Hello

Whenever we walk around, we often get stares. Its a little odd. The kids seem to do it the most and most often after staring at us they say “Hello” really loud. When we respond with “hello” they start giggling uncontrollably. We are not sure why they do this, but we find it very cute. Usually its the younger kids who do it and for the most part its the boys, not girls that do it. The older kids will walk with us and ask us where we are from and chat with us……not just stopping at hello.

Right now, we are in Kalimplong. We don’t find it quite as endearing as Darjeeling. Its got better views (it might be the weather), but the town is slightly dingier and our lodging is sub par. We got here by taking a share jeep from Darjeeling. This was a total trip and a half. They crammed 12 people (11 passengers and the driver) in a mid-sized SUV. No seatbelts and not much of a roof combined with a ride with no guard rails through the mountains made for a slightly scary ride. Yeah, it was crazy scenic, but nerve wracking. After the ride, we checked out a Buddhist monastery. They were beating drums and chanting, pretty cool. We also spun some Tibetan prayer wheels. Today, we are heading to check out another monastery and the top of a mountain.

Other musings….
– We are slightly worried about our package of goodies shipped home. It was supposed to arrive Thursday, and has yet to arrive.
– I forgot to mention two other food favorites. Fresh lime sodas and Vegetable Jalfrezi. Both are new to us and both are yummy. Fresh lime soda will be easy to replicate in the states, not so sure about Vegetable Jalfrezi.
– We are thinking of adding another week in Thailand. We want more time on tropical beaches than the currently allocated one week. We are also toying with flying from Australia to Bali, but will probably just stay in Thailand for another week.
– I got to watch Mets-Cards game yesterday. A nice treat. I got up early to watch yesterday’s game, but our cable was out.
– Kingfisher beer is pretty good. Its a Indian brew and quite tasty. I would strongly recommend it if you get a chance to try it.