Here I go doing the all or nothing thing again ... Took myself off to a club on Thursday night that was advertising a U2 concert on the big screen along with Coldplay. U2 must be pretty popular in Nepal, there was all of about 10 or 15 people there and most of them Westerners. The show wasn't too bad though despite the fact that there was NO Coldplay, and thats what I went for ... I ended up meeting a guy on holiday from India ( a pilot with Air India no less, the regular readers might remember me saying something about flying in an earlier post ), and on with the story ... it was still pretty early when the U2 thing finished, so we wandered along to the BlueMoon. I was up at the bar 'inspecting' the wine (in the words of Ben Elton I try to avoid the house wines that are like sandpaper and lemon juice thrown into a blender) and started talking to an English couple who had just been to India, so we all got a table together and had a great night. ( And Yes, I managed a laugh or three ! ) .. In true Cinderalla style I had to leave at midnight, still had to work on Friday and theres the little problem of getting locked out of my hotel. The poor security guard was asleep in the chair in the lobby waiting for me, but he's very sweet and still jumped up and opened the door for me with a smile. Unfortunately I didn't find any glass slippers or a prince and I don't think I'm going to hold my breath waiting either :-) I have got someone to show me around Bombay and Varanasi though, so I think thats a pretty good bonus.
Friday night I trotted off to Thamel, I've given up, it really is the easiest place for me to go at night and theres certainly no lack of clubs and pubs there. The peak tourist season is just starting to kick in, and its definitely getting a lot busier too. I was looking for some good live music, so I just walk around till I hear some .. went into one place and the music was pretty good, but I was the only Westerner and the only female to boot, so feeling a tad uncomfortable I only stayed for a few sets and started wandering again. It didn't take long to find another place and I settled in enjoying the music and semi enjoying another wine. It was pretty packed and a couple of Nepali guys ended up at my table (ohhhhh the restaurant/bar people just love me taking up a whole table on my own) ... One of them spoke relatively decent English, so between songs I learnt a bit more about life in Nepal and even managed a few more laughs. Because my hotel is in an older area of town and definitely not tourist orientated, they like to lock up at 10. As I had made them stay up the night before, I really didn't feel like doing it again, so I got a room in Thamel for the night, again no lack of places to stay and its actually cheaper to stay the night there than to pay for a taxi home. After 10 the taxi's go into premium rate and can pretty much charge what they want to.
Dragged myself home Saturday morning to have a shower and change and then off to the hairdressers. I knew this was going to be interesting, ohhhh if only I knew how interesting... The light brown with a red tinge that I chose somehow ended up a very very dark red ... I suppose its better than 3 inches of white, but its pretty dramatic to say the least. They blow dryed it all puffy, I was horrifed ... with a bit of hand signals, etc I managed to convey that I like it straight, so to remedy the puffiness, whats the best thing to do , rub oil in it and then put the straightening irons on. Now I had straight rats tails. I had to go home and wash and blow dry it again to try and fix it, but after the many washes at the hairdressers, the dye and the straightening irons, its super stressed and 'dramatic straw' is about it. Ah well, at least it will fade fairly soon I hope.
Saturday night I had organised to meet a girl I had made contact with via email. She was looking for someone to go trekking during Dashain and I said I might be interested. It turns out that she has to now go back to India (she's Indian, doh) during Dashian, but she only lives down the road from me. I met her at the restaurant across the road and had a great night. Like most people here, she works 6 days a week, so Saturday is her only day off, but looks like we might do a club or two and catch a movie if theres anything decent on. There's only one cinema here that does English movies and they tend to be action type ones. I was going to try and catch up on some sleep on Saturday arvo before I met her, but nearly everyone ended up on MSN, it was so great to catch up with everyone, got to have a real good chat with the boys, Phillip had some really good news, it just so made my day.
Sunday I decided to take it fairly easy, went for my morning walk as I had missed out the last couple of days. I'm doing an hour each morning now and my pace is getting better and better. I'm also making sure I fit in some inclines now as well. I suppose I could give up the smoking, but its so damn cheap here, it equates to an aussie dollar a packet .. whats a smoker to do ?? Despite the smoking, I'm the fittest I've been for years, even my one ring is starting to get very loose now, I will have to put it away soon before I lose it. So whats the best thing to do on a lazy day, shopping of course. I really need some new clothes, truly I do, the laundry service here is pretty rough on your clothes and it doesn't take long for them to start looking pretty hagard. You don't even want to see what my lacy stuff looks like now ... its a sad sight :( Got myself a top and some other bits and pieces that I needed and I'm getting a beautiful chinese top made up. $20 for a custom fitted silk top, I can see I'm going to be getting some more stuff made up before I go. Sunday evening was definitely slack time ... vegged out with my book and prepared to slow down for the week ahead ..