7:25 PM 9/29/01
The Internet is everywhere there are Israeli students and they seem to be everywhere - including Pokhara. John was here in the 70's when it was a little village where people took off into the Himalayas for the Jomosom Trek. Now it is a long row of shops selling Tibetan, Nepalese and, Kashmiri (who are also everywhere there are tourists) handicrafts.

To get here, we crossed the border into Nepal from India after a delightful overnight train ride - with tiers of 6 bunks per compartment in airconditioned cars. Then another bus ride from hell - 8 hours over the terai region of Nepal - this is the flat land which grows rice. We were in seats 5 and 6 on the bus and there was a burly bus conductor who ordered people around and leaned out the bus at each village yelling "Pokhara, Pokhara". John said it was characteristic of Nepalese buses for women to get sick, and sure enough, before long women were leaning out the windows, and we were closing ours downstream just in time. Today we made reservations for the return trip for the 1st 2 seats in the bus so all the sickness takes place behind us. Experience pays! The space between the front of my seat the the back of the next seat is about 4 inches shorter than my thighs.

Today is my birthday and it was very special. We had curd (yogurt), mixed fruit, and muesli for breakfast. Before it got hot, we rented a graceful wooden boat that had 2 paddles and capacity for about 15 people. We paddled around Phewa lake. People waved and called "Namaste" to us from a small island with a temple on it.

Then we looked through the shops here where there are knock-offs of all US camping products for incredibly cheap prices - the "Gore-tex" "L.L. Bean", "Northface" ...

We drank a fruit lassi (a yogurt drink) and then got out of the heat.

I wished I looked better on my birthday - but I have no makeup, I am sweating, wearing a long skirt and blouse I had made in Srinigar, and my hair is sticking out (a group of school boys in Delhi were laughing at us and their teacher explained they were laughing at my hair).
John doesn't seem to mind how I look, but then he looks ridiculous - a bent up straw hat, shirt with butterflies, green shorts and flip flops.

We walked out of town into the rice fields and the little settlements along the lake. People dress differently than in India - in colorful sarongs, long cloth wrapped around their waist, scarf and stretchy top, head scarf. As we walked, there were 3 Tibetan woman with jewelry spread out on the ground and they called for us to look at "Just look, Looking is free, cheap prices, thank you". I looked at one woman's things, John looked at another and we each decided to buy something. Then they said each was independent and we should buy something from the middle woman. We allowed ourselves to be persuaded, although for every person we buy from, there are 100 that we must turn down.

Best wishes and thanks for all being there - looking forward to seeing you when we return.