Pokhara
I have 2 more days in Pokhara before I take the bus to Kathmandu on Thursday (16 November) morning. Pokhara is such a great little get-away from Kathmandu and a fantastic place to unwind after a trek. Its so easy to do absolutely nothing here, as I have gotten quite good at doing. The weather is nice and warm too, which is really what I needed after freezing my ass off for 2 weeks.
On Sunday (12 November) I went and got a haircut from one of the several thousand barber shops placed every couple feet along the main road. The businesses along the main road in this tourist district seem alternate fairly consistently in a 'restaurant-hotel-camping shop-internet cafe-book shop-souvernir shop-barber shop-restaurant' pattern. The barber quoted me Rs 80 (~$1.10) for a hair cut. After a haircut its standard to then get a head massage or more. I got the full treatment (back, shoulder, and head massage) after my haircut which would have freaked me out had I not heard from some friends that massages are a standard part of the deal (even for locals)! But eventually I had to get out of there as I began to feel akward and gave the guy Rs 100 (~$1.25).
The discrepancy in prices here is really hard to get use to. Right before I got the haircut I had spent Rs 150 ($2.00) using the internet. Anything involving the service industry here is just so cheap. I really feel bad that I can't give money to every one on the street that asks for it. Nepal is just such a poor country.
The food is disproportionately expensive here compared to everything else; in large part because I have been eating at touristy restaurants. Its pretty common for my dinner to cost as much as my room for the night (which is Rs 250 or ~$3.50 for a nice double room with clean attached bath). Still, if you are careful, $10/day to live on in Nepal is quite reasonable. The average Nepali lives on $250/year...... (and I just spent $200 on a round trip domestic airline ticket).
On Sunday (12 November) I went and got a haircut from one of the several thousand barber shops placed every couple feet along the main road. The businesses along the main road in this tourist district seem alternate fairly consistently in a 'restaurant-hotel-camping shop-internet cafe-book shop-souvernir shop-barber shop-restaurant' pattern. The barber quoted me Rs 80 (~$1.10) for a hair cut. After a haircut its standard to then get a head massage or more. I got the full treatment (back, shoulder, and head massage) after my haircut which would have freaked me out had I not heard from some friends that massages are a standard part of the deal (even for locals)! But eventually I had to get out of there as I began to feel akward and gave the guy Rs 100 (~$1.25).
The discrepancy in prices here is really hard to get use to. Right before I got the haircut I had spent Rs 150 ($2.00) using the internet. Anything involving the service industry here is just so cheap. I really feel bad that I can't give money to every one on the street that asks for it. Nepal is just such a poor country.
The food is disproportionately expensive here compared to everything else; in large part because I have been eating at touristy restaurants. Its pretty common for my dinner to cost as much as my room for the night (which is Rs 250 or ~$3.50 for a nice double room with clean attached bath). Still, if you are careful, $10/day to live on in Nepal is quite reasonable. The average Nepali lives on $250/year...... (and I just spent $200 on a round trip domestic airline ticket).
posted by Dustin at 9:40 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home