Browsing through the papers this morning I caught up on the latest happenings in Tibet. It wasn't really affecting Kathmandu bar a few nervous emails from travel agents enquiring if some of the trips would still be continuing. Still, I had heard of a few protests near UN buildings that had gotten pretty violent.
More of a concern for me is the upcoming election. Everyday you can hear cars blaring out their messages for the party candidate, occasionally you will see large groups of people waving flags. But in the paper I read that the Maoists had been kidnapping other candidates and beating/torturing them. Of course noone was being arrested, thats just how the voting happens in Nepal.
When I was chilling out in the lobby with the hotel guys and an Irish bloke, they said that it was because that the candidates had either spoken against the Maoists or were just running against them. So the Maoists would kidnap them, beat them up and then the next day the candidates wouldn't speak out or just completely resign. Pretty damn fair election.
The Irish guy had been travelling for months and had spent a great deal of time in Nepal. But he was leaving before the elections as he was a bit worried about what could happen - noone has any idea if things will be ok. So this veteran traveller, an Irishman who is stereotypically hardy, would be leaving for the election when I am staying for at least a week after! I dont know if I should be proud for not wimping out or a bit frightened of the situations I could get into.
As long as the supply of banana pancakes and beer continues, bring on the election!
