Krabi, Thailand

So we're in Krabi Thailand now, which is this really laid-back beach town on the southwestern coast of Thailand. It's been a while since we updated, so a quick recap of what has happened in the last two weeks:

5-day trek into Nepal: We went on this amazing 5-day trek that wove in and out of India and Nepal. It was really exhausting since a lot of it was uphill, but it was definitely my favorite thing we have done so far. The scenery was beautiful when we could see it, but a lot of the time we were literally in the clouds, so it was extremely foggy and we couldn't see anything. That area of India/Nepal is right by Mount Kanchenjunga, which is the third highest summit in the world and is truly stunning. I only saw it three times since it is almost always covered by clouds, but I got some fantastic pictures which one day I will upload. We had this fantastic group of six on the trek with us: two Brits, one French girl, one other American and me and Sam, and we all got along incredibly well.

Calcutta: Calcutta was our last stop in India, which was sort of fitting since it served to sum of all of the best and worst that we encountered in India. The best: fantastic food, beautiful colonial architecture, and one of the coolest Hindu temples we saw on the entire trip. The worst: some of the most wretched poverty I saw in all of India (outside of the area near the Mumbai train station). People are literally dying in the streets in Calcutta, or suffering through horrible illness, deformity, starvation and depravity. As you probably know, Calcutta was the city that inspired Mother Teresa's work. She, after years of working as a nun in a catholic school teacher in Calcutta, got so sick of seeing the poverty in the city that she set up an order- the Missionaries of Charity- to help the situation.

Bangkok: Going from Calcutta to Bangkok is like going from the moment in Tetris just before you lose when everything is frantic, and moving quickly and difficult to navigate to the start of a new game, when everything is easy to navigate, moves slowly, and sort of fits together exactly as you would want it to. Thailand in general is really a tourist paradise, in the sense that if you are a tourist, they make it extremely easy for you to have a relaxing and pleasant experience. There is tons of really good infrastructure, and a huge tourism industry that is relatively straightforward. Also, Bangkok in a food-lovers paradise. You could spend a week in Bangkok-and we practically did- without going into a single restaurant, and eat some of the best food of your life. The street food is just so good...