Another tourist ghetto
Trip Start
Aug 15, 2006
1
151
155
Trip End
May 27, 2008
Pokhara,
Pokhara,
Nepal
Thursday, May 1, 2008
I went to the Deutsche GH to wait for my bus pick up and met Vydia, a Dutch girl also heading to Pokhara. We were taken to the tourist bus station by a young friendly lad where local vendors tried to charge even higher prices than usual for drinks and snacks. I stated that things were cheaper in the tourist ghetto of Thamel and finally bartered down some water to a more reasonable price. As Vydia's parents are Indian she's been able to buy some things here for local prices and told me that bananas should cost 2r each when someone offered them for 5 each - cheek!
The bus wasn't much better than the local bus - the only difference is no-one stands or sits on the roof. The downside is that it doesn't stop for the local vendors selling cheap fruit and local snacks - it did the Thailand thing of taking us to a restaurant in the middle of nowhere which charges a small fortune for rice and lentils. At the second stop I had to give in and buy a plate since I'd relied on us stopping for snacks and not brought anything with me. I was kindly given a pack of nice biscuits by a French guy on the bus (Servian). He told me that he'd just come from India where the hassle is much worse but prices are far cheaper even in tourist traps. Vydia agreed and was shocked at how much things are inflated when you are a tourist here.
When we arrived at Pokhara we were instantly hounded by taxis and touts but someone informed me that it wasn't the final stop so I jumped back on the bus and surprise surprise it went all the way to town, avoiding the need for a taxi in the first place. It dropped us off outside the Little Tibetan GH which Vydia had told me she'd heard was nice so I checked it out and it was gorgeous! So clean and with a cute garden although way above my budget (but actually the same price as the cockroach room I'd had in Kathmandu) so I decided to treat myself and blow the budget (a whole 3 quid!).
I wandered around town and quickly got fed up with the shops asking silly prices for things again. They don't seem to barter as low as in Kathmandu which isn't surprising when I see tourists taking the first price they are offered because it seems 'cheap'. The other hassle I was getting was guys wanting to be my guide. I'd tried asking a local shop owner where I could go for a cheap local restaurant serving Nepali food and it was like he didn't hear me as he just kept saying 'well if you need a good trekking guide....'. I eventually found a more affordable place to eat and had some vegetable momos which were OK but nothing special. I bumped into Vydia and she told me she was staying at a cheap place at the top end of the lake so I decided to go and check it out. On my way I was approached by a girl asking if I spoke English and did I know how to get to the World Peace Pagoda. I said it was in my LP but she said she'd already looked in hers, she just didn't know where the trail began. She was Dutch and her name was Ampay and she was with her boyfriend Sanders. We had a great chat (about us al being Cancerians!?) and decided to met early the next day and hike there together.
I found the cheap guesthouse but it was full so I couldn't look at a room. I got chatting to a friendly local sitting outside. He told me he works at the restaurant there, bought me a cup of masala tea and we had an interesting chat. He seemed to be the first genuine person I'd met here and he told me how he doesn't like the tourist area of Pokhara as everyone is greedy and wants to make too much money from the tourists. He invited me back to his place for dinner which sounded great as it would be nice to see a local family and learn about the lifestyle here but obviously I was wary. I asked who he lived with (his mother and sister) and left a note for Vydia saying I'd met her in an hour.
When we got to his place he didn't introduce me to anyone even though his sister was around for some kind of after marriage ceremony (he planted a tikka on my head which I didn't realise was massive until I got home!) and I was the only one who ate a meal (dahl baht). It seemed to be just him and myself in a room chatting away which was OK until he started insisting I arrange a time and place to meet him the following day which of course I couldn't do as I didn't know if my plans would change. He then started saying he would like to come trekking with me, travel Nepal with me as he could stop me getting ripped off and maybe we could spend a night somewhere for 'meditation'. He stated he wasn't interested in sex or money....no no no, he's not like other Nepali guys, just being friendly because I'm so friendly and soooo beautiful! I made my excuses and left and now have to try and avoid him. I met up with Vydia and she'd had many problems in India with guys and said that she'd tried to be nice and always gave them the benefit of the doubt but they always let her down.....
