The Bucket List

After being awake since 4am yesterday, I fell asleep way too early tonight while I was getting ready to watch a movie. So from 7:30 until about 1am I slept and then woke and watched "The Bucket List". You would have thought that I'd watched that movie before I left on my trip, wouldn't you? Well, I didn't. NetFlix didn't deliver it until yesterday. But I did go to 4 of the places that Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman did: the Serengeti, the pyramids in Giza, the Taj Majal and the Himalayas. But I got to see Everest and they didn't, so there! A few notes though: 1) they must have filmed at the Taj on a Friday because it's closed then and I can't imagine getting into the mausoleum without anyone else in there; 2) there is no way you can sit up on one of the pyramids in Giza -- especially being higher up than Khafre's pyramid which is now the same height as the Great Pyramid; and 3) they would never be able to get to where they got in the Himalayas in that kind of weather and the places that they would stay would never be that nice. But now I really wish I'd sang the weemaway song while we were on safari -- especially when there were lions lying next to the road. I really blew it on that one.

Yesterday I went on my first bike ride in more than 3 months. I did ride 2km to the elephant breeding center in Chitwan, Nepal, but that didn't count. I was unable to go fast because of the combination of really bad roads and piles of elephant dung anywhere (yes, dung is the technical term that everyone uses). Today, I rode up highway 1. My cardio fitness was fine and I was a little surprised at that -- I guess all that walking did some good after all. My legs are much skinnier than then were when I left, but even they did just fine. My sit bones, however, are killing me! They hurt so bad that I had to turn around up by the Italian flag. I would have stayed out of the saddle, but my feet were completely numb from the balls forward through my toes. But the shoes I used were new when I left on my trip, so I think I'll use the old ones for a bit and see if that helps. My only fear is that I won't be able to sit on the saddle tomorrow and will have to skip a ride. Hell, it hurts to sit on the couch right now.

If I could only get myself on Pacific time, I'd be a really happy camper. Oh, and for lack of photos to add, I'm putting up a photo of cheetah cubs taken from the hot air balloon ride.