“It says here in lonely planet, that the ‘must-see’ temple is the Monkey Temple. Do you think they have monkey’s there? Do you want to go there first?” Jenna asked in one breath. 
“Woah, take a breath. We can definitely go there and yeah, I’m sure they have at least a few monkeys haha. I mean, it’s named ‘the Monkey Temple’. I can’t imagine a monkey temple NOT having any monkeys. That would just be absurd.” 
“Ok, ok. I get it. Most likely they’ll have monkeys.” 
“I’ve never seen a monkey outside of a zoo before.” 
Krishna pipped in, “Hey, before you go. Do you want to have some Momo?” 
Jenna and I exchanged glances. “Momo? What’s that?” Jenna asked. 
“Oh, you need to try it before your trek for sure. Let’s go.” 
We all waved to Gopal and thanked him for helping us out by grabbing the tickets. We left Krishna’s big white gate and walked 2 minutes to a small restaurant that had only a few chairs and tables. Krishna ordered for us and we chatted about the monkey temple, the possibility of monkeys actually being there, our trek and what we wanted to do for our last full day in Katmandu. While listening to the exciting places that we were going to see, a plate of steaming hot dumplings landed in front of us. 
“Here you go. The best Momo in Katmandu.” Krishna said with a big smile while waving his hand over the momo like Vanna White from Wheel of Fortune. A tiny plate with an orange sauce sat next to the perfectly arranged dumplings, which were in a circle. He picked one up, dipped it in the sauce and then motioned a ‘cheers’ sign with it before shoving it all in his mouth. He wasn’t silent by the way he chewed. I wasn’t sure if I should be disgusted or turned on. I dove in and grabbed the dumpling, it was like a floppy half-moon in my hand. Warm to the touch and the insides were squishy. “In the spirit of trying everything, here we go.” I dipped the momo and bit half of it off. My face lit up like a Christmas tree. 
“Oh my god, what is this miraculous thing? This is amazing. These are delicious, so savory and flavourful but bland at the same time. Seriously these are the best things I’ve had ever.” 
Jenna shoved her hand in “give me one. They can’t be that good.” 
And just like that we ordered two more plates of the little piles of heaven. I paid our tab and thanked Krishna for introducing us to momo. 
“I think momo changed my life.” Jenna said with a little orange thing stuck in her teeth. Before I could tell her about her teeth, she began to dance. 
“MomoAZING. Momo changed my life.” She danced out of the restaurant and onto the street. I couldn’t deny it, the song was rather catchy and, she was right, it was momo-azing. We waved bye to Krishna and headed towards the monkey temple. 
“Do you think they’ll have momo in India?” Jenna asked. 
“No clue dude. If they don’t, I’m not going to lie, I’ll be quite sad. I can’t believe how amazing those were. Either way we are going to be eating some phenomenal food on this trip.” 
The thought of not having momo again made me upset. Jenna could clearly see that in my face. 
“Oh dude, wait until you have palak paneer and aloo gobi. You think that was good, just wait!” She said trying to make me feel better. 
“Better then momo? I mean you came up with a song and a dance.” We both laughed hysterically. That’s one thing I always love Jenna for. She’s so silly and makes everything fun. Our talk about ethnic food lasted 30 minutes and brought us to a tall set of stairs. 
“This is it.” Jenna said with her nose in her lonely planet book. “Only 365 stairs to the top. Race?” I shook my head laughing at her as I took the first step in clearly an ‘I’m not running these stairs are you mad’ way. 
Groups of people sat along the stairs trying to catch their breath. We slowly passed them, in no rush at all. One step at a time. A group of young school girls in little blue uniforms started to run down the stairs in a large hoard. Within seconds Jenna and I were sucked up into the hoard. “Namaste” they said as they ran past us. Over a hundred young girls screamed Namaste as they past us giggling and smiling. We ran up the stairs through the swarm of cheery youngsters joining them in saying ‘Namaste”, which, in its most basic form is a salutation. Namaste, Namaste, Namaste was coming from everywhere. When the hoard of girls running and saying Namaste was over it was like I just had the best sleep of my life, I felt so energized reaching the top of the stairs. Jenna looked at me and we instantly began laughing. 
“That was incredible,” we said together as we jumped around at the base of the temple. I turned around to see the large gold steeple in the center of the temple. It was massive and had Tibetan eyes on it. I saw Jenna take her book out. 
“According to lonely Planet, this is a Buddhist Temple and those are Buddha’s eye. They are all seeing helping us rise up from our material lifestyle. It also says here that at sunset this place is beautiful. Want to stick around so we can watch the sunset from way up here?” 
“Absolutely! This place seems huge anyway, so much to see.” 
A monkey jumped in front of Jenna and tried to rip her bag away from her hip. “Hey” she yelled. “Screw off!” She went to kick the monkey that was at her feet but, he was quick and sprang into action and disappeared. “Fucking monkeys.” She said shaking her head. 
“I’ve never seen a monkey in real life before. At the zoo, yeah, and African Lion Safari back at home but, that’s it. Are all monkeys little jerks like that guy?” 
“Not sure about all monkeys, but I do know that MOST monkeys I’ve met are little shits! Watch your stuff around them. They seriously go after everything.” 
“He looked so cute.” 
“Dude, not cute, not cuddly. Learn this now before India or you’ll be swallowed by them whole!” 
