23rd October:- The last few days in Nepal

The bus journey back from Pokhara was quite painless... In fact it went much faster than the journey there, despite the fact it took exactly the same amount of time. Perhaps the most amazing part was the view of the mountains from the bus park. It was outstanding. I had arranged the bus ticket with the hotel, for some reason it was 800NRP rather than the 600 outbound but to be fair, the people that owned it had been so nice I didn't bother mentioning it to them. When I came to pay the bill it was a little less than expected and they didn't charge me for my laundry...



I got back into KTM at around three o'clock and the bus dropped me just around the corner from the hotel. There was the usual melee at the dropping off point with taxi drivers wanting a fare and getting in the way. It really pissed me off. After a relaxing 12 days of doing absolutely nothing, hear we were again in KTM getting stressed by the incessant noise and pollution.

It was Sunday and just coming up to yet another festival, this time Divali, the festival of light. Thankfully the Premium Hotel was not full and I got a room, albeit on the third floor which has crap WiFi access. That evening I had dinner and a few beers with Michael, the dutch volunteer who had just come back from yet another trekking trip. He did tell me a story which made me smile. He had done the EBC (Everest Base Camp) trip earlier in the month. I had told him the story of Julia. She had booked a 14 day Annapurna trek, decided after 2 days that she didn't want to do it and returned to Pokhara. She'd then proceeded to hole herself up in town, not telling anyone that she wasn't actually doing the trek. The fact that she didn't like it may be something to do with the fact that she had decided not to have a porter and was intending carrying about 12k on her back for the whole 14 days.
Michael's story was just as funny, he'd done the EBC, on the day before reaching base camp one of the porters had got sick with altitude sickness and had to go to a lower altitude. The guide had decided to go with him as he was coughing up blood. One of the other porters took them for the last day. They arrived at the old base camp (apparently it is about 3 hours from the existing base camp and there is nothing there) photographs were dutifully taken. They only stayed there 20 min and then were off down the trek again. On meeting up with the guide, Michiel showed him the photos, the guide said, "that isn't Everest" fuck knows where they and been.
Another friend had done the trek three times and seen the famous mountain for a total of 10 seconds. Maybe it wasn't a bad idea nit to spend the 1000 USD and do it!

It was getting close to the time I had to leave KTM and I had still a few 'must do's on my list. I had still, despite living opposite the glossy place for 2 months, nit visited the Monkey temple at Swoyanbhu , I had also not visited the stupa at Bodanauth. Both needed to be done.

I got a phone call from one of the girls on Saturday saying that the VIN office would be holding a party on Monday afternoon to celebrate the festival of light. I wasn't that keen as most of the people I knew had gone back but decided to go anyway. I would do my sight seeing on Tuesday.
The party was in the afternoon on Monday and the only person from the VIN office that I had any time for, Sumapd, was actually going to be away. For only tube second time I had been in Nepal I got TIKA'd and went through the Hindu ceremony of Laxmi. As expected, the party was a bit dull, in the main, with a few exceptions i find volunteers are a bit cliquy and dull. Non of the new volunteers were interested in talking. Bhupi, the executive director was off in Dubai and Ela, my so called co-ordinator was as rude as usual.
She had pissed me off after I finished by just forwarding an exit form to me,no explanation at all so I was being difficult. When she sends it to me personally I will fill it out. She wanted me to do it there and then but I said I couldn't. We arranged that I would go into the office on Sunday and do it. The party was a bit a dull and I left after a couple of hours.

On Tuesday I had planned to go and see the guys at the Swoyanbhu cafe, call in at the monastery and then visit the temple. It was quite a nice day. After breakfast at the cafe I went over to the temple. Ram, the guy I was coaching for the IELTS had gone home to the village for a few days but as soon as I walked through the gates I was met by loads of the little monks who wanted a high five." when are you coming back sir" was the questions from quite a few of them. They didn't seem to want to acknowledge that I wouldn't be going back.

I finished the day with my favourite, a couple of beers and a chicken curry at the premium. I still had to organise what I was doing next. That was my task for tomorrow.


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Location:Kathmandu, Nepal.