As promised...1 year later...

Beautiful Nepal! You will see why I love this country so much!

The amazing Thorung La Pass...yea, it was cold.

Peter, Rob and Jack at the top. Look at all those prayer flags!

On the bus ride back. Yes, we are on top of the bus. I love Nepal

Two trees that melded together. Just like me and Neha!

Alex enjoying a beautiful day on our descent. Its not a backdrop :).

Don't even know what mountain that is, but its gorgeous.

Spinning those Prayer wheels...they have rows of them all over Nepal and they bring you good luck!

McDonalds all the way on the top! With Yak meat! Definitely a knock off....

More views. clouds parting for our descent.

My birthday celebration. Trying to get into place for a picture. You can't see it, but I bought a super cheap bottle of whiskey. I loved it.

All smiles! From left to right: alex, Kish, Peter and Me. I came back from the temple that day.

Pura Vida

Tacos! Pinto Gallo! Queso! Frutas! Arrrribbbaaa!

Now that you are in the central american mindset, let me tell you about whats been going on. I left LA at what felt like the butt crack of dawn to catch my flight to Mexico City. To be frank, I was nervous. I didn´t have a guide book, bought the flight 12 hours before it took off, don´t speak any spanish except for´sacapuntas´(pencil sharpner...what the hell?) and I had a layover in Mexico City for 10 hours.

I have ALWAYS wanted to go to Mexico, but it is one of the few countries I would NOT travel to alone, but to sit the in the airport for 7 hours? Absolutely not. So, I landed, sucked up my courage went out into the city. Wow. Im so happy I did it! There was a huge party in celebration of me! Aaaand of course when I try to upload my pictures, the computer won´t let me do so! I´m going to have to talk to the Devices and Networking team in Windows...

Anyway, I spent the day in Mexico and hopped on a flight down to San Jose. Got my ride to the hostel and passed out so quickly. I was exhausted. But to give you some impressions of Mexico and San Jose:
- Mexico: people like to dance and kids are running around everywhere; tacos are huge out there!; the people are super short; really not as dangerous as you would think;
- San Jose: I had to get the hell out of there, there was nothing to do in that town

And after spending only 1 day in a spanish speaking country, I can tell you this much: spanish is a love language. You have no idea how many ´mi amore´ or ´mamacita´ or ´bonita´ I heard and received! I think it might be time to learn spanish...

San Jose, I was finally there! Now just a 3.5 hour bus ride and I was at the beach! Manuel Antonio was where my mind was set. I hopped on the bus and got down to the beach, settled in at a hostel next to the National Park (with Tucans, sloths and monkeys!) and the next thing I knew I was having a heart to heart with a English girl from Birmingham. Traveling is so crazy; you meet people so fast and you connect with them so quickly and then its over in the length of time it takes to paint to dry. But the time you spend together is significant to say the least!

Her and I met some exchange students (from America) who were studying abroad in Costa Rica. We partied with them until around 1.00 AM in a local bar outside Manuel Antonio...I love exchange students. And the next day you won´t believe what happened...

But you´ll have to wait! Someone else needs the computer at this hostel. Glad to have you back my avid readers.

P

a moment to reflect

When I first started this blog (over 1 year ago!), I made it to capture the details about my 5 month trip around the world. My intent was that it would last as long as I was traveling.

But I never plan to stop traveling.

I don´t think I´ll be able to, one day, never feel the urge to go see Easter Island, or Antarctica or the great wall. This twitch, its a part of me.

So, for the smart people out there who have put two and two together, Im sure you understand what this means. And for those of you who need it spelled out, just in case there is any doubt, this blog is going to stay with me until I´m done traveling. Period.

Priya

Costa Rica is coming to an end...

And I bet all of you are wondering where my posts + pictures are! Well, lets just say its not the easiest to come across internet thats fast in this country.

I will post pictures and all of my thoughts as soon as they are ready for review, but in the meantime I´ll leave you with a few to chew on:
- The people are extraordinarily nice. They just want to help you get around! Ive had quite a few occasions where the locals have rerouted their travels to help me get to my destination. Good hearts!
- I love rice and beans! So do they! With every meal.
- Humid, hot, sticky. love it. Just the way Indians like it.
- I´ve met over 10 single female travelers here. Thats the most Ive ever met in one country! As Beyonce says: who run the world? Girls!
- I´m really excited that Beyonce is pregnant.

Hope everyone in america misses me and cant wait until I come home! Y and M - Pesos + Frontier Room here we come!

P

No, but seriously, where the hell is Priya?

Well, I´m not in America!

Yes, yes, believe it or not, I'm on the road again! But this time for a much smaller period of time. Let me give you some context.

I was invited to be a speaker at a Microsoft conference in LA for the unveiling of Windows 8. Not only was I super pumped to be a speaker there, in the back of my mind, my traveling side was calling out: 'LA is a great jump off point for SE Asia or South America!'. I guess you can give a vagabond a fabulous apt, a great paycheck and awesome friends, but you can't take the vagabond out of some people!

Anyway, the conference was...really fun, to say the least :). To give you a flavor of what it felt like, its like I was backstage at the release for a much awaited movie...for geeks. All the stars were at my hotel! Steve Sinofsky, Julie Larson-Green, Mike Ang...I had the hookup! And the rest of us were like the actors who were giving star performances + sneak peeks into the movie during our sessions. I think I live in my own world...

Like I said though, the session went great. Here are the links to talks I gave with Max Morris (another PM working on the feature).

http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/BUILD/BUILD2011/PLAT-270T

http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/BUILD/BUILD2011/HW-269T

And then on Thursday night, when everything was coming to a close and everyone was sitting back indulging in the success of our team...I indulged my nomad side and bought a ticket to costa rica...12 hours before the flight. Yes, I know, it seemed rash - on the surface.

I guess there are some addictions people have that they cant explain why they need to fulfill them. Maybe it was just because I could, or maybe it was because it was the thrill of going to a new country, or maybe it was just for the food...either way, I bought a $600 roundtrip ticket to costa rica! To be completely honest, I think it was a mix of all those reasons I described above, but I think a bigger, less tangible reason is because I felt I hadnt really nurtured - my impetuous side. Yes, I went to Hawaii a few months ago, but that was all planned out. After extensive introspection into my love for traveling, I've found one reason I love it is because you get to be completely in the moment. Its hard to do that when you're working.

So I was going to post some pictures for you, but it looks like this computer does not support any USB plugins (without an admin password, which the receptionist doesnt have :) ). Everything in Costa Rica happens on its own time...But ill add pictures as soon as they are available. In the meantime, enjoy the blog!

Stay tuned for more!