Some final words from Nepal

Trip Start Mar 11, 2008
1
7
38
Trip End Ongoing


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Friday, April 18, 2008

The time has come to say my goodbyes to Nepal and move on to the next stage of my journey through SE Asia. After 5 weeks here I'm sad to leave - it's a beautiful country with a great mix of scenery, culture, trekking, extreme sports, wonderfully friendly people.. there really is something for everyone. I've come to feel pretty at home here- I know how to get about, am pretty clued up on how much things should cost, know where to hang out (and have a few friendly faces I can call on for dinner & drinks), I can even speak a few words of Nepali ;)The prospect of having to accustom myself to a new country, new culture, currency & costs etc. etc. is very slightly daunting (despite the fact that I've been to Thailand before!) but I'm sure everything will fall into place quickly enough when I get there.

I thought it would be wrong to leave Nepal without mentioning a few of my loves and hates about the country:

I WILL NOT miss the constant touting for 'rickshaw madam?' 'taxi?' 'trekking somewhere?' 'tigerbalm?' 'chess set???'. Nor will I miss the constant bombardment of snotty-nosed kids asking me for 'one chocolate? mithai? one e-school pen? one dollar..?' (though I strongly suspect these will follow me on my travels round the world albeit with variations on the theme) or having to dodge gobs of spit from people hawking in the street.

I WILL miss how easy & completely safe it feels to be here - despite my one bad experience in Pokhara I firmly maintain that the Nepalese are extremely honest and people don't try to rip you off or scam money at every opportunity, the accessibility of such awe-inspiring scenery and the complete peace once you escape Kathmandu. I'll also miss sharing the road/ pavement with a random assortment of cows, water buffalo, mule, chickens, ducks, goats, sheep, yak.. even elephants. It suddently dawned on me a few weeks ago down at Chitwan that I have become so used to weaving round livestock that I no longer even found it strange to glance over my shoulder and see a whacking great elephant trundling along behind me! And last but not least I will miss the people.

I will definitely be back. After all, there are more treks to conquer and Everest yet to see..
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