He went to work and I spoke with him in Nepali, telling him this was my forth time to Nepal but my first time to Pokhara. I didn’t really notice it at the time, but it turns out the razor he was using was probably dull because it left both stray whiskers and some bumps on my face. Part of the shave package is the massage, so I more-or-less enjoyed a somewhat amateurish back rub for the next 15 minutes (someone forgot to tell him that there are no tense muscles on the spinal cord itself). I asked him in Nepali how much it costs (expecting the $4 figure that Lonely Planet quoted). He put up a number on his calculator equivalent to $25 US dollars. I laughed at him and told him it is 1/8 that price in Kathmandu. He said that Pokhara is more expensive and that I should give him $25 for a mediocre shave and an unskilled massage. I was quite angry at that point, and threw the equivalent of $7 on the table, which was all I was going to pay.
I then went to use the “internet phone” to call a friend, expecting the same rates I get in Kathmandu. When it came time to pay the bill, I discovered the rate was literally 15 times more than in Kathmandu! It turns out that there is some kind of association for the tourist district that sets that rate and the other places in town have Kathmandu rates for the locals to pay. I also paid more for one hour of internet use than I would for 5 full hours in Kathmandu.
Fortunately, I learned to avoid any service that does not have set prices and the rest of my stay went quite well.
(That included walking several miles instead of paying 10 times the local rate for a taxi). The second day, I rented a moped and toured all four Tibetan refugee camps in the area, along with their temples, farms, and homes.
We then drove up to the top of a hill where the World Peace Pagoda is situated, an enormous and beautiful Buddhist monument with stunning views of the Pokhara lake and the Himalayas beyond.
That night, I went out “with the boys” and had a few beers (two locals I had met and the cousin of my friend who lived there).
On the third day, I woke up early and went to the top of a hill to do some tandem paragliding with a Serbian professional.
We were both harnessed in and connected by rope to inflatable wings. First, you get the wings into the air the same way you would with a kite and then you literally run right off a cliff and begin to soar through the sky like a bird! In order to gain altitude, you have to go around in circles, which gave me quite the stomach ache.
Things calmed down after that, though, and I took some photos and videos. Unfortunately, there is only two hours of electricity per day in Kathmandu and during that time, the internet is slow as molasses, so I won’t be able to post any videos until I get back to the amazing phenomena of 24/7 electricity we enjoy in American cities.
After lunch, my friends and I went to the International Mountaineering Museum, highlighted by an exhibit to the Abominable Snow Monster (yeti). There were also pieces of original equipment from the first ascents of some of the world’s highest mountains. I posed next to some statues of local Himalayan people in this photo.
That afternoon, I went to the home of a young Nepali man I met at a bus stop and he gave me a traditional Nepali hat called a topi and a delicious meal.
He said that I am now his brother and one of his closest friends. He promptly invited me to come to his village and stay with him the next time I come to Pokhara.
We finished off our trip to Pokhara in grand style with a sunrise hike to the top of a hill where you can see the full Himalayan range of Annapurna, before taking the bus back to Kathmandu.
1 comment:
Wow, those landscape pictures are unlike any place I've ever seen. The museum statues remind me of the John Brown Wax Museum...you fit right in there :)
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