My Butt Hurts...

So I realize that I promised to blog more about the past few days, but today was such an adventure I want to write about it now and then I'll catch up and go back in time.

This morning at 5:45 AM, Sam, Stacy and I woke up to get ready for our three day trip to Chitwan. We got up, got our taxi, got to the bus, waited ten minutes or so and then found out the buses were not running because of bandh. A bandh is a strike, it could really be a strike for anything by anyone, sometimes there are teacher strikes and the children's school is closed, sometimes people are protesting on the streets and the streets are closed, etc. We heard later there was bandh for the Solar Eclipse, which we missed because we were worried about getting on our bus. Anyway, knowing that's just how things go here, we tried not to be too bummed as we headed home, hoping tomorrow we can go on our trip. When we got home, Uma our host mom was sleeping, she shot up in her bed and yelled "What are you doing here?" We starting laughing and told her what happened, then she started laughing.

A few hours later and after breakfast, we decided to on a bike ride. What a good choice it was. Although by the end we were tired and hungry, it was definitely an experience I will never forget. We rented our bikes from Thamel (a touristy area) for 150 rupees each ($2) and were on our way. We just kept riding on the (Mom ignore this sentence) crazy streets until we got far enough out to breathe without all the pollution of Kathmandu. We ended up riding up a rather large hill, stopping at the top in a nice village for a quick mango juice to replenish. The view of the mountains, which we technically were on, was amazing. The air was so fresh, it was just very nice to be out of the city for the day.

We headed back with ease, coasting most of the way, except for the moments of pain from the seats (they were very uncomfortable). Although we didn't make it to Chitwan as planned, we still had a great adventure and got to see a part of Nepal we might not have. As we sat at one of our favorite restaurants afterwards, we reflected a bit and decided we want to adopt the free spirits at home that we have here.

Words of Wisdom (from one of the various fortune cookies Sam and I stumbled upon in the first few days of travel) Be prepared for the unexpected. Even though things don't go the way as planned, just roll with it and keep having a good time.