Anywhere you go in the world they know the movie Titanic

I lost my birthday somewhere between los angeles and Tokyo. I boarded the plane at noon on the 19^th and arrived in Tokyo at four in the afternoon, the next day. My mind has been so preoccupied with the flight, I would have to continue to remind myself it was my birthday. I told the passenger next to me that it was my birthday. 22 seems so anticlimactic.

When we landed in Tokyo a herd of medical suit personal came on and questioned each person about their possible exposure to the pandemic commonly known as ‘swine flu’ or H1N1. Yes, I traveled to mexico, right into the heart of it all and I am fine!

I was in the Bangkok airport for eleven hours! AND btw Thai Airways is superior to all other airlines I have ever taken. Airplane food has never tasted so good. And they gave me a orchid boutiner as my parting gift. Who does that?

I was scared to land in Nepal. What if no one was there to pick me up? Do I really want to be doing this again? I looked out the window as the most majestic view. The Himalayas were in partial sight and I was breathless. Ten years ago I had gone trekking in Nepal with my family, I remembered the slaughted goats and the isolated tea shops, but I had forgotten these mountains. Accented with terraced rice patties and curvy roads, these mountains holds sublime qualities, they are so majestic in stature and poetic in beauty. Our plane touched the ground and I began to remember this sad little airport. It is so sad, it doesn’t even have a proper jet way and so dirty.

When I got out to the prepaid taxis and hotel salesman there was no one with my name card. Soon enough I had a flock of men trying to help me. I had to think fast. I got a prepaid taxi into the city, to a guest house that had been recommended to me. At this point, when I am in the taxi driving through the city, I am still asking myself if I really want to do this again. India was a hard place to be and isn’t Nepal going to be the same? But I smell the air, it is a mixture of burnt trash and marsala. I feel of rush of comfort come over and I am joyful. I excitedly talk to the man in the passenger seat who is trying to sell me a trekking package. He drops his pitch and we talk about his home town, the place I will be staying for the next three months. The conversation reassures me.