Random Bits about Nepal

Okay, I was a little tired when I wrote my last post and so there are a few random bits I'd like to add.

Posing with the Maoists

Also, to add one good story, we did encounter the Maoists in Ghorepani on the Annapurna Circuit (as expected) and we were asked to make a "donation" to their cause, of roughly $15. It was a little disappointing in some regards; they look like ordinary Nepalis, unarmed, no uniforms. In fact, I thought they were Nepali trekkers. Anyhoo, we asked for a "group discount", which they readily agreed to, knocking off about 15%. And so we all go went and paid and received receipts for our donations to ensure that we didn't get asked again if we came across their colleagues. I was feeling a bit bitter about being forced to give them money, so I asked if I could take a picture of them writing out the receipts. I was sure that they would say no. Somehow they thought I wanted a picture posing with them, and agreed to do it. So we ended up getting this group photo of all of us waving our receipts in the air with the two Maoists. Of course after we took the picture, they told us that we were not to show the pictures to the Army under any circumstances. Not the smartest people. We suspected they sent their interns since it was snowing outside.

Gurus, Twix and Wine

So I did opt for a three day yoga course at Sadhana Yoga in Pokhara. It's about a 40 minute walk outside of town and on top of this hill with an amazing view of the lake. It was a pretty good deal - paying about $25 a day for room, board and classes. Ashanga, the guru there, was pretty young and had a funny sense of humor. On the first night I wasn't sure what to expect, but he ended up telling us a rather crude joke involving Harleys and women in heaven. The only other student there was a German named Peter who was there for over a month doing a teacher training course.

What I also appreciated about Ashanga was his back sliding ways. All the meals prepared (read dal bhaat) were organic and ayervedic. On my first afternoon, Durga, Ashanga'swife, asked me if I wanted a sweet. I said sure, since I loved her lunch, expecting some kind of homemade sweet. Instead, she comes back with two packages of Twix which she shared with me and her family. Ashanga said he tried Twix a few years ago and it kind of stuck with him. For the record, that was a one shot offer of Twix.

However, on the second night, he had a friend from Kathmandu visiting. This friend was person who inspired and supported him in creating the center eight years ago and he had come to see it for the first time. As a celebration, we had red wine with dinner. Again, not the typical diet of a yogi. Ashanga explained, several years ago he read an article describing a study done on people all around the world who lived to be over 100. Apparently the one common habit they had was having red wine on a regular basis. So he thought to himself, "I really love this life, and I'm willing to try anything that will help me prolong it." I really appreciated the sincerity with which he said this. So he ran out and bought some red wine. (He didn't know how to open the bottle when he first got it, and ended up stuffing the cork down). Now he really enjoys wine and has it every few months. He did confess if he budget would allow him to buy more wine, he would drink it more often.

It was a little bit chaotic at the Ashram, with some visitors there and his one and half year old son closing in on his terrible twos. But it was fun and pretty relaxing. The highlights were Durga's cooking and the yoga classes themselves. Still I don't know if the classes were for everyone. Two complete beginners participated for a day and I think were a little shell shocked. But I thought it was exactly what I needed to move my yoga forward. I guess a private instructor will do that. I do feel like my yoga really improved over the three days. Of course, now the question is how do I keep it up while on the road.

Starfuckers (or rather, DiplomatFuckers) and Simon to the Rescue

So our friend Aimee is in Kathmandu with her mother and they're staying with a friend of her mom's, Mary Kay, who works for the American Embassy here. We met them for coffee on our return from Pokhara. Mary Kay wanted to see her son play in the basketball tournament at the American Embassy's recreational compound down the street and invited us along. Apparently, the Ambassador is quite the baller and was playing in the tournament. I must say, Simon and I were ridicolously impressed with the fact that we got into the compound and were seeing the Ambassador in the flesh. He has been in the news a lot here, making many remarks about the political situation. The tournament was set up with nine teams of executive, security and support staff at the embassy, but it was really the expats that had any skill.

As we were watching, the Ambassador's son got swiped by his own teammate and got a gash above his eye, which started bleeding heavily. Someone came out with a box of medical supplies which was completely disorganized. Simon was annoyed at all the inefficiency as they were trolling about the box and went and got our first aid kit, beautifully arranged to the highest standards. The staff was really excited for the kit and kept asking Simon for swipes, gauze and bandages. (Diane, btw, I believe we used some of the alcohol wipes you gave us in Peru!) Aimee and I found the whole thing really funny and took a few pictures during the treatment with the basketball game going on in the background.

We're probably one of the only people to take photos of both Maoists and the US Ambassador on one roll of film.

The Ambassador's wife was really grateful, as was Mary Kay, who asked if they could repay us in any way. Sadly, my request for Simon to receive citizenship was denied. But hopefully this will go on his record. And they did take us out to dinner to a really nice French restaurant owned by some former member of the Nepali Royalty. There we got to ogle the Nepali glitterati.

Clearly we are unsophisticated Americans who are easily impressed.

Rafting and Tibet
So we're slated to start driving towards to Lhasa, Tibet on Saturday and in the meantime, we're gonna go rafting on the Bhote Khosi, apparently a pretty intense river, mostly Class 4.