On and off the tourist trail

Much has happened since my last post. The mountain climb never happened as there were no boots that the company promised would be brought by the porter and no rental shop in all the Everest area had size 13 boots. I was surprisingly given a refund on my return to the office in kathmandu, so it wasn't much of a problem. I got out of the tourist area of Thamel as quickly as possible and vowed to avoid tourist areas at all costs. Tourist areas are halfway houses of overpriced mediocrity where people have flown 14 hours to the other side of the world to eat practically pizza and sometimes spaghetti. Who spends 1200 dollars for a round trip flight to experience some foreign interpretation of the very environment which you spent so much time and money to escape from? Most people it seems... they stay around all the other tourists thinking it is the safe choice to stay in a familiar habitat even though this happens to be where all of the shifty mcgriffs preying on tourists and aggressive touts gather to find creative ways of parting you from your money. It is also where the majority of beggars will be found.
Escaping the sushi and wifi I found solace in Patan where the architecture is hundreds of years old and pretty good meals can be eaten at street stalls for around a dollar. I spent a few days taking in the scene at other-worldy Durbar Square sitting on the temple steps reading the paper every morning with a cup of Masala Tea and a coconut roll. I even made some friends who lived in the area. Rahul who is a college student in Nepal took me out for dinner where we had a spread of different types of Newari food washed down with Chang, a local rice beer, and even insisted on paying - what a nice guy!
The contrast in what one experiences on and off the tourist trail is unbelievable. Two people staying less than a mile away will go home with descriptions of drastically different countries. If you want to get drunk, eat pizza, and go shopping for goods from another culture, you could accomplish this without even leaving your couch.
On another note chris frinally arrived after taking the nightmarish overland journey from delhi to Kathmandu. I cant say i didn't amuse myself with thoughts of his experience in Delhi and the bus trip having gone through the miserable experience myself. It is so outrageously awful you can't help but laugh about it. We since have left Patan spontaneously and are now in the cleaner lakeside town of Pokhara (on the tourist trail again) and are leaving soon to the mountains for a couple weeks to trek to Annapurna Base Camp once he gets over his fever induced by the feast of buffalo meat we had in Patan. Newari food is various parts of the buffalo served with beaten rice (practically woodchips). I found it pretty delicious, but his stomach may not have been ready as he has been here barely a week and probably not adjusted to all the foreign substances in the food. Photos coming very shortly.