“Wait, what? They eat humans?” I asked wide-eyed. Jenna just started laughing at me. 
“Omg, you are the most gullible person I ever met. Come on, let’s go explore.”                 
After sunset we headed back to Krishna and Rina’s place. Rina was just walking in the door with a few yummy treats for us when we arrived. 
“Nice, I’m so hungry.” Jenna said when she saw the food. 
“Since you only have one more day here we thought it would be fun to hang out here tonight.” Rina suggested with a smile pasted on her face.
“Yeah, that sounds great!” I said. We sat down in the living space that still had boxes lining the room from when they moved in. 
“How was the Monkey Temple?” Rina asked when she re-entered the room. 
“It was awesome. I can’t believe how many monkeys there were. They were seriously everywhere! One tried to steal Jenna’s purse. They didn’t get it though.” 
Jenna jumped up and re-told the story, showing us how she almost kicked the monkey away. Krishna and Rina were laughing at us.   
“The sunset was gorgeous and I can’t believe how many prayer wheels there were. I must have said like a million prayers. Buddhism is so neat. I’m excited to visit a few more temples tomorrow.” Jenna said as she sat down. 
“Ahh yes, you’ll need to go to Boudhanath Stupa. It’s not too far from here. Like a 1 hour walk. It looks over the city too.” Krishna said. “Rina and I have work to do so we can’t join you, but we can meet for dinner in Thamel. Maybe that place we had Dal Bhat the first time together?” 
“Yeah, sure that sounds great.” I said. 
“Hey, maybe we can meet up with those guys I’ve been chatting with through ‘couch surfing’.“ 
“Uhhh, sure if you want. They can give us one final tour.” I said. 
The next morning we met Jenna’s two new friends in the center of Thamel for tea. They were younger than I would have expected, maybe early 20s or late teens. 
“Hi, I’m Raja and this Kamal. You want to go site see today in city?” Raja said in a squeaky voice. 
“Oh brother,” I said under my breath.  I smiled at them both. They both had brown eyes and darker skin. Raja was attempting to grow a mustache, which was clearly the first time as it would have passed for a ‘hi, I just started puberty stash.’ I gave Jenna a look saying ‘seriously, you couldn’t have found older and better looking guys to show us around.’    
 “Hi, I’m Frankie. Yeah, what did you want to show us?” 
“Temples around town. Some Hindu and Buddhist.” Kamal piped in. I’m surprised he could verbalize anything as he was being hypnotized by Jenna’s long blonde hair.  
Jenna giggled, “Great, let’s roll like a herd of turtles.” 
My eyes rolled so far back into my head I almost passed out. We began to walk through the streets of Thamel. The boys told us about their school, family, and areas outside of Katmandu where they grew up. They seemed innocent enough and I wasn’t starting to mind them until we stopped suddenly in the street. Kamal got down on one knee. 
“Jenna, will you marry me?” he asked sincerely. 
Jenna giggled some more and said no. Her big blue eyes and blonde hair had captured his heart. ‘Damn, already? It’s seriously been less than half an hour’ I thought to myself. I really never understood why guys always pined over her. I really hope this isn’t a trend.   
Two more marriage proposals, lots of giggles from Jenna, and two words from Raja, we made it to our first temple. 
“According to Lonely Planet, this temple was built in 600 ad and the Stupa was added after the prince killed his father as penance. And, like the Monkey temple we could watch the sunset from way up here overlooking the city.” Jenna said. 
Raja and Kamal laughed as Jenna read from her book. “This temple is the same as ALL temples. Same, same but different.” Kamal said. 
“Same, same but different? I’ve never heard that saying before.” I said curiously. 
“Oh dude, get used to it. Everything is same, same but different in Southeast Asia.” Jenna smiled. 
We walked around the temple, spun prayer wheels and followed the long lines of visitors to every nook and cranny of the place. I could feel myself getting sucked into the giggles and childish energy the boys were exuding.   
We visited three more temples, all equally beautiful. Along with each temple came an abundance of prayer flags, prayer wheels, meditating monks and more proposals. Jenna was eating up each proposal from Kamal. She was loving the attention. Jenna was always the master of flirting, even back in grade school. She’s able to get a guy to eat out of hand within minutes. This was a little over the top, even for her. I was starting to get nauseous from it all. 
“Hey, it’s almost dinner time. Want to head back to meet Krishna and Rina in Thamel for dinner? “I asked, being hopeful to lose the guys. 
“Sure.” Jenna said. 
Kamal looked sad that our day was coming to an end. He did his best to flirt with her, trying to make her feel special. Raja and I were walking behind them, both grateful to be so. Kamal, being blind to anything aside from the blonde hair beauty that was next to him was oblivious to anything else. He tripped over his own foot twice, almost walked into a vendor sign and fell going through the cement door that leads us into Thamel. It was entertaining, to say the least.  We approached the restaurant with perfect timing. Krishna and Rina were just 150 yards or so away, walking to meet us for dinner. We said our goodbyes to the guys and thanked them for being our tour guides for the day. Before I knew it, Kamal was once again on his knee, pleading and begging for Jenna to return his love. 
“Jenna please. You are everything. You marry me? Make me the happiest man in the world?” 
