Oct. 31, 2014. Sarangkot Downhill on a Bike

I took a cab at 5 AM to the top of Sarangkot to watch sunrise on the Annapurna range.  Thousands of others also had the same plan.  But I was not part of a tour group on a bus.

I took the wheels off my rental mountain bike and had it hauled with me...in a Ford Fiesta sized taxi......to close to the top of Sarangkot.

The hilltop reminded me of all the busses ..and the South Koreans, Chinese and Japanese....at Angkor.

But no worries, mates, I was not one of them......nor with them or around them for very long.  I had my mountain bike that the cab hauled to the top of the hill for $12.00.  The tourists paid much more and did not have the enjoyment of going down the Sarangkot hill that I did.  The top was about 2,000 feet above Pokhara.  It was a good downhill, but not anything like the Haleakalā downhill on Maui or the coast down to sea level from Volcano National Park on The Big Island.

Got lost going home...left the Pokhara map in my room....but tripped acoss a Tibetian Monestry and gift shops that supported the Monestry. Finally found the right place to buy a brass Nepali singing bowl for $16.00.   I have been looking for the right place to buy one for weeks now.

Went to two tailors and haggled over prices for clothes then finally commited.   Had a housecoat made of raw silk at one shop and some hemp shorts, a vest, two short sleeve shirts and a pair of lounge pants tailored for me at another.   They all fit great.

My bike, parked next to haulage for hire trucks, on the main drag in the real Pokhara, during the bicycle downhill.  

There were no Westeners here.  Everyone stared at me. "WTF is he taking a picture like that for?"

For my blog, thank you.

On the bike ride down the hill....

Machapucchhare, but not one of the 8000 meter peaks.

I really missed not having my map.    Finally ended up wanderering down some alleys on the mountain bike....

Back at Lakeside, I parked the bike at the hotel, showered and went walking.  After walking 20 minutes I stopped for a beer at a shoreside restaurant with a great view.

Tibetan refugees at the monestry where I bought the singing bowl.  Very friendly ladies that spoke  great English.  We talked for a while about Tibet and the Chinese occupation and then about what it is like to be a refugee with no status.  Tibet (China) will not allow them back to Tibet - even to visit relatives.  Since they are refugees, they hold no passport.  They cannot leave Nepal.  

They were sweet, friendly and stuck in Nepal.

Oct. 30, 2014. Pokhara.

Had a lazy day.  Set out walking and shopping.  Some of the shopkeepers now recognize me.  Came across sevral tailor shops and had some clothes custom made from hemp cloth that I will pick up tommow afternoon before I head back to Kathmandu.  

Bought a lined vest, 2 shirts,  a pair of shorts and a pair of long pants for lounging.  Also ordered a housecoat or bathrobe made of raw silk.  Really attractive cloth in the robe.  Will post pics after I pick everything up.

Took the bicycle out for a ride around town.  Will rise early and head to the top of a nearby hill named Sarangkot at 5 AM,  for sunrise over the Annapurna range - just to the north -  and hopefully with my bike in the backseat or on the roof of the taxi.  Plan to coast downhill then go to the market and do more shopping.

Oct. 29, 2014. Pokhara Walkabout.

By 9 AM most of the tourists and adventurers have departed Pokhara. The Europeans, the Chinese men that often dress like they are on safari, the Chinese women with sun hats, designer sunglasses and the ubiquitous SLR camera with a zoom lens hanging from their neck - their young girls with pink shoes and a pink hoodie with a western logo - like Abercrombie, Nike or Apple - and of course a pink suitcase - are intermixed with the young Australians and Americans - most of them have packed up their daypacks and headed out for a day of adventure.  The town is almost empty except for locals.  

You can go paragliding, ride in an ultralight, gho white water or lake kayaking, white water rafting, treking for anywhere between 1 to 25 days , do "The Circuit" or "The ABC", you can go for a mountain bike ride.   You can take a boat ride, fish or take a zip line ride down "One of the Longest Zip Lines in the World" or doubtlessly go on other adventures.

After the morning exodus, the city quiets down, there is much less truck and taxi traffic, far fewer motorcycles and there about 1/20 of the Westerners you would see at 5 PM.  You might even see a cow wandering down the street as you go for a morning walk.

No crowds at the zip lines, paragliding, whitewater rafting or kayaking for me, thank you.

I set out for a walkabout of the city.  

