The past week has been half-interesting and half-frustrating. I’ll begin with the interesting. This is Joylani and my first time to Nepal and experiencing/learning about it has been interesting. Although it shares many similarities with India, a few subtle differences were evident from the moment we crossed the border. From the 15-minute time change to the happier Nepali border officials, Nepal is different. Sure the religion (80% Hindu) and traditional dress (saris and kurtas) are the same, the language (Nepali) and ethnic makeup (Indo-Aryan and Mongoloid) is different. Nepal seems to be generally cleaner and nicer than India, this could either be due to the fact that we’ve been confined to uber-touristy Pokhara or that Nepal is less developed than India. We’ve tried to get out and see a little too though. One day we walked north along Fewa Tal, just to get out of Lakeside (the touristy area of Pokhara).

Fewa Tal, the lake.

Another day, we took a bus into town to run some errands.

Around Pokhara.

And yesterday, we took a boat across the lake and hiked up to the World Peace Pagoda.

And now for the frustrating. I actually typed out two paragraphs of the frustrating just now, but have deleted them in favor of something shorter. Joylani and I have both been sick for the past week, our hotel owner lied several times to us and was rude to Joylani, our trekking agency was super-shady, and pretty much everyone in Pokhara makes us feel like nothing more than walking dollars. I don’t like being distrustful of everyone we meet here, but we’ve had really bad experiences with people so far and the past week in Pokhara has left a really bad taste in my mouth. The silver lining? We changed hotels, changed trekking agencies/guides, and leaving on a 3-week trek tomorrow!