Krishna and Rina’s expressions were of concern. I gave them a little nod indicating that everything was ok. Jenna, with big smiles approached Kamal. Then she did the unthinkable. She ‘leap frogged’ over his head. Standing on the other side of him, Jenna stood laughing. Kamal on the other hand was knocked to the ground when Jenna was in mid jump. 
“Check you on the flip side.” She said, then walked up the stairs to the restaurant. 
I shook my head in disbelief. Said my thanks to the boys and followed Krishna and Rina up the stairs. 
“You are a nut!” I said to Jenna when I sat down with everyone at the table. She just laughed. 
Dinner was delicious, just like we expected. We loved the company of Krishna and Rina, and Thamel was such a cool city. It was starting to sink in that in the morning we would be on a plane to Lukla, then Everest!! A heaviness sunk in. It could have been the fact that we walked over 35 kms around the city looking at all the Temples. It could have been that I over ate. It could have been that I was sad to leave Krishna and Rina. Either way I was feeling exhausted. 
“I hate to say this, but I think I need to get some sleep.” I said unwillingly. 
“Ok, let’s go.” Rina said with a compassionate smile on her face. 
Twenty minutes later we arrived at their house. I gave Jenna a wink and disappeared into the bedroom. I came back with a huge package for Rina and Krishna. I slyly hid it behind my back. Krishna handed papers to each of us. 
“What’s this?” Jenna asked. 
I had to sit down slowly to not let them see the gift I was holding at my back so I could read the paper Krishna handed to us. I looked kind of dumb being the only person sitting down in the middle of their living room. They must have gotten the hint because within moments everyone was sitting down with me. 
 “These are your tickets for tomorrow.” Krishna replied. 
“Oh my God. It’s actually happening. This is so insane. Thank you for this, and everything. You two are seriously the best. Thanks for being so supportive during this first portion of your trip. To thank you, we brought you guys this.” I pulled the gift out from behind my back. Both of their faces lit up instantly. 
“What’s this?” Rina asked in excitement. “You didn’t have to do this.” 
“We wanted to. Open it.” Jenna said. 
They tore it open like a gift under the Christmas tree. 
“Syrup?” They said in unison. “MAPLE SYRUP?” Oh my!!!” They pulled out another package then tore that open too. “Pancake mix” Krishna said laughing. “Maple syrup and pancake mix. This is the best gift ever. Thank you so much.” 
We all hugged in gratitude. My eyes started to feel heavy again. The gift was delivered, mission complete. “I think I need to go to bed now. Sorry everyone. I’m zonked. Goodnight.” I closed the door as I heard Rina ask what the word ‘zonked’ meant. 
I dialed Mason but, unfortunately he didn’t pick up. I left a quick voicemail letting him know that in the morning we would be heading to Everest and that I’ll chat with him in about 15 days. Thoughts of him flooded my brain and my heart. They soothed me like a lullaby and helped me go to sleep. 
I woke up with a bolt of energy. ‘Today is the day’ I thought to myself. I hopped out of bed, showered, brushed my teeth, then got dressed in my black lululemon tights and white tee-shirt. I was ready to start the hike. I piled everything into my big green backpack. It was lighter now without the syrup and pancake mix. Jenna followed suit with the shower, teeth, hiking clothes and the packing of her bag. We were starting the next chapter of our big adventure. We left our room and met up with Krishna and Rina in the living room. They looked sad to see us go, yet also so excited for us. 
“I have to stay here and work.” Rina said. 
I went in for a big hug. “Thank you for everything. You are amazing. Thank you.” Jenna gave her a big hug too and we followed Krishna out of the house and onto the street. 
“It doesn’t take long to walk to the airport from here. Just 10 minutes.” He said. 
I did my best to soak up everything. All the stray dogs wandering around, the children playing in the dirty puddles. The piles of garbage in each street corner. The horns. Oh, the horns. “I’m going to miss all these horns. I swear, they have put me to sleep every night.” 
We arrived at the airport. People were everywhere and they were from everywhere. Russia, Germany, France. Piles of hiking gear were stacked up all over the place. 
“Is this the same airport we landed in a few days ago?” I asked Krishna. 
“Yes.” 
“It looks so different during the day.” 
“It’s because of the trekkers. Every day we get lots of tourists hoping to fly to Lukla then, to climb Everest. If they're lucky.” He said. 
“What do you mean, if they’re lucky?” 
“Oh, well Lukla is the most dangerous airport in the world. The runway is really short and people die all the time because the weather is so unpredictable.” Jenna chimed in staring into her lonely planet book. 
“Yes, that’s right.” Krishna said. “Flights are cancelled all the time here for people wanting to get to Lukla. It’s a waiting game. Weather looks good though. Want me to wait until you guys get on the plane?” Krishna looked at Jenna and he looked concerned. “I’ll stay. No big deal.”  
 

The ride to Krishna’s house was a blur. I couldn’t remember how I got there, maybe I teleported from the airport, but somehow I ended up at his house in a tiny room with my own bed. I was exhausted, thirsty, home sick and naturally, again, second guessing my decision to leave Mason.  
“Babe?” Mason said with cheer in his voice. “How were the flights?” 
I started crying, “Yeah, umm, we just got to Krishna’s house and I think this was a mistake. I should have stayed in Canada. I don’t know what I was thinking when I decided to buy my ticket.” When I left Mason at the gate I figured I wouldn’t talk to him for weeks, maybe even a month or two. Here we are, only a couple days later and I was a mess on the phone. 
