Happy Holi!

Well, I have so much to talk about here, so I think there may be a lot of typing today and tomorrow, as I really want to tell about my trip because it was so great. But I feel like I should work backwards, because today and yesterday are/were Holi and I wanted to talk about it.....

Holi is an annual Hindu spring festival and people celebrate by throwing colored powder at each other and spraying each other with water. On the night between the two days, people burn large fires on the streets. While technically the holiday began yesterday, walking around Kathmandu, I was hit by my fair share of water balloons, so it seems that celebrating begins early.....

Yesterday I took the bus from Pokhara to the Indian border and then another bus from the border to my train. Walking between buses, I saw many people celebrating and was even given quite a few tikkas (marks on my forehead - see the pictures below)



Then I arrived home this morning, after 25 hours of traveling. I was so proud not to be covered by dye. However, the girls of the house greeted me with a dye-fight and now I look like this:

My neighbors are also celebrating Holi (like everyone in India and Nepal) and have set up really really loud speakers on the street (outside my window) and they are playing two songs - "Happy Happy Holi" and some very loud techno song that only has the words "Where are you?" and what sounds like a chicken squawk- over and over again. I think I am going to give up on my original idea of a nap and go celebrate.....

and this is how I looked in the middle of the day. So much more celebrating left to do....