When I had started the trip I had decided I would blog at regular intervals. I had also decided that I would be drinking occasionally. Well apparently I do come across as a man who isn't very firm on his decisions. So long story short now I have just realigned my decisions to justify myself. Now I drink at regular intervals and will blog occasionally. So even though I am enjoying my beer right now and I would like to pay more attention to that, I will take that Herculean effort and write this entry. Because Nepal deserves a blog.
The people in a place matter a lot in your opinion of the place. And that is why I was in love with Nepal within the first 200 meters. I was entering Nepal and my bike had a slight documentation problem. And lets not get into more details. If more details emerge I would come across as a very irresponsible person and in my blog I would not want to give out any impression of me which might lower my value further in the marriage market. If I happen to meet you in person I'll tell you about it or maybe I'll write about it when I finish the trip. But all said and done it was still an issue that could have been sorted out if someone sensitive enough was willing to listen. Indian custom officials refused to entertain me but the guys on the Nepalese side were sweet enough to welcome me in.
Now when you start off on a good note or a bad one for that matter you tend to stereotype it and the funny thing about stereotypes is that you tend to find it. After all stereotypes are your way of putting things in a box and you may not always be correct. Like for e.g. whenever I ask out women and they refuse (sadly happens all the time) I stereotype them as sluts and find solace. But trust me you will find it very difficult to hate the Nepalese. They treat you with so much respect. Just to blow my own trumpet a little bit - when you on a bike trip the people you meet on the way are intrigued and interested in talking about it. The hotels where I put up - where the staff know I have come on a bike with luggage loaded and riding gears I get so much attention that sometimes I make up stories to make myself look very heroic. Don't judge me by this, I am travelling alone and I love the attention whenever I get it. Had I been Shahrukh Khan I would have been nonchalant about all this but I am not and I sometimes resort to all this for the cheap thrills.
But even in cafe's where I go for a drink and the staff has no clue whether I came to Nepal on a bike or I ran away from India and came here after killing 70 odd people in a riot, I am still treated very nicely. One thing about Nepali's is that they love India. It is the place they dream to go work, make money and come back. In a bar where you have tourists from China, Japan, Europe etc and you are the only Indian sitting there, the waiters come up to you and ask "Aap India se hai ? India mein kahan se ? " and then they tell you their India stories or aspirations of working in Goa. These guys have the sweetest funny Hindi accents and sometimes I just strike up conversations or prolong them just to hear that Hindi accent. Again don't judge me - a lonely man needs his cheap thrills. I am perfectly aware that as a tourist in a foreign land the restaurant staff are only going to say good things about your country even if they are the planning the next biggest terrorist strike on your country, but Nepal's affection for Indians seem genuine. The above incident is not an one off thing, it happened in a lot of places.Maybe they are also surprised to see an Indian face in a normal bar & restaurant. Most Indian tourist generally spend their time in massage parlours or dance bars - if you know what I mean :)
I have been in Nepal for a week and I have just been to two places - Katmandu and Pokhara. I like the efortless and unplanned nature of my travel. In Katmandu and on the way to Katmandu I heard about this place called Pokhara and I decided to come here as well. I reached here and I am in love with the town. I have time till 28th July to exit Nepal but I think I'll be here only till then. I don't plan to do anything here. I am sitting here in this restaurant and the lake is some 300m away. But I don't plan to go there today. Maybe tomorrow or maybe dayafter. I don know. Its such a peaceful place. In most places when I am alone and having a drink and there's an attractive woman in the vicinity I tend to give them the Gulshan Grover look. For the uninformed its a lusty lecherous bastard look made much more effective by
1) Biting your lower lip on the left side
2) Slowly breathing in air through your mouth
3) Slowly licking your upper lip from left to right that says come have a drink with me in my hotel room.
But last night when I was drinking here with lots of attractive women in the vicinity I effortlessly had the cute Shahrukh Khan look of Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa that says it would be my pleasure to walk you back to your hotel in this beautiful moonlit night. Trust me there is something about this place.
