Air Conditioning in the Himalayas!!

I'm using BLUE as my color this time b/c Craig and I got to visit the Himalayas, and it was actually cool there.... temperature wise. I couldn't believe it. Whoah.
It felt like air conditioning was going, and we had to wear, get this, A JACKET.
I know, hard to believe. I was SO HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!
We took a bus from Delhi (the very night I got my VISA extended, after our 4 day Adventure - more later)... and that was a Trip!
Somehow I had heard that they have luxury buses for tourists; not that I needed a luxury bus; I had been on the typical Indian bus (and it was an adventure of steamy heat and lots of people, but it was fine for a day trip)... but I was thinking that's what we were getting for our overnight trip up to Shimla (an air-conditioned, nicer bus)... our friend (contact from one of our new pastor friends up in Delhi, who had been helping us ALL week w/ the VISA stuff) helped us get some cheap tickets (he was traveling w/ us) and when we got out to the bus, I started to be a bit skeptical... I guess it kind of looks luxury... some red curtains in the windows... but it looked a little bit beaten up, too... we walked around to the door, and mind you, it was very nice and cool in the night air (around midnight)... climbed up on into the HEAT WAVE. I wondered if the air would come on later after we left. As we walked back down the aisle to our seats, I looked around and saw lots of Indian people - families, guys, couples, etc... no tourists. It was dark on the bus, and hot, and sure enough there were red curtains, some falling off their rod, and grimy-but-cushioned red-vinyl seats, that looked like they could lean back. Our assigned seats were behind a man who was full-on-sprawled out, leaning back in his seat... his bare feet were up resting on the window in front of him, and he was leaned back all the way into my space... I carefully slipped into my seat... and it was amazing that I fit. Maybe there were 6 inches (ok, maybe 8) between my seat and his leaned back... I have semi-long legs (not super long, but they're there, and I can't shorten them) and they did NOT fit... so I had to angle them to the side. Thankful that my brother was next to me and not some "get fresh" "I like this situation" man. eek! (God protects!!!)
Then as we started to go, remember its now about 12:45 AM, I tried to lean my chair back, so I could rest/sleep, and one of the bus stewards NICELY opened my little sliding window next to me, so I could breathe. I was so thankful. About 20 min into the lean-back-position, I felt myself being slowing but surely pushed back up into the jaws of the seat of the man in front of me - squished b/w my seat and his, sitting straight up. And then my window started to slide shut, so that it opened more for someone else...Oh No, this is NOT going to happen; (someone was pushing me from behind; and the same person was shutting my window... it was a man, b/c this is a man dominated society and maybe he thought he could push me around)... I pushed back, and got my seat back down... but then about 5 min later, I found myself being shoved back up, little by little so I was again squished like a piece of Bologna... finally after another time of this, I whispered to Craig, "This guy is shoving me up so I can't lean back, and I'm squished; and he keep shutting my window."
ACTION!!!! I love it!!!!
Craig leaned back and faced the guy over our seats and said, "Excuse me, sir. Could you please put your knees down so that my sister can sleep. Thank you."
He said it firmly and with authority and I LOVED IT!!!!!! The man listened.
And I got to sleep, not squished like Bologna. And then Craig also put a pen down in the window ledge to jam open the window, so the man couldn't shut it any more!!! I love my brother is a physics teacher and knows these kinds of tricks. :) Halfway through the night, I woke up and we were stopped at some kind of eating/bathroom place, but we stayed on the bus, to watch our stuff.
Remember about the air conditioning? Well, there never was any. But it really was ok, once we got going - it felt like a fan was blowing fresh air in from outside once Craig did his pen trick. But when we stopped; man, watch out. The heat hits like a soupy mess of sluggish yucky eeeww. How is that for a description? I thought we were there, swimming in this heat for at least 2 hours - I think I was floating in and out of sleep, w/ some weird dreams... Craig said it was only 20 minutes. I'm sure it was longer.
We got to a bus stop at 5:30 in the morning, and it was more rural town India... still the trash was present; and cows in the streets and at the bus stop/"terminal"... (cows are everywhere here! There was even one taking a leak out in the bus parking area - I thought that was a nice touch.) We rode one more bus up into the mountains, and it was more of a normal sitting India bus (black vinyl seats, that don't move back, and windows that open).
The coolest thing about this bus was that as we drove up into the mountains, IT GOT COOLER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I couldn't believe it!!!! It was like Air Conditioning was being turned on outside and they were pumping it into the bus!!!! Praise God!!! It was also raining as we went up the mountains (tons of windy roads in the highly woody foot hills (mini-mountains) of the Himalayas... going higher and higher... i think up to 8-10,000ft?); we prayed and later God cleared out the rain for us. So BEAUTIFUL to see the mountains and clean clean air (ahhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and blue sky.... the mountains were layers of green steep hills (mini-mountains)... kind of like the blue mountains of the US - the layering affect you get there; but these were green. We stayed at a great hotel, good price - b/c of our friend, and it overlooked the AMAZING Himalaya foothill valley. We did a bit of sight-seeing, but just lots and lots of shops (fun to see, but gets tiring after a while); and then made plans for Saturday (next day).
