A long awaited update

So...Since Ridi Festival...
What have I done since then...a short visit to Pokhara and then to Bandipur.
Bandipur.
This is a little town between Pokhara and Kathmandu. Very peaceful and quite. A village in the hills. Typical Newar village. The houses seem so typical. Pretty much everything shut down by about 8, and there was usually no power as the power cuts were about 9 hours a day. So bed by 8. I had a really relaxing time. Not too much to do, not too many tourists. There were many hikes you could do from this place, but I just relaxed. Played with some children, wandered around and enjoyed the town.
Bhaktapur.
This is the last of the Durbar Squares. Before 3 kingdoms, and if I'm not mistaken, 3 brothers who wanted to all outdo the other by building something better. This was by far the best. Though it was about 10 dollars to enter, you could get a pass for a long period of time. I spent 2 nights here and enjoyed soaking of the town. Meeting some locals and wandering through the narrow streets. Saw the Kumari (living goddess) in some ceremony thing one night there.
Changu Narayan.
After Bhaktapur I thought I would work my way by foot to this temple on a hill. When I got to the fork in the road I decided I would take the bus. I climbed on and off we went. 30 minutes later we arrived at the top. I started walking over to the temple when a man started talking to me. I tried to just "blow him off" as I had a plan for a couple days and wanted to carry on. It didn't really work. He convinced me to have a "chiya", masala tea, with him. We got talking and he told me about his plans to start a homestay at his place. He insisted on showing me his home, so we hoped on his motorbike (Honda Stunner) and off we went down hill on a dirt road. No helmet. I was holding on for dear life. I met his wife, and he convinced me to stay one night and to spend the day with him showing me around to a few places. Off we went again on the motorbike. This time he got a helmet, but I didn't. It's only necessary for the driver. We went to a few different places. It was definitely an adventure...the driving was difficult and I was nervous at times, but all went well.

Over the next few days after I didn't do too much. I was in Kathmandu and really ready to leave though had to wait for my Indian visa.
On the 29th I got my visa and instead of taking my pre-arranged flight to Delhi I headed over land to Varanasi.
Varanasi.
I ended up spending about 5 days here. It was quite an interesting time. I had a hard time over the first few days but it got better. I am sure most of you know of Varanasi and the Ganges and the burning ghats. A place to see. I met some interesting people. Got henna for free and finally met up with a friend.
Agra.
Saw the Taj Mahal. Amazing place. Really enjoyed this. It still looks fake in the photos. Like it's photoshop or something.

I am now in Delhi. I have been here for 2 days now and tomorrow I am heading to Amritsar. This is north, near the Pakistani border. There is a golden temple here which I will stay at before heading to Dharamasala. This is the home of the Dalai Lama. Feb 14 is Losar, Tibetan New Year. I will actually be here for about 12 days as I am going to do a course in Intro to Buddism and Meditation. Should be quite cool.
Try not to leave it for so long the next post as it is not very exciting. I am just breezing through briefly of how things are.
I have had a hard time adjusting to India. Things are just so different and I am not finding it as easy to meet people as in Europe. Not really the same as hosteling. I will survive! Keep on moving. Something new tomorrow!!