You always read about or see on tv third world countries and the associated poverty but its taken me a few days to actually realise im in one. That may sound a bit stupid but it's mainly because i've just accepted the way things are in Nepal and haven't really given much thought to the why.
I became a bit more aware today as the power went off again (It interrupted Shrek 3). The hotel guy explained to me about the fuel shortage causing a lot of problems and showed me a weekly timetable of the power-outs. That, plus a long walk through one of the poorer suburbs (the other parts of the city are poor enough) brought on my new awareness.
But I'm still not inspired to buy a postcard off one of those ratty little kids on the street, or donate money to an ex-prostitute with aids so she can buy some milk for her kid (its a scam anyway). Instead, i decided to profit the local restaurant, treating myself to some banana honey pancakes. At least you know that the money is going to someone who is working for it, and at 50c a plateful who cares if your getting scammed.
I saw the french guy again and after him yakking on for ages about what he'd done for the day I had another realisation - this frenchie was getting duped, badly. On a small note he said that if you buy something in the morning, they give you a cheap morning price as good luck for the rest of the day. I had been offered the same deal, and it was about 3 or 4 times higher than the initial offer I had been given yesterday afternoon. But then he showed me some ugly jewellry, boasting that he could sell it wholesale for thousands of euros back in France, even though he only paid hundreds for it here. It strikes me as a pretty obvious scam, I mean if the stones were worth that much then wouldnt the locals export them? Idiot.
I got a fever last night too. Nothing too serious, just retreated to my guest house early. Woke up fine in the morning and I still haven't had diahrrea! I think it must be building up for a really inopportune moment.
Oh and yes I actually did some work today, filling out and typing up forms at Amadablam Adventures.
