Welcome to India where the cows eat hay and they drive auto rickshaws everyday

I arrived into one of my most hated Indian cities: Delhi. I much prefer Bombay. But I got to my hotel and the heat...oh my god. Sweltering. As I walked to the front of my hotel, you can only guess what was blocking the entrance. No, it wasn't the Indian Engineer of my dreams who slicks his hair back and speaks with an Indian accent. A cow. Just hanging out, right in front my hotel. I maneuvered my way around and finally got inside, settled down and passed out.

I stayed around the Phar ganj area, the tourist area, and made some general travel arrangements. I'll be heading up to Manali to do rock climbing and get out of the heat. Oh India, I think I'm going to love the north.

My morning cup of chai and travel book. I've missed this.

As I walk along the streets in Delhi there are few common phrases I hear:

'Excuse me miss, you like to buy something?'

'Where are you from?...But you are looking like an Indian'

'You have a very lucky face.' -What?! What does that even mean?!

'You want rickshaw? Come! Come! I give you rickshaw!'

And of course: 'Chai wallah! Chai wallah! Chai wallah!'

What a horribly inefficient country. But I went to a small temple, gave my thanks to Krishna and Radha for being lucky so far and prayed for the same luck in Nepal. Off to Manali now...I wish I had more time in India :(.

This one goes out to Igor, Natali and Reese...

BKK for the 3rd time in one month! What a great travel agenda. I arrived on Khao San at the ungodly hour of 6.00 AM. Why do they always arrive so early? Oh well, but I spent the day milling around Khao San and running into old friends from Ko Tao, Ko Phangnan and Pai. I love travelers. A couple other Indian/British guys and I decided to hit the the weekend market...that's right Reese! But it wasn't the same without you!

Reese: I told the Chatucak guys that you were around the corner and they brought out all these coconuts preparing for your arrival. Then i told them I was lying and I had to drink them all myself.

The weekend market...fond memories of Reese being robbed and buying waaaay too much jewelry here.

This one is for Nat :). Oh Shoshana, even though I've been there around 100 times and always order the same thing, they never remember. Typical Thailand.

Khao San at 6.00 AM. Can you believe how dead the street it? It almost looks like a proper Thai street!

Other side of Khao San, so empty. Unfortunately no pics of it at night. My camera died :(

As I hung around BKK, guess who I ran into?! The same group of Irish girls from Ko Phangnan! Can you believe it? We ended up going to MBK, general shopping and watched the new Twilight film. Needless to say, the Irish girls LOVED the movie. They wouldn't stop talking about Jacob shirtless throughout the film.

Mmmm, I'm going to miss Bangkok, but no worries. I'll be back. Especially since it's only a $500 flight from Seattle to Bangkok. I think it's a country that I'll just keep coming back to, and loving even more each time. Well Team Priya, it's time for India. Buckle up! It's going to be a smelly, crowded, delicious and awkward ride!

Why don't you love me?

After almost 2 months, I have to ask my readers the same question as Beyonce: Why don't you love me? It's true, I slave and slave over these posts and how many followers do I have?! Only 11?! I know there are more of you out there so, I'm calling you out:

-Anna Oleksiewicz

-Anna Stobnicki

-Efe Johnson

-David Benjamin

-Peter Kalamakis

-Sarah Halpern

-Kanye West

-Travis Popkave

-Abigail Greulich

-Sonia Chopra

-Gavin Rehkemper

-Sanika Dange

-Jordan Balcer

-Beyonce

.... And many more!

I'll leave you with a quote: 'Like Barack Obama said- it's time for a change.'

I love Pie! And Pai!

Well, I said goodbye to Chiang Mai and made my way over to the backpacker's refuge: Pai. It's a town of 3000 and known for absolutely nothing. Really, it's where people come to chill out after trekking and meet other backpackers. The town is really cute and there was no one really hassling me to buy things...quite the change from Bangkok. But it was still so hot even though it was in the mountains. I ended up staying with a Dutch girl (Nadine) I met on the bus and let's just say she was ecstatic when Holland won the game and went into the finals! I, of course, slept through the match. Classic American.

We also hung out a lot with some Irish guys and I learned quite a few new phrases such as 'What's the crack?'; 'your man...' or 'your one...' even though the man has no connection to you; 'Bullox'. Where do they come up with this stuff? Also, both the boys admitted to never having eaten Lucky Charms and not owning pots of gold. I guess they really can't be Irish then.

Anyway, Nadine and I basically chilled all day and we to the hot springs, which were so hot that we couldn't go in them during the day. But we made up for it with massages and eating delicious vegetarian curry. I prefer the food in the north.

Me on the drive up to the hot springs. That's right folks, I DROVE a motorbike! But that scrape on my knee was from the tiger temple I went to in Chiang Mai. I was in the cage and one of the baby tigers started mauling me...you should see the tiger. Actually I just tripped and fell on the concrete, so clumsy.

The general view in Pai. Very Green!

While I was in Pai, I found the only Mexican restaurant and guess what: it was air conditioned. It was also proper Mexican food! The owner is originally from Texas and one of the nicest guys I've ever met. I sat in the comfortable AC with him for around 2 hours just talking...like we do in the south. It was great; I love Mexican rice.

From Pai it's back down to BKK for my last few days in Thailand. India is coming up faster than I know it. I can't believe it, but I'm so looking forward to the Chai!

