trekking and bubbles

shivesh, julian and i

On my birthday, we got to take a day off from work and went trekking in the mountains! In India, people don’t really say “hiking,” its always “trekking.” We hiked for 3 or 4 hours along this gorgeous ridgeline a few kilometers above Gajnoi.  We were accompanied on our trek by numerous roaming cattle, sheep, and a really cute stray dog which we named Shelia. 

We finished our hike near Khajjair, a little Indian tourist destination near Dalhousie.  This is probably one of the most random places I have ever visited. Hahaa. So Khajjair is just this really really large, flat section of super green grass (remember the rest of this region is ridiculously steep pretty much everywhere) inhabited with herds of resting cattle, Indian tourists, little dudes trying to sell you chips and cokes, and a bunch of assorted inflatable carnival attractions.  Yep that’s right, like the moon bounce.  BUT the most random thing of all is the line of giant plastic bubbles. Yep, big plastic inflatable bubbles. You just pay about $6 and you and a friend can climb into the plastic bubble, Velcro-strap your body to the wall, and have someone roll you, in the bubble, across the field.

bubble time!!

So naturally Ingrid and I just had to try it. I’ll have to say its one of the most hilarious, ridiculous things I have ever done, hahahaa, so much fun! J

snake attack!!

Oh and also the next night, a snake somehow made its way into our house! We freaked out, and called Sonjay, our hero, who managed to wedge the thing out of the doorway with a wooden pole (you wouldn’t believe how strong a hold this thing had on the door hinges, crazy) and then tossed it out of the third story window.  Snakes are holy, one of the symbols of the god Shiva, so you can’t kill them.  Save the snakes!