Regaining Sanity... or losing it!

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Photos soon too
Hello everyone. It doesn't seem like two weeks ago I was losing the plot. It was a close call though, I was avoiding as many people as I could and then it sort of hit me in the face. I relaxed and could deal with the touts and countless offers for Rickshaws, Hash, Hotels, and whatever other crap they could sell or get a commission. So, how does one relax and handle it? I have absolutely no idea, but I can only tell you how I dealt with it. I remembered from Paris, a group of certain Indians who always followed you around trying to sell 5 crap keyrings for one Euro. I remember, I didnt get angry but merely threw the annoyance back in their face by begging for 1 keyring for 10c. I kept following them until they either gave me one for free, or were so annoyed they yelled "What is your problem! Go away!".
With this memory a lightbulb was sparked in my brain. I thought "Oh wait, why does that sound so familiar? Right, because thats what I've been trying to tell them the whole time!" ...so I now had an idea. Revenge through over happiness. The best thing was, it worked. Here is a first example:
At the Jhansi train station, I had arrived with the usual "Rickshaw! Hotel!... blah blah blah!" No interest in that and no interest in getting angry no more. One unsuspecting victim came up "Rickshaw friend?", I replied with a smile "I have a banana!!!". While he just smiled and said "Yes. But do y..", I cut him off and got close to his face this time "I HAVE A BANANA!!!". Of course, I had no banana(unfortunately) but it wasn't stopping me. I kept repeating, sometimes spraying spit accidently and smiling "I HAVE A BANANA! B-A-N-A-N-A! BANANA! YOU HAVE NO BANANA!!!". He had no idea what to do, so he tried to walk off. BIG MISTAKE. I followed, jumping around him in circles "I have a banana! Banana! I have a banana!". He looked uncomfortable as I was trying to jump on his back for a piggy back ride. I loved him! He did not care, but only felt(probably) uncomfortable. It was a good 3 minutes of fun. I was sad as he ran off towards other tourists 😞 But I thought he called me "friend"? Now I have no friend to play with... oh wait here comes another! YES! I could write a whole blog on just that train station and I think I will have to when I'm home... but it did involve me singing Ramones songs at the top of my lungs, as well as improvised giberish and actually jumping in Rickshaws. Why? Well thats easy. They asked me if I wanted a Rickshaw and I thought "Well heck, WHY NOT!". As I jumped in, bouncing my bum on the seat yelling "I'M HAPPY!!!", they asked "Where to?" I replied screaming "TAKE ME TO THE MOON JIMMY!!!". Don't forget I was jumping around in his Rickshaw. Some drivers would get fed up of my antics and yell "Get out! Get out!", and others didnt appreciate me using their mirrors for ahhh well either staring at my eyeball or scratching my beard. They shooed me away with their hand :'( Why didn't they like me?
Example 2: Annoying person sits on your seat while on a train ride to Gorakhpur
As I was sitting on MY seat, some fat guy sat on my seat and started daydreaming out of the window. I was half awake and had only just sat up from lying down! How rude! As I sat there with my shirt over my nose saying "You stink! Piss off!" I realised this was the wrong approach. I understand now. He stunk so bad... so bad that it was stinging my nose. He wasn't trying to annoy me, he was asking me for help - Silently. Daydreaming hoping that someone would rid him of his smelly curse. That person would be me. I got my deodorant and set it to "EXTREME". I sprayed him all over. I seen his bad curse jump off him as he jumped in the seat. NOOOO!!! HOLD ON!!! I'LL SAVE YOU!!! My deodorant was working. The bad curse was being lifted from him as the train cabin became foggy. It was a strong curse, but as he jumped out of my seat and hop between the next carriage I knew I did a good deed as I seen the other Indians opposite me laughing while holding their nose. It's all about good karma, bad karma. Before I explain that, I need to say that "I GOT ACROSS THE BORDER TO NEPAL! FREEDOM!"
