Hello! I'm home!!!!
it's so good to be back. i've been drinking tap water like there's no tomorrow. sadly, my water filter is broken and the water coming out of the kitchen sink is brown from rusty pipes. gross. but still drinkable...
so far i haven't done much at home, just cleaning the house after 6 months of joon's bachelor life revisited. i love him, but he sure is messy.
i don't think i'm having culture shock in a bad way, so far i've been pleasantly surprised by things i forgot about, like how cars will actually stop for you when you cross the street. a giant MUNI bus let me cross the street yesterday and that was a huge shock! i'm so used to crossing crazy traffic and risking my life every time.
it's nice to walk around the street and understand the conversations i hear and actually know what the hell is going on.
i went to get coffee and a bagel on my first morning and the coffee guy gave me coffee on the house as a welcome back present. i really missed bagels, too.
we had fantastic weather the first couple days- 80 degrees and sunny. today it's back to foggy sf weather though.
i saw a guy washing his car and looked at all that drinkable water wasted on the sidewalk and wondered why we use drinkable water in our toilets and garden hoses? especially when the rest of the world doesn't even get drinkable water in their kitchen sinks.
also, i'm having a hard time putting toilet paper into the toilet, which i haven't been able to do anywhere on my trip. does anyone know why the us and europe can flush tp when no one else can?
so far i'm missing the indian head wiggle (which means yes, by the way), cheap everything, and warm weather. but mostly i'm happy to be back home.
i thought joon bought new pillows because they are so fluffy and soft, but then i realized i've been using 3 inch, rock-hard pillows for the last 6 months.
this will be my last blog so i guess i should just say once more that it's great to be home, and my trip was amazing. i am one lucky ducky to have been able to take so much time off to travel and see our beautiful planet. i met a lot of people who reminded me that traveling is the sort of thing that anyone can do with a little planning and saving, and that it's a choice you make. it is great to get out there and see what other people are doing, especially in countries like india where everything is so different from home that it seems like the world is upside down and backwards. after a while you realize that they have their own system and ways of doing things and if you pay enough attention, you see that it actually does make sense.
just want to say thanks to everyone for following my adventures. all the comments and emails made me feel closer to home in the lonely times and i appreciate it. with that i will sign out and hope to see each of you soon.
Love, Jenny
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Saturday, April 18, 2009
beijing with joon





Joon goes home tomorrow and I follow the next day. It's been great to be in Beijing with him. It helps a lot to have another person you trust to try to figure out what is going on, especially when you have no clue about the language. A lot of people in Beijing do not speak English at all, and sadly I have neglected my roots and don't speak a word of Mandarin. Well, I can say hello and thank you...
I am completely ready to go home. I miss everyone and everything about San Francisco. I can't wait to be in familiar surroundings, speaking my native language and knowing the customs. Feeling like an insider, basically. My only fear is that after a week I'll start to miss the adventure of world travel. It has been a great trip, and I feel so lucky to have had the chance to see so many different countries and meet so many wonderful people.
Well, the next time you hear from me, I'll be stateside. Until then...
Well, the next time you hear from me, I'll be stateside. Until then...
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Beijing part 2










Tomorrow Joon's coming! Obviously I'm really excited, since it's been over 4 months since we saw each other. He will be featured in the next blog. Until then...
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Beijing is pretty

Up there are some candied fruits.




I'm feeling a bit better now and hopefully I'll be ready to hit the town tomorrow. On the ride to the hostel from the airport, I was surprised at how clean all the streets are. The air is also wayyy cleaner than the air in Kathmandu. There are lots of blossoms blooming and it just looks like a really nice city.
Well, I will write again in a couple days. Hope everyone is doing well at home.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Kathmandu Part 3




