Day 115 - Boudha

Not much new to report, though some random things to share.

There was a strike on Jan 10th, which, if I haven't mentioned already, strikes are incredibly common in Nepal these days. Since the ousting of the royal family, Nepal formed a Constituent Assembly that was given the task of drafting a new constitution. The deadline for the new constitution is May of this year and things have been getting hectic with everyone trying to get their ten cents in. Usually the strikes are planned by the UCPN-Maoist party, which held power a couple years ago but vacated due to disillusionment with the government (whatever that means). Now, of course, they want their opinions heard. However, the Jan 10th strike was planned by a different party, the RJN, which apparantly pissed off the Maoists (despite the fact that both the UCPN-Maoist and the RJN are Communist parties). There was some inter-party violence (the paper said something about some stabbings), some destruction of property (especially busses that operated in spite of the strike), but no deaths. All in all just another day in Nepal.

We had lunch with a Tibetan family that Laura's parents met while here last year. They stuffed us so full of momos, fried rice, french fries, vegetables, and juice that I thought I was going to be sick. It's ingrained in their culture to keep insisting guests eat more, and it is ingrained in Laura and I to not be impolite. Every time we took a sip of mango juice, Sangey would fill our glass from the 1 liter carton. I said a silent "Thank God" when the carton was finally empty, only to have Sangey leave the room and come back with a 1 liter carton of orange juice to refill my cup. Eventually we convinced him that we could not eat even one more momo (every time we refused more food he would say "just one more momo," and we'd put another momo on our plate). The lunch was delicious and pleasant, but I don't think Laura and I ate much the rest of the day.

At lunch, Sangey told us some interesting stories about the political situation in Nepal. One was about how political leaders lie, which is not a surprising fact, yet the lie and the response was a bit surpising. Apparantly a politician was trying to play on some tensions between Nepal and India. He started a rumor that a popular Bollywood actor had said some bad words about Nepal. A group of Nepalis took this rumor to heart and proceeded to torch a local cinema hall that was playing one of the actor's latest films. Sangey also said that India and China have a lot of spies in Nepal trying to fuel contempt of the other country and sway power to their side. Definitely not a position I would want to be in.

Laura and I went to see Avatar at a local theater. The ticket cost about 2 dollars and the theater was a bit dingy, but not too bad. The sound or picture would go out every once in a while during the film, but never for more than a few seconds. The most awkward part of the experience came during the predictable romantic scene. Hindi and Nepali films are not without their romance, as most of you probably know, but they are extremely unlikely to feature couples kissing on screen. It's just not done. Western movies don't abide by that rule, and when the aliens on screen (surpisingly human-like) kissed and proceeded to more than kiss, the atmosphere in the theater changed dramatically. There was a lot of snickering, laughing and jeering from the people around us. Fortunately when the brief scene was over and done with, people returned to their normal movie watching state (which in Nepal includes having loud conversations and answering cell phones).

We start flying home on Thursday, which is only 5 days away. We have a long layover in Hong Kong, so we should have ample time to explore a bit before our longest flight. It's so hard to believe we'll be home so soon, yet there's much I'm looking forward to at home. Seeing my family and friends, of course. Eating a salad. Having 24/7 hot showers. Drinking water from the tap. Listening to my music. Eating sushi. Having my full wardrobe to choose from. I've enjoyed India and Nepal. People have been incredibly kind to us. But I'm looking foward to being away from so much garbage and some pretty noxious smells, not having people just stand and stare at us (mostly in India), no longer dodging motorcycles (sometimes driven by 10 year olds), and not having rickshaw drivers run us over shouting "rickshaw! rickshaw!" For the last time, no I don't want your high quality hash, and no I don't want my shoes polished. Thank you for complimenting my beard, but no I will not buy whatever it is that you're selling.

All in all, it's been a great trip. Wouldn't change a thing.