Nepal: Where a Beer Costs More Than a Bed.

Namaste!

We have just arrived in Pokhara, Nepal where 200,000 people would probably not exist except for the migration of hippies and vagabonds in the 1970s. Pokhara exists now almost entirely as a doorway to the Himalayas and Annapura Circut treks. A small part of town, aptly named as 'Old Pokhara', still exemplifies what made this place great before the 'tourist invasion'. We ourselves are currently occupying a residence on the north side of the lake, where we are paying the absorbant cost of 100 /rps per night (about $1.50); while a beer costs easily 200 /rps (about $3)...quite an interesting contrast to say the least.

Between Kathmandu and Pokhara we spent two nights at the small village of Bandipir. Our guest house was small and full of character, run by a family with two small children who I helped complete math problems. Their English was superb and most of there science and reading homework looked challenging, even for me! We toured the local school and it was amazing how well behaved the kids were and the level of their studies. I could now get up on my soap box and speak to the travesty that exists as our own public schools are horrible, but I think most of my readership already knows this and has no need to be bored by it...

In India everything was mainly a Hindu influence (obviously the influence of the Muslims, Sikhs, Jains, etc are there as well) but in Nepal it's all about Buddhism. The streets will often open up into an intersection which is more of a small square, or 'chowk' (pronounced 'choke'), which contains a small shrine or temple. I have truly never seen anywhere like the streets here. It's impeccably beautiful and the Buddhist culture here is fascinating. We took a bus to the mountain town of Duhlikel before hiking to Panauti via the "Namobuddha" which is a beautiful monastery high in the hills. Unfortunately, the Himalayas were covered in clouds as normal...hopefully the clouds will part before I leave here...

I graduated with a guy named Subhash from St. Olaf who received a $10,000 grant to build schools in Nepal. Well, as you may have guessed by now I met up with him here and we are going to travel to his home village so I'm pumped about that (no electricity or running water etc.).. He's kind of like the 'Greg Mortonsen of Nepal' if you will. So we'll do that after our time in Pokhara.

Right now I'm traveling with the attitude that my plans are I have a flight home from Delhi on Aug 10 but until then I'm just letting life take me where it goes and am really enjoying myself. At times I wish I was home, and at times I think I could continue traveling for another year...

We will continue back south to India on the fourth or fifth and spend a few days in Varanasi before returning home.

CM