Just as I was getting really antsy to go on a trek and see the nature around here, a nice Nepali guy named Mahendra offered to take us out for a kayak trip to a waterfall. The lads chose to go on their ever vigilant search for petrol, so I went with him in the early morning. It was sprinkling as we paddled through the still lake just 10 minutes away to the other side of the island. We went alongside a river to a small, but heavy waterfall where you could plunge into the pool and actually go under the waterfall as it massaged your shoulders. It felt wonderful! As I came out of the pool, Mahendra said "show me your feet" and proceeded to pick off about six mini leaches on either foot. Ugh! But, he was so expert at flicking them off and they were so small, that they came off without leaving any blood at all. Impressive. Also impressive was the fact that I didn't freak out. We walked back down through the river currents to avoid leaches and after another foot check and leach removal, paddled to another cove to have some tea. At this point, Mahendra pointed silently with a smile: there was the Annapurna range blazing out from the clouds in a momentary glimpse of greatness. Their statuesque white beauty was so overwhelming that I cried. It was awesome!
While having tea, my diarreaha returned. Bummer. Mahendra started cracking jokes. He said that Jesus took credit out from Shiva and hadn't repaid him, so that was why Jesus wouldn't show up in Nepal. He also said "I saw Jesus in Goa on a harley davidson, I swear it." I paddled to the other end of the lake and met Mahendra there on his motorbike. Mahendra returned his kayak where we started and picked up his bike. The paddle over was calm and sweet and lovely. Beautiful birds swooped by me and I was in the middle of a field of purple and greed hyacinths at one point. There were local people fishing off the side of the lake and the sun was slowly peaking out from the rain clouds. He asked if I want to see how real Nepali people live. I said yes. We then went to his adobe compound up a hill which he shares with a landlord and lady and had lunch from his landlady. It was pre-packaged noodle soup with some fresh vegetables. There were several children around and I played with them for a while while Mahendra did some errands around his house. We then proceeded to the top of the hill, where there is a yoga center. As it is down season, it was closed, but the view was magnificent and the hike up entailed interaction with several local people who smiled broadly as we approached.
That night, I joined the lads at the local bar for some pool and soda water. Mahendra was also there and said I should sing. So I did. And it sounded really good. So good that the band asked me to come to rehearsal the next day. The next morning, I actually vomited several times in one sitting, had a tid bit more diarreaha and passed out sleeping until 2 pm, when I went to the rehearsal even though I was sick and delirious and shared with them various songs from my i-pod.
All of them were amazed at my i-pod b/c it was such great quality and not available at all in Nepal. They were also impressed with the hours and hours of songs I had (15 days worth) saved on the i-pod. I spent 5 hours with a friend in Koh Phangan who downloaded beautiful songs for me to play while teaching yoga before I left. I had an incredible, incredible music collection on that i-pod. There were several other characters around the bar whom I considered of a shifty nature, but I didn't think much of it as I was sharing the i-pod with two of the band members with whom I sing only. I drank my own bottle of water while there.
The band members themselves are young and eager to be stars - not thieves. I say this b/c after rehearsal, I went back to my hotel room and fell asleep from 4 pm to the next morning. I woke up in the middle of the night and heard something, but didn't inspect (didn't even open my eyes) b/c I figured it was the lads arriving in their room next door and making a lot of noise. Well, mom, it wasn't the lads. I woke up the next morning to find my screens sliced open just enough for a hand to get through and grab my purse located on my bedside table next to the window. They stole my i-pod and my camera, about $25 dollars in rupees and a cheap pair of imitation designer sunglasses. They left the rest, including my good luck charms and my silver wallet case and a notebook outside my window. So, I'm trying to look at the bright side here: it's just stuff and I still have my passport and air ticket and traveller's checks and a whole lot more cash in rupees that I stored elsewhere, as well as my journal - these are the most important things. Of most importance of course is that I wasn't physically assaulted even though I was RIGHT THERE sleeping in my room - they didn't see this presumably as my curtains were closed, I guess. Unfortunately, the proprietors who are very, very nice people are distressed and said it's the first time they've had a break-in in 30 years and they feel terrible. The police have already come to the sight and I'll go make a report in the next hour with the hotel proprietor. I trust the hotel people - they're very, very nice. The lads have one slice into their screen, but nothing was close enough to the screen to steal, I guess. There is no one else in the hotel as it is down season. It makes me feel really bad. Fortunately, I saved all my thailand photos on my computer back at Bangkok with a friend. All Nepal photos are gone, but the memories are there. All my i-pod tunes are gone, but now I know a lot of songs from Pyramid and I'll be able to hear ALL of Nepal and India all the time. The petrol is gone, but someone said there was a meeting yesterday, so hopefully things will look up. My diarreaha appears to be gone and I don't feel nauseous even though I just ate a croissant. My lonely planet book says vomit and exhaustion are signs of traveller's diarreaha, so no need to worry if it all passed in 24 hours. At this point, I just feel like a fool for bringing such a fancy instrument into a bar of all places and flashing it around. It's just another lesson of how extremely pampered I am and how oblivious to the desperation of others I am. As I was drinking my water and chatting away with my magic i-pod, who was watching me and seeing my i-pod as a quick fix of whatever addiciton they have? Or who needs it to survive a little better? Who followed me to the hotel and waited until nightfall to get it? Whoever it was, I trust that they needed the i-pod and the camera more than I did. What else can I do? In a way, it's probably nicer to travel with less things to worry about, but it bums me out. I feel like I brought bad luck to nice people at the hotel and it was my fault for being so oblivious to dire conditions. Lesson learned. I am an American, after all - ripe for the picking. For the first time today, I thought "I want to go home." Although the lads are fine and we've had some nice explorations together, we don't really inspire eachother much. Why Ladakh holds such appeal to me is a mystery and perhaps it's not worth this exciting journey on motorbikes to get there. We are, after all, not going anywhere. We have now assembled a crew of four other people to join us on their bikes to cross over to India once the petrol comes: an English couple in their early 20s, a 20-something Australian guy and a 30 year-old documentary filmmaker from Australia. So, do I go with this crew of people onto India or just come home? It sounds like we'll be driving through a lot of rain to get there. That doesn't sound like much fun, does it? I did yoga today to calm my nerves, but I just feel beaten up all the same. So, today is a rough one. I'll head to the police station now and see what happens next.