Today I met with the Dutch couple outside the bakery and naturally we couldn't go anywhere until we'd eaten a piping hot fresh chocolate croissant. We made our way to the start of the trail but soon got a bit confused with where to go. A local pointed us into the forest but we couldn't see an obvious trail so we ignored him and kept going along our current path. Soon we were hassled by local lads offering to take us to the pagoda for money which of course we also ignored and eventually decided to go back to the route the local had pointed out to us. He'd been right all along and it does annoy me that you feel you can't trust any info you get here as it obviously is sometimes right.
We made it to the Pagoda but didn't se the spectacular mountain views we were promised by the guidebook due to the haze and clouds around this time of year. I went back into town to get my trekking permit for the Annapurna region which cost a whopping 15 quid - imagine charging foreign tourists that for the Pennine Way back home! I then found a nice place which did some great muesli with fruit and curd and got myself some lemon cake from the German bakery. I came across a big festival area for some kind of New Year celebration and decided to pay the 30r to get in as I should find some cheap food in there and try and do as the locals; wrong - the food was overpriced and I still got hassled by local kids.
In the afternoon I bought a new daypack which was very overpriced but he wouldn't budge and I was losing my will to live by this point. It actually cost me pretty much the same as I'd paid for my last one which I bought from America, was better quality and came with an imitation camelback! I knew it should have been half that price but I was sick of looking around wasting my time. I then tried to get a cheap t-shirt and got fed up with the vast price differences. One guy yet again waned to be my trekking guide because I am sooo beautiful......I asked why he couldn't sell me the t-shirt for a good price if I was soooo beautiful. Finally someone cut me a decent deal and I also managed to get some thin lightweight thermal trousers for a cheap price. I was so happy that I now had all the major purchases needed for trekking and vowed not to buy anything ever again here unless I wanted to increase my blood pressure.
In the street I noticed a familiar face - the lead singer of the band from the Shisha Terrace in KTM. He was being followed by girls wanting to have a picture taken with him so they must be fairly well known. I noticed a hat shop and decided to have a quick look as it would probably be useful since basecamp will be cold. I tried one on but it was tiny so I asked the old lady shopkeeper if she had one bigger. She led me over to her counter, took out her calculator and started tapping out prices. I explained I didn't care how much at the moment, just if she had any bigger, but she just kept saying 'OK 120rupees'. I got fed up and ran out of the shop again with her shouting 'come back OK 100rupees' after me. Five minutes later I realised I'd left my sunnies in the shop when I tried the hat on. I ran back and was pleased to see the middle aged French ladies were still in there and told them I'd left my glasses. They were happy to se me as they'd seen them and were hoping I'd go back to pick them up, however....to our surprise they were no longer sitting where I'd left them. They had no idea what had happened as they'd just seen them a couple of minutes before and hadn't noticed anyone come into the shop. I didn't want to accuse the old lady but it was strange that she suddenly didn't understand any English despite chatting away with the French ladies for quite some time. If someone had come in the shop it would have been hard to spot my glasses but I guess they must have just been lucky.
I asked around the trekking shops to see if someone had tried to sell them but no luck. One guy said that some teenagers steal and will maybe sell to him the following week to get money for drugs as there's a big problem here. Quite annoyed since they cost me 30 quid which was a lot for me even when I was working plus they are polarized to prevent the glare at high altitudes. I asked around shops for polarized glasses and got fed up with them lying to me (I remembered from my school physics how to test for polarization) and in the end paid for some cheap crap ones that don't even have a UV protection rating on them! The only plus is that they are sparkly ( J ).
Ran into Ampay and Sanders and told them about my loss and they soon cheered me up. We were standing outside a tour office when the guy there asked if any of us had been to Chitwan national park. They said they'd been trekking there 2 days ago. He told us that 4 Italians and 2 guides had been attacked by leopards yesterday! Ampay urged me not to go there but I'm not sure. I quite fancy seeing some leopards although maybe not that close..... Went for dinner with them but unfortunately my salad came with rubbery dry chicken that had seen better days (probably a few weeks ago) but what do you expect from a tourist restaurant selling western food?
Anyway, I'm sure my trek into the Annapurnas will improve my current mood and it will be great to get out of the towns
