Thur, May 15 - Pokhara to Kathmandu

Pokhara

4:30AM take a taxi up to Sarangkot, where there is an awesome mountain overlook. The sky is relatively free from cloud and lined up from West to East are Dhaulagiri (8168m), Annapurna I (8091m), Annapurna South (7219m), Himchuli (6444m), Machhapuchhre (6993m), Annapurna III (7555m), Annapurna IV (7525m), Annapurna II (7939m), Lamjung Himal (6905m). It's an impressive sight!

The trail down is very hard to find and requires frequently asking people along the way. One person is extremely helpful and leads the way 100m back onto the path down. He wants 50Rs in return. I have no problem telling the beggars "rupe china" (no money) but I have a hard time giving nothing to folks that perform some service that I have willingly accepted. The other case that happens on the way down is a young girl asking for money after I take her photo. It leads to far fewer people photos on my part, and perhaps that is a good thing. Go to Sikkim for people shots, where everyone loves to have their picture taken.

A small juice stand beckons on the walk back to the hotel. The watermelon juice is exquisite, sweet and pulpy, with a taste that is subtle and wonderful.

The Pokhara airport is what airports should be. Total time taken with all administration including: check-in, checked baggage X-ray, hand baggage check, pay airport tax takes a total of five minutes. I arrive 45 minutes early but could have arrived 10 minutes before flight time and comfortably made my flight.

On the arrival in Kathmandu, they have a unique way of delivering checked baggage. The plane stops on the tarmac and everyone boards a "transporter" (a very wide bus). In parallel with people boarding the transporter, the checked luggage is piled onto a cart which is pulled by the transporter. When people and luggage have deplaned, the transporter trundles off to the place where domestic passengers leave the airport. By definition, your baggage is there as soon as you are ready to leave the airport.

Khum comes by my hotel after I have checked in, to return my garbage deposit to me. It is a ritual for any climbing expedition. The purpose of the garbage deposit is so expeditions remove their trash from the mountain. This works well for big peak expeditions which have lots of trash (oxygen bottles, food wrappers, batteries, etc) AND a Nepali liason officer to verify that this trash is indeed carried off the mountain, but for a single person trekking peak, which is what my "expedition" consists of, it seems like a needless set of paperwork. Nevertheless, I appreciate getting my $250 back.

Khum and I spend an hour chatting. He is very interested in western culture and asks about my family. After he learns that I am divorced, he quizzes me a great deal about divorce. The concept is quite foreign in Nepal, and he says that he would damage his family's reputation if he would get divorced, hence there is very strong family pressure against divorce. I explain to Khum a couple of dynamics which have increased divorce in western countries. (I'm sure there are many more factors but these two come to mind as I share a coffee with him.)

Divorce is very expensive. Wealthy people have been able to divorce for the past 1000 years. The amount of wealth in the west has increased and more people are able to afford the overhead of divorce. More importantly, the west has moved more strongly to a society seeking instant gratification and seeking short term individual happiness. The thought of living with someone for another thirty years if you don't like them drives many to divorce, even if they know other family members will not be happy. As with most things, there is no one right solution, we only exchange ideas so that we each have a better understanding of each other's world.