India

I left Nepal and made my way into India for the last country of my journey. My first stop was to Varanasi, a city located on the banks of the Ganges river and said to be the favorite city of the Lord Shiva. Varanasi is famous for it Ghats, or stairs that lead from temples down to the holy river where every morning locals come to bathe and conduct their daily rituals.

Indians also come to Varanasi to die. Two of the Ghats are the grounds for the public cremations, and like in Nepal, once the funeral pyres are reduced to ash, the remains are swept in to the holy Ganges river. About 200 funerals are conducted at the two Ghats everyday, with locals and tourists alike walking and boating past.

The streets of Varanasi are an eclectic mix of filth, noise, culture and discovery as a 2 meter wide snaking street can be home to sacred cows, goats in cardigans, lassie merchants and homeless.  The city is both peaceful and out of control at the same time.

On my last day in Varanasi, I went with a local out to Sarnath, about 20km from the city to see the place where Buddha gave his first sermon. I then hopped on a train bound for Agra.  

If it were not for the Taj Mahal no tourist would ever come to Agra, but because one of the 7 wonders of the world resides there, the flow of people is never ending. And it is for good reason too, as the structure was one of the coolest structure that I have seen on my trip. After the Taj a took a Tuk-Tuk to the Red Fort which was close by, for a walk around the one time palace.

Early the next morning it was another train to the Pink City, Jaipur. My first day was spent on a self guided Tuk-Tuk tour of all the surrounding historical sights. I ventured to the Amber Fort, Jantar Mantar, the wind temple and the monkey temple before the sun went down. The only one of note was Jantar Mantar, an outdoor display of astronomical instruments built there in the early 1700s. They were impressively huge and measured everything from time to the earth rotation.

My Tuk-Tuk driver ended up being a great guy and showed me some local activities and invited me to his house for dinner.

The following day I spent in the lakeside town of Pushkar, enjoying the bazaar and the great food.

The final city of my adventure was Delhi. It is your standard big city with some big monuments and lots of shopping. My favorite part was the back allies of the spice market in Old Delhi. I also went to the Sydney Opera House looking, Lotus Temple, which is place of worship for people of all faith in the shape of the famous flower.

And then it was finally time to go home. I got my one last street food dinner and packed my bag the final time and boarded the plane for the long flight home.

I arrived in San Diego to the warm sunshine and the warm embrace of my family. It was Christmas eve, and my perfectly planed arrived allowed me to spent the holidays with my loved ones.

Only 7 months earlier I was being dropped off at the same airport about to embark on the adventure of a life time. I had no idea what I was doing but somehow I made it out alive. It was an amazing experience that allowed me to see some amazing places and meet even more incredible people.  As I look back I am so grateful for the opportunity and mentally planning the next one!

Nepal

Upon arriving in Kathmandu I only had one day to prepare for my two week trek through the Himalayas.  I scrambled around the tourist neighborhood of Thamel to secure a guide and the other things that I would need for an extended period of time in the mountains. 

On the 26th I took the hair raising plane flight from Kathmandu to Lukla. The Lukla airport has a slanting tarmac that sits on cliff and only small planes can land there. It was a great experience to fly in and out of there as well as getting to watch from the outside.  It was so impressive to watch the pilots handle that little piece of asphalt. 

When I landed I met my guide, Don and we immediately started our trek.  Over the next 13 days we hiked up through the Kumbu region staying in Tea Houses along the way making our way to the base camp of Mount Everest on day 8.  We then climbed through a mountain pass covered by a glacier to reach a new valley for our walk back down to Lukla. It was an amazing journey that took me through some of the most incredible mountains I have ever see in my life. Each day held new challenges, but it was incredible to tackle them in that environment. 

After two weeks when I got back down to Kathmandu, I took my first shower since leaving for the trek and ate a meal with plenty of meat. I then went to the local Hindu temple where they perform public cremations. Bodies are taken straight from the hospital to the temple and are burned on a pire for 24 hours and then their ashes are brushed into the river that flows next to the platforms. It was really weird to whiteness and also to see children playing and women washing in the very same water where the ashes were being brushed.

