Dalama Adventures Tale of two corporate types ditching their jobs and traveling the world for 14 months... check out all photos, blogs & interesting tid bits at http://www.dalama.net

Wake up call at 5:00 am, strip the sardine can bunkers, and we're dazed and confused, getting ourselves freshened up for our grand entrance into the Delhi train station. The station looks, sounds and smells just as we remembered it back in 2004. A mass of humanity living on the platforms. We record my 20 second "Survivor Application Video" just incase they're still accepting applications in a years time when we return. We dodge piles of freshly laid excrement on the platform, as we make our way out to the streets. We have a morning flight to catch to Kathmandu, so we've organized a transfer in advance, through a Delhi based agent Yogesh, with Oriental Journeys. It proved to be a good move, as no shops are even open at such an early hour and we are happy to find our driver looking for us, and helping us navigate through the swarms of people outside the station. We are taken back to the office - a room in a residential apartment complex, which we never would have found on our own. We kick if for a couple of ours on a wood platform bed, and a raman noodle breakfast bowl, coupled with the usual offerings of orange cream filled biscuits, Mexican-salsa flavored potato chips, and some spicy Indian snack foods. Our transfer to the airport finally arrives, and we successfully cruise through the security full body "feel you us" check. Luckily they have a woman screener for the female gender, so I wasn't groped by a male security guard. We board our Air Sahara flight for Nepal, and are delighted to find they offered not just water and peanuts... But first words out of the hostie's mouth were, "want beer?" Bring on the beers, and yummy Indian curry for lunch. The flight was cloudy, so no glimpses of Everest as we had hoped. We were greeted at the airport with a bureaucratic paperwork process to get our visas approved. After an hour and a half, two passport photos and $30 USD a piece, we're in for a two month timeframe if we want. As we exit the airport, we're accosted by a hundred hungry touts all vying for our business for a nights stay at their buddies hotel. With the recent Maoist disturbances in Nepal, we decided to book some of our stay - especially the trek and transportation, through our agent, to ensure if we needed to get out, we'd have a responsible party to help us. Our local agent in Nepal met us in the parking lot, and embarrassingly puts a fresh lei over both our necks... Now we're feeling way too touristy, all this should have been was a cab ride to the hotel, not the Hawaii honeymoon welcome. The streets of Kathmandu are less crowed and much less dirty and dusty than those of India. We feel our anxiety level go down a few notches. The biggest difference observe between India and Nepal, is the military presence here in Nepal - it's in your face. There are army guys, outfitted with guns and blue camouflage fatigues (we're not quite sure why the blue) on the street corners. After a long few days of traveling, we're thrilled to be at the hotel, and have a warm shower and bed.