That's what it felt like. My original plan was to do the Mt Everest Base Camp Trek, but as I crossed the border I seen that rushing through the trek wouldnt be relaxing at all. Instead, I would be stressed about getting back to Kathmandu for a flight back to Delhi. So, instead I chose the Annapurna region which starts near Pokhara. It just so happened that a bus was leaving for Pokhara in 20 minutes(the last bus too for the day). Good karma. I hoped in a Jeep that took us all to the bus. Sorry? Us? Yes. US! There was 14 people crammed into the back of this jeep, some hanging on the sides to take US to a bus 2km down the road. It was hot and I had a Nepalaneses' sweat dripping on my arm and legs(bad karma). I thought why not just drive the whole way like this! We were waiting long enough for the guy to start the Jeep. A police officer stopped us and asked to check the bags. We were lucky that a 50 Rupee note fell from the money tree right next to us and then fell straight into the police officers pocket(good karma). We were waiting 10 minutes still crammed in the Jeep, sweating(bad karma), when that happened and he suddenly didn't have to check the bags anymore(good karma). It was a nice bumpy 7 hour ride to Pokhara, arriving at nighttime around 9pm. I didnt have any room booked and as I stepped out of the bus there were Hotel scouts waiting for me(good karma). They started screaming trying to out yell each other. It hurt my ears(bad karma). I put my hand up to silence the crew. I said "Yes, I do need a room, but I dont want to walk far and I'm looking for something basic and cheap". Half of them separated. One said "Yes! I have one! 200R's!". Interesting. From previous experiences in India, I SHOULD have known better, right? If it sounds too good, then... ahhh stuff that! New country, plus I have heard the Nepalanese people have a reputation. I remembered from last time from Andrew "Deal with it when it comes, not now". Right, so ok I'll trust him. Why not? Trust is a big word to use, but anyway I just went with the flow. Worse comes to worse I could sleep anywhere. Who cares.
He took me through alleyways and dark side streets with no guest house in site. RRRIIIGGGHHHTTT... ok so "Hey, where you taking me? Where is your guest house? I dont want to walk anymore". I was pretty stubborn and kept putting my bag down, resting, and threatening to walk off. It came to one last alley. I had to walk down then up again. It looked so dodgy. He was already at the end, near the burning pile of rubbish. I waited. Ok, it COULD go wrong, so just as a pre-caution, I picked two good sized rocks and put them in my pocket. I walked through and at the end, was a house with the same man smiling and waiting. He took me upstairs and showed me my room. Pretty decent for first night - two beds, no rats, no stains on sheets, two pillows. Hmmm nice. "Sooo 200R's?" "Yes yes. You rest a bit then come down for dinner if you hungry". "Nice. Ok, is it a Thali?" "Yes, but we say in Nepal 'Dal Bhat'." So, that was that. I threw the rocks out the window and went down for a feed. It was funny that night. The wife/mother only knew "Hello" and she said that way too many times, each time laughing after she said it, then saying Nepalanese as if I understood. It got to a point where I was crying from laughing. She said "Hello", laughed then said something in Nepalanese then started to wobble both of her boobs. It was too much. I laughed so loud, then her daughter did, and so did her nephew. We laughed for about 5 minutes, before she started to speak Nepalanese again as if I understood. Her daughter could speak English pretty good and kept flirting with me(I guess), asking me about marriage, and Australia, and the rest I can't remember. But she and her sister in law kept whispering in Nepalanese, looking at me, then giggling. Then the mother would say "Hello!", giggle too, then point to her daughter. I dont know, I was way too confused and hungry to care and just smiled as I ate before going to bed.
In the morning, I was woken up by the smell of burning plastic and a woman brushing her teeth(I think), gagging, then throwing up for the next 30 minutes. If you really want to call it Day 1 of the trek, I will(which I did).
Day 1: POKHARA > BIRETHANTI
I went outside the guesthouse, through the jungle of rubbish and jumping through the flames of burning plastic(a little over exaggeration). I trekked to the bus stop and jumped in the first bus to Lakeside.. I had to find an office "ACAP" to get the two permits needed for the Annapurna trek. Too bad the ACAP office was at Damside. It took me 30 minutes to go back to Damside which I had to wait 20 minutes anyway for the office to open(10am open). I then had to go to some other place for a "TIMS" Permit as it was closed at the ACAP Office(Saturday) and which I read online to be free. It cost US$15, and I triple checked by going to several travel agencies. So by the time I had the permit's I was ready to eat! Lunch was good. I always find that street stalls and not restaurants taste better, and are a quarter of the price!(Did I already write this in another blog?). Sorry to say, but as much as I was losing the plot in India... the food was amazing! I went to the bus station and waited one hour for the bus to Naya Pul(starting point of the trek). During the wait, I seen a man wearing a T-Shirt with a sign, that I never get tired of the Hindus putting up everywhere. The "Health" sign it was. Plus a guy with the longest fingernails I've seen on his left hand only!(Right hand for eating according to him). Also so many nice old 1967 Toyota Corolla's as Taxi's!