The best part was that I met a group of four cousins in the line waiting to get into the palace, and they sort of adopted me and translated signs for me (even though the signs were also in English). At the end of the palace tour, we sat around in the grass and talked about stuff. They were really sweet and cute, especially because they were a family of teenagers hanging out together on a Saturday. They were just really genuine and kind and they made me realize that I am sort of in love with Nepalis. Some of the people I've met here have been so nice to me and just really gone out of their way to help me out, just because I'm a guest in their country. It seems like this is a characteristic ingrained in people and I hope that when people come to the US they find that we are that kind to strangers too.
Tomorrow I am leaving Nepal for Beijing, the last stop on my world tour. Joon is going to meet me in one week, and I'm so excited to see a familiar face and hear about home. We'll be there for a little over a week, then we head home (on separate flights, sadly). I'm pretty excited to see Beijing and try out their street food. Also, seeing the Great Wall of China has been a dream of mine for a long time.
Well, the next time you hear from me I'll be in another country... talk to you soon
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Kathmandu Part 2

The other day I went up to a stupa on the edge of town called Swayabunath (I think) at the suggestion of my friend Anni who's been to Nepal a few times. It wasn't very far from the neighborhood where I'm staying, but after a half hour walk, the rest is almost vertical. There are 365 steps that you have to climb to get up to the stupa, but it was totally worth it. From up there I had a nice 360 degree view of Kathmandu, and the stupa itself was really cool.

I realized recently that I really don't know much about the religions in India and Nepal, even though every place I go is spiritual and almost every person I meet has some religion and feels deeply connected to their spirituality. Maybe I'm not ready to think about things in so much depth?... I've met quite a few westerners who seem like they're looking for answers on their trip, and I have to say I can't really relate to that. Mostly, I came just to see stuff and be in awe of how we're all so different and so similar at the same time. I do think all the religious symbolism is beautiful, mostly because of the way people light up when they teach me about it. I have to say I am starting to be more interested, and maybe the next time I come to this part of the world I will pay more attention.

Ooooh-look at this!!!! It's people getting water out of an ancient fountain! I'm not kidding- the guide book said that this fountain has been working for over 6 centuries. This picture's a little far away, but you can see all the ladies lined up with their water containers, waiting their turn for water.


Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Ghorka

The other thing about Ghorka being so rural is that it is filled with villagers who seem like they've never seen a foreign person before in their life. Everywhere I went I was stared at and laughed at. It's a very alienating feeling. I'm not talking about curious glances, I'm talking about hard-core staring. On my first day there, I went for a walk around town and I was reposing on a stone wall, smoking a cigarette and writing in my journal, and a woman coming up the hill stopped dead in her tracks and stared at me for a full 30 seconds. I got kind of wierded out, so I smiled and said "Namaste", to which she smiled back and said "Namaste", then took 3 steps up the hill and turned around and stared again. She didn't stop until I got up and walked away.
That being said, Ghorka is a beautiful place. I hiked up to the top of the hill to a temple at the Ghorka palace. The climb nearly killed me but it was worth it. Apparently twice a month they sacrifice goats and chickens up there and there was dried blood all over the place. I also saw some villagers skinning a beheaded goat in their front yard on my way up the hill. By the time I was headed down, they were hacking up the ribs. It reinforced my vegetarianism.

I was going to get some food, and it had just started sprinkling. I was standing in the doorway of my guest house watching the street and it got real windy and everyone was running around like crazy, closing up their shops, running home, the portable ice cream stand guy was hauling ass down the road and I didn't get it. Why are they all freaking out? It's just a little wind. So I set out. I made it about 300 yards away when it starting hailing stones the size of golf balls. I was stuck out in the hail with another guy, getting pelted, when a nice watch repairmen let us into his shop to wait it out. When it was over, I went back to the guest house and kids everywhere were ecstatic. The kids of the house brought me up to the roof to look at more hail, and their neighbors were having a rooftop hail war from opposite sides of the street. It was classic.

I am back in Kathmandu. I'm here for 5 days, then I head to Beijing. Joon's going to meet me after about one week. I'll be doing some day trips from here; there's lots to see in the Kathmandu Valley. So far the weather's been nice- raining in the afternoon/evening and sunny with clean air in the mornings.
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