VinceandMeg

I'm sure you've been there - I know I have. It's 10 PM, and you're about ready for bed. But first - let me check Facebook. Just for a few minutes, to check my updates. 2 hours later, you finally shut off your computer, somehow dissatisfied with your day - with your life. My personal experience is backed up by a recent study that found that after spending time on Facebook, people are more depressed and report less life satisfaction than before going on the social networking site. The study concluded that jealousy was the cause of this trend. It's easy to see why. When people post photos or updates about their life, they put their best foot forward. They tell the world about their latest promotion, or post photos of their happy partners and families ... read more

We were in Mysore, 3 hours southeast of Bangalore, on our way to the government silk factory, when 3 cows across the street caught my attention. After 3 months in India, I usually don't notice cows anymore. We've seen cows in the city, cows standing on a thin grassy median surrounded by relentless Indian traffic, cows on the beach, cows on the train station platform, cows in restaurants, cows in temples. Big cows, little cows, camel cows, cows with painted horns adorned like an Indian bus, sleeping cows, walking cows, stampeding cows, frisky cows, even self-pleasuring cows (seriously). I usually don't give them a second glance. But these cows were yellow!I don't know why they're yellow, or how they're yellow. All the white spots on the cows we saw in Mysore were dyed yellow.There was a ... read more

Trekking (or backpacking, or hiking, or tramping) has taught me a lot that is useful elsewhere in life - how to plan ahead and prepare, how to be resourceful, how to navigate, how to make do with little, and a lot more. Below is a short list of what I've learned trekking that has come in handy while traveling in India for 6 months. 1. Make your own breakfast. If you are on a tight budget, breakfast is an easy meal to make on your own. Rooms with stoves are very hard to find and cost much more than a regular room so stick to a cold meal. Cereal or muesli and powdered milk is a classic trail meal and easy to find in India. Just add purified water and you are ready to go. True ... read more

After a month of peace and quiet, of cafes and momos, of Buddhism and English tutoring, it was time to leave McLoed Ganj and re-enter the "real India." We hopped our first bus down to the bigger town of Daramshala from McLeod and began our epic journey. In the past 48 hours we have taken 5 buses, 4 trains and 2 auto rickshaws (like 3 wheeled scooters), all of which, disregarding the rickshaws, were local means of transportation and devoid of any westerners except for ourselves. We took a second bus from Daramshala to Kangra and caught a rickshaw to the train station. We were dropped off at a no-name town and told to go down the street even too small for our rickshaw to the station. Down the road, over a fairly sturdy pedestrian suspension ... read more

We first noticed this phenomenon when a baked good we had ordered to go from Tibet Quality Bakery in Dharamshala was handed to us in a wrapper labeled Crystal Light. We wondered if this was some sort of advertising - perhaps Crystal Light, a low-calorie powder added to water to give it a fruity flavor, passed out free food packaging to shops, and advertised through their name on the packaging. We saw this same packaging at various shops throughout the town. When we inspected it further, we saw that the packaging was printed so that it was set up for individual packets, to be cut from the larger sheet, the edges fused shut, and filled with the powder. It was given to shops in larger sheets. Tibet Bakery gave us our brownies and nut bars in ... read more