AT least things aren't blowing across our back deck and we aren't getting Tornado Warnings like we did last weekend. Though I love the snow I also know what it is like to be snowed in having lived in Mt. Shasta through many winters. And at 75 I prefer not to be snowed in with the power blown off because of downed power lines in the mountains when this happens.
So, Today it's cloudy because another storm is supposed to come through here on the SF Coast over the next 24 hours or so but it isn't big enough likely to take the power off for a week like the one about a month ago now. So, we aren't really worried in that sense. People in the Sierras are likely still digging out and likely will be in the more remote sections for weeks to come unless they have cross country skis or snow shoes or snowmobiles many people in the Sierras aren't going anywhere for awhile. One of my friends in Mt. Shasta is snowed in right now too. But, at least he doesn't have 10 to 12 feet of snow outside and not even able to look out his windows because they were covered over by the snow this time last year.
Friends of mine went to India and one got Covid so far and the other got bit by a dog so had to get a rabies series. However, over there all that only cost $26 to show you how different things are over there from here. My friend also told me that a monkey stole his glasses and chewed on them. But, eventually he got his glasses back from the monkey when it was done playing with them
My experience of India sort of reminds me of what a man I met over there told me: He said: "I have a love hate relationship with India. I love all the wonderful things here but hate dealing with all the deaths and poverty all the time."
My experience was sort of like this with my family in 1985 and 1986 when I was there for around 4 months in India, Nepal, Thailand and we flew through Narito Airport in Japan but found it too expensive for us then in 1985 and 1986 to stay long in Japan. At that time Thailand was 40 bhats to the dollar so we did quite well in Thailand and India was 10 Rupees to the Dollar and Nepal was 20 Rupees to the Dollar so we did quite well with India at the time being the most expensive when you coverted dollars to Rupees.
Monkeys you have to watch out for because they hunt in packs (families of monkeys) and can get set off by almost anything and start biting people. Usually single monkeys are okay to be around because they are more shy and less bold. But, packs of monkeys I always tried to stay away from when I was over there because it can get really extreme in a couple of seconds with them and almost anything can set them off.
We also had to run from Rhinos in Chitwan National park in the Terai of Nepal down where it is flatter in jungle areas next to a river where a type of alligator lives called a Gar and where Elephants bathe in the waters there too. I saw both when I was there and rode an elephant with my family like many tourists from around the world do there in Chitwan national Park.
My friend says he hasn't been there in 26 years so everything has changed from what it once was last time he was there. However, for me it's been almost 40 years now so the main difference I think for me would be that there are no longer the STeam engines pulling the trains there like before. The chug chug chug of a steam engine is quite nostalgic for the way things were everywhere on earth until the last Century or so, so that was a nice memory of the Steam trains I will never forget.
The hardest thing I found in 1985 and 1986 was the food because most places we could only get Dal Bhat and curried potatoes and tea served in pottery cups when we were traveling then. Then you break the cups in the center of the tracks and little boys pick the pieces up to make more pottery cups for the next tea drinking customers. But, most of the time all you could get for sure was Dal Bhat and Tea and curried potatoes and sometimes boiled eggs where you could be relatively sure you weren't going to get sick because it was all well cooked. You couldn't trust the water so we started drinking Campos orange soda while we traveled instead of drinking water so we wouldn't get sick with Giardia or worse then. But, if we were staying some where a while we would buy a kerosene stove to warm our hotel room if it was cold and cook any water we were going to drink for at least 5 minutes so we wouldn't get sick from the water wherever we went in India. So, water and salads were the most likely to give you giardia or dysentery then.
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