In the Spring of 2004 I spent two months in India. It was my first solo trip and my first time outside of Europe or North America. I remember stepping off the plane in Kolkata and thinking that the jets were still firing. It was that hot.

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To escape the heat I travelled north into the Himalayas. After a month of walking between backpacker hostels and monasteries I headed back down into the plains to visit the holy city of Varanasi.