Bir - day one

We spent pretty much all of Sunday on a bus.

We tried to make it to Bir all in one day but it was just too dark and too late when we got to Jogindernagar. So we slept there and headed out early the next morning. It was a short taxi ride into some of the most beautiful country I've seen since I got to India.

We were supposed to stay for one day, but ended up spending three nights here because we liked it so much.

Buddhist prayer flags

What appeared to be cherry blossoms (?!!) and autumn leaves all in the same forest.

did I mention the guest house had puppies?

Becky in her lovely new kameez at the tea factory.

Bir is a famous paragliding spot - who knew? apparently all of Russia. They were all there to paraglide.

The view from our balcony. That's a Buddhist Stupa.

Momo soup - Yum!

This is an excerpt from my friend Becky about our misadventures in a tea shop in town.

"seed balls"

Scene: small shop, basically a storage unit that opens on to the street. One table, one bench opposite a counter where a lady in her sixties, with a hoop through her nose, chews pan. Carrie and I get sodas, and some little snack balls that look homemade. We each take a bite. 

Carrie: These are gross.
Becky: Yeah, I agree. 
Carrie: What do you think they are made from? 
Becky: Maybe cracked sesame seeds? I don’t really know.
Carrie: I think it’s that stuff they use for birdseed.
Becky: Millet? Yeah, it could be millet.
(Pause. Smile at lady, who is staring at us, but nicely so.)
Becky: I didn’t like the first bite, but I took a second bite and it was even worse.
Carrie (laughing politely so as not to let on to the lady that we are criticizing her snacks): Yeah, but what are you gonna do? She’s kinda staring at us.  
Becky: We’ll just drink our sodas, and see what happens.

What happens is that Carrie strikes up a conversation in Hindi, about a noise outside, and the lady gets distracted doing something behind the counter that causes her to turn her back. So I launch my sesame-millet ball into the street. I poke Carrie, she gives me hers and I launch it too…but anyone who has ever seen me throw anything will tell you I have horrible aim. So, instead of going through, oh, 99% of the front of the shop which is wide open, it hits the one metal pole, ricochets back into the store, pings off a metal bowl and falls, Mouse Trap style, down every item on the left side of the counter. FAIL. Without even turning around, the lady begins laughing and shaking her head. Carrie shrieks and begins apologizing for me in Hindi. I am of course laughing, but mortified beyond words. All I can do is sit and finish my Sprite and stare at the floor while the good-hearted shop keeper rolls her eyes at me and chuckles to herself.

Thanks Becky!