Arrival in Mussoorie

Yesterday, we got into Mussoorie. It’s less than 200 miles from Delhi, but the bus drove so slowly that it took us 8 hours or so to get here. This place is absolutely amazing, and totally different from Delhi. We’re actually pretty high up in the mountains – 7000 feet – in this tiny resort town surrounded by scenic wilderness. It feels like it couldn’t be more different from Delhi: the first thing we all noticed, as soon as we stepped out of the cab, was that the silence hit us like a wave. After the incessant noise of Delhi, we had totally forgotten what quiet sounded like. The crushing heat of Delhi was also gone – the weather here is cool and pleasant. The scenic beauty, forests and nice weather remind us a bit of Santa Cruz. The people here are also really nice, and I don’t get the same feeling I get in Delhi that they’re trying to take advantage of us. It’s, overall, a super nice place, and I’m kinda sad that we don’t get to stay for longer.

It’s amazing, though, how fast your expectations change in this kind of situation. We first stepped in to our room and said, “Wow! This is so nice!” But later, it dawned on us that we probably wouldn’t have been so pleased if we were still in America…the room is full of bugs (including some scary giant spiders), everything’s a bit dingy, and there’s no real shower – just an area in the bathroom, sectioned off with two by four nailed to the floor, with a faucet and a showerhead sticking out of the wall. And the water pressure is so low as to render the shower totally useless, so we both showered Indian-style this morning: by pouring water on ourselves out of a bucket. Jordan was so anxious to shower that he did so without first figuring out how to use the water heater, so he had a pretty cold experience. I figured it out though, and had a nice, lukewarm, bucket shower. It’s amazing how many conveniences I don’t really even miss.

We also had our orientation at the Landour Language School, where we’ll be learning Hindi. The teachers seem really nice, and we got our textbooks today. Whenever I need a break from hiking and exploring, I’ll be studying my Hindi to get ready for lessons next week. I’m so excited!

I’ve got tons of photos to share, and I’m still kinda new to Flickr, so bear with me while I try to make it work. My next post (or series of posts, I’m not sure how it’s gonna work) will have some selected photos from our trip so far, but there are way more at my photostream on Flickr. Go visit it for tons of photo goodness: http://www.flickr.com/photos/39830606@N03/

Oh, also, to answer questions:

Mom: I didn't have a chance to find anywhere really tranquil in Delhi. Even the temples I went to were crowded and sometimes loud. I'll have to figure that out when I get back, but for now, Mussoorie is a really nice break from the chaos of Delhi.

Janelle: The food here is delicious, but I'm still getting used to it. They put dairy products in almost everything, which makes being vegan challenging, but I'm doing my best to stick with it for now. You can NOT drink the water here, but so far we've been supplied with free bottled water by the hotels we've been staying at, so we haven't needed to break out the water filter.

Corey: The limiting factor for posts is probably going to be internet access, not time. In Mussoorie they have wireless internet, but it's about a half hour walk from our hotel. We'll do our best to keep you all updated, though!

Everyone: Thanks for your comments. It makes us happy to know that you care :)