Arriving at Naya Pul after a two hour bus ride, I had a Nepalanese treat... which I should of had 5 of! I haven't seen them since! ...plus a Chai which I thought then was over-priced(20R's!). I was going to stay in Naya Pul, but the accomodation was just a wooden bed in side stalls on the side of the road/highway. It was about 3pm by the time I actually started the real trek. I figured there was no point walking a far way, rather starting early the next morning. So I walked about 15 minutes to the next village "Birethanti". From the map, it said 30 minutes walking so I was a bit confused as I was only walking slow taking in the views. When I arrived I seen many groups and many guesthouse owners saying "No room. Full". I was about to start to worry, but instead I popped my head inside this open door. The TV was on, and there were chairs and a table so I assumed it was a guesthouse. I said "Namaste? Hello?..." and a girl came from around the corner. I asked "Do you have a place to sleep?", emphasing "place" as I didn't care what it was. She yelled upstairs and then asked "How many people?" "just me", then she moved her head for me to follow. I went up the most treehouse stairs. It was like a treehouse. Three levels in this tiny house! I went to the top and looked at the room which had a bed(check), a door with a lock(check), and a pillow and blanket(check!). "Sooo... how much?" "200"...nice I thought! Everyone told me that trekking was expensive, good start! I was expecting 500R's for a bed. She then asked me what I wanted to eat for dinner and checked the menu out. It was pretty pricey for me, I mean Dal Bhat 265R's? Bloody hell! I sneaked my way around of ordering then and went to check other restaurants. Ooookkkaaaayyy. The menu was exactly the same!!! I mean exactly the same! Colour of menu, fonts, meals, prices... everything was the same in four different restaurants. I got the idea that it was going to be like this in the whole village and went back and ordered a Dal Bhat for the energy the next day. While I was waiting, it was only 4:30pm and didn't know what to do. So I went down to the river to wash my clothes and fill my water bottle and the first sight I seen was a woman having a shower in the river naked. Yeh that image was burnt into my brain. I went to a different part of the river and washed my clothes. A teenager was fishing on the other side and whistled at me and gave me the nod of the head to look at the naked woman and winked. While he stared at the woman I finished and went back to the Guesthouse. It started to rain and I thought "nice. I know what I'm in for tomorrow now", as I ate my Dal Bhat refilling three times and going to bed.
Day 2: BIRETHANTI > CHHOMRONG
I got up at 6:30am(without an alarm) and left at 7am. It's pretty easy to wake up early when you go to bed at 8 or 9pm! While walking I found a decent sized bamboo stick to use and also a sign saying "NEPAL: Never Ending Peace And Love". For me, it was true so far. I was relaxed! I arrived at a village "Ghandruk" at 10am which was supposed to be my finish point for the day. I got there in 3 hours and the map said "Average 6 hours". The map was balony to me by now. So like Forest Gump did... "I just kept walking". I met a guy fomr Germany there from Bremen and he sounded like Arnold Schwarzenegger for some reason. I ate a porridge with honey which was just what I needed while listening to this guy who I couldnt help but to smile. Mind you I also spoke German to him sometimes so he was probably laughing inside too at my broken German. It was all in good fun. A saying goes "What goes up, must come down", but on this trek to the Annapurna Base Camp they forgot to finish it. It should go "What goes up must come down, and what goes down must go up!". The hills and stairs went UP, DOWN, UP... UP *rest*... UP, DOOOOOWWWWWNNN!!!! I remember going down a hill to a village called "Kimrong" and I knew I didnt want to go back up that. I started the climb from Kimrong to Chhomrong and seen something odd. I seen two porters, one was resting looking like he was tired of waiting... and the other was throwing up. I stopped and asked "Are you ok?" The porter waiting said "He sick! He been vomit for 10 minutes now!". I asked if it was altitude sickness but he responded "No. I dont know. We start from Ghandruk. Today". I thought about it and Ghandruk to where I was, wasn't that much elevation... plus we were still only at 1,500m(probably). I made a signal of drinking alcohol to the porter and he said "ahhh I dont know. Maybe". So, I asked where he was going to. He said he was going to Chhomrong too, and asked me that if I see a guy with a green shirt named "Prakesh" with two Korean people, that his porter was sick and they might be late. That was it. So with a needle in a haystack for a messenger I kept walking, the porter telling me that they were going to Chhomrong Cottage which was only about an hour away... for Nepalanese people. I arrived in Chhomrong at 4:30pm pretty hungry and thirsty. It was again another up, down, up, down case. First thing was to try and find a guesthouse. After that was quickly sorted out from the range of guesthouses, I went out for a stroll to try and find this guide. Do you know how many Korean people were in Chhomrong? HEAPS! TOO MANY! Every fourth person was Korean. That sort of ruled that option out after asking 5 Korean couples with no luck. I then tried the "Chhomrong Cottage" option. I dont know why he said that they were walking to Chhomrong Cottage when he could of only said Chhomrong. A Nepalanese guy said that there was a guesthouse called Chhomrong Cottage. Bingo! I headed towards the guesthouse seeing a couple of guides wearing green tops. The