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Kathmandu, Nepal
27° 43' N 85° 18' E
Feb 08, 2007 08:21
Distance 651km

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hellooo expats!

Text written in: English

I have a theory, could probably even prove it: the more desireable a country is for expats to live in, the better quality (ie: well rounded, variety) the restaurants. my point: india is a really tough country for expats, therefore most restaurants are run by indians and serve indian food. on the other hand, loads of peeps want to live in nepal so the restaurant options are unlimited.

well, maybe my theory has load of holes in it but who cares. despite what peeps say about kathmandu being a dump - I"m LOVING it - just what I've been missing. I've had a perma-grin on my face for 3 days. things I didn't even know I missed, I missed :

sidewalks and walking in a straight line, no open sewars, no cows!; no  garbage; green salad; authentic italian food; chianti; a real supermarket with aisles and shelves full of stuff; guiness beer; cracked pepper; wood fired pizzas; house music in restaurrrants; enlgish bookshops (like 10+!); no one peeing against walls; etc; etc :)

I found a cheap dorm in this mecca to tourism and have been eating anything but indian or evn nepali food  - I'm such teh bad traveler right now! I've been just walking around - haven't done this since a month ago in pondicherry, and even then, we could only do it in 'white town' - step out of this zone and you were back into india chaos. in KTM, all areas are super walkable. I bumped into these spanish bikers (as in bicycles) - started 20 days ago in delhi! - they were lost and I helped give them directions. in spanish! they were shocked that this random blonde girl could bust out a few hablo espaniols.

in all fairness, nepal has it's issues too. I was buying oranges from a dude and a street kid snatched 10r out of my hand! that was a first for me. more suprised than afraid and these other kids stepped in to get it back before I could evn react, but still, taht's pretty intense. since then have noticed that the same street kid must have a good memory - I see him around but he doesn't bug me anymore. I think they only look for fresh meat.

and the city has scheduled 'load shedding'. basically the demand for electricity outweighs supply so every day from 6-8, no power unless you have a generator. at least it's on a schedule so you can plan around it. and honestly, makes the restaurants more romantic with all the candle light...but bummer it's just me :)

I met caroline yesterday - my treking partner for the annapurna circuit. we met through a nepal trekking website. as luck would have it we're totally on the same wavelength about distance, pace, risk, tolerance of cold, etc - coudn't have asked for a better partner. and she's swedish (german) to boot! we'll be the 2 blondes on the trail - if somethng bad does happen, I'm sure it will be easy to trace our route (...yeah, we saw those dumb blondes a few days ago.....)

we leave tomorrow for 20 days. have heard it's minus 10C above 3500m (!!) so will see just how far we get. there's a loop we're trying to make, but this includes a 5000m pass that's still closed for winter. I really doubt we'll make the whole way and wll probably backtrack. no matter tho - just being on the trail is cool enough.

and cool news: I have to be back by 1 march to start a 12 day vipassana meditation course. hvae wanted to do this since thailand - it's a long time coming. vipassana is an ancient non-religious-based meditation practice started in india & revived 2500 years ago. the goal is purification of the mind and in turn the world around you. the practice has been taught in prisons and even the indian govt with extremely positive results (I love that these are seen as 2 places worthy of case-studies - one riddled with criminals, the other corrupt officials...)

the course is really regimented - a challenge to a free-spirited backpacker. wake up at 4:30am to start meditation, 6+ hrs meditating per day, NO talking the entire course, no journal, no art, no pics, no email!!!....honestly sounds harder than the annapurna trek. wonder how I'll feel going straight from the trek into this. and who knows who I'll be on the other side of it all.

I anticipate another big change coming up - stay tuned....