I wandered through the back streets and alleys of Pokhara.  Where the people who work in the shops, the bars, the restaurants and the adventure supply stores live on a daily basis with their families.  I watched dishes being washed on front porches, laundry being hung, porches being swept and children being given baths in a tub in the front yard.  The daily life of Pokhara.

I was intrigued by the new buildings being constructed - all by hand - pure manual labor in every step of construction.  Just like in Myanmar.  There were no cranes, no forklifts, no concrete mixers, no concrete pump trucks, no backhoes, no hoists.  

Scaffolds were all made of bamboo and there were no guardrails.  I watched as a man traversed a single plank spanning 6 or 7 feet, over 30 feet up. 'Bejeebers', that is dangerous.

All the work being performed was manual - on 3 to 4 story tall concrete, stone and brick buildings - where every tool, piece of construction material or whatever else was needed to build a 4 story building was either carried, mixed, hauled, installed, uplifted, transported or lowered by hand.  Often by women.

I walked for several hours and saw 1 or 2 Westerners.   I was on a less pretentious adventure.

I was politely and graciously invited inside a bamboo gate to watch and photograph two young women - 14 or 16 years old -  hauling baskets full of bricks on their back - with the head strap used to carry the weight.   

Other women at another construction site would laboriously and methodically make trip after trip, hauling 25 to 30 kilos of gravel that would be mixed with portland cement to make brick or stone mortar.

I stopped again and watched two young men - weighing maybe 105 pounds - carry 100 pound bags of portland cement on their backs - one after another - up three stories in a building under construction. 

I watched as two men carried 50 foot lengths of rebar - bowed in half - from a truck to ta building - wearing sandals. 

The rebar delivery truck.

Everyone was wearing sandals...even me.

Another woman squatted and mixed portland cement, sand and small gravel for the mortar for a stone wall, carefully ensuring she removed the larger, golf ball sized rocks that were added to the portland cement for bulk and to the reduce cost per bag.

I stopped to watch young children - maybe three years old - play together and ride bicycles with training wheels.   When I stopped, laughed and smiled as I watched the children play, their parents, sitting on the front porch of a small home, smiled at me. 

Namaste.

They knew and I knew - what each other wanted to say.  Not a word was spoken, but we understood each other.

It was a special moment.  I was out of my comfort zone as a non parent, but strangely, I was more comfortable than in the US. 

In the US, you would run the risk that an overzealous parent would accuse you of _____________ (fill in the blank).

I motioned for the children to ride in a circle for me and they dutifully obeyed.  It was a one ring circus show for the westen traveler - or the tourist (gasp) - the financial engine of most of Nepal. 

I said and showed Namaste to the young children and they returned Namaste to me.

Overall, Nepal is an extremely friendly, scenic, safe and inexpensive travel destination.

My day was so much more enjoyable than standing in a que for a zip line ride or sitting in a group safety lesson about a ride on a paraglider - along with loud, obnoxious, Chinese tourists, all expecting to be pampered and taking dozens of staged photographs with mega cameras.

I was inside the bowels the city - fortunately, almost everyone else was on the outside.

Oct. 28, 2014. Traveler Quotes from the Web.

 

We wanderers, ever seeking the lonelier way, begin no day where we have ended another day; and no sunrise finds us where sunset left us.” 

― Khalil Gibran, The Prophet

“Please be a traveler, not a tourist. Try new things, meet new people, and look beyond what’s right in front of you. Those are the keys to understanding this amazing world we live in.” 
― Andrew Zimmern, Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre World of Food: Brains, Bugs, and Blood Sausage.

“Worship Allah and associate nothing with Him, and to parents do good, and to relatives, orphans, the needy, the near neighbor, the neighbor farther away, the companion at your side, the traveler, and those whom your right hands possess (slaves). Indeed, Allah does not like those who are proud and boastful.
[Al-Qur'an Surah Nisa 4:36]” 

“Just as a painter paints,
and a ponderer ponders,
a writer writes,
and a wanderer wanders.” 
― Roman Payne

Ten real differences between travellers and tourists

BY VICKI JEFFELS · MARCH 14, 2012

1. Packing – travellers carry little and take away lots. Tourists carry lots and take away little. 
2. Distance travelled can demonstrate a stark difference in approach. Travellers’ journeys can last a life time. Tourists’ journeys are a 7 day search for full English.
3. Tourists are all about the people they meet. Travellers are all about the people they are becoming.