“You’re ok,” he said with his incredible sympathy. “You must be exhausted from travelling. Get some rest and everything will be different by tomorrow. Trust me. I love you and have fun!” 
“Ok,” I said, wiping my tears away. “I can stay a couple days, and then if I want to come home I guess I could. Would you be ok with that?” 
“Of course.” 
Hearing his support helped me relax. I told him that I loved him and hung up the phone. Jenna was already passed out when I plugged my phone in to charge. I felt alone but, even from the other side of the world, I felt Mason’s support. I laid my head down on my tiny pillow, which was no bigger than my head and closed my eyes. ‘Tomorrow is a new day’ I thought to myself, as I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep. 
My eyes flooded with sunlight as my ears took in the horrific sound of a woman yelling at the top of her lungs in Nepali ‘Vegetables, vegetables for sale.” The sound was piercing and continuous. I opened one eye to take in my surroundings; pale yellow walls, a large armoire on one wall and Jenna’s bed on the other. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. I was alive, awake and feeling pretty good, considering. 
“Vegetables, vegetables for sale.” She was getting further away now. 
“Great! You’re up.” Jenna said as she walked into the room. I was just chatting with Krishna and Rina, his girlfriend. Get ready, we’re going out!” 
I quickly dressed in a forest green oversized t-shirt, yellow and orange striped Alibaba pants, my green TOMS’ knock offs and grabbed my toothbrush and toothpaste. I felt gross, I hadn’t showered in days, I needed the toilet and the sink to brush my teeth. I walked out of our room and skirted to the bathroom. 
“A western toilet!” I Screamed out of pure excitement. I swung the door open and poked my head out. “A western toilet? I thought everyone here used squat toilets.” Thinking before I speak has never been my strong suit. 
Rina came out from the tiny kitchen which was just a hot plate and a kettle. She was smiling from ear to ear and didn’t look Nepali at all. Rina was indeed not Nepali, she was from Russia and came to Nepal after college, fell in love with both the country and a man- Krishna. She was tall, light skinned and had short brown hair. Her eyes indicated how friendly she was and how excited she was to show us around. 
“Good morning Frankie.” She then explained how her and Krishna own a trekking business and hope to have lots of international visitors. She wanted everyone who stayed with them to feel as ‘at home’ as possible.    
Excitedly, I used the toilet, brushed my teeth with the bottle of water by the sink, and met up with everyone in the living room. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go!” 
“Where would you like to go?” Rina asked. 
Jenna and I looked at each other and made the ‘I don’t know’ face. 
“Out!” Jenna said. 
I felt like a kid on the first day of school. I had no idea what I was about to see, eat or smell. The furthest I had travelled was to Mexico for Spring Break when I was 18, and I had a feeling that this was going to be a lot less ‘boozy’. 
We walked out of the main floor of the tall yellow building that Rina and Krishna lived in.  We stepped into a beautiful green space which had a clothes line, beautiful tall red flowers and scattered trees covered in leaves. My eyes took it in and I half expected the rest of Katmandu to look the same. We walked through the huge blue metal gate and stepped into a different world. The streets were dirt, dust was floating everywhere and into everything, large puddles were on every corner and garbage was everywhere. I had never seen so much litter before. It was insane. Heaps and heaps of garbage were all over the place. It was like a bad movie. I just couldn’t look away. 
We made our way to a little café where two tables and six chairs were inside. The four of us took up most of the place. Rina ordered us coffee and two pieces of bread. She mentioned that she and Krishna generally didn’t eat in the morning. They go out for coffee and begin their day. We talked about what their days look like, and what young couples like them do for fun. 
We finished our delicious coffee and bread and set off to explore some more. The streets were busy and loud. Colours oozed out of every corner, from pirated dvds and cds to stores that sold fabrics; thousands and thousands of neatly folded fabrics. Shopkeepers sat on the floor or on the steps to their shops. Some had tiny box tv’s in their shops but most, most just sat there. I couldn’t imagine just waiting all day for someone to come into my shop with the possibility of buying something. Compassion rushed through me. This was a life completely different than I could ever imagine. What’s interesting though is that everyone had a smile. Everyone, even the kids that sat there with their parents or older siblings, seemed to be having an incredible time. I felt like I missed something. When these people have so little, why are they so happy? 
We strolled by convenience stores, stores that sold the strangest plastic toys, and shops which had meat hanging from the ceiling. It was at that moment that I decided to become a vegetarian for the first time in my life. In our Yoga training, Jenna and I learned philosophy, including the eight limbs of yoga and Ahimsa or non-violence. Lots of yogi’s are vegetarian or vegan for this reason; I on the other hand, loved a good burger and a beer at home, in Canada! 
We walked by a store that had a huge red cross on the front. Krishna said we needed acclimatization pills just in case we became ill with altitude sickness when we got to Everest base camp. We chatted about our packing list and what we brought to keep us warm. Coming from BC I figured I was covered with appropriate clothing to trek to the highest mountain in the world. I may have been high and mighty on myself and my packing abilities because, when Krishna looked at my stuff later on he laughed and said I would freeze. 
“We need to go to Thamel” he said. 
“Where’s that?” Jenna asked. 
