It was luxury to know we didn’t have to get up at any specific time; and we deliberately allowed ourselves a “relax” day. So, at 5:30 am we are both lying wide-awake in bed, determined to “sleep-in”. Eventually, after listening to all the noises in the hotel, the noises in the narrow streets outside the hotel, and the birds, we got up at 8:30 am. We pottered around, took a leisurely shower, dropped our dirty clothes off at the laundry, had breakfast on the rooftop restaurant and at 11:30 along with a couple of others from our group went to the travel agent about a trekking trip. Business is not conducted quickly here, and it was about 2 pm when we finally left having booked a 3-day trekking trip outside of Kathmandu and a one-day site-seeing trip. Ray and I then went for lunch in a little open-air café, did some Internet and went back to the travel agent to see about our Chinese visas. Then the wind came up, the clouds moved in, the temperature dropped, and for the first time in a month we saw rain. There was quite a thunderstorm, the power went out, and everyone cleared from the narrow streets.
We met our group at 7 and went for dinner in a cheap, mediocre Thai restaurant, then back to the hotel and bed around 10:15. Generally the Nepalese, as the Indians, are not around late at night and the only people you meet are the tourists. They warn you here not to walk alone at night because of “drunks”. They also warn you that if you take a taxi be sure to check the driver isn’t drunk! We are wondering how you do this? Uh, “Excuse me, would you mind taking a breathalyzer test before I get in your taxi?”
We had a long chat today with a guy we met in the travel agent’s about the government, and how inefficient they are. He said, no planning! For example, he has been without water for 2 weeks now. Nepal apparently has a supply of water next only to Canada. The electrical power cuts have been going on for 3 years. According to this chap, the government simply has not planned for expansion of the population, progression, or done any “sustainable” planning.
There is apparently no hope of the 2 political parties forming a new government in the near future, according to the local paper. “Begging” is “ profession” and is not to be supported and “spitting” is a way of life. There is actually a whole process that precedes the “spit” which us westerners consider vulgar, but to the Nepalese, it is acceptable. I worry about disease, because we did notice a tuberculosis hospital, which means they must have this disease. You always remove your shoes when you enter a Nepalese home; you never step over anyone, and you never pat children on the head because the feet are the “lowest” part of the body, and the “head” the highest. So many customs to remember.
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