Pokhara is a beautiful town. It has a very Rastafarian feel to it. See my choice of words. I could also have said Hippie feel to it but I am careful with my words. Hippie might make you think people doing weed all the time and indulging in all sorts of immoral activities. Rastafarian on the other hand is again people doing weed but trying to make the world a better place to live in. The kind of losers you would find in big cities giving out free hugs or performing in a flash mob. But thats not all that is to Pokhara. It has a lot of adventure activities like trekking, paragliding, rafting and what not. Its a bit like Rishikesh but a lot better because it does not have the morality attached to places of religious significance. I would suggest that you guys come here - preferably in smaller groups and take it slow. You could put a lot of thought on a foolproof plan to murder your boss or maybe finish reading the book you always wanted to - totally up to you. My dope is to walk around aimlessly in the streets after sunset listening to the soft music being doled out by the various cafe's playing your Beatles, Jim Morrison's and of course the Bob Marley's and the one or two odd local guys sitting on the streets playing the guitar.
At the end every place has a charm of its own. Nepal moved me because of its people. While I was riding through small towns and villages in Nepal I was checking out the attire and demeanor of the women here. No perverted intentions mind you. The best part about travelling in a bike is that you tend to observe a lot of things which you might miss if you are travelling in a box. I can just say that the burden of morality and culture of the society is not thrust that harshly on women as compared to India. Also traffic is pretty bad in the towns of Nepal. Road rules are rarely followed and vehicles cut through from everywhere but I have never heard anyone shouting or swearing at someone. Agreed I just had an outside view but on first impressions I feel they treat their women better. Maybe for all you know once inside the house they tie up the women and all men in the family practice their flying kicks on her. But the scenario seems unlikely. And its not like these men are weak. Gorkha soldiers from Nepal are part of the elite forces in the Indian Army, the British Army, the Singapore Police force and have their presence even in the personal bodyguard staff of the Sultan of Brunei. This is a strong race of people. The British were never able to rule them. Not really the kind of people you want to be messing with. But still these men teach you a very important thing. Being strong and being respectful (polite, humble, friendly etc etc) are not an oxymoron.
Finally the best part of travelling in Nepal - I am a foreigner here. I can do a lot of stuff here which I might feel awkward if I am doing that in India. Simple things like having tea in you hotel common balcony without your shirt on. It just feels great. Oh by the way if you are a woman reading this trying the above might not be that great an idea. But if you are the woman who is staying three rooms away from my room " Ma'am I pray that you do" :)
The people in a place matter a lot in your opinion of the place. And that is why I was in love with Nepal within the first 200 meters. I was entering Nepal and my bike had a slight documentation problem. And lets not get into more details. If more details emerge I would come across as a very irresponsible person and in my blog I would not want to give out any impression of me which might lower my value further in the marriage market. If I happen to meet you in person I'll tell you about it or maybe I'll write about it when I finish the trip. But all said and done it was still an issue that could have been sorted out if someone sensitive enough was willing to listen. Indian custom officials refused to entertain me but the guys on the Nepalese side were sweet enough to welcome me in.
Now when you start off on a good note or a bad one for that matter you tend to stereotype it and the funny thing about stereotypes is that you tend to find it. After all stereotypes are your way of putting things in a box and you may not always be correct. Like for e.g. whenever I ask out women and they refuse (sadly happens all the time) I stereotype them as sluts and find solace. But trust me you will find it very difficult to hate the Nepalese. They treat you with so much respect. Just to blow my own trumpet a little bit - when you on a bike trip the people you meet on the way are intrigued and interested in talking about it. The hotels where I put up - where the staff know I have come on a bike with luggage loaded and riding gears I get so much attention that sometimes I make up stories to make myself look very heroic. Don't judge me by this, I am travelling alone and I love the attention whenever I get it. Had I been Shahrukh Khan I would have been nonchalant about all this but I am not and I sometimes resort to all this for the cheap thrills.
