Final Thoughts

So I'm all packed and ready to leave first thing in the morning. I spent the day getting ready and meandering around Kathmandu. I'm really going to miss it here. Just a couple of reasons why:

1. You hear music everywhere. Not just coming from the shops and restaurants, but from the people. The guy sitting at the reception desk at the guest house is often humming or singing to himself. So is the rickshaw driver hanging out on the corner waiting for his next fare. And the shopkeeper sitting on his/her step waiting for another customer. Mothers walking down the street with their kids sing, too. Quite plainly -- everyone. Music is a major part of their lives and if they can't be listening to some professional stuff, they create the music themselves.

2. Tourists are considered honored guests and for the most part, that's how I feel here. Just saying "namaste" to someone here gets you a huge smile and a friend for the rest of your stay.

3. The food is really pretty good. They use a lot of nice spices and cook things just so. I've even come to love rice and lentils, but there's lots of western food here, too.

4. It's so incredible inexpensive that I rarely spend even $2 on a meal.

5. The landscape is like non other. Simply stunning.

6. The people here are very giving. Even though they make next to nothing I see them preparing food and handing out coins to those less fortunate. This isn't just an occasional thing either. There's some pedestrian overpasses to cross the busiest street in Kathmandu. There are some very poor, often disabled people who sit on the stairs on either side with their hand out asking for help. About 50-60% of the Nepali I see who use the overpasses pull a stack of coins out of their pockets as they approach. They then hand a coin to each person in need. Every time I've seen this.

I'll write more about the politics and the demonstration situation once I'm out of here to fill you all in on what did and didn't happen. In the meantime, I'm leaving Asia proper for the Middle East (I know, geographically, it's still part of Asia). I have two flights tomorrow to get to Amman, Jordan. The first is a 5 hour flight to Doha, Qatar. After a 1.5 hour layover, I have another couple of hours in the air to reach my destination. I'll be met by someone from the tour group and won't have to navigate the city on my own. If interested, you can read up on my itinerary here. As always, I'll blog and post pictures as I can, but my last remaining CD got fried, so if I can't find wifi or plug my laptop in anywhere, I'll be unable to post photos. Unless I can find a place to buy more CDs or a flash drive. Cheers!

p.s. There's a Spanish station in Kathmandu that shows the Vuelta live every night! I think I keep forgeting to mention it.