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Published: December 16th 2005
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Namaste everyone.
Namaste is my new word for the day, it means: hello, welcome, pleased to meet you, see you soon, thank you all at once. In actual fact, the real meaning is: "may the whole of your qualities be blessed and protected by the gods". So there, you, Namaste all.
Today is my admin day. There is much to be done.
Go to the French embassy and clear the security issues for Pokhara and the surrounding region.
Go to the travel agent and sort out my visa for Buthan.
Find a New Hotel.
Get my washing done.
Exchange books.
Book flights to Pokhara.
Organise excursions in Pokhara.
The hotel served me a most delicious breakfast on the roof of the hotel (I am getting quite addicted to the Nepalese tea, served very sweet with a lot of milk and something else in it but not sure what, probably cannabis). This breakfast is quite the thing after having spent the evening in the company of all the fleas and other beastly, jumpy, scratchy creatures of my bed, with the compliments of the hotel.
I proceeded early
to the French Embassy. I was met there by the twitchy Consul who, very courteously, told me that the risks near Pokhara were quite small: Pokhara itself is still held by the Royal Army but some of the surrounding region is held by the Maoist rebels.
Should I have the pleasure of their acquaintance, the consul reassures me by explaining that they will be terribly polite, invite me for high tea, calmly explain their cause and ask if I would have the good heart of offering a substantial donation to the cause. He advised that a donation would be most highly recommended, as they can be very persuasive in convincing you of the good of their charitable work.
As I left the office of the Consul, I was suddenly and unexpectedly faced with a vision of the most delightfully exquisite young lady, French of course: she worked at the embassy. In a desperate ploy to retain the vision nearby, I blurted out an apology and queried her for advice as to Kathmandu, explaining that I was a poor, single, helpless, young Belgian in need of serious guidance, lost admid this sea of new experiences (or something
to that effect). She was of course terribly kind and enchanted me with her tales of the city and what was to be done with it. As I nervously gathered the calm befitting a young man and, more importantly, reclaimed my speech capabilities, with a certain view to asking her for dinner, she vanished like a dream.
As, by now, all my systems were fully restored to normal, I asked the corpulent French gendarme if he would do me the pleasure and honor of dinner. Jacques from Boulogne (the gendarme) readily accepted and we made plans to meet at a later time.
I found a new hotel to my taste, very close to the Embassy. The Shangri-La is a five star sanctuary in the middle of the diplomatic quarters. It boasts well manicured gardens, a large swimming pool, skinny girls in non-existent bikinis tanning artfully, spending daddy's money, fountains, a huge buffet, a little flower on the bed in the evening (would have preferred chocolate), 100 satellite channels, marble bathrooms, phone near the toilet and all other useless features. I quickly got through the rest of the day's administrative chores, had lunch in a nearby Indian restaurant and made for the hotel and its swimming pool.
The afternoon was most delightful in that I achieved absolutely nothing; I merely lounged in a lounge chair, swam in the swimming pool and lounged some more.
Sadly, at 20:00 I had a date with my gendarme friend; we met at a small Nepalese restaurant. He is inclined to a certain corpulence but for me that has always been a good sign. I was not disappointed. We had a merry evening, drinking some local brew to the health of everyone we knew, be them alive or dead, of every city we could think of, of every noble action ever performed and toasted equally all the evil deeds performed by others, may they rot in jail.
We even got a serious discount on the food. This was given to us on account that the waiters had never seen 2 individuals ingurgitate so much food in one sitting. We ate more between the two of us than all of the other customers of the restaurant put together. This provided such entertainment to the locals and cows alike that they felt we deserved a reward.
A heavy walk back to the hotel later, I promptly fell asleep watching some teenage American drama about fashion and hair, if I recall correctly.
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