Namaste from Nepal

My sincerest apologies for not updating my blog earlier ... but I have good reasons:
1) Kathmandu has rolling blackouts and you never know when internet cafes will have power.
2) I was volunteering in a village for 2 weeks and had no access to internet (or running water for that matter).
3) I am currently on a 20 day hike of the Annapurna Circuit and have very limited access to internet.

So Ill give you the quick and dirty run down on the last 3 weeks:
- Kathmandu is a crazy town with tons of trash and lots of pollution/dust. Traffic is as nuts as in Ho Chi Minh except exacerbated by the insanely narrow streets/alleys. It is also insanely cheap to stay/eat (but not drink) - the average room costs $7 and dinners cost $4.
- I spent 2 weeks in a village called Godawari in the outer Kathmandu valley teaching English, which was a great learning experience. I learned that I never want to teach English. But the stay was extremely interesting and I learned heaps about the culture and the people, the language and most importantly, how to eat dal/bhat properly with my hands (which is what they eat at every meal - every meal).
- Heather flew in and met me and we started the Annapurna Circuit hike a few days ago. My nepali has come in handy and Im trying to be hard core and eat only dal bhat the entire 18 days of the hike. The first day was really long (hiked 6.5 hours) and hot and i got awful blisters on my heels. I've been walking the last 2 days with bloody blisters. Plus, my pack has bruised my hips and my right hip flexor has gone numb ... I guess thats what happens when you carry 20 lbs on your back up an average of 500m in elevation per day. Porters are for the weak!

I've got to run - the itnernet is extremely expensive. I'll post more later.