Laura's Year in Asia = Fun Stories

So after the trek, we arrived in Pokhara a little ahead of schedule, so we had some time too kill. We booked a rafting trip and decided to see the sights....that is see the sights Jusfa styles.

First we wandered around town gathering provisions. Fresh baguette sandwiches, Frooti mango nectar, Fantas, cookies, bombay mix and some water. Then we went down to the lake and rented a party boat. (think Osoyoos in the summer styles) The best part of this boat was we didn't have to paddle around like the other suckeers, ours was a foot-paddle boat. We nicknamed it B.Lassie (Banana Lassie) and spend the next 4 hours chilling and eating in Phewa Tal watching the Annapurna mountain ranges still taunting us. We also hiked up (as if we didn't have enough already) to the World Peace Pagoda that overlooks Pokhara and enjoyed the views. (check Justina's blog...if she ever updates...for pics)

Then we went on a 2 day rafting trip that ended up more aptly called a "eating trip" because we spent more time prepping food and eating it than rafting. There were some rapids, but nothing like the rafting in Nepal we'd heard about. The night we spent camping on the river banks was fun, we had some incredible Dal Bhat and beer for dinner, and then retired to what could be called a tent, but more sutabily titled a piece of wet fabric proped up with a rafting paddle on a soaking wet ground sheet with no working door or closures on the sides. It was a wet and uncomfortable night we spent, but of course spent it all laughnig at how blog-worthy it all was.

Back to Pokhara to chill and do nothing but read books and drink lassis. Caught a bus to Kathmandu where we resumed right were we left off and spent our last few days shopping our faces off. And I finally got the courage to order a 'sizzler' for dinner and braved the huge embarassment of it being delivered full of steam and loud sizzes....love being the focus of the restaurant.

We awoke on the morning of the 8th to hear that the Maoists and Nepalese gov't had reached a settlement after 72h of deliberation. Didn't get too much of the details, but basically means the Maoists are now a political party with full electoral powers. Plus the king of Nepal might be outta a job after all is said and done, no hard feelings though. On our way to the airport there were people everywhere reading newspapers, too bad we had to leave the country (peace = no fun for us) I'd have liked to see the next few days reaction. Speaking of leaving the country....Kathmandu airport is crazy. Boring crazy. I basically stood in as a Nepalese Immigration officer while we waited for the airport to open...played stampy-stamp! Then we had some extra rupees to spend, and went wild buying the Economist, Newsweek, and the most decadent treats we could imagine. Toblerones and pringles. Wasting money in overpriced airport stores is fun. Our flight on Druk Air (Royal Bhutan Airlines) was better than expected, coming from a country like Bhutan (check out their flag...someone was drunk!). We arrived in Dehli and boy-o-boy did we dominate. It's like night and day compared to the last time we were here. Train tickets, left baggage, hippie pants and new shoes are just some of the things we accomplished in less than 4 hours.

Off to Japiur now, the pink city!!