Well here I am in Pelling, a small town in western Sikkim with only one internet place that only works sometimes. Man, that’s when you really know that you’re out there-there’s only dial-up internet. I’m about to head out on a five day trek with some other travelers I met. The trek is free, walking from hut to hut, from town to town, but is very popular because of the views. It’s the best option for me, as everything else is way out of the budget, and the people I’m trekking with are real characters.

The first person in the group is Russo, from Spain, who has been traveling for nine months. He likes to tell Indians he’s from Albania so he doesn’t have to get into an intense discussion about the latest Spanish soccer match (Indians love European soccer/futbol). He has a hard time pronoucing Joslin, and so he has begun calling me Priscilla. Why the name Priscilla, I have no idea.

Then there’s Steve, a recently retired dental hygienist/real estate broker from Oakland. He really wants to teach a seminar called, “How to Retire at 55″, and is planning to do the Peace Corps in 2010.

Finally there is a young Swedish couple, the woman’s name is Maria and I still don’t know what the guys name is. These guys have some of the most hilarious travel stories I’ve ever heard. One story they shared at dinner last night was a recent trip to a snow covered holy lake in Eastern Sikkim. It was just the two of them and something like fifty Indian tourists from Kolkata. The Indian tourists had never seen snow, and one guy walked all the way down to where the ice/snow and lake meet. The Swedish couple thought to warn him about the whole, ‘ice and snow covering water underneath and isn’t stable to walk on’ thing, but before they knew it, the ice broke and the Indian tourist fell waist deep into the lake. Meanwhile his friends looked on as they threw snowballs at each other and the women sat in the snow in their saris. The Swedish couple tried to warn them they would be very cold on the three hour jeep ride back, but there was no stopping the fun the Indian tourists were having in the snow.

As we’re about to embark on this trek, I have the theme song from ‘Gilligan’s Island’ running in my head.

I’ll be back in about a week to tell y’all how it went. For now though, you guys need to decide where I’m heading to next!