Day 17...Surviving the Village

after a huge breakfast of...everyone else's omelets

It's day seventeen, and I would love to say that I made it through our week in Sikkim with flying colors but it was more like... with flying cauliflower.  Sikkim is a little-known formerly-independant kingdom turned Semi-Independant Indian State.  It is developing quickly but there are still many small villages to be found with friendly people, no shops and tons of rice and lentils.   To one very kind lady who was trying to give me rice I said
   
Me:  Hoina...Adja-bholi ma bhaat khaadina...
        No please...These days I am not eating    rice...       
Lady:  Bhaat Kanuhunna?!   Kina?!
          You are not eating rice...Why?!

in Rumtek looking East toward Gangtok, early morning

Me:  Kinabane mero dzyulai break garnu chahanchu.
        Because I want to break my body.
Lady:  Eh?!
           What the...?!
Me (realizing my mistake):  Kinabane chini bata mero dzyulai chutti dinu chahanchu.
        Because I want to give my body a holiday from sugar.

And it did mostly feel like a holiday except whenever sweet sweet sweet chia was served (this was like every 10 minutes or so) and it felt like a scene out of Dante's inferno, you know... hell level seven for people who ate too much sugar... always smelling never tasting.  Not eating rice here was tantamount to self-starvation because honestly... if you're not eating rice... what else is there?  Except for a few sips of chia and a big fried chickpea chip, I made it by toting along cooked cauliflower, boiled eggs, plenty of nuts, and coffee.   The sugar cravings are still bad, today for instance I think I could take down a super sized Hershey's Chocolate bar by myself in under a minute... but I am pushing forward to... fit.