IT WAS THE BEST OF TIMES, IT WAS THE WORST OF TIMES . . .

"It ws the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way." - Charles Dickens

And now that I am in lovely Toledo, Oregon, and bored out of my gourd (NOT that it is not great to see my parents and the Chihuahuas, because it truly is . . . and I am not just saying that because my Mom reads my blog religiously) I've had plenty of time for half-hearted reflection over a fantastical trip that is quickly receding into the distant past even as I write. Which soooooooo sucks that I can't even begin to TELL you how much it sucks.

Which leads me to think about capturing the big moments before they're gone, in the format of always-popular "Top 10" lists. I'm going to start with the "things that sucked" list first because it is actually the easier of the two. So here goes, in no particular order really (or at least that I'm admitting):

THE WORST OF TIMES

1. Falling on my ass not once, not twice, not thrice, but FOUR-eth times in the Annapurnas (and STILL having a bruise to show for it).
2. My Dad leaving the adventure in Mumbai.
3. The disgustingly oily & stinky Ayurvedic treatment in Ernakulum.
4. Hugging the toilet in a rat-infested Jaisalmerian hut as my bhang-addled brain hurdled me through various alien landscapes/countries while simultaneously preventing me from performing mundane tasks like standing, talking, walking or even undoing my pants so I could go to the bathroom.
5. Getting seriously rammed in the leg by a holy cow in Jaisalmer.
6. Feeling like I was going to die from some Mad Cow-esque Disease in Chennai.
7. Waking up with red devil eye in Orissa.
8. Hitting the wall - nay, EMBEDDING myself in it - while sucked into the Orissian vortex.
9. The first night in Puri. Yeah, that one. The one where Adam hated me and yelled at me --- in public. The one where I cried --- in public. The one where I got in a mad, horrible fight with a dear friend and then cried some more --- in private.
10. Getting my boob violated by a street urchin in Calcutta.

The Best of Times to follow shortly . . . xxoo, SRD