When I was waiting at a bus stop in Ella, a man approached me and offered me a ride to my next destination. At first he offered it to me for 2000 rupees, then when I refused he went away. He came back about a minute later, and offered it to me for 1500. Nope. The bus was approaching and then he offered it to me for 1000 rupees. Rain was brewing as I looked up. Would have cost way less to take the bus but it would have been three bus transfers in potentially crappy weather. Plus 1000 for a 110 km ride in a car was a steal. Turned out this driver had brought two travelers up to Ella and was heading back and wanted to make some kind of coin, regardless of how ... read more

I was passed out with my head resting on a table. Some PA announcements brought me to consciousness. Airport staff and other travelers were going by. I must have slept for a few hours I thought proudly. How did I get here? Well first I took a flight from Kathmandu to Delhi and had to transfer from the international to domestic airport. After going overland for so long, it was weird to now be back where I started. It was 38 degrees Celsius and Indian Holi was in full swing. I then boarded another flight to the south of India, the city of Chennai. From there I had a layover for a few hours. Then I found out that my flight was delayed. It was already midnight. At about 0115h boarding began and I was off ... read more

We discussed what would be next by the furnace fire. Looking at the map, it became clear that we all had time to add in some more trekking and maybe, instead of going back from EBC the way we came, we could try to get somewhere else and return in a completely unique way. We had reached Gorak Shep quickly from Namche and we had experienced both Everest Base Camp and Kala Patthar in one day. We all decided that we would try to push on. "Gokyo." As I tapped the map with my finger. "But to get there we'll need to cross this thing," I said staring at a large mountain range in the path... Day 13 After staying in our cold lodge at Gorak Shep (5180m) for two nights, it was time to get ... read more

The public bus swayed precariously along the roadside. We had swung past a slow moving truck, and just got back to our side of the road as an oncoming truck came barreling towards us. The road snaked along side the mountain, sometimes sinking all the way down to the valley, and sometimes climbing all the way to the top. For much of the journey, the bus was crammed full of people, some hanging out the sides and Nepali music blasting from a speaker near the driver. Statistically, the bus from Kathmandu to Jiri has a higher fatality rate than the more common, and more expensive, flight to Lukla. Jiri was my destination. The trip had been on the bucket list for a while and now was finally underway. My ultimate goal was to hopefully reach Everest ... read more

Author Mark Twain once described Varanasi as being "older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together". Varanasi is indeed considered one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, as well as being one of, if not the most, spiritual of all places in India. The city is sacred to Hindus and Jains and even had a large role in the foundation of Buddhism, as Buddha was said to have given his first sermon here. The holy Ganges (Ganga) river flows past this city and many religious pilgrims make their way here to wash in the waters and perform rituals. Some Hindus even travel here to die, believing that by dying in Varanasi and having their ashes spread into the Ganges, the ... read more