fresh laundry et al

I'm not exactly the poster child for stringent personal hygiene, being known to rely on antibacterial Fabreeze to air out my sheets in college because I a) was too lazy to walk down three flights of stairs to the coin slot washing machines and b) could think of a better use for three dollars.

But even I found my lack of hygiene over the last month if not disturbing, slightly err disconcerting. I brought some ratty clothes knowing I was going to be bumming around, and they saw some heavy rotations. And just because I know you, dear reader, seek juicy uncensored front-line detail, the orphanage had no hot water and I did not take a shower proper for two weeks save for select body parts that I braved the cold water for periodically. You laugh now in appalled admiration but honest to god that's the Nepali way! I couldn't chince out if I wanted to live like a local now could I.

Surprisingly when I left the city and went trekking in remote mountain villages, every guest house had solar operated hot showers. Soap and shampoo were my gods and I showered religiously. I learned never to take hot water for granted again.

I am now in Singapore! Touched down last night and spent some quality time with the famalam. Its been six months since I last saw them and you could say that distance makes the heart grow fonder. I think they'd sufficiently forgotten all my flaws in the meantime and for now I'm like the prodigal son who's come home. I LOVE BEING AT HOME. I havn't felt so relaxed in god knows how long. Being alone for so long now, I'm always looking over my shoulder, but at home its like someone's always got your back. My mom offered to do my laundry. HUMANA HUMANA. And I got a mindboggling variety of home cooked food for dinner. Actually, I just raided their fridge and took a bite of everything as per my rat nibbler style. Caught in the act of gluttony with my filthy clothes I looked like one of those malnourished kids in a third world infomercial, minus the cuteness.

Since I last left you, SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED.
Chitwan was a great spur of moment decision. To think I was almost going to miss it. I took an eight hour bus the morning after my last post and arrived at the bus terminal exhausted from being cramped in a seat pushed so far into the front window I had to hug my legs the entire ride. When we got there, all the tourists got MAULED, I mean STAMPEDED on by taxi drivers pushing their affiliated resort fliers into our faces. I can usually handle high level stress but that was too much. I eventually learned the trick is to say you already booked a hotel, and then they couldn't scatter away faster. I eventually made it to town, and was set on shoestringing by the next two days after having done all my research. But the stress got to me and my legs still ached from the trek, and when a hotel manager presented me with a packaged tour that promised to take care of everything, I decided to screw it all and splurge. It ended up being a great time, and not worrying and planning was a bonus. I went on a canoe ride, a jungle walk, an ELEPHANT SAFARI, watched Tharu culture dancing, and got VIP treatment as one of like two guests at this huge, gorgeous resort since its low season.

The only negative thing I can think of the entire trip was my walking guide, who I swear got more and more crazy as the tour went on. It started with him repeatedly asking me questions about the exact date of my supposed impending wedding and what nationality the groom will be. Mind you there's nothing wrong with that, as Nepali, along with many other cultures, are very concerned with marriage. Almost everyone I've met has asked me for my take on marriage in some form. But he engaged in quite obnoxious discussion about the virtues of a male dominated society and Nepal's superiority to the developed world. Repeating each point like a broken record. I started suspecting something may be off when he would ask the same question for the fifth time when my answers were pretty clear, oh and when he started walking funny and talking to himself in Nepali, shaking his head and waving his hands in a way that screamed craaaaazy. I tried to get out of the jungle as fast as possible.

The elephant safari was incredible though. Not exactly a comfortable ride, but it was awesome to see so far into the jungle. We saw the endangered rhino, spotted dear, peacocks, and crocodiles, all in the most natural habitat I've ever seen. The national park almost looked untouched by man. The land on all four sides was vast expanses of flat plains. After being holed up in the shadow of the highest mountains in the world, this was quite refreshing. I'm amazed in a country as small as Nepal that the terrain can differ so drastically from alpine to tropical in little more than 150 km distance. Pictures to follow.

On friday I returned to Kathmandu, and went to the office of The Last Resort, a company that specializes in bungee jumping and canyoning in Nepal. I was experiencing a serious lapse of sanity, and wanted to pay them 100 Euro to jump off a bridge 200m high and canyon- something I didn't even know the meaning of. The next morning I got up at 5 to be bussed three hours away to a resort close to the Tibet border. The first thing we all had to do was walk across the bridge of death to the resort itself. That is where I realized the severity of the situation. You, want me, to jump off this, into... that. All I could see was mountain, canyon, cliff, jagged rocks, and roaring rivers crashing into them. I also realized how high two hundred meters was. This is no funny business, at the world's third highest bungee jump. I died a little right there.

But first was canyoning. There were five of us, three Aussies, an English girl and me. There was a Nepali man at first too, but he proceeded to drop out from cold feet before we got to the first waterfall. Always a good sign. We put on wet suits and climbed up to our first waterfall. I still had no idea what we were doing. Two others had canyoned before, and the other two I think at least knew what abseiling was. But not I. English as a second language people, I didn't get where I am today learning extreme sport vocabulary in school. When I realized that what we were doing was actually WALKING down seven waterfalls at a 90 degree angle to the cliff face, there was no turning back. We were harnessed and basically let ourselves down the waterfall by releasing rope in much the same way as lowering oneself from rock climbing, except you're getting a nice cold shower too. It was slippery and more work than I imagined, especially on the last waterfall that was 45m high. But it was great fun and exercise to boot.

The highlight of the day would have to be the bungee jump. Everyone in the world needs to do a bungee jump. It was the single most face ripping brain exploding thing in my life so far. I wisely chose to eat lunch right before the jump, that was a sarcastic statement, but don't worry there is no fertilzation story to be told here. There were only two of us doing the bungee jump and our fellow canyoners patted us on the back and watched from afar in admiration of our blind fearlessness. More like blind stupidity. They closed off the bridge and we waited with an eerie silence in the canyon. But of course every time I snapped out of my delirious state I couldn't ignore the perilous depth below and the rocks that I imagined chopping my flesh and offering it to the eagles. They say sky diving is a million times easier because the sea of clouds looks almost surreal and you have less apprehension about jumping out. But there's no way I could ignore the natural weapons of human destruction all around me. I was so out of it I didn't even notice the guy strapping and harnessing my ankles. They could have led me out on the platform with nothing on and I wouldn't have known any better. They instructed me to propell myself off the platform and do a swimmer's dive head first into the mountain air. I'm like dude I'm afraid of diving into a 10 ft pool. You will not be getting any artistry from me.

After two failed attempts to jump, I realized I had no choice. There was no way I could walk off this bridge as that would be against my principles. I am no coward! So I feebly stretched out my arms and. Dropped. I am not going to describe what the next few seconds were like, because there are simply no words. You'll just have to try it and see for yourself. I'll just say that if you are like me and have had the somewhat sadistic and self-deprecating curiosity of what jumping off a 50 storey building is like, you will be quite satisfied. Minus the inconvenient death part. I was so shook it still plays in my mind sometimes. My only regret is my pansy jump. They told me what I did was a bungee fall, and that's quite embarassing. lol if there is a next time, I promise to do a Michael Phelps worthy flip and dive fo sho.

Tomorrow I will begin a major catchup series of photos from Nepal, followed by Singapore, which I'm really quite fascinated by.