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February 6-11, 1999

it was a long week that passed incredibly quickly. The supposed " Tourist Bus" from Sunali that, we were assured took only 7.5 hours, lasted around ten. This ride included several exciting near misses with buses coming the opposite direction. One such incident led to us slamming into a pile of sand on the side of the road, and almost hitting an electrical pole, a semi-truck, and another bus. The roads in Nepal were noticeably much worse than in india, which is quite an amazing feat considering the indian roads are so horrible that people are often seen puking out the windows and all over the side of the bus or taxi.

When we did finally arrive in Katmandu, we agreed to show two women whom we had met on the bus, who were working as teachers in South Korea and on a travel break, the way to Thamel. So we shared a taxi and sped towards the Hotel Swoniga. Ahhh… Thamel, the, almost, western world. E-mail on every corner, meat, and real bread. The Hotel Swoniga staff and our duffel bag full of the possessions we had left behind, happily awaited our return. Going to the Swoniga was like going home, a hot shower, good food, and especially a clean bed!

Our first night back to Thamel sent us in search of pizza. We had heard tales of a restaurant that had real pizza ovens called the Fire and ice. We went to have a good old American throw-down. When we walked in, we saw two girls sitting at a table. One looked our direction and exclaimed, " NO WAY!!! i can't believe it." Josh and Mike stood there idiotically, wracking their brains trying to remember if we had met these women in india, on the trek, or where? Jeff who also appeared to be actively searching his memory suddenly said, " Konnie?!" it turned out that, Konnie, one of Jeff's old friends from high school had joined the Peace Corps and was in the middle of her culture training in Nepal. Michelle Nail, a fellow PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer) accompanied her and the two invited us to join them for dinner. The pizza was definitely some of the best we have had in Asia but, unfortunately, the true American pie seems to be an unobtainable recipe. After dinner, the girls invited us to a get together of the PCVs who were, on Monday morning, just two days away, about to move to remote villages in the Nepal country side to continue their training in health work, agriculture, and community development. There they will remain for the next two years with very little contact with anyone or anything from the western world. (We tip our hats to the PCVs for trying to make this world a better place!)

The next day we goofed around in Thamel, and visited some of the friends we had made during our previous stay in Nepal. Our California buddy, Matt Herman, was finalizing plans to open a Thanka shop in Los Angeles with Gauri the Thamel Thanka salesman as his partner. Thankas are intricately detailed Tibetan paintings that take months and sometimes years to complete. We tried to go to visit Shree, the boogie-woogie bar's guitar player, but as he had told us before we left for india, he had been trying to obtain a European visa and he finally got one. He was off playing guitar in Denmark, and we don't doubt, wooing woman left and right.

On Sunday night we attended (actually we threw) a going away party for Konnie, Michelle and the other Peace Corps Volunteers at the Himalayan Cocktail Bar. We could tell that they were all sad to be leaving each other but excited to get going to the language training and ultimately their new homes for the next two years. We stayed very late and wound up playing pool and music until closing time. On the way back to the hotel, around 2:30 am, Jeff got the idea that we could go to the old city of Katmandu to see the massive temples and the grand palace, in the dead of night. Usually, there are thousands of people swarming the area. We were laughing about this idea when we passed a rickshaw driver who said, " Hello, Durbar Square?" " Well, we thought, why not?" We all hopped in and he began to pedal away. After about 10 minutes he told it was very far. Since we knew where Durbar Square was and we also knew he was trying get a little extra cash, Mike offered the driver 100 extra rupees to let him pedal the bicycle rickshaw. At first he was reluctant, but in the end his greed overruled his good sense. He got in to the back seat with Jeff and Josh as Mike climbed up front and started to pedal down the deserted street. As Mike cautiously rolled into one turn the driver complimented Mike on his skills as rickshawian. No sooner did the words escape his lips when, suddenly the front wheel of the three-wheeled rickshaw buckled and bent in half. We were sent veering off to the left and finally came to stop with a lurch that sent the driver flying off Jeff and Josh's laps into a pile of garbage. We had smacked into a telephone pole (presumably, the karmic repayment for the one we missed hitting on the bus entering Nepal earlier that week). After surveying the damages the driver, depressed and sad, informed us, " Rickshaw finis" . Guilt ridden, and feeling terrible, we wound up paying the driver handsomely. Even though he was stuck until morning, judging by his grin, it was the best fare he had ever had.

Conveniently, this incident occurred in very close proximity to our destination, Durbar Square. We set off (on foot) to see the spectacular sights. After the walking tour, at around 4:30 am, we stopped at a tea stall that was opening for the morning, and saw a different rickshaw man who was bleeding profusely from the back of his head. He had apparently fallen off the roof of the tea stand. What he was doing on the roof, however, we couldn't ascertain and shall never know.

After that insanity, we spent the majority of the week planning for our departure to Thailand, working on the computer to make the india stories " finis," and, of course, eating at Everest Momo's. We also did some souvenir shopping and sent another big box home to Minnesota. On Thursday, we met up with Matt and the teachers from South Korea for our final Nepali meal.

We got up early Friday morning and headed to the airport for our 9:00 am flight to Thailand. Our Nepal segment is now as they say " finis." More time lies behind us than ahead of us on this trip. We were excited, and even a little nervous, about what was to come. With any luck, Thailand, Vietnam, Bali and Australia would be as strange, beautiful, exciting and grandly detailed as india and Nepal had proven to be.