Kicking ass in new clothes

September 13

Apparently Saturdays are holidays. Nevertheless I managed to, with the aid of Bikram, the INFO Nepal programme manager whom I met this morning, have a tailor make me a monk outfit. Dark orange with light brown stripes, a knee-long dress with matching trousers. All together that was Rs 2300, and according to todays exchange rate that is about E 24.- . Then we went and bought a cheap set, around E 13,- (Rs 1200) which needed severe bargaining which was awesome. I even offered the shop lady my gray shirt to bring it down to 1000, but she didn't want it so I jokingly threatened to leave it there unless she brought the price down :p. After a quick stop back at the hotel we went for a bite to eat - delicious rice, mutton, dahl baat and vegetables. I'm sure I can get used to this! A friend of Bikrams, a journalist, joined us at the table and when I told him of my Gurkha ambitions he said he would try and find out whether I can sit down for a talk with a British ex-Gurkha officer, as there are many around the area. Walking around this area (Thamel) is a real pass time. Same shops, same food, same people - including child beggars.

In the first instance this kid came up to me and when I refused him money he acted like he wanted to pet my head - which isn't unusual to me because it's shaven. Instead he slapped the back of it, much to the amusement of his homies. Aight... I had a good old laugh too :)! However, on our way back, once I was wearing my Nepali gear, he didn't recognize me so I got close, said a nice 'howdy' and whooped the little bastard upside the head - again much to the amusement of all.

He then hugged my arm and tried to cuddle me but out love/hate relationship was stopped short 'coz they wouldn't let him into the hotel. I decided to walk into the internet cafe next door so I could post my first messages, but on my first attempt they had just had a power cut so only the PC at the reception was working (battery operated). There were two young men behind the counter - using a chat programme and the first thing I noticed was that the message that one was typing contained a link to Reality Kings.com! For those who don't know of it.... pornography. So I pointed and said it out loud - they both blushed and then we all giggled our asses off. Imagine that! Awesome... So I told them I would be back in an hour, walked back to the hotel and sat writing in my journal on the roof deck. This is a different hotel to last night. I'm going to be here for 3-4 days (training) before I go to Langtang for two weeks and then to Pokhara for another two. This is because there are no orphanage projects in Langtang. Instead I'll be teaching at a school in an extremely remote area at first and then in an orphanage later on in Pokhara. In between I might have the opportunity to post another message but you never know. Either way I have my journal, so I'll keep track of what goes on.

Please send a nice response... the first few days are easy but after a few weeks I might need to be reminded of the existence of Europe. My training starts tomorrow so right now I'm going to study a bit. I will try and come on again in 2 days to update, but after that it's byebye see y'all. Also, I'll make sure to post some pictures. When I run out of space here, there are two options - 1) I post them on bloke.hyves.nl and 2) someone is kind enough to donate me more picture space on this website.

PS. for the newcomers - my blog from the Bahamas is still online in case you want to read some more crazy stories... yoga.waarbenjij.nu

Laters!