The sound of emphatic clapping first greeted me as I walked into a Tibetan monastery in McLeodganj, India. The monastery is located at on the edge of town and my cousin and I had decided to visit. We hadn’t realized that this was examine season! But it turned out to be good fun and a well-timed visit. The monks …
Legs crossed and boiling hot chai in hand, I sat on the floor in the back of Sunil’s shop swapping stories and chatter. Sunil’s shop was popular, and not just with the backpacker crowd haunting the cramped streets of Thamel, Kathmandu, his friends regularly popped into the shop. And as is the case with any …
Is it wrong to admit that I’ve developed a strange fascination with McDonald’s restaurants around the world? This one is in India and, as you’d expect, there was no beef on the menu. Stateside, I eat McDonald’s maybe once a decade … and I even find myself apologizing to other travelers on the road about …
Asking for a to-go container in India yields some pretty interesting results… and to be honest this may have been the only time I asked so I’m not sure what I would have gotten elsewhere. You see, a lovely little Tibetan restaurant in McLeod Ganj had amazing momos. I don’t jest; these were some of the tastiest …
A local artist I met in Udaipur, India (who honest-to-god proposed marriage to me a few days later) insisted that I attend a cultural dance show while I was in the city. We had met on my wanderings around town and then we motorbiked through the city a bit with my cousin and his friend …
When you travel the world, you discover all kinds of new things: new dishes, new festivals, new cultures, new friends. The list is endless—it’s a parade of new things. Include sweet treats! Sure, over the years I’ve found my favorite signature dishes that I will forever love thanks to sampling them in a new country—some …
The spicy mingling of scents when you step foot into the India is among my favorite memories of my months in South Asia. Before traveling across India on my round the world trip, I had backpacked through Southeast Asia. And although the food there is tasty, India is paradise of flavors for a vegetarian. The food …
I landed in Italy after six months in developing countries, and it was a shock to the senses in some regards. I remember having culture shock when I landed in Bangkok all those months ago. I didn’t expect the reverse culture shock of landing back in the Western world. Having my bestie Jenn fly over …