first guy was just like "What?!? No, sorry"(thinking I was insane), and the next guy just looked like he had got out of the shower. Whatever. "Do you have 2 Koreans?" "Huh? ...yeeehhhh?" "Are you Pra-kesh? Do you have two porters? One your Uncle, one your cousin?" "Yeehhhh... What is up?" "Your Uncle is sick. He's throwing up. Your cousin told me to tell you that they will be late. They looked ok". So after finding him and sending the message we walked back 15 minutes to a viewpoint to see if we could see them. Nope. It was no hope walking back as he had house shoes on and I was exhausted. As he smoked a cigarette he told me that there were two ways to get to Chhomrong and if we went one way, they could have gone the other. So he said he would go back and call the food stall where it splits the two ways and ask if they were there, and change shoes. I went back and grabbed a jumper and my packet of noodles and ordered a pot of hot water. It came and I threw the noodles in the pot and was quickly eating when Prakesh came back within 5 minutes. Everyone in the Dining area was looking at me eat and he said "I need your help to find them. I dont know where they are". I quickly ate the rest of the noodles and drank hot spiced water from the pot, and we left in a hurry while everyone stared at us leaving. We ran down the most obvious path of least hills, and I mean ran! I was jumping down 4 stairs at a time, and we had maybe 40 minutes of sunlight left. We ran past the viewpoint, past 3 corners and finding them about 10-15 minutes later of running. The porter who was sick, was throwing his guts up over the cliff. The other porter screamed "He's vomit 6 or 7 times more! It's him that's slow! Not me!". The guide asked if him in Nepalanese if he was ok I assumed. After the guy had finished throwing up, I gave him some water saying "Pani?" and just handing it to him anyway. The guide grabbed the bag and the other small porter walked with him talking in Nepalanese, while I walked with the hobbling wreck with his head down. From the way the porter and guide were talking I had already guessed what happened. Too much Whiskey the night before(they sell so much alcohol, especially Whiskey at all the stalls in every village). When the guide had time he explained to me that he drank too much the night before but wasn't admitting it and the healthy porter said they had some Hash at a break. So if I had paid money for a porter, I'd be pissed off. It was really easy to follow the track, I just followed the wide path and then read the signs at each fork of two paths. As well as following a crowd when I saw them. So why do people need a guide or porter? Fair enough if they're old(ish), but if you go on a 10 day trek, the bag shouldnt weigh anymore than 10kg! All the things you need are on the way! One porter said he was carrying 35kg!!! That's insane!
Anyway, we walked back in the dark and I followed them back to their guesthouse. He invited me to dinner, but I refused as I didn't really do much. He insisted, so I just said a coffee was ok. I decided to eat there anyway and while I waited on dinner, I ran back to my guesthouse so that noone was looking for us at 8pm(I told the owner that if we'll be back by 8pm). He didn't seem bothered and just asked "So what do you order for dinner?" "Ahhh the other guy is still sick so I'll be with him for a while and don't feel hungry". I said this because there is a STUPID note in the Menu saying "IF YOU DO NOT EAT AT OUR GUESTHOUSE: 700R's" I mean, how stupid. They try and force you to eat at their guesthouse. Most of the time everything was the same, but if you were like me looking at a Chai(Milk Tea) for 60 or 80 Rupees... which normally was 10R's... man, I couldn't afford anything on that menu really, and relied on the pack of noodles and biscuits I had stacked up on in my bag. Some days where I was questioned about why I didnt order any food I just said "I'm fastening. It's my religion" or "I did. Look! One pot/bowl of hot water!". I wasn't that much of a tight ass though, most days I had Veg. Fried Rice or Veg. Chowmin.
Anyway, where was I? Yeh the only other thing to add that night was that the healthy porter came to us at the dinner table telling the story. The Koreans didn't look too happy with the smell of Whiskey suddenly arriving in the air and a porter who looked wobbly and happy. The guide looked nervous as he was trying to reassure these Korean guys after they questioned him "No no. He's had nothing to drink. I told him he was not allowed to drink". The sick porter was being sent back to Pokhara the next day and the extra bag the guide was going to take it. I went to bed pretty tired and exhausted after my first real day of trekking.
DAY 3: CHHOMRONG > HIMALAYA
Started the day fresh and I mean FRESH, with a nice COLD SPRING WATER shower. If you've had a cold shower before, you need to try the cold water fresh from the Himalaya's. I was yelping and having flash backs from Ladakh as I took a shower as quick as I could! Everytime I passed someone the Nepalanese people would look at my bamboo stick and say "Namaste! Ohhh dangerous man!". It's such a shame that I forgot it at a rest in Sinuwa. Damn! For the next 30 minutes I was picking up sticks and trying to see if they were comfortable. Do you one thing that I got sick of seeing by the 3rd day? The brand "North Face". Almost every single person had brand new North Face gear, proper walking sticks, and hiking boots that looked like they had never even seen dirt. I was trekking in cool Indian Pyjama pants, worn out runners(sometimes sandals), a stick off the ground, and refilling my water bottle from waterfalls. Is it just me or has this beard turned me into a Hobo?
