in Nepal

I pulled into Pokhara, Nepal late last night (Saturday) after a very long and grueling few days of travel. Just to wrap it up real quick, I took an overnight train from the city of Jhansi (near Orchha) to Allahabad, arriving there in the morning. My next train from there was that evening, so I had the day to kill there. I spent it taking care of a few assorted things, one of which was that I got stuck with a 500-rupee note (about $13) that nobody would take because it had a bit of a rip in it that was taped up. So I took it to a bank, they wouldn't exchange it but said to go to another bank. I took it to that bank, they said they would only exchange it at their main branch in the city, which was several miles away. So I walked there, determined not to spend money on a rickshaw just to exchange a bad note, and was finally able to change it there. But typical India, even the banks don't wan't to take an old bill and you spend half a day dealing with it.

So after that I got a dorm bed and took a nap for the afternoon, then headed for the train station and caught another train for Gorakhpur, the jumping off point for Nepal. From there, another 3 hour bus ride, where I met a number of other travelers and, after crossing the border, a few of us went in on a van ride from there to Pokhara so that we would arrive that night, rather than taking the slower bus later that day or else the next day. It was supposed to take only 5 hours, but took closer to seven, on narrow, windy roads through the mountains. So we were all barely hanging in there by the time we arrived around 9 last night, since we'd all come from pretty far away.

But man, what a change it is to be in Nepal. I'd heard that it was a bit cleaner and mellower than India, but the difference is actually profound. It's much more on the level of Thailand, with clean streets, not nearly so many people, few beggars, the people here hardly use their horns in the cars and busses, the shopkeepers barely hassle you, the kids occasionally say hello rather than mobbing you, and none of them are asking for rupees, chocolate, pens, biscuits, coins from your country or anything else. I rented a bicycle today along with three other people from the van ride last night and we spent the afternoon biking around and exploring, and are all rather amazed and relieved to be back in the "normal" world after all being in India for quite a while. What I can't help thinking is, why is Nepal the country in a state of political instability, while India is so relatively stable? Indians should really be up in arms about the deplorable state of their country's infrastructure, because it's so much worse off than most places in the world, the streets are literaly like garbage dumps and sewers in many places. But fortunately, I didn't spend too much time in the larger cities of India where things are worse in that regard. I finally figured out that the key to enjoying India is to avoid the cities almost exclusively and just find the smaller towns and villages and hidden little spots with interesting things to see, and then it's well worth being there, but everything in between is really best to be avoided as much as possible.

So I'm almost out of time here, but quickly just wanted to mention that as far as any kind of political problems here, sounds like things are pretty calm here overall, and you certainly can't tell that anything's wrong just walking around. Apparently the headlines have affected tourism here, which on the positive side means that prices have come down for hotel rooms and you can hassle with prices on things a little more easily because, unfortunately, it means a lot of the skopkeepers are a bit desperate for business, at least you get that general sense. But it is by no means abandoned, there are plenty of other Western tourists around, especially in this area along the lake where there's a long street jammed with guest houses, restaurants, bookshops, internet cafes, etc., etc. So overall things seem pretty normal around here. Well I've gotta run for now since I've used up an hour, and am meeting those same people for dinner, but will get back online again before I take off for my trek in a few days.