KFH's very average travel blog.
- truffledog
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Re: KFH's very average travel blog.
Probably the best post this year.
work is for people who cant find truffles
Re: KFH's very average travel blog.
What were your expenses in Nepal, housing, food, transportation -- looks like an interesting place. Did you have children following you begging for handouts?Kung-fu Hillbilly wrote:
If cities were hookers Kathmandu would be "short time" girl for me. Being here is like going on a date with a wild and fun young woman who goes a hundred miles an hour but just doesn't know when to stop - her immaturity starts to bug you, and after a few hours the incessant noise and erratic behavior starts to drive you insane. I love Kathmandu and the history I have with it, but I feel we're growing apart - it might just be an age thing and maybe I need more tranquil ports to harbor at from here. Or at least ones where the internet doesn't go off every hour for thirty minutes, and the electricity daily. And the guy who I eat breakfast with is giving me the shits.
My routine finds me having breakfast in the same little hole-in-the-wall cafe at the same time as another traveler in the morning and he reminds why I avoid the jaded, pessimistic, negative, know-it-all types who have "seen it all" and can't entertain a simple polite conversation without "enlightening" you on, well, everything. Other than making one feel better about one's own positive (mostly) outlook or perspective on life, it baffles me why these people insist on retaining an attitude that can only serve them negatively, offering themselves an existence that distances themselves from others, and surely, perpetuates a life of antagonism, despair and possibly loneliness. Other than having the misfortune of some type of diagnosed mental illness, why would an individual consciously choose sustained gloominess or bleakness as a default position or attitude toward life? The alternative has to be a better and far more rewarding option. *Cough*The irony is not lost on me that I am myself in fact, now, engaged in the same behavior I'm complaining about . Pfft!
I'm just waiting to pick up an ATM card from the bank which won't be more than a week then it's onto Pokhara to catch up with with my best friend who married a Nepali woman. I was considering taking the bus but it's currently taking 12 hours instead of 6 because of landslides closing parts of the road, so I'll cough up the $US100 for the thirty minute flight. Last flight to Pokhara was pretty spectacular as the weather was perfect so we had a great view of the Himalaya and particularly the Annapurna Massif.
May you be as happy as a dog with two tails.
- Kung-fu Hillbilly
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Re: KFH's very average travel blog.
You can get a reasonably good budget room for $US6-$US10 (see photos and price I'm paying at beginning of blog), breakfast of omelette, toast and coffee for $US2, 8 momo lunch for $US1...food is cheap if you eat local outside the tourist ghetto of Thamel. Transportation consists of walking in Kathmandu for me - a taxi at local prices will cost $US3-ish for 5km, comfortable bus to Pokhara 6-12 hours $US15-$20.
I've seen one small group of three children begging in the ten days I've been here and completely ignoring them caused them to leave me alone almost immediately - it's nothing like India in that regard.Did you have children following you begging for handouts?
Re: KFH's very average travel blog.
Perfect, thanksKung-fu Hillbilly wrote:You can get a reasonably good budget room for $US6-$US10 (see photos and price I'm paying at beginning of blog), breakfast of omelette, toast and coffee for $US2, 8 momo lunch for $US1...food is cheap if you eat local outside the tourist ghetto of Thamel. Transportation consists of walking in Kathmandu for me - a taxi at local prices will cost $US3-ish for 5km, comfortable bus to Pokhara 6-12 hours $US15-$20.
I've seen one small group of three children begging in the ten days I've been here and completely ignoring them caused them to leave me alone almost immediately - it's nothing like India in that regard.Did you have children following you begging for handouts?
Re: KFH's very average travel blog.
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading this blog KFH. Along with your other travel posts, always a good read. Keep ‘em coming
- Kung-fu Hillbilly
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Re: KFH's very average travel blog.
The average person burns 450 calories p/hr pulling a rickshaw, that's about 8 momos. So you could say we were traveling at 8 momos per hour this morning.
The days of rampaging around Asia in a drug-fueled haze of hedonism and insanity are well and truly behind me, and it’s rare to engage in that caper any more. On Soi Rambutri last year I smoked a spliff just for the bizarreness of being able to sit in the middle of Bangkok with a beer and a joint in hand legally after all these years without worry of being molested by authorities. Last night was another rarity when sitting on a bench outside the hole-in-the-wall cafe I eat at, the Argentinian pulled out some hash and we had a spot each from the glowing tip of a cigarette - not terribly refined, but perfectly serviceable.
I still today after all these years hand wash the few clothes I bring with me in a bucket.
Disclaimer: Written while stoned.
You know when you’re walking down a footpath in the west and you and an oncoming pedestrian move the same way repeatedly back and forth to avoid each other and you get stuck in the sidewalk shimmy? That doesn’t happen to me here in Nepal, and thinking about it, I can’t ever recall it happening in Asia before. Today the first part of the sidewalk shimmy began with a Nepalese person moving the same way as myself, then they just stopped and calmly waited until I decided which way to move around them. This could be analogous or representative in some ways of the differences between those from the west and our Asian cousins - we westerners are always trying to pre-empt or anticipate things so as to move quickly forward, while many of our Asian counterparts are simply happy to wait, watch, and let reality play out as it will. I want to be the waiter or watcher on the sidewalk shimmy of life.
There's no avoiding it, most Nepalese people are truly happy, friendly, and caring types.
The bank account is operational with having now tested moving money around a bit. I went into the bank today to give a Nepalese phone number so as to have access to online banking, and had to sign my name to four individual documents - four signed pages of documents to add a phone number. Then I withdrew some money manually which meant going to one counter to apply, waiting there for fifteen minutes to receive a check, then go take a number and wait twenty minutes to be seen by a teller to cash the check. Then sign the check four times and write my phone number on it. Can’t wait until the ATM card arrives.
May your exposed behind never come into contact with a nest of particularly voracious ants.
Last edited by Kung-fu Hillbilly on Sun Oct 08, 2023 2:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: KFH's very average travel blog.
Are you transferring money from an out of country bank into your Nepal bank account? Is that possible, or have you just deposited money in-person to the Nepal bank account?Kung-fu Hillbilly wrote:
The average person burns 450 calories pulling a rickshaw, that's about 8 momos. So you could say we were traveling at 8 momos per hour this morning.
The bank account is operational with having now tested moving money around a bit. I went into the bank today to give a Nepalese phone number so as to have access to online banking, and had to sign my name to four individual documents - four signed pages of documents to add a phone number. Then I withdrew some money manually which meant going to one counter to apply, waiting there for fifteen minutes to receive a check, then go take a number and wait twenty minutes to be seen by a teller to cash the check. Then sign the check four times and write my phone number on it. Can’t wait until the ATM card arrives.
- Kung-fu Hillbilly
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Re: KFH's very average travel blog.
Depositing money from outside the country as well as a friend dropped some money in from a local Nepalese account to make sure it was all working OK - everything has gone very smoothly with the bank account, no surprises. Remember, you can't take money out of Nepal - international transfer or in cash. There are ways around this - pm me if you find yourself having to do so.
- truffledog
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Re: KFH's very average travel blog.
not all those who wander are lost (Tolkien)
work is for people who cant find truffles
- Kung-fu Hillbilly
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Re: KFH's very average travel blog.
I will cut adrift—I will sit on pavements and drink coffee—I will dream; I will take my mind out of its iron cage and let it swim—this fine October. - Virginia Wolf
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