Thursday 26th August
Ah life is settling in now and just another day ...
Went off to 'web page training' which is a euphamism for teaching them (badly) how to use Frontpage to edit static web pages.
Got to go in a public bus for the first time, now that was an experience, Nepali's can beat any college in the 'how many people can we fit in a vehicle'. Add the 'play chicken' style driving and the rough roads and yep, quite an experience.
The buses are a good cheap way to get around, but I'm not game to get one on my own yet, the destinations are written in Nepali and my pronounciation of the places still gets me that 'huh' look. I will now apolgise to all those I gave heaps to over Pin-jar-a, at least that was close.
I'm finding it quite limiting not having my own transport, there are so many places, especially on the outskirts that I would like to see. I am going to check out how much it would be to hire a car or bike so I can get a bit more mobile. LOL, and if I'm going to be in a vehicle playing chicken, I would much prefer to be the one behind the wheel. At least the cars here are right hand drive and as to side of the road to drive on, well technically its wherever theres a space.
So I can get the mac on the network at Tewa, I have been shopping around for a hub. Its amazing the prices they will try and get away with. I started off with 1600r and each shop I went to after that got higher. They look at me and you can see them thinking, mmmm how much can I get away with and then blurt out this ridiculously high figure. Other stuff they might (and do) and get away with, but tech stuff, no way. I still havent really got the hang of bargaining, so at least this is giving me lots of practice.
When I went out to the embassy the other day, they said it should cost about 200r. The taxis are meant to use the meter, but a lot of them either fiddle with the meter or bargain a set price. On the way there, I asked how much, and he said 300r, I argued a bit and we came to a price of 250r. For the trip back, I managed to get a taxi driver who uses the meter and its not rigged. It damn well only cost 150r. I will get better at this as I learn the value of things. I think the biggest mistake I make is converting it in my head to aussie dollars and then comparing values to what we pay there. Obviously it always sounds so much cheaper but compared to the going rate here, I'm paying way too much.
You know, with all my rambling on here, it occured to me that I'm not going to have anything to talk about when I eventually get back, so please feel free to email me with whats going on back home. I mean, can you picture me just sitting there having to listen :-)