Dickered for a taxi ride from Durbar Square in Bhaktapur to Thamel. I am getting comfortable doing the "Nepali Dance" over every - and I mean almost every - financial transaction. I told the cab driver I would pay 600 rupies....he wanted 1500. We danced and he countered with 1300, then 1200 rupies. I walked away and he chased me. I ignored him. He yelled "1000 rupees" at me. A few seconds later I heard "900". Finally, after I had walked 100 feet or more, ignoring him, he ran in front of me and held up 6 fingers. I nodded, smiled, turned around, walked back to his cab and got in. It was a 45 minute taxi ride for less than $6.00.
In Thamel I checked into the same hotel. This time I played the experienced traveler and got the same room as before, except this time I paid $1.90 less, or $8.10 a night. I knew what to expect, how the shower works - or doesn't - and where to sit in the lobby to get a strong inet signal. I have stayed in worse places, but seldom have I paid less. It is really not a bad hotel and the location is central in Thamel. The main reason I returned to Thamel is that it is only a 10 minute walk to the bus station.
I did some shopping and saw a man I had seen two days ago, during my lunch, the day before my grueling bike ride. I first saw him when I was sitting eating lunch with Mandy, the mother of three, that is on a trek and in Nepal for a month.
The man had a bicycle rickshaw and stood with his bike just outside the window of the restaurant continiously attempting to make eye contact with me as Mandy and I talked over lunch. He wanted to take me for a ride. I ignored him, but he stood outside the window for at least 15 minutes hoping I would nod affirmatively and take a ride.
Tonight, I again saw him. I recognized him - he recognized me. I asked how much for a half hour ride in his rickshaw. He said 500 rupies. I said 400 only because I knew he would accept my offer, it was more than fair, and I wanted to ride around Kathmandu in a rickshaw.
We departed. My head barely fit under the cover and the seat felt like it was made for a man half my size, which it was.
He took me to stupas, monuments, into Hindu prayer houses - all places I either would not have found or would not have entered.
Time passed. He said "One hour OK"? I responded with " Same price"? He agreed and took me to more stupas, the city square - also called Durbar Square just like Bhaktapur.
Time passed. I saw some very interesting things. I started wondering how this would all play out.......
At one point he asked how many kilos I weighed. What country was I from? I knew that he would ask for more money since we had been out for over an hour and he was pedalling around a heavy American. Americans have money and are often inexperienced and naive street negotiators.
We returned to Thamel and the dance began. He said, "We out long time. Not 30 minutes". He pulled a cheap digital watch with a broken strap out of his pocket and showed it to me. I looked at the timer I had set on my iPhone 5s. We had been gone an hour and a half.
He said I owed him "$50.00 US dollars" or 5000 rupies!! I howled in his face. Nowhere near the 400 rupies we agreed upon at the outset. We argued. We haggled. He begged me. I insisted that I would never pay what he was asking. He insisted on 5000 rupees. I told him that was rediculious. He offered to accept 4000, then 3000 rupees. I held my ground. He said we would take 2000 rupees and again pleaded with me. We both insisted. I finally paid him 600 rupees and turned and walked away. I heard him say "Namaste". Such is the Nepali dance.
I did get some neat t-shirts - custom made - tonight, at a very reasonable price ($4.00 or $5.00 each) with minimal dickering.
Nice looking custom shirts for next week's trip over the Himalayas and into Tibet.
I also ordered some that say "Around the World - 101 Days".
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