Shuba Deepawali

The last few days here in Mumbai have been great. I've really enjoyed myself here with all of my relatives. So many stories to share and fun times to write about. I have uploaded a whole wack of photos so you can check out all of those and really get a feel for what I've been up to. The sites, the sounds, the colours - words just cant describe it all.

What I can tell you about though is getting the hairs on my right forearm singed as I walked past a firecracker exploding on Saturday night. I was walking with my cousin Gaurav and both of us were trying to be cautious and looking in all directions. However, neither of us was able to see this one and bang, it went off. It was a smaller one (that kind of spread out like a big mushroom) and it caught both of our arms. Me in short sleeves have some singed hairs now and my cousin Gaurav has a small hole in the cuff of his sleeve. Anyway, it was definitely a nice Diwali souvenier to have for sure...

Meeting up with my buddy Vas last Saturday night was really cool. He's a guy we've known for years in Toronto and to hang out with him at a couple bars in Mumbai was a pretty strange experience - especially at Tendulkar's bar. It turns out that Vas was at the cricket match I went to as well the day before but unfortunately, we didn't know that the other one was there so we couldn't meet up. That definitely would have made it more fun but oh well, can't win them all I guess.

So what's next you ask???

Well, for starters - 3 weeks of absolutely ZERO contact with the outside world. Starting tomorrow, I am flying to Kathmandu and on Friday, I start trekking for 21 days, returning to Mumbai on November 20. I'll be climbing Mera Peak (Altitude is 6800 metres) over that stretch and getting an amazing view of Everest and 3 of the World's 5 highest peaks. I found someone's blog online with some amazing photos of what I'll be seeing over the next few weeks - check it out. I hope I can see all of this stuff with my own eyes.

Thanks for all your emails since I've been away. I miss you all and can't wait to share my stories when I return.
I reallly appreciate all of your support.

Love,
Aneil