Nepal observations

---

Interactions between unrelated men and women are more acceptable here than in India. Women on the street will give the sideways nod.

Every fourth or fifth t-shirt worn by a local has the face of either Britney Spears or an American "professional" wrestler on a black background.

I am paying for the cheapest internet I have encountered so far (15 NRS an hour) and it is also the slowest.

The Nepalese are a bit less anal about right hand/ left hand interactions.

Street kids huff glue, and in the same breath foreigners for money.

I had the good fortune to run into my friend Irish Doc on a sidestreet while I was looking for a shop that sells dahi . I met him in Kolkata, and he is working on building an orphanage in Nagarkot (about 20K outside of and 1.5 K above Kathmandu). In two days Mike and I plan to travel up that way and spend some time breathing clean air and seeing many stars at night.

We have a two week visa, and it cost 25 bucks (or about three weeks worth of restaurant meals) so we plan to stay in this country for as long as we can. When Mike heads back to Delhi I want to make my way east to Kolkata in order to volunteer and perhaps take some Hindi classes for a month, and then head down to Kerala. I am making a whirlwind tour of the Communist-ruled areas of South Asia.

---