Photos are here:
Back In Pokhara I got in a bit of a mood (like you do!) with the hotel and ending up moving in a mad at ig at 9 o'clock one morning - it was the no hot water again that really did it for me and it wasn't exactly a cheap place - Eimear and Aaron who were staying at there as well and had the same problems so it wasn't as if they didn't know their hot water was a bit on the random side. The new place wasn't too bad but I did have a bit of a do with the guy on the night shift who wouldn't give me another blanket - just so rude, telling me I'd be warm enough - me disagreeing quite strongly with him about it.
The best thing though I did before heading back to India was paragliding - think that's the right word - I was a bit worried I'd make a bit of a fool of myself by screaming and freaking out as I'm not the greatest with heights. But it was just so cool just soaring up following the flight path of the birds through the thermals - though the circling did give me a bit of headache - my tandem partner was Mike from America who was a bit of a dude and he was really patient with me telling me how strong the kitey thing was and that he did have a reserve chute on his back just in case - something I hadn't realised till half an hour in. Anyway here's a bit of video of the whole experience:
The day before I left was a bit strange as I got up to have breakfast and found everywhere was shut - total madness as I was hoping to sort out my bus ticket that day (bit of a last minute person with tickets). Found one cafe that was open and the owner whose brother ran a restaurant in Huddersfield showed me the news - the police and landless people had clashed down on the plains and people had been killed so a banda (strike) had been called across the country. It was really lovely with no cars on the road - only press and army so I decided to hire a bicycle a head over to Devi Falls. I can just imagine what would have happened back home if this had have happened at home - riots at the doors of Tesco's and mad panic buying beforehand - Nepal style in Pokhara it was just lots of families out on the streets, kids playing football and people cycling around - really nice, there was some army about but from what I gathered most of the heavy action was over Kathmandu way. Devi Falls when I eventually found it was closed so I ended up cycling right over to the northern part of the lake where it was a lot quieter and I met a really nice young girl called Poonilli who I chatted to about school and her family before a load of little kids showed up and started a rupee chant.
The next day I walked up to the bus station in protest of the lazy taxi drivers piss taking fares - apparently the 6.30 to Sunauli had morphed into the 7.15 and then the 8.00, by 8.15 it was the local bus from Pokhara - scammed again tourist price for a local bus which stopped every 5 minutes and rammed as many people as possible in. I was sat next to Tim from Scotland who had been coming to Nepal for about 10 years - though he thought this would be his last trip as he just felt the people had become too money orientated. It was sad as I'd had this conversation so many times with other travellers in the weeks I had been in Nepal as it really is a beautiful place landscape wise - it was the petty scams and overcharging that got you down as people didn't see you as person just a walking ATM in a lot of cases. The bus was supposed to arrive at 2 but because of traffic jams, collapsed bridge and a high speed blowout - we were really lucky it happened on a straight bit of road the bus finally ambled into Bhairawa around 6. I ended up at the oddly named Hotel Glasgow which re the Lonely Planet was allegedly the best in town - god help the rest then as my room smelt damp and the hot water non existant though I'll give them that they did have Al Jazeera on the TV.
The following morning I was woken by the worst vomiting and throat clearing of the trip - so bad it was that I nearly joined in in sympathy - why they have to make so much noise I'll never know. Crossing the border was really easy - though one of the guys the other side couldn't understand why I had no Nepali money and some Indian money without going to a scamsville Fex bureau - in reality I had just enough money for my bus fare to Gorakpur where I hoped I'd find an ATM machine. That turned into a bit of a nightmare as the only machine I could find had a queue of about 20 blokes outside - what they find to do in the booths I'll never know but they are just so slow - half an hour later the bank turned up to service the machine - so another wait and it was then that the guys in front of me said I didn't have to queue as women didn't queue - I like this theory I thought. Though I was a bit dubious to try it out in practice but after loads of Churchill nodding dogs saying "yes no queue for you" I went to the front - naturally once the bank guy had finished all the guys started to pile in totally ignoring me at the alleged front of queue - so I got very vocal, very Indian and was in next no arguments but I hadn't really needed the aggravation.
I knew I was pushing it trying to get on a train to Delhi that day but you can but try - the guy at the foreign counter in the reservation office I think had trained with the numpty from Rishikesh as he wouldn't check any trains for me - "all full" I was told. Plan B was the supervisor who was a bit more helpful (which is all I ask) and told me to go to another part of the station where I might be able to get a ticket. I was in luck the very bored woman who ran current reservations managed to get me on to the 3 o'clock train though I did have to go 2nd class air con which was a real treat - curtains blankets and pillows it was just a shame that it wasn't a real long journey. Arriving in Delhi at 4.15 in the morning wasn't the best time to go looking for rooms - couldn't raise the guys at the Lords hotel and some guy was hassling me on the deserted street - ended up at the "not so Bright" Hotel which was one of those hotel rooms that you knew if you had a shower you wouldn't be clean - not quite a world record for checkout when the sun came up but it was getting there.
That's it for now - heading to Kolkata tonight and then back to Thailand - going to be so sad next Wednesday as I'll be leaving India - hopefully some more next week....
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