Finally the photos I have been promising! Below are pictures that run from our stay in Hampi (India) all the way up to arriving in Pokhara (Nepal). The next post after the pictures is the long commentary about The Long Haul to Nepal. Enjoy the photos and make sure to check out the next for some super exciting adventure reading. Tomorrow our friends arrive in Pokhara and we are planning on leaving for the trek on the 20th. So, this may be my last post for 20 or 25 days at least. If so, when I get back I will post asap to let everyone know that I am OK.

The temple on main street Hampi (bazaar side of the river). In the background you can see one of the boulder fields we visited regularly.

Hampi is full of pilgrims, boulders, boulderers and ruins. Plenty to keep you occupied throughout your stay.

A ruined bridge, North of the river (aka Hampi Island, aka Hippie Island).

"Main Street", north of the river where we spent most of our time in Hampi.

This shot of the vast boulder fields was taken from the Hanuman Temple. Although this may look overwhelming it only shows a small fraction of the boulders. There are said to be 300 square kilometers of boulder fields in Hampi. If you can, imagine this scene, only the same across 360 degrees and extending to the horizon. That's Hampi.

Because of the way the rock was hewn for use in buildings, there is an abnormal amount of aretes in Hampi that are actually man made. Of course there are also natural ones and here we see John warming upon one of the made by nature variety.

The Goan Corner. Natural (I think) 7b+ (approximately v8). This is a super sick line that is a Sharma first ascent. I tried it. Twice.

Sunset beta.

Here I am on my second and successful attempt at the highball Cosmic Crimp (v3/4). I was really excited to get this send because I did it on our last day which was also a few days after I got food poisoning. I felt OK but still weak and so sending this as my last Hampi bouldering experience was a real treat. The shots below are a sequence of the same problem.

This doggie has the right idea. Man or beast, when midday comes you head for the shade. This is the Baba Cafe boulder; you can see our crash pads behind the pup.

Amy gave me these little climbers for Christmas and here they are sending a sick 5.14a multi-pitch.

Jenni on the beach in Benulim, Goa. West coast of India.

The really funny thing about this scene is that John was looking down at his camera and had no idea that 2 guys and a bull ran right in front of him.

This is a scene that you encounter often in India and it causes an ethical and moral conundrum. On the one hand, your heart goes out to all the people that need help and being someone that is much more fortunate, you want to help as much as possible. On the other hand we don't have much money ourselves and you certainly can not give everyone something, even just a little bit. On top of that, encouraging begging breeds a negative cycle and poor relations with tourists and foreigners, especially considering that beggars target tourists strait away. Some say that if you really want to help it is much better to give nothing to beggars and then contribute a larger sum to a charity when you get home. Others think that as charity to the needy is a part of Indian culture it is only right to participate as well. However, in practice I rarely saw Indians give money to beggars. In the end, I am still torn on the issue. I did give this boy a bit of money because I thought it was the right thing to do after he let me take his photograph (it was taken during a train stop from the window of our coach). I felt bad even taking this picture but I wanted something that really showed the sadness you encounter in India and I think this does a pretty good job.

The entrance gate the the Taj Mahal gardens.

The Taj Mahal in all its glory. These pics are not that great because it was overcast and rainy, but it was still an awesome sight. You can only imagine what it must look like bathed in the red rays of a clear sunset.

Hindi for lawn mower. This is how they cut the grass at the Taj gardens. You can see that the mower catches the clippings and actually works remarkably well. I'm not sure what they do with the poo though.

A typical scene on the gut wrenching bus ride from the India/Nepal border to Pokhara (Nepal).

John pretending to be asleep on the bus ride. I say pretending because even if you actually fell asleep, 3 seconds later you hit a bump so big you can taste your anus. That's true, by the way.

Read on dear explorer, for the full scoop on the 5 day journey into Nepal.