The day I entered Pharping it was but a small Nepalese town, with monasteries, no decent place to get a cup of coffee, a small hospital, half as many stray dogs as residents, horrible WiFi, nothing to do at night, and populated with friendly people. When I left, it was... well, it was exactly the same. Yes, my work was done there.
It was time to move on to another town, another village, another forest, another city, an enclave, a hood, and roll up my sleeves, get in there, get my hands dirty, and leave that place exactly as I found it. Oh, but never fear my faithful Travelman followers, Pharping will not forget Travelman; he will become legend.
****Butterfly spotted on a Christmas morning hike****
Stories will be told around the burning trash fires at night of how he taught the children of Pharping about Santa Claus and LeBron James, the time he showed up at the school looking like he’d slept in the ditch, the time he took an accidental cab ride, the time he told the head doctor at the hospital that the Nepalese method for recording body temp was less than scientific and kind of dumb, and most especially, the time he asked for an extra Nepalese donut on Christmas and was granted that donut.
****View of a monastery on the trail of that hike****
Rest assured, songs will be sang and documentaries will be made of the legend of Travelman.
****View from the expensive resort at the top of that hike. Himalayas in the distance. Good Wifi in the restaurant. Spent Christmas morning being able to upload photos on the internet, it was like Christmas or somethi- I mean it was Christmas!****
****Looking down to the valley from the resort****
****On the Christmas Day hike. Everyone of these axe-wielding woodsmen turned into a character from the Wizard of Oz and left Snow White with dwarves instead of killing her.****
I left Pharping on the 26th of December.
Goodbye street directly outside of my home-stay...
Goodbye monks shopping for cellphones...
Goodbye family building a business up the street from the home-stay who I always thought about helping but felt weird offering my services. It’s the thought that counts so I get karmic credit, right? ....
Goodbye mask, souvenir, handmade flute store where I watched two young boys practicing their wood flute while I talked to the flutemaker’s brother...
Sabin’s father and someone I assume was another family member drove me back to Thamel, the tourist neighborhood in KTM. I planned to spend two days there before moving on to Pokhara to summit the great heights of the mountains in the Annapurna Conservation area that were the much smaller ones near the Himalayas but not necessarily in them, Himalaya adjacent.
It was back to the land of the human KTM traffic light...
And the world headquarters of the 70’s Swedish pop band ABBA. Mamma Mia! Who knew they’d have such a presence in Nepal. The things you learn while traveling...
I didn’t want to stay in Thamel any longer than necessary. I didn’t like that it was merely a place for tourists to stay in westernized hotels, drink cafe lattes, and buy souvenirs. Then I realized that I’d been irresponsible with transfering funds on time and I’d have to stay there a few extra days.
So for the next five days I stayed in a nice hotel, drank cafe lattes and French press coffees, and shopped for souvenirs that I never bought... When in Rome.
On my last day in Thamel, I discovered that this place had great food, an acoustic guitar, and the best wifi in town...
This is a poster of The Living Goddess. You can buy it and and hang it in your room next to your Bon Jovi Poster...
This is what turncoat mafia informant chickens in Nepal get when they turn federal witness. Let that be a lesson to all mafia chickens everywhere...
I don’t know what is being worshipped at the bottom of this wall...
But it looks something like a giant rat? Small, fat, yappy dog?....
Travelman log, day 196. Saw a rhino today. !steemitworldmap 27.6178 lat 85.2737 long goodbye Pharping, Hello Again KTM, Nepal, d3scr 333 Followers and counting, 970 steem earned. Rep 59.1 Travelman out.