The only thing that sucked that day was walking up a steep hill from Dovan to Himalaya. That was a good hour and a half of hard work and rests. I got at the Himalaya Village at 2pm and munched on some noodles, by opening the packet, pouring cold water in the packet, adding the flavour, shaking it, and then SNACKTIME! It's not too bad. I got used to it. Quite nice. Was cold at night and put on every single clothing I had. Was ok(ish) after that.
DAY 4: HIMALAYA > ABC(Annapurna Base Camp)
This day was quick and after the rewarding finish I relaxed from 11am onwards! I started at 7am and it only took 4 hours to reach the top. I met 3 people that I had talked to along the way, and we all sat in the dining room talking with blankets and by mid day there was so much fog and cloud I couldnt see out of the window to the steps. You can imagine what everyone ordered: Tea and hot dinners! The only thing besides that everyone mingled and talked with each other making friends, was that a French group arrived and a girl sat next to me. After 10 minutes a smell came like a baby had crapped its pants and I had wished that I had my deodorant to use my trick of freeing this poor girl of her bad curse. I also found out the reason why there were so many Korean people on the trek. Three Koreans had died on the mountain one year to the day, and there was a memorial at the ABC. Why so many French people were on the trek, even the Nepalanese people couldn't explain that to me. That night everyone seemed to have a good time and party, I still remember a drunk Nepalanese porter dancing and singing. He danced and got low like a chick and was very amusing that I couldn't help but to laugh. My laughter was cut short by snow. I ran outside and danced in the snow myself. SNOW! Uh ohhh... cold. As I went to bed I found the storeroom and took another blanket. I was very warm and comfortable that night!
DAY 5: ABC > CHHOMRONG
5:30am wake up to see the sunrise. I went outside and everything was white. Haven't had this feeling since last year in Germany! I had forgotten to bring my shirts in from the day before, so they were still hanging outside frozen stiff. Sunrise was nice, the only bad thing was just as the sun hit the mountain, a nice big cloud blocked the view. It was still cool though to see the effects behind the cloud. I watched the sun showing the wind blowing all the snow on top of the mountains. It was ashame that everyone left so early. They missed all the best bits! Walking back down I met alot of people who I talked to at Chhomrong or along the way. One group being the Guide, porter and 2 Koreans from Day 2! My highlight for the day was lunch at Dovan. I ordered a Veg. Fried Rice and the guy gave me a "Jason Portion". I looked at his big pile of fried rice and thought "YEEEAAAHHHH!!! Now this is what I'm talking about!". It was good. I still look back and enjoy eating that.. mmmmm yum! It was too good that I had forgotten my other two walking sticks. Yeh, I'm hopeless.
From Dovan, it was only about 4 hours worth of walking and rests to Chhomrong. I arrived at 3:30pm! I stayed at a different place this time, seeing "Pizza Guesthouse" it had my name written on it. The pizza was decent size and tasted nice too. I love good karma.
DAY 6: CHHOMRONG > GHOREPANI
Ok so I didn't go back down the normal way. That's the good thing about Annapurna - you can go several ways, and there are alot of side treks. I had heard so many good things about Ghorepani and the view from "Poonhill" that I thought it was worth looking at. So this day wasn't too long. I started at 7am and got there at 2:30pm. It was just alot of up, down, up, down. The highlight of this day was that the bed was practically free, I had a Tibetan Garlic Soup, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY: I HAD A NICE HOT SHOWER!!! How good is that? It was hot too! Not just like warm... but hot! The people were really nice there and I played a game that was sort of like snooker or pool, but you played it with your fingers. I think it was called "Kremen" or something. It was like hockey disk type things and I sucked because the Nepalanese guy kicked my butt everytime!
