2) There are dogs everywhere. They (thankfully) do not have rabies. However this means at any one time you will run into a few that are in heat. Dogs are also stupid. Short Pomeranian origin mutts will attempt to mount a mutt of Labrador height anyway. Nevermind the taller dog is also male.
3) Roads are not paved. They're more pockmarked than your uncle who had chickenpox and really bad acne when he was a little kid.
4) There is dust everywhere. When you see people sprinkling water on the streets from bowls they are not blessing the road with holy water. It is to make dust stay on the floor and not fly up.
This is the tourist area in Kathmandu, called Thamel. Roads are normally not so smooth.
5) There are power shortages all the time. They even have a name for it, Load Shedding which is of the scheduled variety. Unscheduled is just called 'those idiots are doing it again'. Power is now on from 8:40 pm to 9:30 am+ here in Jawalakhel, Lalitpur, Kathmandu.
6) They have water shortages too. But I've yet to experience one. This does contribute to the need to bathe mandeep style though, that is with a bucket and pail, which I've done twice.
8) Taxi drivers are maniacs. On second thought every driver is a maniac on the road.
This man is a homicidial manic. He is also a cab driver.9) Nepalese drivers love their horns. They horn to indicate overtaking, stopping, thanks, scold, show the world they can make nose.
7) There is one road leading to and fro Kathmandu, the capital. This Achilles heel is exploited at least once a month (maybe more) by villagers/unhappy mobs/minorities/unhappy unionists/anyone and everyone trying to protest and get attention. Roadblocks are very common.
8) No one knows about roadblocks till they happen. Not like France where they tell you before they're going on strike.
This is what 4 hours of frustration, pain and waiting looks like. It is also what a Nepali Highway looks like: 1 lane. 9) When roadblocks happen, shops nearby stock up on lots of food to take advantage of the situation. People from nearby villagers boil eggs in anticipation to sell.
10) Nepalese people have no shame. During roadblocks they just walk to the side and pee even if it's in full view of everyone on the bus. This happens in the hundreds.
This man is definitely Nepalese.11) Roadblocks can be something like 2 logs lain across the road. The police don't intervene because they're afraid of agitating the locals further.
12) Ambulances are for hire by tourists, because the people who block the road let ambulances through.
12) Ambulances are for hire by tourists, because the people who block the road let ambulances through.
The roadblock was 2 guys watching a pile of ashes dumped between 2 large logs. 13) It's easier to get out of the bus and walk for an hour to the next town to get another bus.
14) Misery is sitting in a hot stuffy overcrowded local bus on a road riddled with even more potholes
15) Things like the PM firing the Army Chief often result in trouble, trouble of the mass protest/demonstration/curfew sort. However the villagers often don't care enough to participate in politics. They just want tourist money.
16) Power outages happen in hotels too. What a royal pain.
17) Nepalese breakfasts (for outsiders anyway) is AWESOME. Picture a large hum chim beng like bread, two eggs any style (often scrambled for me) and a large serving on potatoes fried with onions. I could die happy eating that. WHY WHY WHY did I not take a picture? ):
18) Porters are the most awesome shit ever. Our guy was like 1.56m or something, built like a stick and could carry 25kg+ with his neck and back. Again I didn't take a picture of him in action.
14) Misery is sitting in a hot stuffy overcrowded local bus on a road riddled with even more potholes
15) Things like the PM firing the Army Chief often result in trouble, trouble of the mass protest/demonstration/curfew sort. However the villagers often don't care enough to participate in politics. They just want tourist money.
16) Power outages happen in hotels too. What a royal pain.
17) Nepalese breakfasts (for outsiders anyway) is AWESOME. Picture a large hum chim beng like bread, two eggs any style (often scrambled for me) and a large serving on potatoes fried with onions. I could die happy eating that. WHY WHY WHY did I not take a picture? ):
18) Porters are the most awesome shit ever. Our guy was like 1.56m or something, built like a stick and could carry 25kg+ with his neck and back. Again I didn't take a picture of him in action.
