Nepal Day 10: Nayapul

27 Dec 2009

We again got up early in the morning, but we set off later than usual by about half an hour.  Abi had some emotional issues to settle with one of the Singaporeans girls.  And another Japanese, the one who can speak Chinese, told us of a rumour that there might be a strike at Pokhara today.  This meant there would be problems for us to find transport back to Pokhara.

As we set off, a group of 5 Korean college students (3 guys, 2 girls) plus a lady lecture also set off at around the same time.  We walked the same route to Nayapul.  But they are younger and more energetic, as we stopped to settle Abi's emotional problem, they already quietly overtook us and walked way way ahead.  By the time we stopped for our tea break, we could see none but one male student.  He didn't look very good, exhausted, and didn't seem to know the route ahead.  Resham pointed the right way for him, and he walked lonely ahead.  Afterwards, we caught up with him again.  This time, he looked very lost, and he couldn't understand English well.  With his limited English, he told us he could only speak Korean and Japanese.  For safety reasons, we asked him to join us, at least then there was a guide available to walk the correct route.  And then he could talk to Yoichi, who then translated his words to something we could understand.

By lunch, we managed to catch up with the Korean group and handed this lost student back to them.  Y and the student had a good chat along the way, and took pictures in front of their respective country's national flag for memory sake.  It is good to see the two arch rivals have something more harmonious between the younger generation.

The route to Nayapul was boring, and when we reached there at around 3pm, it was even more boring.  Indeed there was a strike, and no taxi was available to bring us back to Pokhara.  Everybody was sitting there waiting, with nothing to do.

Y was the most adventurous, he went to play with a Nepali kid.

 

 

Sure Y can be a very good father in the future :D

Everybody was just waiting and waiting for 5pm to come, which was time the strike said to be over and taxis can come to rescue of us tourists again.  We met a young lady from Hong Kong.  She said she arrived in Kathmandu when it was on strike for 3 days (so what our guide told us was true, not some scam).   No business was open for the 3 days.  She had to walk to all those places of interest in Kathmandu, and could only have her meals in the guest house.  It was terrible.

5pm finally came, and we didn't get a taxi.  Instead, Resham & Abi managed to sneak us into a mini-bus meant for the locals.  But too bad, two Caucasian ladies also sat in our bus.  That caused an uproar among the taxi drivers.  They blocked our way.  After a fierce argument, they agreed to let us go, but the driver of the mini bus must charge the two Caucasian ladies a much higher price.

We got back into Pokhara at around 7.30-8.00pm, dumped our luggage to our guest house, and then we quickly went to the nearest Chinese restaurant, the Lakeside Garden Restaurant, for our dinner.  WJ & I would give a treat to Abi, Resham & also Y.

Everybody was in very happy mode.  We finally achieved what we set out to achieve and we came back safe and sound.  Many bottles of beer were consumed.  Y, being a Japanese, was surprising poor at drinking.  Half a mug of beer down, his face was ready as red as Guan Gong.  Haha... Don't know who is Guan Gong?  Mmmh, go to learn some Chinese folklores :D

You can find a complete list of blog entries about my Nepal trip here.