DAY 7: GHOREPANI > JHINU
Another early wake up at 4:30am to see sunrise! This time it was a 30 minute trek up a hill in the dark, with PLENTY and I mean PLENTY of other trekkers. By the time it was 6am almost time for sunrise, the top of the hill was so packed! About 200 people easily! One thing that REALLY SUCKED for me was... my batteries were flashing empty the day before. After 8 photos, the batteries had died. Right as the sun was rising. Oh yeah, if you feel like laughing - laugh. I thought "Are you serious!! All this and..." *deep breath* ...one more deep breath. Ok Plan B. There's so many people up here yeh? The odds of finding someone with batteries should be pretty good, yeh? My assumption was correct! After helpless attempts at asking some certain people... I found a Nepalanese person with the exact same camera as me! He was nice enough to even take some photos of me. I need to repeat that I like this Karma business that they talk about here. As I walked to Jhinu I met the Porter from Day 2. He greeted me by jumping on me and trying to kiss me, I was luckily enough to miss it as he stunk of Whiskey pretty strong. There is Hot Springs in Jhinu and I went down to have a shower and relax after the walk. There was a box saying "donations" with a guy blocking the way. He stopped me and said "50 Rupees" and I said "No thanks, I didnt bring my wallet". After a mixed English/Hindi reply he gave me he started yelling. This guy didnt even work there, and the Springs were free. I was coming again the next day so I said "I'll pay for 2 times tomorrow". He didn't like it and even after a Nepalanese guy tried to explain to him the situation, he still refused me entry. So the Nepalanese man who helped with translation offered to pay for me, but I refused. It was too late. The old man made me so angry that I wouldnt be able to relax. He doesn't even do anything except sit in his chair and beg. He's a beggar, not a worker. After we had an argument, I stormed off, more satisfied NOT going than paying that ____ "guy" money. I met other old Aussies from Day 2 and had a beer with them(first since 6 weeks!), it wasn't too bad... the group of Aussies shouted me the beer and told me I needed a shave.
DAY 8: JHINU
This day was all about relaxing. Where did I walk to? The Hot Springs and back. That was it. I got there at 9:30am and stayed until 3:30pm. That's alot of relaxing in those hot springs! I took my soap and had a shower when I arrived and when I left. It felt good to finally have hot water. But what about the "donations" man from the day before? Well, when I arrived I was the only person there. The whole thing completely to myself. A couple more people came at 10am and donation beggar man came at 11am. He was giving me death stares everytime I glanced at him, I smiled back and sunk my head back into the hot water. When I left though, he tried to stop me saying "HEY! HEY! MONEY! YOU! STOP! MONEY!!! HEEEYYY!!!!". I shrugged him off and got past the passage saying as I left "I was going to give a donation, but you were rude yesterday and today so you can go and screw yourself!". I walked off pretty happy with a good sleep that night.
DAY 9: JHINU > POKHARA
At the start of the morning I had no idea where I would end up in the afternoon, but simply walked. A dog is a man's best friend. Cats? Stuff them! What do they do? Cry for food, then piss off during the day and only come to you for a pat. Why did I mention this? While I've trekked in India and Nepal, my best friend was a dog. I have no idea why but if a dog has seen me in a village or on the trek, they've lead the way like a tour guide. It's insane but I love it. This time it wasn't for 10 minutes or 20 minutes... the dog followed me/lead the way from 30 minutes from Jhinu to Deurali. For those people who have never been where I was, first it took me about 4 hours. Then, it was again UP, DOWN, UP, DOWN paths. I had no idea why the dog would run ahead, wait wagging it's tail, then run ahead again when I'd get close. I gave it water along the way and it wasn't a dodgy looking dog. Again, not sure why but just "go with the flow". At Pothana, who did I meet yet again? The porter, guide and 2 Koreans! I spent a whole day in the Hot Springs relaxing while they had left at 7am for Pokhara. I meet them the NEXT day at 1pm in Pothana(1-2 hours from the finish Phedi). I arrived in Phedi at 2pm and caught the first bus to Pokhara. The first thing I did when I arrived in town was eat street food and Chai. I then continued my way walking one hour to my guesthouse and putting my luggage on the floor.
And that was my trekking in Nepal. Pretty good. But! Trekking in Nepal or India? Which was better? Well... India was better for the freedom of being the only person on the trek. I did enjoy the people though in Nepal better. I enjoyed the food in India more and the surroundings... well probably Nepal by just a fraction as I love mountains with snow tops. Far less tourists in India. Nepal more options for accomodation and easier to keep guide of the path. Overall I'd still prefer Nepal for some reason.
So! The next day I was just wandering the streets of Lakeside in Pokhara. It was pretty pleasant. A few trekking people told me that Paragliding was pretty cheap and fun. As I walked along the lakeside, every third shop was a travel agent and every single travel agent advertised "Best prices for Paragliding". With that in mind, I made up my own price and started to test if that was a good price or ridiculous. After 5 travel agents, noone wanted to agree but they were getting close. After one phone call to a paraglider at 8:55am, the travel agent did the obvious thing of trying to pressure me into agreeing on a price on the phone. In fact, it was the opposite. I was ready to walk off no matter what that guy said on the phone, he can book it for John Doe for all I care. He kept getting lower and finally accepted after I heard yelling from the other side of the telephone call. He was the one under pressure, not me! So it was a pretty random paragliding experience... at 9:30am!