4. Tourists’ holidays come to an end, travellers’ journeys never end. In some ways the effect of a place, the experience itself never pales into insignificance.

5. Tourists go to see something or cross off a bucket list, travellers go to be somewhere.
6. Tourists want to see places through their own culturally rose-tinted glasses. They don’t want to be surprised, they want to be entertained or amused. Even if it is to peer at locals living in relative poverty. Tourists want everything translated. They want ample deck chairs, happy hours at 5pm and a local ‘Nag’s Head’ – even in the heart of Bangkok. Travellers want to be educated about other lives, about themselves, their life and their place in the world.
7. Tourists colonise with their cultural imperialism or their religion.  Travellers meld into the crowd and hope to learn something new that may challenge their preconceived notions of life and lifestyle.
8. Travellers learn more from the things that go wrong on their trip than from things that ‘go right’. Tourists sue.
9. Tourists follow maps and guides preferring to discover through someone else’s recommendations, travellers go off piste. Sometimes getting lost is the best way to discover something surprising that challenges you and your view of the world.
10. Tourists often cannot wait to go home and show off their suntan, travellers often never want to leave, or never want to stop travelling.

“There’s something profoundly intense and intoxicating about friendship found en route. It’s the bond that arises from being thrust into uncomfortable circumstances, and the vulnerability of trusting others to navigate those situations. It’s the exhilaration of meeting someone when we are our most alive selves, breathing new air, high on life-altering moments. It’s the discovery of the commonality of the world’s people and the attendant rejection of prejudices. It’s the humbling experience of being suspicious of a stranger who then extends a great kindness. It’s the astonishment of learning from those we set out to teach. It’s the intimacy of sharing small spaces, the recognition of a kindred spirit across the globe.

It’s the travel relationship, and it can only call itself family.” 
― Lavinia Spalding, The Best Women's Travel Writing, Volume 8: True Stories from Around the World

“A traveler enters the world into which he travels, but a tourist brings his own world with him and never sees the one he's in.” 
― Thomas H. Cook, The Crime of Julian Wells

The question I find myself asking is whether there is a difference to being a traveller and a tourist. If so, which is the more appealing? Which suits you as a person?

 Travellers                                                                                       Tourists

       Likes                           Dislikes                               Likes                              Dislikes

People	Tourist Attractions	Impressive Hotels	Bugs
Trading Stories	Buildings of note	Gift Shops	Beggars
Local Food	Cable TV	Organised Tours	Unheard of food
Cheap Local Clothes	Organised Tours	English Speakers	Carrying things
Speaking Local Lingo	Constantly Moving	Taking Photos	Wasting time
Hot Showers & Wi-Fi	Ignorant Tourists	Museums	Smelly Backpackers

The Appeal of Lifestyle Travel

Being a traveller is great if you want to immerse yourself in other cultures. While you have been brought up in an interesting country (or two), you are open to learning from people who technologically seem more primitive, yet when you delve deeper, appear more secure and happy.

The appeal of being a traveller is that you can soak up the mundane and day to day of other worlds, without the need to rush from site to site or tour to tour.

You know that all modern economies rely on cash flow to support cultures, be them 1st, 2nd or otherwise. Treating people with the same respect everywhere is paramount to you understanding this system. Your expectations are limited to expecting an experience, and being present to enjoying it.

Being a traveller appeals if you make yourself time rich and cash or credit rich too.

Post By John Leonard

A blogger.

Oct. 26, 27, 2014. Photos of the Day. Pokhara.

The owner of Billy Bunter's Restaurant and Bar, Mr. Chau Bdr. Gurung.  We talked for almost an hour.  Good food, stiff drinks.

Fresh fish dinner for $4.00 + 10%.  My bill ended up being much more......$17.60........after adding the three really stiff marguaritas and the 10% gratuity.  Billy Bunter's Restaurant and Bar.

Masala and pan.  Delicious.  Billy Bunter's Restaurant and Bar.

From hotel room balcony.

From the rooftop of my hotel.

I saw this man chip, chip, chipping away at pieces of slate in an alley, making the art being dispayed.  I bought one that says "Namaste" for an unhaggled price of $6.00.  

I will put it on my front door.  I seldom haggle with artists selling their own work.

Breakfast, Lakeside, Pokhara, Nepal.  $5.15.

At the first bus stop on the way to Pokhara. 

 $1.50, no tax, no VAT.