I set up my mosquito net over my bed last night for the first time. It was the best sleep that I've had since I got here. I was told by the travel clinic before I left Victoria that I don't have to worry about denge fever or malaria while in Kathmandu, but no-one warned me about plain old fashioned bug bites. Being one of the palest people around, the bright red welts on my hands are very noticeable, and one of the first things that get commented on when I meet people (being tall or beautiful are the other main topics). Other than swarms of mosquitoes, my house is also inhabited by strange, medium sized, flat, spiders that look kinda like cracks in the paint until I get close enough that they jump away. We also have several household geckos, small pale lizards that hang out in corners on the stairs or in the upper areas of the walls. They are almost translucent and blend well into the pinkish paint that the whole inside of the house is plastered with.
Today we went to Themal, the tourist area, to buy some souvenirs to bring home with us. One sales guy decided to try selling me Tiger Balm by standing too close and staring down my shirt, then wiggling his eyebrows at me. delightful. I'll be so happy to be back in the land of people-taller-than-me again.
Near the time for us to catch a cab back home again, a taxi came down the narrow street towards our perch outside of the Pilgrim's Bookstore (famous place, look it up). The taxi had Blues-Brothers style mega-phones on the roof and was screaming something in Nepali. A helpful salesman explained to us that it was representatives from some group (that I didn't catch the name of)calling for another country-wide strike tomorrow. Suddenly people started running out of the shops around us to walk with the taxi and right before our eyes a mob of supporters formed up. Since the procession was bearing down on us from a block away and the atmosphere was getting really freaky, we hoofed it out of there as fast as we could without running.
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