“The market in the middle of the city. We’ll make a packing list and head out later for dinner. Thamel has an amazing restaurant.” 
My list required hiking poles, a better jacket and gloves. Jenna, she needed almost everything. The only thing she brought with her was hiking shoes. 
“Dude, I’ll be fine. I barely wear anything in the winter.” she said. 
“You live in Vancouver!! It doesn’t get that cold there.” I reminded her. 
“Ok, we can do something for you. You can borrow gear from us, and when the trek is over, you can give everything to Gopal, he’s the guide that will be accompanying you to Everest, and you're meeting him tomorrow.” 
Jenna and I looked at each other in awe; we were both so embarrassed by our packing abilities, and amazed by the offer from Krishna. 
“Are you sure?” Jenna asked. 
“We would like to rent them from you instead of just borrowing them.” I said nudging Jenna. 
“No, no.” He said smiling. “All good. There are a few things we don’t have. Jenna, we don’t have a wicking shirt in your size, we don’t have trekking poles or any hats.” 
“That’s ok. We can buy them and leave it all with the guide.” I suggested. "I still can't believe I didn't bring a toque; how un-Canadian of me!" I pretended to smack myself in the forehead as if I were on the V8 tomato juice commercial.   
“Ok,” Krishna said, ignoring the fact that I just smacked myself in the head. 
We headed out again to explore and grab dinner. Krishna and Rina were pumping us up for dinner as they loved going for Dal Bhat at this place. They told us about how they rarely go into Thamel and how this is the best place for food in the city. 
We walked for about 15 minutes, through a small tunnel, hopped over broken concrete pieces through a hole where a door used to be, and stepped into a busy street market. Colourful lights and people, smells and shops took up every inch of the place. The streets were narrow, and I was pretty sure I could get easily lost in a place like this if we got separated. 
Krishna led us through the winding streets, up a set of stairs, and into a large restaurant. The restaurant was simple, no booths, white walls and was quite dirty, but, everything in the city was so it wasn’t a big deal. The waiter came over, Krishna exchanged some words with him and within minutes I had a glass of purified water, a round plate with tiny piles of food lining the outside and a huge grin. 
Krishna and Rina dove right in; mixing the rice with the green pile, then with the yellow and grabbed a little bit of the orange-ish pile too. They seemed to be enjoying themselves, so, like in any setting you don’t know what you’re doing, I copied them. I slid rice into yellow then green mush and the weird bitter orange thing. 
“This is amazing.” Jenna said with green stuck in her teeth. 
“Is that spinach?” I asked looking into Jenna’s mouth. She reached with her tongue to set it free. 
“Yes, this is spinach, the yellow is Dal, the rice is the Bhat and that,” she pointed to the orange thing, “is pickle.” 
“Whatever this is, it’s amazing.” I said while I smeared my food around on my plate with my hand. 
A second refill of spinach and 1 hour later, we were full and excited to get back into the busy streets of Thamel. After three turns and 10 shops we were ready to head home for bed.  Jenna and I were spent from the journey to Nepal, and we only had two full days before Everest, so I decided to go straight to bed. 
I awoke to the same lady screaming about her vegetables. Unfortunately it was getting louder as she was moving closer to the house. I put my tiny pillow over my head hoping that would drown out the noise. My pillow barely covered my head let alone both ears and my face. 
Reluctantly, I crawled out of bed and moseyed my way to the bathroom to use the shower. I stood under the shower for what seemed like forever. In reality, it was only five minutes because it’s not cool to waste water. FIVE minutes to feel refreshed and rejuvenated. I went back to my room and put on my white shirt and black comfy pants. 
“I’ve been here for one day and I pretty much wore my entire wardrobe already.” I said out loud to nobody. Jenna was out somewhere and I hadn’t seen Rina or Krishna yet. I slicked my hair back into a loose messy bun on the top of my head and went outside to catch some rays. 
“Good morning Frankie.” Jenna said, jumping off her seat. Turns out everyone was outside already in the front yard, including someone new. 
“Hi, I’m Gopal.” said a young handsome guy with a smile that could make anyone melt. 
“Hi Gopal.” I responded. 
Krishna stood up and told us about our trekking guide, the process, and what to expect along the way. Excitedly, we packed our bags and went back to Thamel to buy the last few things we needed for our trip. Gopal decided to come along for the adventure and drove us into Thamel. Walking around during the day seemed way crazier than at night. People were all over the place and most of them wore ‘The North Face’ clothing. We went to store after store for trekking gear, and most of it was North Face. 
“Ha, more like North FAKE.” Jenna said holding a shirt that clearly wasn’t made by the reputable company. We gathered our gear and handed it all to Gopal. Gopal was off to get our tickets while Jenna and I set off to see some temples.  ​

“What seats are we in?” Jenna asked. 
“Row 72, seats J and k.” I replied. 
“Oh my gosh, we’re only at seat 20. This plane is massive!” 
“Move on down, move on down the road…” Jenna started dancing in the aisle pumping her backpack over her head. 
She kept on pumping her bag all the way to our seats. 
“Row 72 here we are.” I said bothered by the fact that we had the last seats at the back of the plane. 
“I guess that’s what we get when we pay $821 off a discount website.”  
“Meh, it could be worse.” 
