Well, yesterday I had the best of intentions to actually do something....ended up getting as far as doing a couple of errands, a walk along the waterfront of the touristy Lakeside area near my hotel, drinking coffee, eating at a waterfront cafe, watching the awesome performance of the US women in the opening world cup race, posting blogs and pictures and people watching (mostly). Met Mike for dinner and then a visit to the Old Blues Bar to listen to a local Nepalese Blues band. Kind of nice to relax and not walk 7 hrs with apace on!
Funny mix of tourists here in Lakeside. 1) the trekkers- 2 kinds: the well dressed ones from the big organized groups going around in herds and the 1-4 dirt sacks (now relatively clean) wandering around meeting up with old friends from the trail.
2) old (and some young replacements) hippies and misfits who may have been stranded here since the 60s
3) middle age western tourists, not trekking but here as part of a our of Nepal- some obviously wealthy, others expat wamderers
4) Nepali families at the lake to shop, stroll, get paddled around in boats and go to the temples
And they all mix together amidst the Nepalese music and trinket shops, tons of restaurants and guesthouses and trekking supply stores selling fake North Face and Mammut gear (by the way- my 400 Ruppee North Face pants finally split in half when I got here, but they lasted 3 months) and bars and dance clubs. All packed into about 1 km of lakefront real estate.
As an example- last night in about a 1 hr span I had an interesting conversation with a retired middle aged expat American couple from Kentucky and Hawaii who travel around for about 5 months and then settle somewhere for 6-12 months and are not very adventurous (non-Trekkers). An hour later I ws in the Ole Blues Bar having an interesting conversation with a scary looking, but friendly middle aged GIGANTIC, tattooed, biker with long straggly hair and beard from Jackson, Mississippi who has settled in here for the last 2 months and found a home and people he likes and respects.
Today I was a bit less of a slug. I was going to take a yoga class this mornong, but instead Had breakfast in the room while streaming the Notre Dame game and watching for,Shannon and the boys until they shut the power off at halftime. Found a coffee place with a generator to run the wifi (but not the coffee machines) and watched the second half drinking instant Nescafé
After the game I rented a piece o'crap Nepali mtn bike and rode an hour (10k) NE and out of of town past the end of Phewa Lake and down the river that drains the lake into the country. It took about 10 min to reach the end of the lake and the few fancy"beach resorts" and landing areas for all the paragliding tourists and then suddenly you are on terrible roads, along a lazy river biking through peaceful villages with women in red saris and gold jewelry tending water buffaloes and the rice paddies and men fishing with nets in dugout canoes or from the riverbank! AND almost no westerners. Was very similar to Sunderbans on the Bay of Bengal where I was with S, W and I last year-except there are no crocodiles or tigers to eat the villagers here!
Funny mix of tourists here in Lakeside. 1) the trekkers- 2 kinds: the well dressed ones from the big organized groups going around in herds and the 1-4 dirt sacks (now relatively clean) wandering around meeting up with old friends from the trail.
3) middle age western tourists, not trekking but here as part of a our of Nepal- some obviously wealthy, others expat wamderers
4) Nepali families at the lake to shop, stroll, get paddled around in boats and go to the temples
And they all mix together amidst the Nepalese music and trinket shops, tons of restaurants and guesthouses and trekking supply stores selling fake North Face and Mammut gear (by the way- my 400 Ruppee North Face pants finally split in half when I got here, but they lasted 3 months) and bars and dance clubs. All packed into about 1 km of lakefront real estate.
As an example- last night in about a 1 hr span I had an interesting conversation with a retired middle aged expat American couple from Kentucky and Hawaii who travel around for about 5 months and then settle somewhere for 6-12 months and are not very adventurous (non-Trekkers). An hour later I ws in the Ole Blues Bar having an interesting conversation with a scary looking, but friendly middle aged GIGANTIC, tattooed, biker with long straggly hair and beard from Jackson, Mississippi who has settled in here for the last 2 months and found a home and people he likes and respects.
Today I was a bit less of a slug. I was going to take a yoga class this mornong, but instead Had breakfast in the room while streaming the Notre Dame game and watching for,Shannon and the boys until they shut the power off at halftime. Found a coffee place with a generator to run the wifi (but not the coffee machines) and watched the second half drinking instant Nescafé
After the game I rented a piece o'crap Nepali mtn bike and rode an hour (10k) NE and out of of town past the end of Phewa Lake and down the river that drains the lake into the country. It took about 10 min to reach the end of the lake and the few fancy"beach resorts" and landing areas for all the paragliding tourists and then suddenly you are on terrible roads, along a lazy river biking through peaceful villages with women in red saris and gold jewelry tending water buffaloes and the rice paddies and men fishing with nets in dugout canoes or from the riverbank! AND almost no westerners. Was very similar to Sunderbans on the Bay of Bengal where I was with S, W and I last year-except there are no crocodiles or tigers to eat the villagers here!
Forgot to mention all the birds and that I forgot my binocs, but a bunch of raptors (I think kites and small falcon and maybe eagles) soaring in the updrafts with the paragliders and then tons of egrets, a heron, a swan (I think) and all,kinds of others.
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