But that's him, with a dog that followed us from Magethanti to Ghorepani. His eyes are closed though.19) Mule trains are very common. Mule shit is even more common. It gets everywhere, onto narrow steep steps and broad rocky paths alike. The smell is terrible.
20) Mules are dumb. They are also powerful enough to push you off the steps when they run into you.
20) Mules are dumb. They are also powerful enough to push you off the steps when they run into you.
Yeah I thought this was cute too, before we discovered shit all over the place.
21) Leaves have leeches. Trying to avoid mule shit and walking into foliage that sticks out is no fun either. Leeches climb up legs by making smaller bites and using that as a ladder. Leech bites are FUCKING ITCHY OMG. I took a pic, but I think it's a little too sick.
22) Mysterious Fucking Insect (MFI) bites are bad too. They make ankles swell up into the size of two ankles and itch like hellfire. They are still itchy and swollen more than a week later.
23) Tiger Balm with camphor is your friend. Kind of. It works better than Calamine Lotion for MFI bites.
24) Tomatoes are a Nepalese crop. Tomato soup is awesome. We ordered it (okay me) for every meal. I took note of the best 3 soups. As the pinoys say, sarap!
Yay :D
25) Rain makes the place very cold, plus strong gale force winds. So cold that hiding under a thick blanket while already in a sleeping bag for -5 degrees still makes you shiver yourself to sleep.
26) Teahouse beds are narrow. Waking up in the middle of the night and looking for your duck is not a good idea. Neither is reaching over, flipping over mattress and all off the rickety bed and falling to the wooden floor, just to get an imagined duck that turned out to be hiding in the hood of your sleeping bag.
27) Walking uphill on uneven steep slate steps riddled with new mule shit and old mule shit coupled with thin mountain air makes one stop every 5 minutes to rest and become ashamed of all previous imagined physical capability. This went on for 4 hours, uphill, all the way. (Though it really was my mother that slowed us down)
22) Mysterious Fucking Insect (MFI) bites are bad too. They make ankles swell up into the size of two ankles and itch like hellfire. They are still itchy and swollen more than a week later.
23) Tiger Balm with camphor is your friend. Kind of. It works better than Calamine Lotion for MFI bites.
24) Tomatoes are a Nepalese crop. Tomato soup is awesome. We ordered it (okay me) for every meal. I took note of the best 3 soups. As the pinoys say, sarap!
Yay :D25) Rain makes the place very cold, plus strong gale force winds. So cold that hiding under a thick blanket while already in a sleeping bag for -5 degrees still makes you shiver yourself to sleep.
26) Teahouse beds are narrow. Waking up in the middle of the night and looking for your duck is not a good idea. Neither is reaching over, flipping over mattress and all off the rickety bed and falling to the wooden floor, just to get an imagined duck that turned out to be hiding in the hood of your sleeping bag.
27) Walking uphill on uneven steep slate steps riddled with new mule shit and old mule shit coupled with thin mountain air makes one stop every 5 minutes to rest and become ashamed of all previous imagined physical capability. This went on for 4 hours, uphill, all the way. (Though it really was my mother that slowed us down)
Mule Trains = Mule Shit, Steep Steps = Pain. The combination is simply inhuman.
28) Smoking actually makes you slower than age. We constantly overtook a group of Israeli boys that kept chain smoking even though they looked university age. MY MOTHER OVERTOOK THEM. I bet they're still stuck somewhere in the Poon Hill Trek route.
29) All Nepalese assume you're either Japanese or from China. They go Ni Hao! or Konnichiwa! Today some guy when 'So Deska ne!' to me, nevermind that it made no sense at all. I often just go along with it and pretend I'm from China.
30) The view while trekking is awesome. However you spend more time watching where you step (avoid shit, avoid twisting ankle) than admirning the view around you. Nat Geo would have been a better choice if you were doing it for the view really.
31) Early morning cold mountain air aggravates my asthma. I turn into my mother, with her walking speed and all.
