Meet me at the Amsterdam Cafe

For the last few days we have been in a town called Pokhara that is right on a lake called Fewa.  Every person in Nepal that we have talked to has asked us if we have been there, so I was really looking forward to going.  It’s a five hour drive and the first 40 kilometers or so is through a crowded and winding mountain pass.  It was a huge adrenaline rush looking off the edge of cliffs that went down hundreds of feet, and watching as cars narrowly missing other cars as they passed traffic.  We even saw a truck that had rolled over the edge of the road and rolled down to the next part.  Luckily it seemed like no one was hurt, and some workers had already started unloading the contents of the truck into another truck to keep it moving.   I will admit I got nervous after that but then I realized if I was going to die in a car crash in a random highway in Nepal then I was meant to go out like that.  So I just put in my head phones turned up my music and enjoyed the scenery.  The country side of Nepal is absolutely breathtaking.  There and huge rolling hills covered in lush green trees, stepped rice paddies, and a river followed the road almost the entire way.  I was snapping pictures through the window like a good little tourist the entire way.  When we got to Pokhara it was dark so the only glimpse of the lake we could get was the lights on the other side reflected on the water’s surface.  But I was immediately struck by the calm and quiet of the city compared to Kathmandu.  I like big city hustle and bustle, but at times Kathmandu can almost suffocate you with it, so this was a welcome change.  We had a quick dinner where we watched a “cultural show”.  At the end the performers invited the audience on stage to dance with them; this is when I took a well timed smoke break.  But when I saw that Sean was the only one that was going on stage I decided I couldn’t leave him hanging like that so I jumped up with him.  I was expecting some sort of direction on moves but they just went right into it so I did the same.  It wasn’t my finest dancing, and I’m almost positive that we were being filmed by someone in the group.  Whatever it was fun.  I also managed to get Shohba and Jill on stage so at least we weren’t the only ones looking goofy.  I think I saw Jill flip me off at one point during the dancing.  After dinner we all went to bed.  The next day I woke up and went to the upstairs sitting area to see the view and I was blown away.  Fewa Lake is amazing!  I ran downstairs ate breakfast as quickly as I could and headed towards the lake for a walk.  I saw people fishing, painting and sanding canoes, water buffaloes living up to their name and even some graffiti making fun of white tourists. After that I headed towards some of the shops and bought a really nice brand name trekking bag for around 20 USD.  Not a bad deal.  I also got a really cool tattoo of the “Buddha eyes”.  They are always on the top of the Buddhist temples and if I had to make a comparison, it would be the equivalent of a Christian cross.  I could be completely wrong on that comparison so don’t kill me if I’m wrong.  Smart of me getting a tattoo I don’t know the meaning of, huh?  The next few days we were mostly allowed to walk around Pokhara.  Which meant a lot of shopping, but I was able to get most of it out of the way there.  I have now been into about a million shops that all have the same things.  Other that the shopping we made a few really cool stops in the Pokhara area.  On the second day we visited the largest private hospital and medical school in the region.  We got a tour from a doctor that showed us all of the departments and the school.  I will never complain about hospitals in the US ever again.  Enough said.  But it was incredibly interesting to hear that even though it was a private hospital it would still provide service to people if they couldn’t pay.  We also visited an orphanage called “Tiny Hands”.  Me and Sean played soccer with the boys, and got destroyed.  It got to a point where they had to separate me and Sean to make things fair.  It was fun though.  We have met a lot of kids who have been through extreme struggles in their lives during this trip.  But they show so much courage and strength just in being normal kids.  I find myself getting upset about some stupid thing from my childhood that doesn’t even matter.  These kids have been through serious shit and they don’t let it stop them from being happy normal people.  It’s inspiring.  We talked about sports they play and professional teams that they like, and I left there really wanting to come back again.  I hope that I can someday.  We also hiked to the World Peace Stupa; which is located at the top of the world.  Look that thing up it’s really beautiful.  We’ve also got an interesting group dynamic going after Pokhara, i.e. the boys are sick of the girls complaining and the girls are sick of us being guys.  It is a very brother sister relationship.  I get annoyed for a second but then I forget about it when I'm laughing with that person five minutes later.  I’ll leave it at that, it’s a long post and I’m sick of typing.