Back in the mess that is Kathmandu today after a 7 hour non-clown car bus ride from Pokhara. The tourist/downtown area of this city is a compact bunch of nonsense. Lights and signs and touts all over the place selling people trips, food, drugs, gear, whatever. Finding something authentically Nepalese in this mess is next to impossible. I didn't make it to see the larger temples in town on the two whole afternoons I spent in this city...But I'm totally Ok with that because I came to Nepal for mountains and hiking. I got both of those already and hopefully the weather will help me see the tallest mountain on the planet tomorrow morning.
Some random thoughts about Nepal and the people here...
*Nepali people don't use toilet paper. They use their left hands. This has created the custom that when they hand you something, they will go out of their way to show you their left hand is nowhere near the transaction. Usually this involves touching their left hand to their right bicep when giving you something in their right hand. I met one left handed Nepali person on the trek, when he flipped the orientation to give me something it really looked odd.
*it is now September, and the sunrise is just before 5 am and sunset is at 6:30 pm. Nepal has an odd timezone that is off by like 45 minutes from their neighbors. I have wondered the whole time I've been here if the odd timezone with the early start to the day created a culture of early risers...or if the early risers decided on a timezone/sunrise/sunset timing to suit them. The whole country shuts down by 10 pm...And everyone is up by 6 am.
*anytime you hand someone a 1000 rupee note (roughly $10) they huff and ask is you have smaller change. Even if your bill was for 700 rupees. I've heard from other travelers that it is worse in Indonesia with a 100,000 rupiah note (roughly $9)
*every guesthouse owner I met on the trek was incredibly nice and a very gracious host. Additionally, every random local I met on the trail was very friendly and happy to chat for a while. Even the crazy guys with 200 lbs of corrugated tin on their backs.
*it took me almost the entire two weeks of trekking to not feel like a pretentious douche when greeting everyone with "namaste." I still couldn't get myself to say it to other white people on the trail. They were greeted with "howdy" even if they giddily said namaste to me. And if they had dreadlocks...They just got an eye roll. (yes, very judgy of me, so what?)
Fingers crossed for clear skies in the morning for the Everest flight...And then on to Malaysia!
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