We put our bags in the overhead compartment and sat down. I took out my ipod, book and a few of my letters from friends and family. Mason’s was the first to read in the pile. I wanted to wait until I got in the air to read it so I started fiddling with every button I could find to distract myself. 
“Holy shit!” 
“What?” Jenna asked 
“Our seats don’t recline!” 
“No way dude.” 
“Way!!” Jenna was always calm as a cucumber. Nothing ever fazed her. She works at her own pace which is 10 times slower than me. She is a typical hippie who loves to laugh and can always look on the bright side of things. Me on the other hand, I can be an optimist, I love to laugh and dance my ass off, but this shit? No thank you! 
“Jenna, we’re on this flight for 16 hours. I can barely get comfortable now and we haven’t even taken off yet.” 
“Chillllll dude. It will be fine. We can get cozy and snuggle.” 
I gave her a look that would stun a moose.   
I put my headphones in and turned on my flying song, “Sunshine Day” by the Brady Bunch, which always sets me up for a good time. 
“Mmm.” My head started bobbing around and a smile came to my face. 
The plane started to back out of the terminal. My anxiety began to increase. I could hear the sound of my heart beating.  I tried to distract myself by looking out the window. The sky was bright with fluorescent lights from all the high-rise buildings. It was dark, but due to the light pollution very few stars were out.  Sirens in the distance made a dull woofing sound. The wings of the plane prepared for take-off and wind rushed over the plane sounding as if we were in some sort of storm. I put my head against the headrest and closed my eyes. My stomach went up into my throat as we rose higher. It was a surreal moment and I felt like I was floating, floating to another land. Another place where I don’t know who or what is awaiting me. I took a chance and jumped feet first – I bought a one-way ticket, and now I’m sitting in the plane – I’m at the point of no return, I thought. 
The pilot turned off the seatbelt sign and I reluctantly reached into my bag to take out Mason’s letter. He slipped it into my bag last night. It seems like a lifetime ago that I left him at the gate with tears streaming down his face. I started to open the envelope. The paper tore easily between my fingers just like my heart was torn apart by my decision to leave him behind. I could smell his cologne that he always wore because he knew how much I liked it on him. His letter smelled intoxicating, just like his smile. I read through the letter in silence. 
‘My Amazing Courageous Love, 
I am so proud of you for taking this leap of faith into the unknown. I want you to know that I will be ok here. I have all of our friends and family here to support me. I want you to enjoy every step along your journey. Every smile, every new found friend who gives you their time, every hug, and if it leads to it, love. Over the past year you have taught me so much about myself. You embraced me for who I am and made me a better man. It’s now your turn to get exactly what you need. I want you to know that I’m here for you, whatever you may need, day or night. I am always here. When you get back, whenever that is, I will be here waiting with a hug and a coffee. Hopefully we will still be compatible, but if not, at least I will always have our memories. I love you more than my words can ever express. –Adam’ 
Jenna reached over and held me. The tears turned into sobbing and eventually into silent ugly crying. I sighed out of my mouth. I exhaled so long that I actually felt my body release so much energy that I started to feel freer. My heart rate finally started to slow down and then I got a whiff of myself. I’ve made my own deodorant for years and only in stressful situations do I ever stink. 
“Do I stink?” Jenna smelled my armpit. 
“Dude.” Was all she said. 
I dug around in my big backpack looking for my homemade goop that I called deodorant. My hand went past the likely unnecessary huge bag of tampons, past my 2 sweaters, 2 shirts and finally to my toiletry bag. As I tried to do my best to pull it out I made a mental note to repack my bag later – I couldn’t find anything! Since I wasn’t able to get to my toiletry bag I decided to cover my stinky pits with the calming essential oil that a friend gave me before my trip. I put it on my wrists and looked at my watch. We only took off 45 minutes ago.  I had to take a nap or I wouldn’t make it through the flight. I closed my eyes, laid my head back and started to listen to all the sounds that I could hear outside of myself. I heard a baby giggling a few rows in front of me. The washroom flushing behind me. The flights attendants making coffee and preparing the cart for drink service. Movies were being watched around me, people were having conversations. Some were heated about what they were going to do when they landed, others were loving. The smell of the lavender that I put on to cover up my stench started to swirl around in my nostrils. The sounds no longer were recognizable, they fused into one another creating a soothing lullaby. I could feel myself travel deeper into relaxation. I was starting to move through the layers of consciousness. I let go of the control of what was happening around me. 
I awoke hours later hoping that we were on the tail end of the flight. It was dark and most people were asleep. I could hear the gentle mummer of people snoring throughout the plane. I needed to move my body. The un-reclining chair really got to my body while I slept. I could feel knots in my back and shoulders that weren’t there before. I unbuckled my seatbelt and did my best to sneak away from Jenna. It turns out she’s a light sleeper. 
“Where are you going?” Jenna asked. 
“Just for a little adventure. I need to go for a walk.” I replied. 
“Cool beans.” 
I lifted the arm rest for her. 
“Here, lay down on my seat too.” 
