I’m back in Baltimore after a 48 hour transit which, all in all, went very smoothly. The last installment of my story was from my favorite internet and laundry spot, a hole in the wall place off an alley in Thamel (Kathmandu), while holiday revelers cheered and ran about in the streets. I wasn’t sure what to expect on my walk back to the guesthouse despite the descriptions of Holi celebrations I’d been given by locals. Yeah, I knew that pigment and water was thrown about but didn’t have much sense of how easy or hard it would be for a non-participant to avoid being turned colors. Once on the street it became obvious that if you were out, you were celebrating Holi. I saw one or two western women walking past with random people smearing colors on their faces - these women did not look amused.

After about a block and 1/2 a guy asked me if I “played Holi” which I poliltely declined but then he suggested “Just a tikka”. (A tikka is the gob or smear, depending on wet or dry, of colored pigment seen on the foreheads of hindus where they have been blessed.) Judging by the fact that this guy looked like a mid-western college football fan wearing team-color face-paint I had the feeling the “just a tikka” would turn into a smear down my entire face, a fear that was warranted when, after ducking his hand, I ended up with a skunk stripe of yellow and orange starting on the back of my head and trailing down my back. The rest of the walk I attempted to skirt the war zone while practicing being invisible, running a gauntlet of water ballons in the last block before turning down the alleyway to my guesthouse where I found pretty much all the guests holed up in the restuarants waiting out the festival. After sundown it was safe to go out again and while the shops were still mostly closed, the restaurants were open.

I took off for the airport the following day with a farewell kata (a scarf used to bless people) around my neck from the Tibet Gueshouse. After a scary/bumpy take-off from Kathamandu (the second storm in 5/12 months) I arrived in Bangkok for my 12 hour layover. Thanks to the Robber Bride, I was able to stay awake and read the entire night. Despite the tight connections in Tokyo and Chicago I made it home without a hitch. My tea came early this morning after my eyes popped open at 4:30 a.m. Suprisingly, my breakfast involved absolutely no butter! Now onto retraining my body on the nights and the days. Thanks for following along. It’s good to be home (just in time for beer dyed green).

Sue Borchardt in Baltimore, Maryland where , despite the rumors that it’s been like late spring, there were big fat flakes of snow falling this morning. March 17, 2006 1:13 p.m.

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