Leh

I feel like I'm near the top of the world. Flying into Leh (altitude 11,500 ft), I had a great view of the Himalayas. We spent the day getting acclimatized, planning a side trip and trek, and buying a long sleeved shirt and headlamp.

Tomorrow at 6 am, we set out for Lamaruyu, which happens to have a monastic festival tomorrow. ( http://www.ladakh-leh.com/ladakh-travel/lamayuru.html ) We will spend the night at a home stay in Hemis Shukpachant.  The next day, we hike for two hours or so to Yangtang for another home stay. There's a good hike to a nearby monastery. The next day, we have a longer hike to Likir.  Again, monastery and home stay. Then back to Leh.

When I say "we", I mean my friend, me, and two girls from Switzerland who responded to our "travel partners wanted" ad in the window of a travel agency.  Our ad had been up for five minutes.

We have a guide and all our food and housing is taken care of. We have extra snacks.  The water purifiers that I got for Christmas will come in handy.

I'm pretty excited about this part of the trip. The views should be pretty amazing.  This is definitely a different part of India.

Varanasi

I'm sitting on a balcony looking out over the Ganges and the bright ghats in the distance under the full moon.  Nearer to the balcony, there are seven boys/men splashing in the water.  Music is coming from somewhere.

This is pretty unreal.

Annnnd I'm Back

The Vipassana retreat was an interesting experience--pretty intense but worth it. I'll write more about my experiences soon.

After the retreat (or camp as everyone else there called it), I met up with Ainsley and her friend in Delhi.  While I was completely out of touch with the outside world, one of Ainsley's friends from grad school decided that an impromptu trip to India was a great idea.  The three of us are having a good time so far.  We saw parts of Delhi and met some of my friends from Pune for dinner.  We're in Agra now and will see the Taj Mahal tomorrow morning.  The adventure continues...