The first thing about coming off a mountain in Nepal is the sounds of horns honking. It is a "hello, I'm here!" rather than a hostile act, and there are a lot of people driving here, so a lot of horns honking. Some of the young ones in our group are thrilled at the opportunity to ride atop the bus with the porters and guides. We see their reflections and hear their cheers, songs, and greetings as they all call out to other bus top riders. The mountains recede in the background and we go an hour and a half down windy roads full of colorful vehicles to the town of Pokhara. Our guest house is on a quiet street near the lake. This is a tourist town full of restaurants that sell specially purified fresh vegetables and excellent coffee. Although it is still a very international mix, there are more Caucasians here than seen previously. We do a lot of shopping. The town is set up for tourism and again we seem to be participating in something that keeps the whole machine functioning.
It is with reluctance that we reengage with Western news. Amazing the far reaches of tabloid journalism and catty news of American celebrities behaving badly. I wonder if the non-English papers include this same perspective.
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