Top of the Mornin' to Ya

I met with Bharat yesterday, and as expected, he had yet another visa scheme for me. It was very similar to an earlier iteration, and one that I’m not entirely comfortable with. It is somewhat legal, as far as that goes in Nepal, but is also suspect. There is one set of documents that the government sees, and another that we sign between us which covers our respective asses if anything goes wrong. The problem is that the latter papers also prove that my visa was obtained under false pretences, so if I were to produce them to settle a dispute with my employers, the government either throws me out of the country or into jail. I know I’m looking at the worst possible scenario but you kind of have to, don’t you? I’m sure there are tons of people who are here on much shadier arrangements, and it is just the norm in Nepal to skirt the law or bribe your way through red tape. It’s just not sitting well with me.

There are some other issues that are making me less than enthusiastic about staying on. I won’t go into details – just stuff like salary, vacation etc. The biggest stumbling block for me is the whole cultural issue. I wrote about it in previous blogs, so I won’t go into any more detail. I’m just wondering if I have the flexibility to be able to work in this environment. I love the country to visit and could be quite happy living here if I was independently wealthy and could go wherever I wanted whenever I wanted. But working here is an entirely different challenge, and one that I just don’t think I’m up to.

I met with Khem to explain all this to him this morning and he was pretty understanding, although he did his usual long-winded sales pitch to me. I have officially resigned and will be heading up into the mountains to recharge my batteries. They are going to continue working on my visa in my absence, so if I change my mind somewhere along the way, I can return and pick up where I left off. I think the chances of this happening are slim-to-none, but I’m willing to leave the door open for now. I could return refreshed and ready to try again.

I’m not sure when I’ll be leaving but it likely won’t be for a little while. I have a work acquaintance from Vancouver arriving in Nepal tomorrow and making his way to Kathmandu in a little over a week. I will stay in the city long enough to show him around before flying off to Lukla. I don’t want to plan my “trek” too much – will go where the wind blows me and not feel like I have to put in too many miles each day. I haven’t been running since about Christmas so my fitness levels are ridiculous and I expect to be trekking at a snail’s pace once I get up to altitude. I was all keen to start running again now that I’m not working but am battling a cold so will give it a couple of days. One of the reasons I stopped running over the winter was because I couldn’t be guaranteed of a warm shower when I was done. That situation still exists but it’s warm enough now that I can take a cold sponge bath if necessary and not freeze to death. (I keep a spare bucket of water in the bathroom for times when there’s nothing coming out of the tap.)

So that’s it for now. I’m on my way to celebrate St. Patrick ’s Day at a restaurant called “Celtic Manang” where a friend will be playing Irish folk music on guitar. I’m not sure how long I’ll last with the decongestants doing their thing, but I’ll see how I do.