stuck in dharan

well after 8 days or so from namche through the arun valley, after days of hard hard climbs up and down through heat, clouds, rain, etc. i've made it to civilization once again. when we finally made it to the end/start of the road we grabbed a land rover which proceeded to go through 2 flat tires then to dump us off onto a tractor pulling a trailer, quite the bumpy and painful ride but it got us out of the middle hills of nepal.

unfortunately, now i sit in dharan baazar waiting for a bus strike to stop so i can in fact travel to india. i've been here two days and i'm sick of it and ready to move on as there is not much here, i'm the ONLY tourist in town, now that my two friends left or kathmandu last night. i'm still trying to figure out what people do here, its suppose to be a rather large city but its now 9:30 and people have yet to open stores and they seem more preoccupied with holding rallies and putting up posters supporting the maoists (communist party which recently, may 9th, was classified as a terrorist organization by the u.s. state department).

so here i wait to get to darjeeling, india which is home of my favorite tea. i'll now only have a day or so to be there unless i can change my tickets that i had purchased about a month ago.

my trip in the mountains was absolutely amazing, like being amongst giants for a month, traveling through jurassic park almost. staying in villages where as recently as 1999 offical police reports cited Yeti's (bigfoots) as the sole reason for attacks on animals and humans. spending the night in people's homes was great and only a few nights could be classified as uncomfortable. eating lots of dal bhat, which is the main dish that everyone eats here twice a day, which is also different everywhere you go, but mainly consisting of rice with lentil soup, and maybe a potatoe or veg curry, best part of it is that its served to you as an unlimited dish, they keep heaping on the portions till you are done.

the people are amazing (friendly "namaste"s everywhere you go), the food was great, my feet and back held up quite well (i'm sure i lost a few pounds)...so now with a fresh haircut and beard trim along with massage and strait razor neck shave yesterday ($1.50), i'm ready to move on and make my way towards thailand and cambodia for a few weeks...if the buses ever start moving again and the strike shutting down my road to india is ever lifted...