“Thanks.” Jenna stretched out and I smiled at her as her eyes closed. Since I was at the back of the plane I might as well go for a stroll to the front of the plane to see what’s happening up there. I ended doing several laps around the plane. People looked at me like I was a lunatic, but I don’t understand how they can remain in their seats for so long. Lap after lap it seemed like the plane just kept getting dirtier and smellier. I decided to go back to my seat, I had been walking for about 45 minutes or around 150 laps from my guess. When I returned Jenna was sprawled out over both seats the best that she could. She was passed out and drooling on her travel pillow. I couldn’t wake her. She looked semi comfortable and I didn’t want to disturb her. 
“There’s no luggage on the floor.” I thought to myself. So, I curled up into the smallest fetal position that an adult could do, and scootched under the seat in front of me. Just as I started to dream about my bed back at home and Mason holding me tight, 
“Excuse me? Miss?” A flight attendant spoke in soft words. “Hello? Miss? MISS?” She started to speak louder. 
“Yes?” I replied, barely able to lift my head. 
“I’m sorry Miss, but you’ll have to move. You can’t sleep on the floor.” 
Reluctantly I got up and attempted to stretch while she stood over me. I woke Jenna up by saying her name repeatedly. She was snoring so I didn’t have any qualms about waking her up. I am NOT a fan of snoring. 
“Hey dude, I need to sit down.” 
Jenna sat up and wiped her eyes. 
“How long was I out for?” She asked 
“I’m not quite sure, maybe just over an hour?” 
“Bahhh.” 
“Move over and let me sit down.” 
I sat down in my seat and we did our best to pretzel ourselves into a position that we could both sleep in. It took several tries but we finally found one. We called it ‘Snoozlasana/Paschinidrasana’, which gave us a little chuckle despite our uncomfortable seating situation. 
The flight seemed to go on forever. I was one big knot from head to toe and needed to hit my mat. Thankfully the uncomfortable airplane served mediocre coffee and breakfast prior to landing. I sipped my coffee as thoughts of what would come ran wild in my head.  

Hi, I’m Frances Rose. All my friends call me Frankie cuz, I’m as free as a bird, and honestly Frankie just fits me better. I’m a yoga teacher in one of the most stunning towns in Canada – Nelson, in Beautiful British Columbia. If I’m not in Nelson with my Om’ies I’m either at my parent’s house in Ontario or traveling the world. I’m 5’6, a little stockier than your average yoga teacher, and a hell of a lot more outright. I speak my mind and do what my heart wants, when I’m listening to it that is. I used to be the girl that no one messed with. Studded belt, lip rings, black nail polish, and an intimidating look that scared even the harshest criminals away. Thank goodness I’ve swapped out my skate shoes for bare feet, and my pack of smokes for a yoga mat. I still have the face jewelry as I’ve grown accustomed to it, or maybe, I’m attached to the badass chick that I used to be. I’m pretty sure the old Frankie would have beat the living daylights out of the new and current Frankie.
Like most yoga teachers, I had the inkling to jump on a plane and rush to India. I had just quit an office job that tore my soul out each day. I had nothing to do, nowhere in particular to be. I was just out of my teacher training program, so I figured, “Meh, why not”.

                         “A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.” –Lao Tzu
 
The day came quicker than I expected. I woke up from a nightmare that I was falling off the edge of a cliff, and my partner, Adam Mason, couldn’t catch me. I had tears streaming down my face, and I was scared that I had lost him forever. Under the warm comforter that we had shared for almost a year, I rolled over, and he was there. I cuddled my love tightly as it was our last time until . . . who knows when, maybe never again? He was snoring like he always did, but I could tell that his energy was off, likely because of what lied ahead in our day. Our alarm went off, and my Mason got-up to shut it off.  He is 6’4, eyes as bright as a clear blue sky, and a smile that makes me melt.  Prior to my big adventure on my own I seriously did my best to break-up with the guy. I love him so much, but this was something I had to do for me. No matter how I said it, he still wouldn’t take no for an answer. I had a one-way ticket away from his heart, and nevertheless he planned to wait for me. He wanted to see if we were still compatible when I got back to Nelson – if I ever went back to Nelson.

     I did my best to prep for this. I was excited to start my journey, but something in my stomach just ached. It could have been my heart breaking, or my insides dancing around with excitement. In silence, I brushed my teeth next to him, got dressed in what would become my outfit for months on end, and before I knew it we were walking down the sidewalk to his car. He grabbed my hand and we both looked at each other. That’s all it took to have us both crying, savoring the last few moments we had together. I felt stupid, walking away from this kind of soul love that was only depicted in Disney movies. Stupid Disney, made me second guess myself all the way to the airport. Am I making the right decision? What happens if I hate India? What if I fall in love with someone?? What if I get Delhi Belly?? AHHHH MIND SHUT UP!!
I kissed Mason at the gate.
“I love you”, I whispered in his ear one last time. He looked at me in the eyes and tried to speak.
“I will always love you”.
I kissed him gently, and without looking back, I walked away. I walked away from potentially ‘The One’. I didn’t want to hurt him, I really didn’t, but nothing was going to hold me back from this Adventure. I knew in my heart that I had to do this.  If it meant leaving possibly the one true love that I would ever have in my lifetime, then so be it.

