie is obviously very beautiful. I guess the only downsides of this place are that the lunches at the ...

... actors' "where are they now"s, which I shared. Our guide had an amazing eye for animals, and even animal prints-he somehow spotted tiger pawprints in the mud, which was weirdly, very tangentially, exciting. I was glad to be on the bumpy bus with that amazing tour guide. The next day I was covered in welts from what must have been insect bites. Wouldn't it make more sense for the bites to hurt while they're being delivered?

... up can there be?? We grind uphill another two hours, get totally soaked by the next thunderstorm, meet a couple bikers who have no interest in talking, and finally reach the lovely little hill top town of Narkanda, 5700 ft higher than our morning starting point. As we start rolling into town, the heavens open up again, and we take shelter under a tin roof (with 3 other guys), shivering now as we're up at 9000 ft again and the temperatures are quite decent. After 20 minutes it ...

... backpack at a tea stall about three kilometers back (my parents may find this especially amusing). It was my first real test of how much Hindi I had retained, as I traveled back down to the stall with my guide, got my bag, bought him some tea and cookies, and went back up without speaking a word in English. It's a completely new kind of education to learn for practical reasons as opposed to learning for the sake of learning. I truly want to know Hindi ...

Last night was the Indian festival to celebrate the god Krishna's birth. Apparently Krishna was said to be born at midnight, so the festivities did't begin until late and went late into the evening. The celebrate Krishna, Indians fast for the whole day and, starting in the early evening, congregate at Hindu temples to play music, dance, sing and chant. They break their fast at midnight when a figure of baby Krishna is ritually washed, dressed and ...

... had hired. So after a of day toiling up the trail the nights were spent telling stories while eating dhal and rice huddled around a fire in a small stone hut. Not sure why but they always made the fire in the middle of the floor out away from the fireplace and the chimney that was almost always being used to store dishes and supplies. This made the room warm but at the same time it was impossible to stay inside for more that five minutes before I had to run out with my eyes ...

... holding a position), and 'Put your the foot on your the thigh'. Having said that, I really enjoyed the classes but you can't really progress much on only 3 hours of yoga practice. Mandy and I attended an Aarti ceremony at a ghat in the centre of town. Hundreds of pilgrim gather at the river's edge at dusk and make offerings to the Ganges. These are usually flowers, incense and a candle, cradled in leaves which you can buy at stalls that line the beach. At Rishikesh ...

From Delhi we headed to the Himalayas, to a hill station called Mussoorie. As it is low season at the moment we were able to get a lovely hotel for half price...hooray! We have spent a relaxing 5 days wandering around, looking at the mountains, going on a few walks (I like to call them treks becasue it then sounds more authentic)and watching monkeys play on our balcony.