The English are coming...

Two English girls sit down to dinner. I listen to the conversation because I'm that kind of stalker. They are far from the most painful countrymen... but guess what they had for dinner, both
"Mash potato with cheese"
Well, I can't talk, I'd settled for Western food too (a vegetable burger). But that's worth a laugh, the place does a good Dal Bhat. Aside from that, you can guess with what fine British sounding they pronounced Jalapenos...

Wages, Nepal

The review committee has decided, pending government approval, to increase the minimum wage of Nepal from 6000 to 8000 NPR per month. As the minimum wage is reviewed every 2 years this increase of 33% is greater than inflation over the same period 19% (as the currency is tied to India), so progressive, just. The greater rate of inflation in global food prices is possibly not so much of a concern in the controlled Indian (and Nepali?) markets. Still, 60 GBP per month is no great salary...

But naturally the comedy is in the detail. The wage breakdown consists of a salary and a 'dearness allowance'. I suppose at one point the quaint sounding 'dearness allowance' was intended to be set by region, but then it makes about as much sense as separated 'National Insurance Contributions'. The union representing the Monster Raving Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) isn't happy with this settlement. They are campaigning for a 15,000 NPR a month wage, which is not far off the equivalent of the 10,000 INR wage which inspired the last strikes I witnessed in India. I'm not sure how they intend to implement this 150% increase, or have even considered that many Nepali's are self employed, or run small enterprises.

India is Great

In order to facilitate tourism as effectively as possible India has increased the tourist VISA cost for UK citizens, about 2-3 fold depending on where you apply. It's a change under the guise of reciprocity (revenge) in response to the UK's VISA changes concerning study and post-study employment (so many thanks, DC). Except for its tit-for-tat introduction, this is quite reasonable, after all any country has the right to set its own entry restrictions. It's also remarkable that India had the foresight to change this in the Nepali embassy within a few months of making the change in the UK (nearly managing to preempt a cheaper travel route). Unfortunately there is a catch, the large scale IT project to update the website by adding a line into the table of VISA costs from Nepal is still in progress. I'm sure this will be fixed within weeks, and no more Brits will have to feel really poor when they get to the front of the queue and don't have enough cash (3600 NPR to 11650 NPR is a bit of a jump). Really I can't moan about this though, if you want to visit India, expect India!

Kathmandu

If you've got any romantic ideas about Kathmandu, forget them. Thamel is the tourist spot, but I can't see why. You can't walk even a short distance without some of the resident street lurkers whispering/speaking/shouting "Smoke, you want smoke, pollen, hash, ganja, temple rock". Don't ignore them, they'll just say it louder in case you didn't hear the first time. It's incessant, almost menacing, and deeply annoying. The reason for this interest - clueless tourists paying anything up to 10 times the going rate, and a profit several times a days pay. That's what is annoying, every word is spoken with you as a target, and with the intent of ripping you off. If it's not them its men playing (often badly) irritating instruments that look like small violins, in your face. Oh and there are taxi drivers, which between trying to run over their potential customers in the narrow streets only thankfully only manage "taxi, looking for taxi". In the evening the atmosphere changes slightly, prostitutes and pimps start to appear on the street, as a man you shouldn't  appear to stroll, or the offers of "looking for sex massage", "girls", "dancing" come rolling in. Aside from this there is also some overpriced trash for sale, none of it as described, and food which is now at the top end more expensive than basic food in England. The tourist supermarkets sell goods above MRP. Verdict: treat Kathmandu like Delhi, and get out as soon as possible. Sure there are a couple of temples, but is the biggest Stupa in Nepal a life changer: No. There is perhaps an exception, if you want to mix with locals and enjoy live music (mostly Doors covers) there are possibly the coolest spots I have seen in S Asia.

I'm not the only one

As I walked up the road from lakeside I spotted a calf with its head poking into one of the shops. The owner was sitting on a low stool feeding it pieces of cardboard box as he tore them up. I know that look when caught enjoying a guilty pleasure!

Nepal Drinks

I've discovered a nice flask filler: Mustang brandy (apple). It's from a region north of Pokhara so I probably wont get to enjoy it for too much longer, not too strong (25%) and even the name sounds cool

Update: I've never been so wrong. For some reason the small bottles contain an entirely different 'Mustang Brandy' to the larger bottles, even from the same distillery. The larger bottles, clear, and smelly, rank as the foulest distilled spirits I have yet encountered. These represent the greatest concentration of essence of rotting and fouling that are possibly known to man. I now suspect that some higher quality spirit is coloured, flavoured and sweetened to produce the drinkable brandy. Now what to do with 2 liters which I don't think even survives the lower limit test of a drinkable spirit - can it be mixed with coke.

Accidental

Hypocrisy. After swimming the lake I am forced to walk back along the entire lake edge without shoes, and topless. I offer my apology to the Hippies.

