Thursday, October 18, 2001, Ballard, Seattle, Washington, USA
Hey - we are home! Trains, busses, bicycle rickshaws, scooter taxis, and finally 2 (everything inspected, including my body in a special women's pat-down booth in Delhi) plane rides got us from Pokhara back to Seattle. I was very squirmy after hours of sitting in tiny seats. On the bus (3 hours), we had a large bag of betel nuts (chewed by some folks - kind of like chewing tobacco) under our feet.
We are somewhat worse for the wear: John is feeling kind of sick. I am recovering from a broken nose and general exhaustion. Seattle looks beautiful now that it is Fall - we left in the Summer.
There was a nice welcome at home thanks to my sister, Nancy and my daughter, Danielle who stopped by the house and left some goodies and welcome home notes.
I turned in the film. I took a dictaphone to record some sounds. I have the muzzein calling the faithful to prayer in Srinigar, street sounds in Delhi, sounds of a woman encouraging her horses threshing rice in Ladakh, the voice of a bossy bus conductor telling people to sit down!.
It was a wonderful trip; we are glad to be home. If you are interested, we would be glad to talk your ears off, and show you our photos and play you our tapes. I am interested in your impressions of the past 6 weeks - unexpected adventures in the U.S.