Varanasi

I'm here.

It's just sorta hit me, that I effectively have one week left on mainland India. Thats it. And then i'm done. Well, I have a month in a tropical paradise, and then a month in Laos - but i'm done with India. And thats just something I can't quite get my head around.

Ok, fair enough, i'm a bit more street-smart now, I speak a few words of Hindi, can nod my head like an Indian, and probably have a few wrinkles from smiling so much - but it still feels like I just arrived.

So many places I haven't seen here yet.

I budgeted 9 months of world travel between grad school programs - thinking that it would be enough to see many many south east asian countries. In the end, I have barely touched the surface of India - and all it has done is left me wanting more - and knowing that I have to get back to the real world soon.

I don't know when I'll be able to take this much time off again. The friends I've met here seem to keep doing it, year after year, and this makes me very very jealous.

Is the path i've chosen (grad school, a career, etc) worth it?

Enough rambling......

In the space of 3 hours, I bumped into 5 people here that I haven't seen in months.

It seems that a lot of the people from Paradise Beach in Gokarna are here - people I spent nearly a month with. I got to catch up on gossip.

I bumped into one Israeli girl and now she's talking/thinking about coming to the Andamans with me. Who knows if it'll happen - but if I can talk a few of my friends into coming with me. even better.

3 very good friends arrive tomorrow, which should be great...

I was thinking of going to Bodagaya for a day or two - the place where the Buddha found enlightenment. But - I think it's just too much. Too much travelling. Varanasi seems nice, and there is a huge festival of Lord Shiva coming up. It'd be a shame to leave such a holy hindu place right during such a major festival.

Plus. I like Lord Shiva. He's a cool god, one I can deal with, and so it'll be nice to take part in the celebrations.