But even in cafe's where I go for a drink and the staff has no clue whether I came to Nepal on a bike or I ran away from India and came here after killing 70 odd people in a riot, I am still treated very nicely. One thing about Nepali's is that they love India. It is the place they dream to go work, make money and come back. In a bar where you have tourists from China, Japan, Europe etc and you are the only Indian sitting there, the waiters come up to you and ask "Aap India se hai ? India mein kahan se ? " and then they tell you their India stories or aspirations of working in Goa. These guys have the sweetest funny Hindi accents and sometimes I just strike up conversations or prolong them just to hear that Hindi accent. Again don't judge me - a lonely man needs his cheap thrills. I am perfectly aware that as a tourist in a foreign land the restaurant staff are only going to say good things about your country even if they are the planning the next biggest terrorist strike on your country, but Nepal's affection for Indians seem genuine. The above incident is not an one off thing, it happened in a lot of places.Maybe they are also surprised to see an Indian face in a normal bar & restaurant. Most Indian tourist generally spend their time in massage parlours or dance bars - if you know what I mean :)
I have been in Nepal for a week and I have just been to two places - Katmandu and Pokhara. I like the efortless and unplanned nature of my travel. In Katmandu and on the way to Katmandu I heard about this place called Pokhara and I decided to come here as well. I reached here and I am in love with the town. I have time till 28th July to exit Nepal but I think I'll be here only till then. I don't plan to do anything here. I am sitting here in this restaurant and the lake is some 300m away. But I don't plan to go there today. Maybe tomorrow or maybe dayafter. I don know. Its such a peaceful place. In most places when I am alone and having a drink and there's an attractive woman in the vicinity I tend to give them the Gulshan Grover look. For the uninformed its a lusty lecherous bastard look made much more effective by
1) Biting your lower lip on the left side
2) Slowly breathing in air through your mouth
3) Slowly licking your upper lip from left to right that says come have a drink with me in my hotel room.
But last night when I was drinking here with lots of attractive women in the vicinity I effortlessly had the cute Shahrukh Khan look of Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa that says it would be my pleasure to walk you back to your hotel in this beautiful moonlit night. Trust me there is something about this place.
Pokhara is a beautiful town. It has a very Rastafarian feel to it. See my choice of words. I could also have said Hippie feel to it but I am careful with my words. Hippie might make you think people doing weed all the time and indulging in all sorts of immoral activities. Rastafarian on the other hand is again people doing weed but trying to make the world a better place to live in. The kind of losers you would find in big cities giving out free hugs or performing in a flash mob. But thats not all that is to Pokhara. It has a lot of adventure activities like trekking, paragliding, rafting and what not. Its a bit like Rishikesh but a lot better because it does not have the morality attached to places of religious significance. I would suggest that you guys come here - preferably in smaller groups and take it slow. You could put a lot of thought on a foolproof plan to murder your boss or maybe finish reading the book you always wanted to - totally up to you. My dope is to walk around aimlessly in the streets after sunset listening to the soft music being doled out by the various cafe's playing your Beatles, Jim Morrison's and of course the Bob Marley's and the one or two odd local guys sitting on the streets playing the guitar.
At the end every place has a charm of its own. Nepal moved me because of its people. While I was riding through small towns and villages in Nepal I was checking out the attire and demeanor of the women here. No perverted intentions mind you. The best part about travelling in a bike is that you tend to observe a lot of things which you might miss if you are travelling in a box. I can just say that the burden of morality and culture of the society is not thrust that harshly on women as compared to India. Also traffic is pretty bad in the towns of Nepal. Road rules are rarely followed and vehicles cut through from everywhere but I have never heard anyone shouting or swearing at someone. Agreed I just had an outside view but on first impressions I feel they treat their women better. Maybe for all you know once inside the house they tie up the women and all men in the family practice their flying kicks on her. But the scenario seems unlikely. And its not like these men are weak. Gorkha soldiers from Nepal are part of the elite forces in the Indian Army, the British Army, the Singapore Police force and have their presence even in the personal bodyguard staff of the Sultan of Brunei. This is a strong race of people. The British were never able to rule them. Not really the kind of people you want to be messing with. But still these men teach you a very important thing. Being strong and being respectful (polite, humble, friendly etc etc) are not an oxymoron.
Finally the best part of travelling in Nepal - I am a foreigner here. I can do a lot of stuff here which I might feel awkward if I am doing that in India. Simple things like having tea in you hotel common balcony without your shirt on. It just feels great. Oh by the way if you are a woman reading this trying the above might not be that great an idea. But if you are the woman who is staying three rooms away from my room " Ma'am I pray that you do" :)