The Poverty Relief Fund

A number of Hippies here are tragically poor, they can't even afford basic essentials such as shoes. I'm not sure why of all the expenses they can't manage 500 NPR for some cheap soles, but it seems to be the case. In Nepal I have not seen a local person without shoes, this is clearly a new level of deprivation. Many Hippies will try and rationalise this suffering, a common theme seems to be a greater connection with the earth (OK perhaps I should stop laughing to myself and write 'Earth'). Covered as it may be with the excrement of dog, cat, cow, buffalo, goat, rat, bird... and indirectly human. Perhaps the feeling is better, this is a more natural way to walk.
Ok I admit I am telling a lie, these are India 'Hippies' gone north for the summer. Trance and party types with not a hair of variation between their dreadlocks. The shoeless fashion is after all not quite so vomitously upsetting as the London hipster listening to music on his iphone, with no shoes, on the tube. I'm glad they have escaped the oppressive lifestyle of shoes, the fascist system can't force them can it, yeah!

Onwards

Pokhara is another one of those stops where time slows down. People leave Pokhara tomorrow, but if you do wait long enough tomorrow finally comes. The tourist trap is lakeside. It's not a bad spot, at the edge of the city, where the buildings are spaced just enough not to feel claustrophobic. The friends have gone and the rain has come as I survey my small world. Lakeside is one road, which keeps close to the edge of the lake. There are spots of grass here and there, where the buffalo wander about between their wallowings. The south 'expensive' end, with its mixture of serious minded trekkers and clueless tourists, up to the muddier Hippie end, with its clueless dreadlock'ed cliches. It's not that I've exhausted everything to do, there are fantastic roads for offroad motorbikes, road bikes... and even trekking. But something says move on.

That's not a union

There are aspects of Indian and Nepali life which seem to mimic more developed nations, at least in the terminology used. These are the strikes, unions and associations of the different industries in each country. The trouble is in the subtle mislabeling or misinterpretation of each concept... A 'strike' may actually mean 'civil disobedience'. There are also the self employed workers striking at the government to set a minimum wage...

The more troubling case is the lack of understanding or enforcement of competition law (which does at least exist in India). It is not uncommon to see associations or 'unions' of hairdressers, vehicle hire shops, internet cafes or auto drivers. These associations see it as quite reasonable to set minimum rates, and you may hear 'union price' or in Nepal see the 'official' rates written down. The trouble is, these are actually self employed business owners and not simply employees, and this amounts to collusion to fix prices. The correct term for these associations is 'cartel'.

While the almost excessive competition of the slow trading Indian and Nepali small businesses may seem a cruel fate for the workers, price Inflation fixes nothing.

Traveler bingo

Mebendazole

Albendazole

Nitromidazole

Metronizadole

Tinidazole

Nepal Music

It's the year 2070 (or 2013 if you're foreign) and the highlight of the music scene: Deep Purple, live in Nepal. Otherwise expect a lot of love for 'the doors'

Oh but local people are used to the food

Only if there is a predisposition to motion sickness. A bus journey is almost always punctuated by the vomiting of one or more passengers.

If you charge 15 US Dollars to enter your town

Then I'm probably not going to go there. Unlike the Taj, I'm not going to do this to save myself time fielding future questions on how it was. In this case a picturesque town in Nepal not far from Kathmandu, a regular tourist stop, charges simply to enter the town. In the handbook on how to get tourist money, someone missed the page on making your town inviting. (Unless your spot is truly unique, which is a label I associate with the Taj and Angkor Wat). I also object to any price in Dollars, it's just about acceptable for national treasures, but otherwise this is how you get Americans to accept paying ten times the local rate because "it's only twenty bucks". It turns out that there are many ways in, from simply walking down the side streets to waiting until the ticket counters close, but that's not me. As a non cheat, this pushes me into an adventure. Seven km walking fully loaded over the hills and through a small pine forest, and trying to refine the pronunciation of where I'm going, I reach a beautiful temple and small town. There is an entry fee of 1 US Dollar, but by chance of arriving by foot I missed the checkpoint for this more reasonable fee. Tourism is an industry which tries it's hardest to destroy itself.

Lucky, Happy, Free

The past cloud of Indian sexism has lifted slightly, women in Nepal appear to be freer. They don't hurry about, covered up, in perpetual fear of unwanted advances, or rape. Maybe they don't have to, Nepali men seem to be far less 'rapey'. (If this doesn't sit in the dictionary the adjective implies situations where men are either threatening, strange or make single minded advances)

Many young Nepali women dress in tight jeans, T-shirts, lipstick, mascara. Yes men like that, it shows off the breasts, but in India as victims they would be blamed for their loose western morals. Or they wear western dresses when they go out. They go out! They can go and drink with men without being the lamb walking into a wolf pit. They can smile at strangers without worrying that this could be fatally mistaken as an invitation (one of my favourite discoveries on entering Tamil Nadu). Here I have already encountered the story of the village community which took domestic violence seriously, even if this is isolated.

This is a big statement to make, but it's not my discovery alone. Single female travelers remark on it, this is a place they can travel alone without the persistent consciousness of their safety. Where as in India they would expect continuous stares and advances in the male dominated streets, here they are less noticed. Now clearly I'm using exaggerations, but this is the clarity following the escape from a great cloud. Of course Indian women are not universally oppressed, while it is believed the rates of sexual violence are high, and police enforcement low, this is the second largest country by population in the world. In the big cities and in the south, women don't have to stare at the floor. All direct experience is ultimately anecdotal, but from a growing sample.

Ultimately this freedom may be limited to the cities, where I spend most of my time, and where women can stay in education. In the villages it seems the fate of biology returns, women marry young, and have children.