Dear Family and Friends

Dear Family and Friends,

I'm coming home on Sunday! Yaaaay! I'm very excited to be coming back. But I feel like I need to explain my reasoning behind shaving my head before I'm branded as the radical hippie who shaved her head and therefore should not be taken seriously. I had many good reasons for shaving my head and they are as follows:

(1) I've always wanted to shave my head. Ever since I had that short hair cut sophomore year in high school, I've always wondered what it would be like to not have any hair at all. For me, hair has always been such a burden and I wanted to experience the freedom from brushing and washing.

(2) Since I got to India, my hair had been falling out anyways. You can ask my flat mates, everytime I took a shower, CLUMPS would come out and I would single headedly clog the drain. It was very worrisome and annoying, so I figured that if I just got rid of it in one go, I wouldn't have to worry about losing it gradually.

(3) It is very hot and dirty in India, and when you have long hair, it's disgusting. Everytime I turned my head I would get smacked in the face with this dusty, sweaty mop of hair. It was so inconvenient, and if I wanted to keep it really clean, I would have to wash it twice a day. And that would lead to more frustrating clumps coming out in the shower.

(4) I'm lazy. To be honest, I just didn't want to take care of it anymore. It was long and I had to constantly worry about my hair looking good (eventhough that was pretty much impossible), it falling out, keeping it clean and out of my face... It really was super annoying and I couldn't take it anymore.

Now, showers take less than five minutes instead of the half hour when I would spend most of my time trying to detangle my rat's nest. And when I was in freezing Tibet with no hot water, I was supremely thankful that I didn't have a massive string of hair to rinse, lather, rinse and then wait for to dry. I would have died of pneumonia. As for looking like a "man" or a "12 year old boy," we all know that vanity has never been my strongest vice and that my laziness has always won out. I knew I wouldn't look beautiful by societal standards, but that wasn't really a concern. What I was concerned about was my hygiene and my convenience.

So that was my reasoning for shaving my head. I knew that I would be going to buddhist areas so it would be normal for me to have a shaved head and that it would grow out by the time I came home. I thought about it long and hard before I did it, and in the end, I think it was one of the best decisions I've ever made. If it was socially acceptable, I would totally do it again. But since it's not, when I come home I will have a short crop of hair.

See you all soon! YAY!

Love,
J

Hong Kong, You're Ace

I know, I'm a terrible blogger/daughter/sister/niece/cousin/friend/acquaintence. But in my defense, I've been spending about two hours a day on the internet trying to find a sublet in NYC. So far, I have not been successful. How do people not already living in NYC ever find housing? Boo 'urns.

Anyways, the last time I wrote I was in Tibet. Now, I am in Hong Kong. I took the super new, awesome, fast train from Lhasa to Beijing. The train was 48 hours long. I don't know why I thought it would be cool to take a train for 48 hours, a train is just a train no matter how fancy. But the first half was really nice. The landscape was gorgeous and I got to see more of Tibet. The second day was not so interesting, but that's ok. I spent a couple days in Beijing and hung out with more Americans in one night than I have in the past nine months. I also saw my first Starbucks! That was another culture shock.

I find traveling in China extremely stressful. Everyone thinks traveling in India is hard, but it's super easy. Everyone speaks some English, signs are in English, and there are no rules, you just go and do. But in China, there are fifty rules if you want to do anything and there's no one who speaks English who will help you or explain the rules to you. Let's just give a "random example"...say you want to book a plane ticket to Hong Kong. Somehow, the travel agency can only hold your reservation for a day, but they can't print the ticket in the office (for some random reason) and they have to print it in another office. But the other office is already closed, so basically, you can't book your ticket and you have to wait on standby and just hope that a seat will open up on the day that your Chinese visa will expire. *deep breath* Yea, I was a little stressed out that day. I admire anyone traveling in China who does not speak Mandarin. But I'll come back and travel around China one day.

Now I'm in Hong Kong and it's nice to be back. At least I partially understand what people are saying and I can communicate somewhat. It has relieved some of the home sickness. I have five whole days here to myself and I don't know what I'll do. I guess eat, go shopping, and work on growing my hair out. Grow! Grow! You can do it! Right now, it's about an inch long and sticks up everywhere. I look like a Chia Pet. Ch-ch-ch-Chia! I don't really know what to do with it. But yea, I love Hong Kong. I don't care if people say there's no culture and it's just another city, or if there's a freaking roundabout every 500 m. Hong Kong has the best food, is super convenient, and has my grandmother. Hong Kong, you're ace.

Tibet!

Yes, I know, it's been a very long time...But I'm in Tibet! It is absolutely amazing here and there is so much to tell that I can't fit it all here. I just don't even know where to begin...

Tibet is devastatingly beautiful. The Tibetan plateau is one giant desert with brown hills, sand dunes, and snow capped peaks. As soon as we crossed the border from Nepal, we climbed to 4,000m and we have not descended below 3,600m since. I've gone over five passes above 5,000m. There is a reason that they call Tibet "The Roof of the World." And the sky here! I did not know that there was this kind of blue in this world. It is here, and nowhere else that heaven meets earth. You can see it in the mountains, the low lying clouds and the perfect reflection of the sky in the lakes and rivers. Really gorgeous. It's so barren it's beautiful. The rocks are made up of yellows, tans, reds, and greens that follow the contour of the land. The glacial lakes are a brilliant turquoise and stretch for miles and miles.

The Potala, of course, is as beautiful and awe inspiring as it is in photographs. It's an immense structure on top of a hill, set against the brilliant sky and snow topped hills. Across from the Potala, there is a huge cement square where all the old traditional houses used to be. There is a fountain that is synchronized to music every night at 9PM. Behind the fountain is a monument to the "Liberation of Tibet." The clothes of the first Chinese army to enter Lhasa is housed in the monument. To the right is a statue of the hard working communists and the to left is a statue of the celebrating Tibetans.

It's actually very difficult for me to write in English right now. I've been in Hindi mode for so long and now it's Mandarin/Cantonese. The past two days, I was part of a group going to Nam Tso, a beautiful salt lake at 4,700m. The group was three Chinese, one Israeli, and me. One of the Chinese girls sort of knew Cantonese, so to communicate, the Israeli guy would talk in English, I would translate into Cantonese (to the best of my ability) and then the Chinese girl would translate into Mandarin for everyone else. It was quite complex and rather difficult for me at times. I was trying to think of the word for "because" in Cantonese: Because, no. Kyon ki, nahin. parce que, non....(ten minutes later) Yun whiye!!!!!! aiyaa....All my languages are all mixed up now. I speak Cantonese with an American accent but with a Hindi intonation and cadence. No wonder no one understands me.