nepal.

we're back on the move.. spent 4 nights in varanasi and appreciated the time to relax and settle in to a place.. we went out to see a 'bollywood' movie, and were surprised to find quite a bit of the dialogue in english, so we could piece the storyline together.. laughed hysterically. the next night we went to check out a magic show. there were posters plastered all over the city and we figured the guy had to be good.. [not so much]. we left at intermission.. every sentence that came out of this over-the-top-sparkling-jewelled-jumper-guy ended with the last word echoing into the theatre. every time. it was really funny at first, but it got old fast. good thing it was only $1 to get in..

we took a few boat rides up the ganges river, once in the evening and once in the afternoon. got to see all of the ghats with people bathing and laundry hanging all over the place.. there is a second place on the river where people get cremated, but it is electric burning.. for people who cannot afford the alternative. we were also told that there are 5 holy people who do not get cremated.. brahmins (holy priests), people killed by cobra bites (shiva, their god), children under 10, women who die in childbirth, and lepars. instead they are wrapped and sunk in the river. apparently it is not surprising to find bodies resurfaced.. if they are on the ghat side of the river, they are re-sunk.. if they are on the far side, they are left for the birds and dogs.. in the evening there was a 'pooja' which is a religious ceremony. there were rituals with incense and candles and bells, men holding brass cobras.. it was pretty neat to see. we each got a lotus candle to make a wish and then set them out into the water.. it was dotted with light, i would even go so far as to say this disease ridden pool was pretty..

we boarded the bus to nepal.. 12 hours later we crossed the boarder and spent the night, leaving again in the morning for pokhara. the second day we met a few israeli's travelling together and made friends.. the roads were killer.. sometimes we were so close to the edge you couldn't even see the road.. everyone [excluding moi] went and sat up on the roof for part of the trip! i stayed in on bag duty.. (whew).

pokhara is an absolutely beautiful place and i'm excited to spend the afternoon checking things out. we are still gathering up some trekking information and will be doing that in the next few days! we wanted to do a 4 or 5 day trek but the prices and a little out of budget, so we'll see..