fun in gangtok

did you know that leeches live in the mountains? and that they can burrow through your shoes? well, they do, and they can. i learned that the hard way trying to find a shortcut to a gompa. jojo and i hiked about 8km UPHILL to find enchy monastery, and when we got to the top of the mountain, a woman told us that we could take a shortcut back down. said shortcut took us through spiderwebs that were about 4 feet across, and somewhere along the path we both found a handful of leeches INSIDE our shoes. i don't think i got bitten by anything though. then we somehow wound up inside of a military compound, and some soldiers laughed at us.

um, and yesterday i fell in a sewer.

but gangtok has been great. this whole trip has been great. i've met a bunch of interesting people (some brits who are teaching in kolkata, some israelis who are trekking around on school breaks, graduates from CIHTS, and some friendly nuns), seen more monasteries than i can remember, and have been able to see snow-capped mountains every single day. it'll be bittersweet to go back to sarnath; there's oppressive heat and constant harassing by men in the streets, but there's also routine, and people i know. i'm too much of a creature of habit for my own good. i'm kind of exhausted and ready for things to return to normal. (or at least as normal as they can be in sarnath.)

jojo and i head out at 6am tomorrow, to spend 5 hours in a jeep, 12 hours on a train, and another 5 or 6 hours in a car to get back to sarnath in time for class at 10am on monday.