And The Adventure Begins...

Hello Everyone,

Or should I say Namaste? As many of you already know (or maybe you don't) I will be backpacking through India for a little over 2 months starting November 8th, 2012. In less then 3 days I will be half way across the planet in what will most likely be the craziest experience of my short but beautiful life. Im am sure many of you are wondering why I have decided to go to India out of all the places in the world. Well in the past few months I have had many people ask me that same question, "Why India?" or "What are you going there for?" things of that nature. My reason is very simple. I have never been there before and am curious to see what it has to offer. However that is of course not the only reason for my journey, if it were then the same could be said about some less forgiving sun scorched scabbed over asshole of a country (joke).

There has long been something pulling me towards the Himalayas since I was a child, something calling every part of my being to drop whatever I was doing, buy a one-way plane ticket, climb to the highest snow covered peak and just sit (kind of a weird dream to have I suppose). I have also always been deeply fascinated with eastern philosophies and traditions such as those of the Tibetan Buddhists. Buddhism caught my attention at a very young age being a religion or more of a lifestyle based solely on compassion for other living beings, and selflessness. What a beautiful way to live and from there my fascination has only grown! Unfortunately Tibet has changed much over the past 20 years. It is no longer a Tibet for the Tibetan people but rather for the Chinese Government. The truth is hard to swallow for me at times because of how they live their life so peacefully and without the slightest intention to harm others. I have thought long and hard about it and decided against traveling to Tibet at this time not only due to the actual culture and way of life there being erased but also because from what I hear traveling to China is not the most welcoming experience for foreigners. I want to take a moment to acknowledge the utter torture and abuse these people have suffered due to the Chinese occupation. I'm sure many of you are well aware of this situation however it is more important not to forget that these tragedies still exist to this day and should not be ignored. We are people just as they are, we all deserve the same rights and freedoms regardless of where we come from. So with that said I have chosen to go to a region in northern India called Himchal Pradesh where a majority of the the Tibetans have migrated too in hopes to maintain their way of life. My plans as of now are to trek around Himchal Pradesh for acouple months before heading back to Delhi and catching a plane to San Francisco. 

My hopes by setting up this blog are to stay connected with all my close friends and family during my trip. I will attempt to do updates every few days or so (don't hold me to it) assuming that I have something to share and also have access to the internet but chances are I will have more then enough to share. I won't be able to make phone calls considering it costs like $40 a minute for international calls so if you want to personally get ahold of me you can either Skype me (richiemello1990) or send me a message via email (richie1cash@hotmail.com). Otherwise I want to keep in touch with everyone! Let me know how you are, what the weathers like, tell me about how you threw up all of that Pho at your Grandmas house... you know fun stuff. I don't check Facebook frequently enough to make updates or respond to messages in a fashionable manner so once again just refer to this blog. I will miss everyone dearly but I will keep you in my warm smiling thoughts. Until then chow.

-Richie