Kolkata to Raxual: Big stink to little stink.

Wow, it seems like its been two months since I last sat down and did some typing. I'm a little drunk at the Hyatt in Kathmandu right now and finding it difficult to relate what has happened just to get to this point. I guess I must start at the train ride from Kolkata. First of all, never go to a train station in India without help, unless you are in tourist happy zone, which Kolkata is not. It was wild. We saw train cars packed with people beyond sardine can. Our ride was scheduled to last for 10 hours or so and when we saw the people on that train nightmares began. Of course, it was a sleeper train we tourists got on, and it wasn't too bad. I had the middle bunk of a three tier system where sheets, a pillow, and a blanket were provided. We have it so easy. The train ride was a decent and cheap hotel for the night so we ignored the man who puked all over the floor and the rollicking bathroom conditions and had ourselves a good nap. When we woke and arrrived in Patna, we realized quickly that things were going to be different. Patna is not where you want to have a layover. We got off the train and were instantly met by a man who started guiding us somewhere. I was just happy to be walking so I obliged. He led us through a train station from the apocalypse, and to a toursim agent that loves the business he gets from scared newbies. We were happy to give the man our money for a way to get out of town as soon as possible. We then found out we had 12 hours in this place to waste away. I must say that you should never judge a city by its train station, or the bustling crowd that greets you when you get out of it, but Patna is one of those towns. Don't go to Patna. We didn't have any information on the city and it was sweaty and people were all over us so I told Holly we were going for a walk to look for a cafe, internet bar, or any dark place to hide for a while. Well, we walked. And walked, and walked and walked and walked. It was terrible. I think we were the first outsiders to visit some sections of town in several generations. The people themselves were friendly in thier own, stare at you for a literal minute, kind of way, and it was really exciting to watch a man pee into a giant pool mixture of trash and god knows what else as we dry heaved walking by. We finally found an internet cafe and spent a couple hours in there. I didn't blog because I really wanted to get outside of the mindframe I was in before writing anything the public could read about it. After that we went to the "Oasis restaurant and bar" and it was amazing. Forget that the guys in there were wanting to know if we wanted to use the "backroom?" or that Holly could have been the inaugural female. This place was a godsend and we spent three hours there. Then we walked some more. Well, we got lost as usual and had to hire a took-took to get us somewhere. These guys were really nice and took us to places that were interesting and beautiful in there little ways. One was the Ganga river. It was wide and glistening, and if you ignored the trash along the banks, very pretty. Then they took us to the oldest grain silo in the world, which may not be true, because I just made it up, but it was old being first filled in 1786. The view from the top was great and probably the best part about the time we spent in Patna, except fort the leaving part. Well, it came to be that the reason these guys were so nice was because they wanted holly. They were pulling little touch maneuvers where ever they could get away with it. Perverted little puppies that they were, they gave us the cheapest, longest ride we had had so far. So really, it was a pretty good trade off. After getting back to the train station and a still having several hours to waste away, we found an internet cafe that was right under our noses. I hung outside and had a cigarette and was immediately claimed as family by two Indian guys. They were very nice and all, but there is something weird about desperately wanting to get photos, numbers, e-mail addresses, and how soon it will be before you stay at their house. Oh yeah, one rule when traveling abroad with your sister is that you should just claim she is your girlfriend in some countries. People salivate for a picture or want to talk your ear off about your sister. Much easier to claim incest than to deal with the onslaught. After the fifth level of hell, we proceeded directly to the seventh: the bus station. If we didn't have our tourist bookie we would still be in Patna selling our bodies for food. It was dark, exhaust filled, and full of people and horns and christmas lights and smells and whatever nasty things you can think of. It was a maze from hell. Eventually, we got on our sweaty ass bus and praised the lord that we were free. Well, the lord laughed a little bit then, sending us on the busride from hell. Luckily Holly had some ambien. It made part of the 10 hour bus ride over the worst potholed roads and shitty traffic somewhat tolerable. We arrived early in the morning in the border town of Raxual. Here we found that the art of cheating tourists is also not lost. I don't even have the patience to type what all went on in that little blurb of our trip, I'll just say that we avoided costs of around 700 rupees. We're learning that you really just have to tell people "No, I won't pay for this", even if what they are telling you to pay is the real cost. Ignorance of language can be a blessing sometimes, just a very few sometimes. We finally escaped India (thats what it felt like) and then ahead of us was beautiful Nepal, (except the border town is just like India). Fortunately we had another 5 hour car ride ahead of us, and it was only the craziest road I've ever been on.

Road to Kathmandu: Just fly.

If you have any feelings of vertigo or you are scared of heights, don't go on the road to Kathmandu. If you like that kind of thing, along with an ass that requires some second skin, by all means take an SUV. Don't get me wrong though. It was an absolutely amazing car ride. Something I will remember vividly for the rest of my days. Vertical drops on one side and a passing truck on the other, all of this on a one lane road, with the random walker, motorcyclist, or cow to also create obstacles that require swerving. The views of the towering jungle covered mountains with the terraced farms placed in spots most people would find unaccessable was awe inspiring. The people you see lugging bags that weigh more than they do up hills I wouldn't want to walk up naked are humbling to say the least. Yet they do it with a smile and a "Namaste" (hello). We bounced into Kathmandu, got our hotel situated, and were instatnly trasported from Patna hell to Nepal nice. Nepal and its people are truly kind and speak english on a whole very well. The english speaking is not so important but it is hard to have a conversation with locals when all you can do is wave and smile and repeat that same phrase over and over. We relaxed for a bit, wandered around a touristy neighborhood named Thamel, which is a great place to hang out, touristy or not. We alos hung out in a hiking permit office for four hours which was not fun. Very busy time of the year here in Kathmandu, as we can attest to. We went to a buddhist temple called the monkey temple, real name escapes me at the moment, and saw a lot of monkeys, a beautiful temple and an amazing view of Kathmandu valley. We also went to a park outside of the city and did a guided mountain bike tour. A lot of fun and not too much uphill. We stopped at one of the oldest hindu temples, Changu Nayar, in the valley along the way and got our first glimpse of what a rural Nepalese town might look like. The farmers were drying their rice in the square, chickens and goats everywhere, corn hanging from the eaves drying. It was a picture of peace. We stopped and had an amazing lunch as a thunder storm bringing rains blew in. Luckily it didn't rain too hard or for very long, so the rest of our bike journey was very comfortable. The food here is incredible and cheap. I have taken to a dish somewhat similar to Pho named Thukpa. Holly eats mo-mos like they are going to be banned soon, and we both like the beer (myself much more than Holly). Our mom just got in today and we did a little waiting and a such, but we had a great dinner and are getting ready to start the big hike tomorrow (10/7). I heard they have internet along the way, so you may hear from me before the three week schedule is up but if you don't, I'll be sure to remember everything exciting and relate it to you later.