Monday, March 18, 2013

Day 7, Taking a Break

I'm having a great time in Nepal, not going to lie. On the flip side, the reality of this grand adventure, the air is so dirty that after walking around for a day I have black gunk coming from my nose, out of my ears when I clean them and from my eye goop in the morning. Every time I start hacking I begin to wonder what's made it's way into my lungs. To top that all off, Montezuma is vehemently seeking revenge on me, for whatever reason. I had Nepali tea at one restuarant. Did the water for the tea come from the tap or was it bottled? Or was it the mango juice I got at another restuarant? Or I could have simply touched something when walking around and accidentally touched my mouth when blowing black snot from my nose?

I'm taking the "day off" to recover, never far from a nice, clean bathroom. The temples, shrines, stupas and pokharis can wait for another day. There are literally hundreds of photos waiting to be processed. Hopefully I'll get through a huge enough batch while taking it easy today. I hope to post photos from Days 5 and 6 later. Wish me luck (and health). :)

2 comments:

  1. Good thing you don't write for a travel agency ;-) Enjoy the day and recover.

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    1. Hi, Rex! Yes, the truth about travel might not make for good travel agency writing. I think it's good to know the reality, though. I read a paper on the bacteria found in the street foods here before traveling, thought I was being very safe and STILL caught something. And while most people think about the beauty of the mountains in Nepal, the reality is that face masks are an almost necessity to keep as much of the dust and dirt out of one's lungs. I didn't wear a mask last year, but have one this year. I wouldn't worry if I was just in Kathmandu for a couple of days, but walking the nstreets and breathing the air for three weeks can really bother one's lungs. The dirt in the air from the road expansion projecs is quite bothersome.

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