Sneezing Panda

Let's start this week off with a joke, courtesy of Fabienne's Jokes (not yet in stores).

What do you call a Mexican without a car?

Keep reading to find out the answer!


Before I get started, it was brought to my attention that I "forgot" to mention something in last weeks' post, namely the fact that I drove on a scooter through Delhi.

Well, I didn't drive.

I'm not mad.

Life risking seems to be a weekly occurrence lately.

This weekend I went to Dharamshala with some friends.

For those of you who don't know where or what Dharamshala is, it's where the Dalai Lama lives (when he's not traveling in Europe like he is now and so we didn't get to meet him and that was sad). It's basically a mini version of Tibet, in the state Himachel Pradesh and borders the Himalaya's.

It was amazing.

Let's get through the gory details first.

Our bus ride to Dharamshala was a wonderful 14.5 hours. I mean it obviously couldn't be the 12 hours it was supposed to be. Why make life easier.

14.5 hours.

...

It was a long night.

After we arrived at the hotel we discovered the town and ate food.

It never ceases to amaze me how much food can just make a persons' day so much better.

Momo's and massive pancakes are obviously the answers to life's problems.

We went to a Buddhist Temple right as the prayer was going on.

I may or may not have illegally taken this picture.

The rest of the day was spent looking at views like this:

The next day we went trekking where we had more amazing views like: 

We were at 2800m and it was a tad bit chilly. It got so cold that random people started giving me their jackets and pants. Yes pants. 

The trek was amazing. The views were to die for. 

Our guide.... not so much.

We had paid for a guide who ended up not being a guide but rather spent his day talking on his phone or listening to music. He then also proceeded to ditching us on top of the mountain. 

However out of that misfortune came our up-and-coming band: Guideless* 

With Fabienne and Ana on vocals, Andrea on drums, Boudewijn on the trumpet and me on the piano we're an unstoppable squad.  

* CD's soon available at a location near you! 

The day after we risked our lives and drove up an incredibly steep mountain where the driver thought it would be a good idea to overtake on sharp turns. The fact that trucks were barrelling down the mountain didn't seem to bother him. I mean it's not like our safety was at risk or anything.   

Oh and we went paragliding. 

You'd think that the paragliding would have been more dangerous than the drive, but nope. 

The most "frightening" part was the taking off where you're basically running of a mountain into potential death. 

That view. 

I honestly do not have the right words to describe what that was like. 

Well I guess "wow" would be an adequate word. But it doesn't fully encompass how imposing it all actually was.

Most of us napped that afternoon. Okay, two of us napped while the other 3 were being productive. 

But then again, those who say that naps aren't productive obviously aren't living a fulfilling life. 

On our last day I felt like I fell of the mountain so I stayed in bed while the rest went to a Tibetan museum, a waterfall and became bros with a goat. 

Then, we shopped. 

And then it rained.

And then I heard two people speaking in Russian and could understand them and I felt like a spy. 

I also found a bunch of stray dogs that I wanted to take back home but nobody would let me. Something about ticks and not wanting to get sick. 

Anyway, we took the 12 hour bus ride back home and here we are again. 

Thanks for the great weekend guys, now lets go to Udaipur (in 1.5 weeks)! 

Stay tuned for next weeks' Fabienne's jokes!

Answer: Carlos.