Funny Stories

-In Chiang Mai, I met some Canadian girls and we got Thai massages...from former Thai inmates. It was a really nice massage place which promoted reforming former prison inmates and giving them a place in society. I don't know what we were thinking but it was 20 Baht (60 cents) cheaper than a regular massage. It was really great though!

-When I get really hot, I rub my entire body down with tiger balm to cool down. That's the same thing as icy hot. Such an Indian.

-One night, I was wearing my Illini t-shirt and one random white guys ran up to me and said 'Wait, did you go there?' and of course, he went there too! We talked for the rest of the night about how he used to DJ at Joes and all the great sites in UC! Also, on my boat ride from Ko Tao back to BKK, I was wearing the same shirt and another guys asked the same question! But, the best part is that he's an Urbana townie AND his parents own Timpones! One of my favorite restaurants! I would have never guessed I would meet Nick Timpone on Ko Tao in all my life!

Dirty Little Secrets

-Showering has become questionable in routine. I try but there are definitely times when I go a couple days without showering. And in the heat too.

-I've stopped tipping all together. I just don't care anymore. When I'm earning I'll be back on the tipping band wagon.

-I think I've reached a standard where I can't be without A/C in my room. India will be interesting. I've turned into a flash packer.

I can't believe I'm almost 2 months in! But, it's going great, definitely no regrets so far! Stay tuned for more, sports fans.

Birthday Month!

It's upon us once again my readers! Priya's birthday month! No, it's not just a day, it's an entire month in celebration of yours truly. I know we are already about 10 days in, but I wanted to remind all of you in case you forgot. Here's a list of things on my 'want' list:

-Christian Dior - Poison perfume (yes Reese, I love it)
-Chanel jewelry
-Diamonds are a girls best friend, of course.
-T43 Thinkpad: 4 gb RAM and supports Windows Aero
-Star Wars: the series box set
-Patek Philippe

Please mail to:
4331 Chancery Park Dr
Fairfax, VA 22030

I can't wait to see what all of you buy me! July 28th; I can't wait!

Priya vs. Wild

Wow. Once again, we started as 7. 4 of us were to trek for 3 days and 2 nights and 3 for 2 days 1 night. Who was the lone soldier at the end of 3 days? That's right ladies and gents: ME! This one is all about the pictures...

Here I am at in the orchid and butterfly farm. I look so happy.

Look at the size of this butterfly! Oh my god, it's like a bat!

Bat cave! Not Batman's of course. Just a general one. If you look closely you can see the bats.

Me in the bat cave! You can't tell but I'm sweating so hard right now. Check out those shoes! I wore them for all three days. Amazing. Best purchase ever!

Our view from the top. The mountains are filled with rice paddies, corn farms, bamboo and sugar cane farms.

I look a little more disheveled here, which shows my true feelings. Me at the viewpoint. At this point in time I smell like sweat, deet and tiger balm.

My new favorite fruit!

After you peel it, this is what it looks like. It's like a lychee expect not as sweet.

The dinner our guide cooked us at the village. Potato and tofu soup with sticky rice. Yum!

Check out this video, it's of the 'Long Neck' villagers. Apparently, the women put rings around their necks as a sign of beauty and they also put the rings around their knees. The girls are so cute.

Me and the girls. Just hanging out!

These girls were too cute. They made a jump rope out of rubber bands and played jump rope all night. The end of this video is hilarious.

Elephant Trek! This is it! Look how cute those two are together!

Check out how greedy this elephant is! What a fatty! But they are so smart and vegetarians like me!

Look how happy me and Hathi (that's the name I gave my elephant) are! I could have sat there all day!

Still feeding it...

Still going...

The area we rode in. Look how green it is! But, it's for a reason...look at the next pic.

Of course, it starts raining. And I mean RAIN! The mom is trying to protect her baby elephant. Too cute!

By this time I was the only team member left on the trek. The view from village #2 at night.

Me and the King! I'm wearing a the latest fashion. Bamboo leaf hat. Ask Reese about it; it's very big in New York.

The second group I met up with for white water rafting. It was so much fun! Why do I always look like a fool?!

The three day trek was obviously so much fun, but I'm happy to be back in civilization. 3 days without internet. Wow. It was rougher than expected. But this trek has made me realize: I'm going to die in Nepal. Oh boy, get ready for some angry posts beloved fans!

Island in the Sun

After my eventful time at the full moon party, I realized that it was time for me to say goodbye to Ko Tao. But not to worry. I'll be back. I can feel it. I spent my last day recovering from Full Moon and pretty much just chilled on the beach. Check it out!

Me in a fishnet hammock. Who comes up with these ideas? It was the most uncomfortable feeling.

From the left: Chris, Roos, Ed, Toby and me! All of us went to full moon together. What a crazy bunch!

Here's Toby giving his 'America's Next Top Model' - caught in a fishnet pose. Very enticing as you can see.

I left the islands and made my way back up to BKK to go to Chiang Mai! I've never been to Chiang Mai, so I was pretty excited. As I arrived at 3.30 AM in BKK, I realized that I'd have to stay a night in Bangkok before I could get to Chiang Mai...so guess what I did? That's right ladies and gentlemen, I went to visit PAD THAI LADY! But get this, she didn't have pad thai! Can you believe it? I travel across the world for her pad thai and nothing! And then Arun Amarin (my old apartment complex) didn't have coconuts! I was a little cranky, but it all went away when everyone was so happy to see me. I miss Arun Amarin...what a fun place!
So making my way up to Chiang Mai for one reason: to ride elephants. I'm so excited!