Darjeeling!!, China pictures and the Bloods n tha Cripts

I think ive lost all computer literacy over here, it may be the draining effect the food has on me..i just found a post i did in china and though i lost, and it has PICTURES!!!! yeah...well try for some india pictures next week when we are in Calcutta.

We have made it to Darjeeling, we actually made it here just in time to see the election...I was very happy and tearful...electricity here is sketchy so you can imagine the internet serivice...its beautiful here surrounded by the himalayas and tea plantations. Ben is out on a 4 day trek and Ive been spending some time exploring the area with a lovely french couple we met on the way here..they left today and i miss them already! we went to a tea plantation yesterday where they grow some of darjeelings finest. Then Xavier and Crystal and I bolted through the streets of Darjeeling to catch the Toy train, this is a touristy diesel train that huffs and puffs along the Indian Himalayan Railway...my bugars are still black. All in all a great day...this town pretty much shuts down by 830 or 900 so i find myself in my room either watching bad friends and americas next top model reruns, writing postcards, or reading my hilarious book called "Holy Cow" its a very funny account of an aussie lady's experiences in india...i find myself reading at least one part of every chapter outloud to ben...she is so right on..

last week we were in Varanasi, arguably one of the oldest cities in the world, the Ganges river goes along its edge...and i took the longest healing bath in the river, ben and i dunked at least 10 or 13 times...i felt very holy...if you know what the Ganges river is (and i suspect most of you do) you would know that if that were actually true ben and i would be in intensive care right now...amazingly holy and disturbingly filthy this river...we did a boat tour on it with a really sweet indian kid who loved his boat more than life itself, he reminded ben and i of an indian johnny ott...he even had the lips....in varanasi they have what are called "ghats" which i believe are just the stairs leading to the river, and they have one called the burning ghat where they burn their relatives corpses then put the ashes in the ganges..i felt horribly obtrusive watching this and particularly embarrased at all the westerners staring and gawking at such a personal intamite ceremony for these people...I thought Varanasi was lovely, however i sort of felt i was intruding the entire time i was there, it was like watching people while they are attending church or a therapy session. It was moving however to see the impact this river had on so many people...I guess Im realizing to get a real grasp of how other people work and live you may need to be a little intrusive.Varanasi also has a gang problem, we didnt realize untill the middle of our first night spent in this town...screeching, barking, crashing, falling...at the end of the night all of the businesses set there garbage outside and its a blood bath between dogs and monkeys...the dogs dont win..they come out beaten and battered, i wish max were here to show them how to stand up for themselves....

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