Trekking in Spiti and Keneur Valley

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Winter came early to Spiti and Keneur, we got snow on three of the four days we spent trekking. At the pass we got about a foot of the stuff, high winds and snow falling so fast you couldn't see more than 15 yards ahead. Until the wind picked up the temperature was perfect: just above freezing with flurries, not cold enough to stop you sweating. Kyle's eyelashes and beard were frozen. Until the nausea began in earnest I was feeling disoriented and giddy by turns from the altitude. We crossed at a stomach-turning 16,080 feet. We couldn't see the peaks around us because the weather was sitting right on us. In that environment you can see the weather moving because it retains it's shape as a cloud. The storms look opaque white serrius clouds, with fingers streaking out and moving down into the valleys, sometimes very fast. When the mass gets heavy, the wind will bring the weather down in a wave that I started to imagine as a hand reaching down from it's arm to drop snow on us. We climbed down until we were under the storm and with the sky clear the views were unbelievable. The trail was so steep coming down that I slid on the seat of my pants where the snow was deep. We climbed slowly to be sure to see it all.
The Kenuer valley would make any girl happy because the hills are tented red or purple or green from the vegetation and horses are grazing between boulders big like houses covered in friendly alpine flowers and lichen. I thought about how much I used to like horses.

the "infinite compassion" of the mind the Dali Lama taught about this morning. (he suggested meditating on every person who bothers you as having been your mother in a past life)

On the fifth day of travel to Nepal, we have left the tourist circut far behind and I havn't seen a white face (appart from 2 albinos) for several cities now. English speakers have thinned out: yesterday I ordered ice cream and was brought a grilled cheese sandwhich. Navagating the train stations has been a hilarious chore. When we bought tickets in Lucknow, we were sent back and forth from one station to the other (there are two, not platforms, stations), each claiming our train would arrive "not this one". We made it to Gorakpur, a city described in Lonely Planet as, "an unpopular mid-way point to Nepal's border town Siliguri...infested with swarms of flies and mosquitos." However I am enjoying the authenticity of being out of popular tourist destinations and am working on my Hindi. I expect to reach Nepal within 24 hours.

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[creepycorrina]

Route Map in Route to Nepal
http://www.travelblog.org/gmaps/map_51C.html