A bit of reflection on India, and why I'm going to Iran

I was thinking about the top most transcendent experiences in my India/Nepal/Bhutan trip. Not the most fun ones- those would be the times I met up with my friends- but the most out-of-the-ordinary and memorable ones. They are something like this:

• Surviving the Manali-Leh Highway
• Sleeping at the Golden Temple
• Not quite dying of hypothermia in Gangotri
• Finishing the 10-day meditation retreat
• Mountain biking in Nepal
• Riding a camel in Jaisalmer

And I realized, these all have two things in common: a little lurch in my stomach and a sense of "yes! let's do an adventure!" Not a big lurch- these are all things that are not at all dangerous. But they each took me a bit out of my comfort zone.

I feel the same way about biking through Europe, and I feel the same way about visiting Iran.