Happy New Year 2008!

Molly and I are at the end of 9 months of travel with about 4 1/2 months left before we fly back to San Francisco. What an experience it has been so far!! We've taken around 2,000 pictures and met too many people to count across the UK, Europe, Africa, and Asia. The stories are being captured in our journals and blogs (moreso Molly's blog).

Believe it or not, we are getting homesick more and more these days, and we can't wait to return to the US in May and start writing a book (Molly doing the writing, and I'm producing illustrations). Maybe we can't make a living writing a book, but it's our dream and we are going to go for it!

The last two months in particular, we have really pushed ourselves in two tough countries; Nepal and India. We trekked in Nepal at 4,000 meters and as you may know, we are not campers!! But there we were, sitting in tiny 'teahouses' wrapped in sleeping bags with piles of blankets while dreading the walk outside to the bathrooms that would literally freeze over at night. Nepalese people are great and we felt very welcomed overall. Definitely we recommend that country if you are looking for great people, trekking, etc.

India was where we spent December, mostly touring Rajasthan and the famous architectural ruins of forts. We also rode camels in the desert one night, about 100kms from the Pakistan border. (With all that is now going on there, we have a more 'real' perspective on that country's woes than from the comfort of the sofa at home). India is tougher than Nepal for sure, with so much poverty and streets full of people, cows, honking auto rickshaws, camels, dogs, etc etc. Stimuli overload each day is the norm, and add to that being approached by maybe 50 people a day asking for money, or to try and sell you anything they possibly can. 'No thank you' and 'please, we just want to walk alone' are the two phrases we've had to robotically mumble throughout each day. Add to that the leering men EVERYWHERE that stare crudely at Molly. Really gross, and sadly not confined to poor villages. We had this problem at hotels, restaurants, etc. I've become a pro at standing or sitting between her and any guy that can't stop staring and more than once felt the urge to punch some idiot's lights out (which is completely not my nature!!). But India was also magical in ways we probably can't see quite yet. Visiting Varanasi and Bodh Gaya especially, we were really enjoying the spiritual aspects of this country.

Now we leave for Malaysia and Indonesia, and then on to Australia and New Zealand and the next chapter of our amazing trip. We are looking forward to warmer weather and new cultures to explore. It's the rainy season in Malaysia and Indonesia so we may head back to our favorite beaches in Thailand where we know it's sunny and beautiful.