Monday, August 27th
The language barrier is tiring.
Everything we do feels like such an effort because we are never entirely
certain whether the message is being conveyed properly. Compared to most of the
tourists we have met, Hailey and I have put a reasonable amount of effort into
learning at least some Nepali but this allows us to barely scrape by. This
morning we were chastised because we had tried to order breakfast at the
hotel/retreat centre before we left. The lady we spoke with did not speak a
word of English and proceeded to clean the bathrooms after we had asked her
about breakfast so we gave up and decided to go to a restaurant. As we were
leaving one of the other staff got mad at us because we were leaving after
ordering breakfast?? We attempted to explain that we thought she hadn’t
understood us but in the end we were just tired and it was an excruciating
amount of effort just to get a bowl of porridge. I imagine they must be
thinking something quite similar having to deal with multiple languages being
hurled at them.
Pokhara is just starting to
develop a tourist area/appeal. We got a quick summary of the history of Nepal
in the last 10 years from the meditation instructor. As a result of the civil
unrest and monarchy problems in 2005/6 there really hasn’t been any tourism in
Nepal in years and at the rate things get done it may take many more before
this becomes an attraction for most westerners.
Mia and Jo were at the hotel
when we arrived first thing this morning. Yeah, one last day of being tourists
together. They have been trekking for the past week and have told us about
their adventure. I can’t wait to see all the pictures.
Paragliding is one of its main
draws. We successfully jumped off a cliff and spent 20 minutes (not the hour
that was promised) sailing down to the landing below. What a great experience.
It was not near as scary as it looks and what a beautiful life a bird must
have! The instructors (if you call them that) spend most of their day flying
tandem with tourists like us. It reminded me of the scuba divers in Thailand
getting to spend day after day taking groups of people diving two and three
times a day. Why did this kind of job never occur to me when I was 20? If you
are in your late teens or early 20’s here are some job ideas – scuba master in
Thailand, paraglide in Nepal, operate a catamaran in Mexico, be a trekking
guide in Nepal, be a yoga instructor anywhere...live life large!
Went to see the World Peace
Stupa way up on the top of a mountain!
PS the new hotel is worth the
$20. A hot shower with great water pressure has become priceless to me at this
point.
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