Another one rides the bus
Well, we're nearly out of Nepal, back in Kathmandu after a nasty 9 hour bus from Pokhara (the checkpoints were out in force). Tomorrow we should be able to get an Indian visa, then fly to Mumbai - I'll believe it when we're there.
I mentioned earlier about the $250 average annual wage, it definitely results in a very cheap country. Its a sign that you've really acclimatised when you view 100 rupee notes as big money. Can it really cost that much back at home?
The food has been really good so far, except for the Nepali food (that's Dhal Bhat- rice, potatos in curry-powdered water, and lentils) which is dire. Tibetan momos are great. I'm not entirely sure what "massed potatos" are but they sound interesting. A few of the restaurants have picked up on the organic craze ("...and our chickens are vegetarian"), I can't blame them although I suspect there isn't a chemical fertiliser in the entire country, and the farmers would use them if they could get their hands on them. All those dietary fads saying avoid processed food - well, try anywhere in Asia.
English is the only language to travel on. Its got that critical density, where Thai's and Vietnamese learn it because that's what all Europeans can speak, and no one can speak Chinese so between them and the Americans, its spoken everywhere. Badly. Most countries have newspapers in English, e.g. the Himalayan, the Times of India, the Cambodia Post, Buenos Aires Herald etc. Most of the internal gossipy political stuff on this blog has come straight from those papers.
Stories about the West take a very different angle to back at home. At home, there are certain concepts that are taken as given, like nuclear proliferation is bad, something must be done about terrorism preferably with a huge army because only the good guys can afford trillion-dollar armies, free trade is good but globilisation is bad etc. Out here its very much a "this country can do this, and does" - Iran getting nukes? Well, its obviously developed enough for the technology, maybe it deserves it - it'll act as a counterweight to Israel. Not one country has cared about globilisation; they all want to buy new stuff, and how can you yourself lose your culture? You'll still think the way you always did on the important stuff.
George "God Told Me To Do It" W is plastered everywhere, as is the plot to bomb Al-Jazeera HQ by a terrorist organisation (well, they inspire fear and terror, is that not the hallmark of terrorists?). I think Dave Barry's got the idea, we need a dinosaur breeding program immediately to alleviate the oil shortage. Editorials from American newspapers - Washington Post and NY Times- are often repeated, I liked the one about America "picking up the defense tab for the rest of the world". Its not clear exactly who feels safer with America having more guns than any civilised nation - certainly every country I've travelled to has been decidedly edgy that a fundamentalist Christian state might take it upon itself to, say, re-colonise a continent or invade under some dubious pretense. They feel they've tried the West's advise- open up the markets, let us sell you beads for gold, etc- and have ended up decidely second place.
I'm not saying any of this is right, nor that I agree with it. Its been debated endlessly, the only thing I have to add are the opinions from other countries - whatever you may say about the perfect reporting of CNN ("...and we have a fact. Yes, just in, a Fact. We now go live to the scene, where a reporter will repeat said fact until the next advert break"), Fox news and BBC they are the American/British view. The sheer number of opposed views you encounter really makes you think.
But that's not to say anyone else is any better. The RNA here has casually gunned down suspected Maoists in broad daylight, in a deliberate attempt to strike terror into the hearts and minds of terrorists. The comission kickback culture here is awful. If anyone befriends you, or suggests a hotel or restaurant, or pretty much says anything you can't take it as the price will double and 50% goes to the tout. It destroys any trust between you and the next person. Everyone lies about prices, and trying to extract the actual price out of a seller takes extreme patience. They know the price of ignorance, and they'd rather not give it away for free. This is all peanuts compared to the big stuff: governments and charities. The Nepalese dream is to get a job with so much authority that you can complicate the regulations to a point where people will pay comissions to speed things up (a No Politician Left Behind program). Everything is deferred upwards, and if it's not the King's fault, maybe it was the will of god. Charities aren't much better, most of the international ones end up paying huge amounts to international companies to build huge projects that fail once the initial investment is gone. Or medium amounts to Nepali projects that get siphoned off into the pockets of anyone running it. It seems that, under Hinduism, if you're poor or female the best you can do is obey your superiors, die, and be reborn into a higher caste. Bored fatalism is evident on the roads, where people appear to walk down the middle with their eyes shut, on the principle that if others see them, its their responsibility to avoid them and vice versa. The roads are ludricously polluted due to the petrol being watered down with kerosene - there are inspectors to prevent this, they all get bribed. The rice fields all have apartment blocks in them, the water supply has given out in entire city blocks, and the population is set to double in the next 30 years. The trade situation is nasty, with India being so huge they can dictate their terms - its called asymetrical negotiation out here, and everyone aspires to be the America of it. For example, days after Kodak anounced plans for a huge plant in Nepal, India slaps a 100% tax on film imports. Kodak cancels the plant and it ends up in India. Its not all bad though; the 100,000 Sherpas are really cheerful and friendly.