My paraglider was an Australian from Marourbra. He was already retired but decided to go to Nepal and had been there for the last 5 years doing paragliding as a job. He said "Once you leave Australia, it's hard to go back", I replied "Yeh but I'm homesick and miss the beaches and meat pies", he laughed. I had about 25 minutes of flight time and after persistence he threw the paraglide around after I told him that I want some adrenaline 😊
After that, I wanted to go across the lake by boat and up to the top of the mountain to see the Stupa. The cost was way out of my budget, but a Spanish guy asked if I wanted to share with him, and we waited for more people to ask. I seen an Aussie looking guy with a bag and asked him but he said "What do you want to share for? It's only like $2 for a whole hour! I'm going out for the day with my supply(beers) and just chilling out! Good luck!". My reply was only "Well I have no $AU and only Rupees. 5 months backpacking, it is alot of money". But he was too interested in jumping in the boat and lighting up what looked like a joint.
A Dutch couple came to us and also wanted to do the same thing, so we now had 4 people to the boat and went across and climbed the hill to the Stupa. Why are Dutch people so cool? This one guy had a good attitude towards everything, and also in general was interesting. A Ranga, but still funny!
I wish I had stayed in Pokhara longer, because when I arrived in Kathmandu... yeh it's a sh!thole. I thought it was pretty bad to see a town with so much pollution and filth everywhere. Plus all the shops were shut because of a festival. I'm not sure if I've already written this because the power has gone out without me saving this blog, and I've had to re-write parts for a third time! But anyway, the street food stalls didn't taste as delicious as India and were pretty pricey too(for street food). The only good restaurant I found was called "Tibet Nepali Kitchen" in some alley. It was clean, and the Veg Momo Soup was so delicious!!! I also met a Pom couple that night which were pretty funny. Pom meaning British for Non-Australians. They recommended something called a Chhaang, or a Tongba. It was a type of alcohol where you kept adding hot water to it. I was curious so I ordered a pot(only came in pots). The Veg. Momo soup, funny poms, and a weird type of alcoholic beer was a good mix. The beer tasted like home brew beer, not brewed long enough. Still, the pom guy would have a coughing fit laughing, have a drink, then cough some more. We kept refilling our pots until closing time. There were alot of sights to see in Kathmandu, but I really wasn't interested in the same attraction over and over and over! I stuck to a couple of sights and did easy days. A really funny thing that I never thought I would I see in my life was: a wild monkey walk along the street, pick up a whiskey bottle, drink the rest of the whiskey in the bottle, then scared by a noise, drop the bottle and run off. It was so funny, I kept saying "The monkey is drinking Whiskey! From the bottle! This is the best thing in life!" People walking past glanced at me, then the monkey, then kept walking. Man... they don't know what they were missing out on... a monkey drinking whiskey haha. Even better, I went to "Swayambhunath Stupa" aka. "Monkey Temple". This was just as good watching so many monkeys jumping around my feet and playing with each other, making funny monkey noises. AND I did not make any stupid monkey noises! How good am I! There was a group of at least 20 Monkeys all lying on the path and surrounding me. I was walking but stopped because the group had started walking my way. Then this French woman was surrounded as well. One cheeky monkey tried to steal her handbag and she lifted her handbag just as the monkey yanked on it. I giggled to myself and she made a noise and stomped towards the monkey saying something in French. I just said "From experience, I would NOT do that if I was you" and she just stopped and let them walk past.
The last crisis I had to deal with in Nepal was my visa. I was to fly out one day after the visa expired. The way the visa's work is that they count the day that you arrive as well. The Immigration Office was only open from 11am - 1pm the day before and on the day of my flight. I heard I could just pay US$2 for one day extension. I arrived early the day before my flight and it was so crowded. I filled out my form, and then the official said "Minimum is 15 day Visa", and kindly kept taking tourists into the office in a room and 5 minutes later they would come out smiling with their passport. This happened every 5 minutes, so the line didnt go anywhere because people were paying a highly priced tip "bakshish" to this man, and then come back to whoever was in line. It took me from 11am to 12:30pm to get to the front and have this guy approve this crap visa. He told me that if I wanted my passport back today "then we can arrange that, but you need to..." *clears throat and moves forward* "I charge of course 500 Rupees for it to be returned today". I had 3,000 Rupees left and this stupid visa that I only needed one day for was 2,700 Rupees. So I asked "When will my passport be ready if I dont collect it today?" and he said "maybe tomorrow". I liked the way he said "maybe". To me it meant, if you dont give me 500 Ruppees I'll throw your passport at the bottom of the pile and will look at the pile in a week. That's what his response meant to me. I then overheard a guy talking to a worker about already being over his visa. I heard the worker say "One day is ok, but you have two days late so you might just have to pay a small fine". So I jumped out of the "Payment Counter" still with the approved visa application and asked the worker "Excuse me, did you just say one day over is ok? I have a flight tomorrow and my visa expires today. Will it be ok?". He wobbled his head and scrunched up his face saying "mmm yeh. yes. it's ok" "Are you sure?". He then made his hand like a claw turned to the sky and flicked his wrist. I've seen this way too many times in India, meaning "sure. But I dont know. It depends on the Immigration Officer". Meaning that the officials were corrupt and I either have to talk my way out of it or just accidently leave some money behind as I walk through the Passport Control in the airport. To me, this option was far more exciting and seemed better than give money straight away to a corrupt official. Why not risk it, and the worst thing that could happen is I just give money later if all else failed. So I folded up the application and walked out trying to think up of a plan... especially now that I had evidence of an approved application and proof I tried to get a visa. So many ideas went through my head that day. That night a mouse in my room annoyed me and no matter how long and quite I waited, that damn mouse was always too quick for my shoe. But I did see a spider near my pillow on the wall and I'm glad that spiders cant run quick, I got him!
