Stanna is off on an adventure with her “hiking ladies” this time to India, Bhutan and Nepal. She’s exploring new territory as she did in 2012 with her last “ladies’ adventure” in Switzerland. This will probably be the precursor to a trip we’ll have to make just like the follow-up to her Switzerland trip, when we hiked the Haute Route in Fall 2013.
I’d like to brag on how little she’s taking (note the tiny backpack on my back and the small messenger bag over her shoulder), but she’s got a diplomatic courier carrying hiking shoes and a couple items of fleece into India for her assault on the colder climes.
She staged this trip from Ayuthaya north of Bangkok a couple days early because the last time we travelled north from Trang to catch a flight the train had to turn back due to flooding. This also gave her a chance to suss out our accommodations and plans to meet up in Bangkok just prior to returning home in early April.
Her trip is a couple of days in New Delhi for the Durango contingent to de-jetlag and a little Taj Mahal’ing. Then into Bhutan and thence Nepal. (Been wanting to try thence just once). It’s a commercial company they’ll be traveling with called OAT – Overseas Adventure Travel, with whom several of her hiking friends have travelled in the past.
We’re hoping to see photos from the sites and trek before we meet up again, but no telling how the bandwidth opportunities will allow while she’s traveling.
As is usual here in Trang, any time we depart there is a cadre of companions gathered to wish us bon-yoyage. There are small gifts and questions about when we’ll return. I’ll be going thru the same gauntlet in April. And unless some other choices materialize between now and the dead of Durango’s winter we’ll plan on coming back. We’re adding an exercise ball, a yoga mat and two more bikes to our stored stockpile here in Trang.
We’re recalling all those postponed invitations folks never collected while on Paradox. Thailand is a great place to visit us, so maybe we should both plan on meeting here next year.
