Nepal :)

What do I tell you about this place? Except that it's beautiful. There are traffic jams everywhere on the narrow valley roads, but you ain't driving, so it doesn't bother you. You're walking, everywhere, no matter what the distance, the snow peaked mountains covering the horizon, the smell of the mountain air, people all over, foreigners, locals, smiling at you as you casually walk past.
A little fooled by the long hair, stuble, the Indian look and a long beige overcoat, they sometimes give a second and third look and then come up and ask, "Are you in the movies?"
I smile and tell them, "No brother, I am not John Abraham... just in case you're wondering."
Thamel - it's a place where most of the bacpacking foriegners stay. If you're from Delhi, aaahh forget it, you won't get it.
It's like Paharganj. For most of the regular fucked up Delhiites, who're too busy partying their asses off in five-star hotel nightclubs, Paharganj, is a narrow, shady, unclean area with small narrow lanes and thousands of cheap shops alongsie these lanes. They believe if they go there, either they'll be robbed, or cheated, or raped, that probably the most dreaded gangsters reside there.
Bullshit.
Why all the foreigners stay in Paharganj when they come to Delhi isn't because the hotels there are dirt cheap, and they can't afford any better. You know them as hippies. I call them hardcore travelers. They know what they're talking about.
They stay there, yes, sure it's cheap, but they feel at home there. It's a place, unlike the rest of Delhi, where in two seconds when a woman passes the Delhiites by, she's virtually stripped an raped with the dirty stares.
In Paharganj, it's nott he case. Coz they're so used to foreigners being there. It's normal for them, a woman wearing skimpy clothes and walking around admiring the Bob Marley smoking a chilam posters, or the Om curtains, or the marijuana pipe shops.
It's no wonder why in India, in The capital city of India, in the heart of paharganj bang opposite the railway station, some Indians themselves are not allowed inside the German Bakery crowded with who you call hippies.
Indians will go berserk there. They won't understand the concept of peace sans luxury. They won't understand why strangers are smiling at each other and making conversations about their trip to Pushkar or Kasaul, or Old Manali, why they LOOK so untidy, why a man is wearing a skirt and walking around not bothered about weird people staring and laughing.
Anyway, coming to the point, Thamel, probably thrice the size of Paharganj (Hey, Conrad how big is Paharganj? Is it bigger than where we've trudged?), but Thamel is exactly like Paharganj. Exactly.
Dotted with cheap hotels, foreigners, the Bakeries, informal Pubs extremely tastefully done like the Buddha bar, or The New Orleans Cafe, or the Tequila Bar... there must be more, I haven't yet found them or gone inside. And then there are what seem like millions of shops, selling clothes psycadelic carpets, curtains, wall hangers, chilams, clothes, clothes, clothes... you get my point eh? I can't explain better.
Thamel is where I am staying. It's a place I make some great friends... from all over the world.
On my hotel's rooftop (i pay just about 160 Indian Rupees for a night, I get 24 hours warm water, a doule bed, a small TV, a balcony...), every night after Nepal (except the casinos, which I will tell you about in my next post, it desrves one entire one) sleeps, just about right after midnight all the foreigners in the hotel come up and sit, smoke up, play the guitar sing, talk, laugh. Some of them have been in Nepal for months together - hardcore travelers like I said.
Jasec (pronounced: Yasec), a Canadian, has been in Nepal for two months, when his plan was to stay here for just two weeks. Job? Balls to the job. Traveling is his job, only difference is that, he has to spend money on it rather than earn from it.
I met him yesterday at Budha Bar, where, sipping wine he was reading a book about undiscovered destinations of India, where he's headed next.
I promised to show him around Delhi, the way I like it, the way I know he'll love it, when I get there on the 18th.
I have so much to write. But what do I tell you? I'm sure you won't understand.
I'm lost... bigtime, in my life. I don't know when I'll find myself. But I know there's one thing about me I know for sure, and i am damn proud of it.
I always head towards untrodden terrotories, and then find my way there, and in the process meet some extraordinary people.
Let me ask you a question?
What's education?