The next day, in the morning, I awoke sweating so bad that my shirt was drenched in sweat and so was the bed. My body was so cold but my head was hot and my eyes were burning with a killer headache. The package deal of a fever! My headache got worse as I went outside to throw rubbish out, went to go back in and whacked my head on the low height door frame. I didnt even see it and dropped to my bum on the ground so fast! The owner of the guesthouse seen it and was rubbing my head as he helped me back up. That was the worst case scenario for the day. I've never had a migrane before, but that would be the closest thing to a migrane. A walk that normally took me 20 minutes, took me 2 hours! Every step was pounding my brain. I couldnt stand it and had to just lie down in the sun 2 times for 20-30 minutes! I also had a street Chai and a Baba came up to me with the powder for the dot on your forehead. I was sitting down and motioned for him to keep walking. He walked off, but as I wasn't looking he came back and put this powder on my head. I put my head up as he was shaking his "Tip Bucket" for me to give him some cash. "I said I didnt want it. So go away" "Please. money. service. good luck. yes money". I thought about it and I had 5 Rupees to spare. As I went to put 5 Rupees in his bucket, he said "No. 100". Sorry but I'll stop it right here and write about the beggars. They do not understand. And they dont ever want to understand. they just want to beg for more their whole life. Well, beggars cant go get stuffed. I said to this grub "No. You get nothing now. Beggars cant be choosers. Say sorry" "Ok. 50" he said. Did he even hear me? I started to lose my patience and let him have it. I started to defend myself with words, and a crowd of people were gathering around, some agreeing by nodding their heads. As I told him off, he only put his head down in shame. A Nepalanese guy came over and settled me down. He said "He's a beggar. That's all he knows. He has no knowledge of what people feel. He just wants money and will never be happy with the amount anyone gives him". So I said to this man "Tell him taht beggars cant choose" and he replied "It wont help. Look at him. He will not understand that in any language because he's a beggar. *laughs* he only understands that people will help him, no matter how long he waits for. And thats what he does. Waits for money his whole life"
With that, the Baba said "Ok 5 Rupees". To make a statement or a point, I shouldnt have gave him anything. But as I looked at this hopeless person, I knew I could afford to give him 5 Rupees, so I did then he left. How's for a day with a fever and a really bad headache? Arriving at the airport, I first had to give my flight plan and passport to a police officer just to go into the airport. I fumbled nervously through the papers and gave him my passport. He only checked the photo and let me through. Then was finding my flight. On all the departures nothing matched up. The airline wasnt there, the flight number, but there was a flight leaving to Delhi at the same time as my flight. But there was also a flight leaving 50 minutes earlier, going to Delhi, but the flight number was wrong, but the correct airline. So what to do? I thought my flight had been cancelled. I waited and walked around curious, then overheard once again a conversation. They were Nepalanese and were asking about a flight to Delhi at the same time as mine, but didnt know where to check in. Bingo! I asked them what their flight number was and it was the same as mine. Dont ask me why they were speaking english that time, as they were speaking Hindi/Nepalanese later at another desk. The check-in lady was nice enough. As she served me, she was more worried about my Indian Visa and where I was flying to after India, than checking my passport. With my ticket in my hand I felt pretty confident I had done it. I then headed to the departures section where I seen a big sign reading "IMMIGRATION". It hit me, I had totally forgotten about Immigration with all the checks of passports. So I walked up and went to the next available guy. As soon as I handed my form he put that on top of a pile with others. He didnt even look at it. He scanned my passport, stamped it, then handed it back to me smiling. I gave him a smile and a head wobble and said "thank you! Goodbye!". And that was that concerning an "Overstayed Visa". Not a big deal yeh? One more thing to add was that jumping on the plane and finding my seat, where was I? Emergency Exit, Window Seat!. How good is that! As I see things over here. Good karma, bad karma. Not sure what it means precisely but just take the good with the bad and somehow it will level out.

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