Before I forget, I've had a few of you comment on my swimming in the Ganges River. I should have mentioned that I swam in the Ganges in Rishikesh, the mouth of the river and much further north than where the cremated bodies are thrown in. As a general rule, I try to avoid contracting Hepatitis when I travel. :-)
I don't have much to report. We've been slowly working our way up north. And I do mean slowly. We're getting into mountainous regions and each city we travel takes a minimum of 10 hours to reach by bus.
After leaving Rishikesh, we went to a few towns up in the mountains that are mostly visited by Indians wanting to get away from the heat further south. These cities were started years ago by the British and they all straddle steep hillsides. We're in Shimla now and it's besieged by monkeys. I do not like monkeys and I certainly don't like them here. Back in Rishikesh, we had a monkey try to get in our room and when I intervened, it bared it's teeth and went after ME.
We're on a bus tonight to Dharamsala, which is where the Dali Lama and his exiled Tibetan community live. I wanted to be somewhere nice for my b-day (May 19 in case you wanted to know)and Dharamsala sounds like just the place! Lori is getting tired of me doing the countdown for my birthday. I've already chosen what kind of cake I expect and I want "Happy Birthday Kristin" written in Hindi on the top.
Until my birthday,
Kristin
