on the road again oohwoohoo

There are certain things that you absolutely must do. One of those things is nature stuff that involves sweating, hiking, biking....etc. So after a sad goodbye to Mel, who had to return to New York for her job training, Jack and I continued north to Pokhara. The town sits picturesque on a lake ringed with rice fields. I'm still curious about how they keep track of which rice field belongs to who because there are dozens of them separated only by thin, grass boundaries. They are so beautiful though the way they are even etched into the mountainsides. And people haul ass up there with their cows even in the pouring rain.

Pokhara is beautiful, but the center of town is quite the tourist ghetto. Even during the low-season, there were too many white people there for comfort! We had a nasty scene in our first hotel room because when we went to bed, we discovered there were dozens of cockroaches under our bed - we ran out of that room at 10pm with the hotel manager swatting at a roach the size of my middle finger. And, I have never been offered so many drugs in my life. While the penalty for drugs is way harsh in Nepal, people were pretty openly selling, buying, and smoking hash. Now, of course, there is nothing wrong with smoking hash. But I couldn't help but wonder what kind of affect this business could be having on the local community. If it is technically illegal, the trade is forced underground and surely dangerous to be involved in. And I can't imagine what kind of perception they must have of foreigners to offer a woman drugs so casually. They would literally yell what they were selling from down the street! When I walked out of a store once and a man as old as my grandfather offered me drugs I knew, rightly - no hash for me!

I did partake in some nature-business, although not without some trouble. We did a four hour hike up a mountain to the World Peace Pagoda, which was incredible! I am not all that into hiking, but the gratification that awaits the top of a mountain is undeniable! Less strenuous was a lot of nice biking around the lake. The rain was pretty on and off, so we got soaked. But that's all in good fun! Biking also gave us the chance to get away from the touristy areas in order to see some real-life. And as it turns out, people don't like tourists all that much! Ha, imagine that! One restaurant we went to actually denied us service. Not formally, of course. But we asked for food and while they were serving a bunch of other Nepali people, they told us that they didn't have any food. Hmmm. As frustrating as that is, sometimes I just have to accept that when I'm in someone else's country they have the right to do that kind of thing. Which, as an American, seems crazy-I don't think of my city or country belongs to anyone in particular. To each country, their own.