Then following morning I took a bus to the west and the lake side town of Pokhara. It was a nice change from the hectic streets of Thamel and the vibe was great there. 

On our first full day in Pokhara we signed up for some white water rafting. Although it wasn't as crazy as Ecuador, soaring down the river with the Himalaya rang in the back ground was unforgettable. 

On my last day in Nepal we decided to do some paragliding off one of the mountains in town. The weather was amazing and from the sky we could see one if the most famous mountains in the world, Annapurna. The flight was crazy and we landed as the sun was going down by the lake. 

The culture in Nepal was incredible and I wish that I could have see more cities, but as always I must move on, and this time it will be my last country. I will be in the north of India for 10 days and then I fly home for Christmas to end my 7 month trip. 

China

I flew from Hanoi to Hong Kong and arrived in the late afternoon and set about to explore the busy city.  There were still many streets occupied by protesters of the "Umbrella Movement" and evidence of the violence inflicted on them several weeks ago. I made my way to the Harbor to experience one of the most amazing sky lines in the world and got to watch a later light show.  

The next day I went across the harbor to Hong Kong Island to check out the water front attractions. Every high end fashion brand has a massive store that lines the streets by the harbor and visitors come from all over to shop there. Some of the most popular brands have lines that wrap around the block with people waiting to shop.

The next afternoon I took a flight into mainland China, and the city of Chengdu. I got in fairly late so I was only able to walk around a bit by my hostel. 

The following morning I joined a tour of some of the local non-touristy sites of Chengdu. We started out at a local street market, then ventured to a large monastery and finished with lunch at a nunery.  We were allowed to eat with the nuns in complete silence as they devoured every last grain of rice and drop of soup that was put in front of them. It was hard to keep up and you were visually scolded if you left any food in your bowls.  I then did my own more touristic city tour to the biggest Mao statue in China, to the people's park and for coffee in a traditional back alley.

Bright and early the next day I took a bus to the Chengdu Panda Sanctuary to watch them feast on bamboo.  The cubs all ate together on a platform that was only a few meters away and since I got there so early, I almost had the place entirely to myself.  I then took a few more buses to the city of Leshan to see a giant Buddha carved in to the side of a mountain in a huge bay.  When I got back I traveled north to Xi'an arriving late at night.

After some much needed sleep I jumped on a bus to a small town outside of Xi'an where the pits of the famous Teracotta Warriors are housed.  Each warrior and horse is modeled after a real member of the army so each is unique and all standing in battle formation to protect the emperor after death. Then when I got back to the city I rented a bike and rode around the wall that surrounds the city for sunset. 

Early the next morning I took a bus to Mount Huashan for a hike along its 5 vertical peaks. Because I was short I time, I utilized the newly installed gondola for a spectacular ride to the snow topped mountain. The hike was almost all hand made stairs that were carved into the mountain itself, with the highlight of the journey being a navigation around cliff on a 2 food wide plank of wood bolted into the rock.  Upon returning to Xi'an, I jumped on an overnight train bound for Beijing. 

On my first day in Beijing I walked through the Forbidden City where the Emperor's family used to be the only people allowed in the massive area. We then walked around the garden area and through a lakeside village.

The next morning I took a tour to a remote portion of the Great Wall called  Jinshanling. The wall was unrepared there and looked as it did when it was built. It was awe-inspiring to stand on the top of one of the watch towers and see the wall stretch for miles in each direction over mountains and through valleys.

The following day I did a self guided city tour, checking out the markets and a few of the temples. The city of Beijing is rich with tradition and history and it was great to see.

I really enjoyed the small amounts of China that I saw.  There are so many peaceful places in its huge cities with millions of people and most of the sites I saw were incredible. I will now be flying to Kathmandu, Nepal for some trekking.