Ended up hiring a taxi, and God totally provided some train tickets for us (we bought them for our return trip to Delhi for Sun pm... ran down to the tour office, got their 5 min before closing for lunch, filled out info, and got 3 tickets the day before the trip - which was a 100:1 chance, according to our friend - God is AMAZING. Otherwise, we would be on a "luxury" bus again, and I wasn't too excited about that! Thank you, Father!! You are so good.)
So in the taxi, we went further up the mountain, and saw some great sights, and then our friend convinced us to try a horse ride trip up a mountain, while he went shopping. The poor little animals!! If I knew more about horses, I probably wouldn't have ridden them... their butt bones were sticking out, and we road through some SLOP mud - seriously 3 inches deep for about 50 meters!!!! It was like a mud bath slip n slide, only DEEP mud. Our boy guide had on duck boots, and I could see why when we got to that spot. It was gross.
But part of the Adventure!! The ride itself was a funny tourist trap... we were just laughing... Here we were, 2 white people, riding up, and coming back down (on the same tour adventure) were hundreds (ok maybe only 100) of Indians - I think mostly rich Indians (clean skin, nice clothes, heavy/overweight - usually the heavy ones were the richer ones, did I really say that?) and they were all smiling at us, waving, taking pictures or videos with their cell phones. It was a trip itself!!!!
It was like being in a circus... on a supposedly "out in the wilderness" guided horse ride. FUNNY!!!!
When we got to the top, we found out we had to pay a 5 Rupee /person tax to enter the next stage... this was NOT in the price report when we signed up! Where did this money go to? We did NOT want to go to the Fun Park that was up on top, and we tried to communicate this, but the hundreds of other Indians on horses behind us were waiting for us, and we didn't speak Hindi, so we gave in and paid the dang 5 Rupees. Sheesh.
We communicated to our guide through numbers on a page that we wanted to have some time to just go for a walk and see the mountains - not go to the temple or the Fun Park (w/ go carts and ???)... We think he understood (he was a boy of about 13-14?) God led us to a really nice overlook place - away from all the crowds and music blaring from the Fun Park, and we could see out over all the mountains, when the clouds lifted. We had a really nice time there, talking and sharing. It was a gift from God. I'm so thankful that Craig got to come to India with me. It has been a huge blessing.
Later that night, back in another hotel, we had some more interesting adventures, and had to pray about wisdom and how to handle some situations. Nothing dangerous, just adventures. But the Lord showed me Proverbs 2, and it is a great word about how He will GIVE US WISDOM and guide us in the right path and protect our way. Awesome PROMISE and WORD from Him.
I'm so thankful for His active involvement with our lives.
Next day, Sunday, we headed out in another Taxi, and Craig and I got to do an AMAZING hike through 3 miles of the Himalayas (foothills)!!!! SO beautiful. I think it is one of the most beautiful mountain ranges I have hiked through - b/c of the soft green running steeply down the peaks, dotted w/ trees, and then stretches of pine... lovely. We also saw some more monkeys!!! (and cows) These monkeys were bigger, so I wondered if they would attack - we were out in the wild, you know. But they didn't. It was so cool to see MONKEYS. (They were big and grey, w/ round face, white around edge.)
After the hike we drove further down the mountain and got to stop by a river and hike along it for a bit, too. We got to sit up high along its edge, and watch the rural life down in the valley below - small farms growing corn, tomatoes, and maybe other things... really pretty.
Then we saw a beautiful sunset as we finished our drive through the Himalayas... our driver was going really speedy - I kept praying for him that he would be safe and that angels would protect us - it was nuts. Sharp turns, we had to stop 2wice, slamming on brakes to avoid collision w/ an on-coming BIG truck. Thank you, JESUS!!! (again we had to trust...!)
We ate another Indian meal at the town we arrived in to catch our train... rice and curry and chicken (they say the curry wasn't that hot - but i always think its spicey!!!! curry is like gravy for the chicken and rice... only its red color and has special spices - garlic and other things.)
We rode our beautiful train back to Delhi that night!!! Thank you, Lord!!! Getting to lie down while traveling!!!! (and not squished like bologna!!) And they had beautiful fans!!! (I'm learning you don't really need air conditioning, as long as you have cooler moving air.)
Monday morning, 6:30 AM, we arrived back in New Delhi... for the last day before I flew out to Hong Kong (Tues AM, early).
PRAISE OUR HEAVENLY DAD FOR A GREAT TRIP TO THE HIMALAYAS!!!!
(He made it happen by getting my visa extended at just the right time - one more day of delay, and we couldn't have gone...)