     I climbed aboard my plane to Vancouver BC. I did my best to belly breathe over the one hour and fifteen minute flight. I tried the ‘So Hum’ meditation, alternate nasal breathing, and a Nidra to ground me, but nothing worked. So, I ordered an ice cold Canadian beer. Nothing can really soothe me like a beer.  I had a sixteen hour flight ahead of me, so I did my best to ignore the stack of notes my friends wrote for me to read on the plane. It’s like the notes had a heartbeat, the more I thought of them, the stronger the heartbeat got. I was about to dive into my secret stash when the pilot came on the speaker to announce that we would be landing soon. I resisted the urge to read them, and instead, I sat back and looked out the window as we flew over lush green mountains, forests so dense you couldn’t see beyond the top of the trees, and eventually tall sky scrapers, highways, and finally – ocean.
I sighed a loud “Ahhhhhhh”, like I do after a challenging standing sequence. I startled the people behind me, and I’m assuming to them it sounded like I was having an orgasm. After thoroughly enjoying my sigh, and playing it up a little with all the looks that I got, I stood up, grabbed my shell, aka my house, aka my trusty backpack, and walked off the plane.

     My travel companion, Jenna, was doing the running man at the gate waiting for me. I dropped my bag and joined her. Making a scene was our thing. Jenna and I have been besties for as long as I can remember. We both grew up in southern Ontario, and were bored there so we decided to move to Calgary, AB.  Shortly after our move, life took Jenna to the busy streets of Van city, while I went to chill in Nelson. It was much more my pace there.  Once out of breath from dancing like it was 1995, I hugged her so tight she thought her head was going to pop off like an empty Pringles container.
“Chill out yo. It hasn’t been that long” Jenna squawked.
It had been a few years since we saw each other, but she still looked the same. Jenna is taller than me at 5’8, she’s thin as a board, and has long beach blonde hair. Jenna took her yoga teacher training too. Since she was a gymnast all her life, her asana practice was well more advanced than mine.  I was lucky if I could hold chatarunga for 2 seconds.
We made our way to gate D73. Our flight didn’t leave for another hour and a half.
“Let’s grab a beer before our flight” Jenna suggested.
“How about we do a wee bit of a practice, then grab a beer?”
“Sounds good to me.”

     We dug out our Manduka Travel Mats that weighed less than 2 lbs and flipped them into the air to unroll them. All around my backpack was the few clothes that I packed, enough underwear for 2 weeks, and a massive bag of Tampax Tampons.
“What the heck is that?” Jenna asked while repacking her bag.
“This?” I held up the enormous blue bag that normally holds a newspaper.
“Yes! That?”
“It’s my tampons for Shark Week. I brought a 6 month supply.”
“Holy crap!! You know they have tampons in India.”
“Haha. I know, but I like these, and honestly, I have no idea what kind of supplies they will have there, they might be like pine cones, or something.”
“Oh my god. Really Frankie? It takes up half your bag.”
“Totally worth it dude. Don’t come crying to me when we’re in the middle of the jungle and you need a tamp!!”

     The airport was pretty quiet. Everyone was in their chairs reading or taking naps. We put ourselves in a small corner so we wouldn’t be out in the open. Even though I like attention, when I practice it’s a bit different. I didn’t want any creep-a-zoids checking us out. As I looked around the bright terminal I could smell the Starbucks coffee and I started to second guess the decision I made to take this trip. This was the first time that I had ever done a big trip to the other side of the world.
“Jenna?” I asked
“Yeah?”
“Are you scared?”
“Of what?”
“India? Our trip?”
“Heck no! I’m stoked!! This is going to be awesome!!”

     Jenna has traveled Southeast Asia several times. I, on the other hand, had been as far as Mexico. I took a deep breath, and placed my hands down on my mat. It was the first time that I used it. It's a sexy forest green and it’s so sticky I just wanted to fly up into a handstand. Unfortunately, inversions are currently my nemesis. I stopped flipping upside down after I fell headfirst off the monkey bars in grade 2.
“Let’s plan our sequence. What cha thinkin’, a peak pose?” I asked.
“Fucks yeah”. A high five came flying my way and nearly smacked me in the face.
“Let’s do some heart opening and some juicy twists.”
By the third Sun Salutation (Surya Namaskara A) I noticed more people were sitting down at our gate. It was weird, people kept looking at us, but then looked immediately away. It’s like they thought I couldn’t see them. I started freaking-out, alarm bells going off. I closed my eyes and got back to my Ugyaii breath.  It didn’t work. I tried child’s pose, getting back into Sun Salutes, and I even tried shaking the willies off, like in my kids yoga training. Nothing seemed to work.
I asked Jenna, “Are we really doing this? Is this happening, or is this just a dream? I don’t think I can practice right now. My head feels like it’s going to explode.”
I barely gave her a chance to speak “Slow down man. It will be fine. What’s the worst thing that can happen, huh? If shit hits the fan, just come home. It’s no big ‘D’.”
“True. I can always go home!!” I started to get excited again.

     Several more outbursts, and a whole lot of sweat later, it was time to board the plane. I grabbed my big green backpack that housed my million tampons, and headed for the gate. With Jenna in front of me in line, I turned around and gave the airport one more glance. I saw a man picking his nose and staring at his booger as if it was a lost treasure. Airport staff were driving around in golf carts shuttling people around, and an angry customer was flipping out at customer service because the flight attendants were late and she was going to miss her connection.

I handed my passport and plane ticket to the overly perfumed attendant.
“Safe travels Ms. Rose.” She handed me back my ticket.
With a smile, I moved on. My journey had begun.