Our final blog: Assam

Mia and Chanda rinse their feet in the smallest of three parallel rivers.

Women hand pick the perfect leaves off chai plants so that you can have a refreshing alternative to coffee at Starbucks.

Chanda responds to one of Mia's serious questions with a fart. "Damn girl! You NASTY!"

Mia and the hour old duckling are mutually thrilled to be spending time together. 

Is this a public service announcement, or an add for axes and saws? 

Joe and Mia are draped in ceremonial scarves for photos despite the sweltering heat and their soaring fevers. When the photo session was finished, Joe crawled into the bed and tried not to die.

Chanda's house was like a farm!

Joe and Santosh. What women want.

Joe: Still making village children cry after all these months. I also have one photo of it screaming harder and one of it being led away from me by it's mother.

Storm clouds gather over the rice paddies.

Village women congregate by the road on the way to see a snake. Everyone in town loved to see a snake. 

We nicknamed this guy Greenshirt. He spent the whole time we were hanging out alternately explaining to me how dirty his village was and cutting his loogies into tiny globs with his teeth before spitting them on the ground in rapid fire bursts. Anywhere he goes is dirty. Greenshirt.

Next time you are sitting down to a meal of rice, you can call Joe up and thank him for helping put it on your table. 

Out for a cycle ride. Santosh takes his cycling very seriously. It took half an hour to convince him to let me take my own bike to town instead of riding on the back of his. 

Two people waiting to use the rice mill tell their kid, "Unbutton your shirt and practice your modelling poses as long as you are just standing around."

Two people sweep their unshucked rice into a pile to be milled after Joe ruined their first pile with a Canonball! Joe was later banned from the mill during working hours due to a different incident.

A crowd of gawkers gathers to stare open mouthed at a snake someone has tied to a post. When I got this close to get the perfect shot the snake hissed and everyone gasped. I winked at them and grinned a little grin. It isn't dangerous everyone! It's tied to a post!

Locals hard at relaxing. I watched the guy on the right eat a sandwich and smoke a cigarette at the same time. He would blow the smoke out through his nose as he chewed. Then he mushed the cigarette into the last bite of his sandwich so it caught on fire and he ate that too. 

Two crabs which Santosh caught and Joe ate, whole. They were too small to peel so they heated them up and Joe just had to crunch them down, shells and all. It was cool until we had more for dinner.

The girls stand on the roadside, getting ready for a sunset walk.

A man and his grandkids.

Rice paddy.

A nature photo brightens up the wall of the Rangia train station.