Twelve and a half days

That's how long it's been since we landed in LAX on our way home from India. This is noteworthy because it marks how long some say it takes to break out of jet lag. Some people say it takes a day per time zone. India is 12 and a half hours away from Arizona, so we're officially over our jet lag. For the record, coming home this time was probably the easiest it's ever been for me. I suffered more the first two weeks we were in India than I did coming home. I would say for Geo, it was the opposite. He seemed to do better than me going over, and he definitely was the sleepier one this time. I'm baffled about the intricacies of jet lag still; you'd think by now I'd have some authoritative opinion about traveling. But no. I have nothing to offer. I guess I was lucky coming home this time.
Speaking of being home, it's nice. The culture shock wasn't nearly as bad as the stomach shock I had for the first week! Maybe being gone only three and a half months isn't long enough to completely forget about the life you lived before you left. We slipped into our new routine easily, although we certainly can't come close to saying we have an actual routine. The focus now is to get the important stuff done each day and go to bed ready for the next day. Easy enough for now!

So long, sub-continent

We refuse to say "good bye", because India (and the other countries we visited in the sub-continent) refuses to let go of us. We will be back! We are home and have not really had a chance to share all 10,000 pictures (or 0.1 lakh pictures, depending who you talk to) that show us having the time of our life in India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Thanks to all of you who showed off your wonderful countries, homes and shared your hearts with us. And for those of you at home, thanks for making sure we wouldn't stay too long away and the hearty welcome upon our return.

If I owe anyone pictures, please let me know! Stay in touch, no matter where you are or where we are! All the best :)

Day 3 in Nepal

Our travel plans for our third day included picking up our buddy Bev from the airport before we would all set out for a day of sightseeing outside Kathmandu valley. We visited two really interesting old temple squares, both were UNESCO sites, as far as I could tell. The architecture in these villages is really unique, I think. It blends Indian tradition with Chinese/Tibetan influence. I really like it! At least it was something completely different to look at!



We started at Hanuman-dhoka Durbar Square, the heart of the ancient city Kathmandu. It was built between the 12th and 18th centuries. Until the 20th century, the royal family of Nepal lived there. It is made up mostly of temples and shrines, both Hindu and Buddhist.



In Hanuman-dhoka Durbar Square.


Our second stop was in a city called Bhaktapur. This name means "city of devotees" and I guess it is a fitting name, because again the old square is full of temples and shrines, each one more elaborate than the last. I saw so many well-maintained "squares" (I'm lacking a better word), but in my opinion, they are more than comparable to the beautiful squares of the beautiful European cities that we saw last year. They seem to center on a temple, and there are tall buildings with convenient rooftop terraces to enjoy the ambience from the best viewing areas. These squares were really enjoyable in this sense. I hadn't experienced anything quite like this in India, so this was quite a treat for me.






These two pictures are from Bhaktapur.

The next stop was a hill station called Nagarkot. This is a popular place to go, as it isn't very far from Kathmandu, and it offers stunning views of the Himalayas. Sadly, there was a very heavy haze in the air the whole three days we were in Nepal. This made for limited views on our Everest flight, and the mountains were almost non-existant from the heights of Nagarkot :( We climbed up to 2, 175 M and didn't see a lot of any mountains, except for some terraced gardens.
We did get to try Everest beer, at Bev's recommendation. It's pretty good; I'd have to say the closest thing to proper beer so far! It actually had some flavor and texture.
After a cold evening, we set out for the Lookout Tower in the morning, about a 10 km roundtrip hike. It would have been amazing if we could see anything beyond the haze. Instead, we enjoyed the last time we'd see Bev on the sub-continent and the exercise was refreshing. Our breakfast at the hotel was filling and then we loaded up the van and set off for the airport for our flight back to Delhi.









These last 3 pictures are from Nagarkot.

Mt. Everest!

Getting close to Everest with the airplane wing for perspective!



Even closer. This was the best picture we got of Mt. Everest.



Looking over the propeller at the Himalayas before we saw Everest.



George, Krissy and Geo after our fabulous flight experience. This was my first flight on such a small plane!


Today we saw something I never thought I'd see in my entire life: Sagarmatha (in Nepali), or Chomolungma (in Tibetan) aka Mt. Everest (in English). I have to say, it would be really silly to come to Nepal and not see the tallest mountain the world. Since we were here only for 3 days, the only way we could do this was with a scenic mountain flight. We paid about $130 USD for the experience. The flight was a little more than an hour delayed, not really sure why. But the domestic flight terminal in Kathmandu is an adventure in itself. We were in our taxi at 6:45 this morning and the plane finally took off around 9:15. We were back on the ground by 10:15. We flew within a few miles of Mt. Everest (I think it's the south face of the mountain). Kathmandu City was really hazy today. I'm not sure if it's dust or pollution or something else that makes the sky over the valley so brown. But above the clouds the sky was a very pretty shade of blue. I imagine on a clear day the flight would be spectacular. Not being able to see the true height of the mountains made it hard to get the full WOW! factor. But we got a good sense for the size of the Himalayan Range, to be sure. Almost every peak in the range we saw was over 20,000 ft. Mt. Everest is officially 29,028 ft (8848 M). That number does make my head spin. Our flight elevation was about 25,000 ft. As our certificates from Buddha Air say, "I did not climb Mt Everest...but touched it with my heart!" A bit sentimental, but fitting for "the best mountain flight in the world." A nice reason to get up early in the morning :)

Sleepless Nights

George and Geo walking with our guide for today through the streets of Thamel, Kathmandu City, Nepal.



Our backpacks packed and ready to go. These are the housekeeping staff that were so helpful to us during our stay at ISB. Carrying our own bags would be absolutely ridiculous in their minds.



Geo and Krissy at the party the last night of our stay at ISB. The theme was to dress in white shirts and blue jeans. Geo went in reverse!


Our stay at ISB has come to an end :( This is very sad, because we really had a wonderful experience while we were there. But the good part about leaving is that it means Geo is done with his MBA and we began our 10 day road trip of the sub-continent.
The last night we were at school meant another party...ISB-ans really know how to have a good time. The party was held in our student village, which meant we wouldn't get much sleep in our room. We were "forced" to dance the night away. At 4:30 am, we gave up and went to sleep. Our fatigue allowed us to pass out immediately, even though the music didn't stop until 5:30 am. Wow!
After a hectic "last day" on campus, we managed to leave on schedule (okay, we were 12 minutes behind, but that's not bad for Indian "stretchable" time). We went to the airport in time for our 10:30 pm flight. We arrived in Delhi at 12:30 am and met George at the international arrivals right around 1 am. Our plan to sleep at the retiring rooms at the airport didn't work out (not good, since Lonely Planet made it sound quite reasonable). We were stuck in the departure terminal, but our flight didn't begin checking in until 9 am. So, we slept in the lounge area but it was pretty restless. I gave into sleep at 4:30 am and was awake by 8. Geo got a bit more than me. George probably slept less than an hour. Poor guy. Our flight to Nepal was just a little late. So far, we have explored the Thamel neighborhood of Kathmandu. It's really nice here. The weather is awesome. The high today was 86 F and at 10 pm it's 58 F. What a change from Hyderabad!
First thing tomorrow morning we're taking a flight over Mt. Everest. Pray for a cloudless sky for us so we can thoroughly enjoy our flight. I should be able to blog about it tomorrow, so check again when you can :)