dripping with passion

one thing i really love to do while traveling in different countries is browse grocery stores. it just seems like such a good window into everyday life in a foreign place. i enjoy discovering a new normal – what kinds of snacks are popular and thus displayed at the front of the shop, the unfamiliar varieties of familiar brands, the prevalence of different food groups in different sections, even the way toiletries and other non-edible goods are organized on the shelves. the evening before we left to the mountains for our trek through the nepali himalayas, we walked to the corner grocery store near our hotel to buy some things. i had something stuck in my teeth and since i had run out of floss, i had been looking for some in grocery stores in tibet but had been unsuccessful. after we gathered up some commonplace but new in brand/design/flavor items, i asked the man at the till if they had any dental floss. he said yes and pointed it out to me on a high shelf. as the boy was finding bi...

we spent four post-trek days in the really cool lakeside town of pokhara. we really fell for this unique, colorful, fascinating and beautiful place, but our experience was different than expected due to the earthquake – we spent a significant amount of our time trying to figure out a way to help disaster victims and/or feeling a mixture of guilt and gratitude from being comfortable and enjoying simple conveniences and traveling adventures. to read more about what we concluded to do when aching to help in this situation, click here . we were and are grateful for the things we learned through being in nepal at that crazy time. {for added clarification about our experience in pokhara, here’s an excerpt from a reply to comment on my last post: being comfortable in pokhara was actually very uncomfortable for both of us - our hearts were broken for the people of nepal and wrenched as we discovered there was not much we could do to help. as i mentioned in my first post about being in nepal du...

we loved exploring the super neat lake town of pokhara for a few days after our trek and before leaving nepal. it is a really special spot on earth, and our time there was made truly wonderful thanks to the awesome place we stayed – waterfront resort . we stayed at waterfront resort for four days, and it was an incredibly pleasant experience. the facilities, amenities and especially the service at waterfront is absolutely top notch. the location is ideal because it feels very secluded and is right on the lake, but it’s only a ten minute walk into the bustling and fun lakefront district of pokhara. our stay was really relaxing and we felt so well taken care of by all of waterfront’s super friendly staff. we very highly recommend a visit to pokhara (more on our adventures there to come), definitely with a stay at the waterfront resort – i can’t imagine better accommodations in that wonderful spot on earth. ^^ the wrinkles on the bed are definitely from us immediately laying down up...