Farewell Indian Subcontinent

Time is flying by! I can't believe that are already 7 months into our trip and geographically halfway around the globe. Of all of the areas we have visited thus far, the Indian Subcontinent (Sri Lanka, India, and Nepal) has offered the largest range of contrasts from charming to crude, gorgeous to filthy, hopeful to desperate. Here is a summary of the highlights, things we would like to import to the states, and country quirks:

SRI LANKA

Highlights:

* sunrise on Adam's Peak

* hillsides covered in colonial-era tea plantations

* super service at hotels ('May I bring you breakfast on your balcony?')

* beach time!

Imports:

* string hoppers for breakfast (homemade pasta paddies with hot sauce and curry)

* abundant and cheap fresh fruit juice

* lunch packets (rice and vegetables wrapped in newspaper and sold on the street to 90% of the business suits)

Quirks:

* terrible tea in a country whose major export is tea (they ship out the good stuff)

* all-night full-moon-celebration chanting over loudspeakers

* tuk tuk maniacs

INDIA

Highlights:

* floating down the sacred and polluted Ganges River

* Taj Mahal at sunset for Jim's birthday

* camel safari through Rajasthan sand dunes

* Jodhpur fort museum

* lodging and eating with a family in Udaipur

Imports:

* more, cheap fresh fruit juice

* Indian homecookin'

* inexpensive services (laundry, internet, and transport for pennies)

Quirks (where do we start?):

* wandering cows and their holy feces everywhere

* free-range pigs in the city and countryside eating rubbish and waste

* hussling taxi drivers ('you see my shop now!')

* begging women, sadhus, children, newborn puppies nursing their momma, invalids, etc.

* well-intentioned but incredibly confusing pricing schemes

NEPAL

Highlights:

* Tera's birthday in the Himalaya Mountains

* luxurious teahouse trekking

* witnessing hill tribe commerce and lifestyle

* dining with a Dutch couple who we first met hiking in Sri Lanka, again on the beaches, again several times on the Rajasthan tourist trail and finally in Pokhara

Lowpoint:

* being vomited upon by a baby in the ride after our trek on my birthday

Imports:

* Tibetan momos (dumplings similar to Polish perogis and some Italian ravioli)

* dal bhat (rice and lentil soup with a vegetable curry; uhhhh, Jim's choice)

* great shopping

* fantastic second-hand book selections

Quirks:

* odd translations of Western food ('sausage' hot dogs, 'apple pie' fried)

* pirated movies in bars (why does the monitor show people walking across the screen?)

* Who IS that wacky man with the enormous afro and saffron robe that so many shopkeepers have pictured in their shops?

* Nepal hill children have been talking with African bush kids because all of them ask foreigners for pens or sweets