More Kathmandu

It's my last day in Kathmandu. I'm heading to a monastery outside the city for the next few days, which should be really cool. Last couple of days have been pretty crazy. A couple nights ago me and my friend Katie went to a bar out here called something like New Bottles and Chimney, in the tourist are of the city. They had a live band set up in the back, consisting of an old white hippie and two Nepalese guys. I guess they were playing a song, it was hard to tell, it seemed more like they were tuning up than anything else. The white guy was mumbling something into the mic that sounded like it could be some Tibetan chant, and it was obvious he had no idea how to play the bass that he was randomly strumming at. Luckily, the white guy left after his "song," and the two Nepalese guys were left doing mostly covers of 60's tunes. They actually kinda ruled, and I have video of them that I'll post later. After a couple drinks, the band stopped playing, and it became some weird dance club thing, with about eight Nepalese guys, me, and the only two females in the place being Katie and an old hippie lady from Australia. It was good to be in a club where people danced much worse than me, although this one Nepalese guy was doing some kind of crazy break-dance thing. It seemed that the poor "ratio" did not bother the Nepelese guys in the slightest, who were more than happy to dance with themselves. Before you yell "GAY BAR!" out loud in front of your computer, it was clear all these guys were straight, and that dancing with another guy couldn't be more masculine in Nepal. In fact, guys here are constantly holding hands and hugging each other very affectionately, just not giving a fuck.

Yesterday I did a lot of walking through the city by myself. At one point, a teenage kid comes up to me and starts to talk. At first I just keep walking, while he asks me what everyone hawking something asks, "Hello, where are you from?" I say America, and he asks where. I say California. He then proudly says, "Capital of United States, Washington DC. Capital of California, Sacramento. Goverenor, Arnold Schwarzeneger." Impressed, I tell him Arnold is no longer Governor, and that it's Jerry Brown now. He then walks with me for about twenty minutes. He tells me he can name any world capital if I tell him the country, which I try out, and he seems to be pretty good. I tell him I was born in Poland, and he even knows how to say thank you and hello in Polish. He tells me he's in school, and wants to study business management, which every Nepali in the country seems to be majoring in. He tells me about living in a village, and being forced by the Maoist rebels to move to Kathmandu. He starts talking to me about girls, and when I ask him if he has a girlfriend, he says "I'm working on something. Nepalese girls are very difficult." I'm pretty sure that there is going to be some kind of scam or sell coming up, but after that line, I'm thinking this kid is at least pretty funny. I'm even thinking this kid just wants to try out his English with a native speaker, somthing that I've found many peoiple like doing in other countries. After about 20 minutes, I tell him I have to take off. He then changes demeanor, and solemnly asks if I can buy him some milk for his family. While this really annoyed me, I figure he's a bright kid, and maybe he's the one kid out here who legitimately is hustling for milk for his family. He takes me to a nearby shop, where it seems like they tell me that two conatiners of powdered milk cost $3. I figure that's something I can just afford to lose, but then I find out it's actually $30. I tell the kid no fucking way, he gets mad, then starts to kind of cry about how he needs milk. I just hand him the $3, say do whatever you want with it, and leave.

The one thing about Nepal I'm seeing is that this place is more than just poor, it's depressingly so. I've seen poverty around the world, and it's never happy, but here there is absolutely zero hope for the future here. There's no industry, no jobs, and it has the kind of poverty that turns people into something hideous. There's kids here everywhere sleeping on the streets, faces full of dirt, huffing glue or feces out of bags in open public. It's super sketchy at night here, as there are absolutely no street lights, and I'm told most Kathmandu residents never go out past 8 pm ever. Meeting that kid was sad because anywhere else, he's have some kind of prospects. He was legitimately smart and educated, spoke English very well, and was pretty charismatic. It seems like in another poor country like Vietnam, he'd be able to have some kind of job, and even though it might not be a great one, it would still beat having to hustle tourists on the for $3. At least he wasn't huffing shit out of a bag I guess.