32) The view from the top is great, all 3210 metres of it. Except coupled with aching muscles, icy slicing winds, and the existence of everyone and their dslrs, flickrs, you can't help think to yourself "was this all really worth it?" because you know someone's got more awesome better pics on flickr.
29) All Nepalese assume you're either Japanese or from China. They go Ni Hao! or Konnichiwa! Today some guy when 'So Deska ne!' to me, nevermind that it made no sense at all. I often just go along with it and pretend I'm from China.
30) The view while trekking is awesome. However you spend more time watching where you step (avoid shit, avoid twisting ankle) than admirning the view around you. Nat Geo would have been a better choice if you were doing it for the view really.
31) Early morning cold mountain air aggravates my asthma. I turn into my mother, with her walking speed and all.
32) The view from the top is great, all 3210 metres of it. Except coupled with aching muscles, icy slicing winds, and the existence of everyone and their dslrs, flickrs, you can't help think to yourself "was this all really worth it?" because you know someone's got more awesome better pics on flickr.
This is me trying to do my best
33) Walking downhill is bad too, because it is a massive strain on already aching knees and ankles. It's very easy to slip and fall, not to mention twist ankles. Also cannot be done at a fast speed.
34) Food in the villages literally means they kill your food when you order it. Lots of chickens running around the streets and lots of heavy dodgy chopping sounds in the kitchen after you order, plus the fact that they take almost 40 minutes+ to serve your food from when you order it.
35) They have hot showers with hot water and showers with no hot water. They assume you know why they're named differently on the door. Nevermind that no one will in their right minds will take a shower without hot water when the temperature is hovering around 15 degrees. This did not happen to me though, phew.
36) Hot water turns into steam when it touches your body up there. If your hands are numb from the cold prior to the hot water, you think you're being scalded and have lost your hands. True story.
34) Food in the villages literally means they kill your food when you order it. Lots of chickens running around the streets and lots of heavy dodgy chopping sounds in the kitchen after you order, plus the fact that they take almost 40 minutes+ to serve your food from when you order it.
35) They have hot showers with hot water and showers with no hot water. They assume you know why they're named differently on the door. Nevermind that no one will in their right minds will take a shower without hot water when the temperature is hovering around 15 degrees. This did not happen to me though, phew.
36) Hot water turns into steam when it touches your body up there. If your hands are numb from the cold prior to the hot water, you think you're being scalded and have lost your hands. True story.
This is pretty much the route we took, about 40km uphill and downhill.37) Happiness is getting reception and contact with the outside world again, like to learn who got into NUS medical
38) Happiness is also a good shower in a bathroom with hot water without cold air blowing about your ankles.
39) Nepal is where the taxi drivers from cartels and declare unofficial monopolies on roads and attempt to bash up jeep drivers delivering tired trekkers back to Pokhara (the town nearest to the trekking area). And it's perfectly valid in the eyes of everyone present except the foreigners.
40) Misery is again taking an un-airconditioned bus from Pokhara to Kathmandu (7 hours, 215 km) on bad roads in 33 degree+ temperature with no wind and a searing sun. My lip balm melted into an unredeemable pool.
41) There are mountains of trash in Kathmandu. No one really clears it.
38) Happiness is also a good shower in a bathroom with hot water without cold air blowing about your ankles.
39) Nepal is where the taxi drivers from cartels and declare unofficial monopolies on roads and attempt to bash up jeep drivers delivering tired trekkers back to Pokhara (the town nearest to the trekking area). And it's perfectly valid in the eyes of everyone present except the foreigners.
40) Misery is again taking an un-airconditioned bus from Pokhara to Kathmandu (7 hours, 215 km) on bad roads in 33 degree+ temperature with no wind and a searing sun. My lip balm melted into an unredeemable pool.
41) There are mountains of trash in Kathmandu. No one really clears it.
This is a dead cat that had flies around it and smelled just outside Thamel, the tourist district. Taxies were driving by just centimeteres away.
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