Nepali adverts are also hilarious. They really give the lie of all advertising - hey, if you had fairer lighter skin you'd be going out with beautiful girls! I want my colgate back at home to have Super Shakti formulisation, I've got no idea what it does but it sounds good. "Its your ambition - make it big" next to a whiskey bottle. Union Jack flags are everywhere - its either from the football (English league is everywhere) or the royalty. The body language here is great. I like the taxi drivers - you ask how much to the airport, they mumble a ludricous price. You say "how much?" - they scoff, wave their hand downwards, break eye contact and say "come with me". You stay where you are and repeat the question. They mimic a Shakespearean actor doing a "who is this fool who dares to question me when I'm doing him a huge favour?" and then you walk off and the price halves. Next second - they're fine, no trace of disaproval, no hint of annoyance. Prices also vary widely between the start and end of a service, e.g. they'll say a phone call to England is 30 a minute, you see a figure on the phone skyrocket and ask- is that the price? They reply, no, no, no, don't worry. You get suspicious, end the call and what do they charge you? 120 a minute, 400% of what they said. Its not a lie, its a different definition of the truth to one that benefits the teller.
Its not all that bad, these are the worst examples I could come up with. Most of the time the service is ok to excellent, and the price really is cheap. And that's cheap by Asian standards. Nearly all of the rip-offs are for a dollar or less, and considering e.g. BR, BT, landlords and eating out back home, they've probably added up to less than a round in a pub. And the mountains are astonishing. And besides all this stuff going on, due to all the face-saving by the microsecond activity, you feel safe.
Next country!
The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one's own country as a foreign land. ~G.K. Chesterton
I mentioned earlier about the $250 average annual wage, it definitely results in a very cheap country. Its a sign that you've really acclimatised when you view 100 rupee notes as big money. Can it really cost that much back at home?
The food has been really good so far, except for the Nepali food (that's Dhal Bhat- rice, potatos in curry-powdered water, and lentils) which is dire. Tibetan momos are great. I'm not entirely sure what "massed potatos" are but they sound interesting. A few of the restaurants have picked up on the organic craze ("...and our chickens are vegetarian"), I can't blame them although I suspect there isn't a chemical fertiliser in the entire country, and the farmers would use them if they could get their hands on them. All those dietary fads saying avoid processed food - well, try anywhere in Asia.
English is the only language to travel on. Its got that critical density, where Thai's and Vietnamese learn it because that's what all Europeans can speak, and no one can speak Chinese so between them and the Americans, its spoken everywhere. Badly. Most countries have newspapers in English, e.g. the Himalayan, the Times of India, the Cambodia Post, Buenos Aires Herald etc. Most of the internal gossipy political stuff on this blog has come straight from those papers.
Stories about the West take a very different angle to back at home. At home, there are certain concepts that are taken as given, like nuclear proliferation is bad, something must be done about terrorism preferably with a huge army because only the good guys can afford trillion-dollar armies, free trade is good but globilisation is bad etc. Out here its very much a "this country can do this, and does" - Iran getting nukes? Well, its obviously developed enough for the technology, maybe it deserves it - it'll act as a counterweight to Israel. Not one country has cared about globilisation; they all want to buy new stuff, and how can you yourself lose your culture? You'll still think the way you always did on the important stuff.
George "God Told Me To Do It" W is plastered everywhere, as is the plot to bomb Al-Jazeera HQ by a terrorist organisation (well, they inspire fear and terror, is that not the hallmark of terrorists?). I think Dave Barry's got the idea, we need a dinosaur breeding program immediately to alleviate the oil shortage. Editorials from American newspapers - Washington Post and NY Times- are often repeated, I liked the one about America "picking up the defense tab for the rest of the world". Its not clear exactly who feels safer with America having more guns than any civilised nation - certainly every country I've travelled to has been decidedly edgy that a fundamentalist Christian state might take it upon itself to, say, re-colonise a continent or invade under some dubious pretense. They feel they've tried the West's advise- open up the markets, let us sell you beads for gold, etc- and have ended up decidely second place.
