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.