ह्म्म्म...

So i guess i should tell everyone that i'm back. it's pretty easy to forget about your blog when your coming home. I'm really happy to be home and see everyone ( well i haven't seen everyone yet) to those that i haven't seen or haven't seen enough call me, e-mail me, come visit me at work i miss all of you dearly and want to see you don't be shy. at some point i'll probably put up some more photos i have yet to get some film developed that will hopefully be interesting. thanks for checking out my blog and supporting and interacting with me while i was on my adventure. i really miss family dinner so we all need to get together and have one i just need someone to volunteer their house. thanks
Brandon

before i get carried away, my intended meaning of the word circus

i had someone take issue with my blog name last week specifically the word circus. they are from india and really found it degrading and wrote me to tell me so. i'm curious to know what you all think about that. what if i called your country a circus would you take offense? now i have to clarify my intended meaning because there are several definitions of the word circus. the first three definitions i can understand how someone would take offense, except that there are moments when this place is exactly like a circus if you were to take it out of context. like when there are 23 people stuffed into a taxi (myself included) or when there is a traffic jam caused by elephants throwing a temper tantrum or even the nightly parades in varanasi. that's only when you take it out of context though wich isn't fair and is not my intended meaning of the word circus. my inteneded definition is the 4th one if you look it up on google. "Informal. Something suggestive of a circus, as in frenetic activity or noisy disorder: “The city is a circus of the senses” (William H. Gass)." this has always been my intended meaning of the word. seriously though let me know what you guys think.

more from kathmandu

some more from kathmandu i was having trouble uploading earlier. these are all from shivaratri

the pagoda is also said to have originated in nepal
this one is bahairav (i hope i spelled that right) shiva's destructive incarnation. the actual statue is from something like 400bc they found it in a field and brought it to durbar square( where most of these photo's are from)

photo's from kathmandu

most of these are from shivaratri a huge festival all over the sub-continent. They celebrate by getting crazy with bhang( the holy sacrement of shiva). the celebration in kathmandu is relatively mild compared to the one in varanasi and other places. this procession was endless though. i walked the opposite direction of the procession for half an hour and didn't even come close to the end of the line.

where have i been?

well where have i been?

after i left varanasi i went to lumbini (where buddah was born) instead of kushinigar. I'm not really sure why just one of those gut instincts that you follow i guess. As soon as i got there i got really sick( a fever of 102 and pink eye among other things) and had to go to kathmandu becasue it was the closest place with quality medical care. where i spent the next 5 days recovering from the worst flu i've had since i was a kid. Then i went back to lumbini so i could actually visit the sacred garden where buddah was born and now i'm back in varanasi to get a sitar before i come home on the 18th. going to the doctor is expensive and i really wish it didn't cost so much because that's a large part of why i'm coming home early. i wasn't suppose to be back until the 15th of may. it's been a real adventure though, i got to ride on top of the bus to lumbini i've always wanted to do that and it's one of the hardest places ever to take photo's from. The bus to kathmandu was like riding a rollercoaster without the safety bar and nepali people are incrediblely nice and have made the last week heaven. the rickshaw driver's in kathamndu even understand the phrase "no i don't want a ride" (unlike the ones in varanasi). i'm sad to leave but i can't wait to eat mexican food and hang out with all of you. so i'll see you soon