I'm not saying any of this is right, nor that I agree with it. Its been debated endlessly, the only thing I have to add are the opinions from other countries - whatever you may say about the perfect reporting of CNN ("...and we have a fact. Yes, just in, a Fact. We now go live to the scene, where a reporter will repeat said fact until the next advert break"), Fox news and BBC they are the American/British view. The sheer number of opposed views you encounter really makes you think.
But that's not to say anyone else is any better. The RNA here has casually gunned down suspected Maoists in broad daylight, in a deliberate attempt to strike terror into the hearts and minds of terrorists. The comission kickback culture here is awful. If anyone befriends you, or suggests a hotel or restaurant, or pretty much says anything you can't take it as the price will double and 50% goes to the tout. It destroys any trust between you and the next person. Everyone lies about prices, and trying to extract the actual price out of a seller takes extreme patience. They know the price of ignorance, and they'd rather not give it away for free. This is all peanuts compared to the big stuff: governments and charities. The Nepalese dream is to get a job with so much authority that you can complicate the regulations to a point where people will pay comissions to speed things up (a No Politician Left Behind program). Everything is deferred upwards, and if it's not the King's fault, maybe it was the will of god. Charities aren't much better, most of the international ones end up paying huge amounts to international companies to build huge projects that fail once the initial investment is gone. Or medium amounts to Nepali projects that get siphoned off into the pockets of anyone running it. It seems that, under Hinduism, if you're poor or female the best you can do is obey your superiors, die, and be reborn into a higher caste. Bored fatalism is evident on the roads, where people appear to walk down the middle with their eyes shut, on the principle that if others see them, its their responsibility to avoid them and vice versa. The roads are ludricously polluted due to the petrol being watered down with kerosene - there are inspectors to prevent this, they all get bribed. The rice fields all have apartment blocks in them, the water supply has given out in entire city blocks, and the population is set to double in the next 30 years. The trade situation is nasty, with India being so huge they can dictate their terms - its called asymetrical negotiation out here, and everyone aspires to be the America of it. For example, days after Kodak anounced plans for a huge plant in Nepal, India slaps a 100% tax on film imports. Kodak cancels the plant and it ends up in India. Its not all bad though; the 100,000 Sherpas are really cheerful and friendly.
Nepali adverts are also hilarious. They really give the lie of all advertising - hey, if you had fairer lighter skin you'd be going out with beautiful girls! I want my colgate back at home to have Super Shakti formulisation, I've got no idea what it does but it sounds good. "Its your ambition - make it big" next to a whiskey bottle. Union Jack flags are everywhere - its either from the football (English league is everywhere) or the royalty. The body language here is great. I like the taxi drivers - you ask how much to the airport, they mumble a ludricous price. You say "how much?" - they scoff, wave their hand downwards, break eye contact and say "come with me". You stay where you are and repeat the question. They mimic a Shakespearean actor doing a "who is this fool who dares to question me when I'm doing him a huge favour?" and then you walk off and the price halves. Next second - they're fine, no trace of disaproval, no hint of annoyance. Prices also vary widely between the start and end of a service, e.g. they'll say a phone call to England is 30 a minute, you see a figure on the phone skyrocket and ask- is that the price? They reply, no, no, no, don't worry. You get suspicious, end the call and what do they charge you? 120 a minute, 400% of what they said. Its not a lie, its a different definition of the truth to one that benefits the teller.
Its not all that bad, these are the worst examples I could come up with. Most of the time the service is ok to excellent, and the price really is cheap. And that's cheap by Asian standards. Nearly all of the rip-offs are for a dollar or less, and considering e.g. BR, BT, landlords and eating out back home, they've probably added up to less than a round in a pub. And the mountains are astonishing. And besides all this stuff going on, due to all the face-saving by the microsecond activity, you feel safe.
Next country!
The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one's own country as a foreign land. ~G.K. Chesterton
posted by Matt and Lizzie at
10:59 AM
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