A sobering experience

No, Luke and I aren't dead. We were hiking the Annapurna Circuit in the western mountains of Nepal and now we're in Kathmandu on "Freak Street." We started our hike on the 20th (I think) and wrapped it up on the 5th of May, making it a full 16-days. We did about 8 hours a day (broken up by lunch) and we were understandably pretty fucking exhausted by the time we got back to Pokhara. The hike was awesome and the pictures that Luke and I took look fantastic. The internet speed here in Kathmandu isn't so great so you'll all probably have to wait until we get home to see them on Flickr. Our hygiene left a little to be desired as we took four or five showers between the two of us, and I only remember washing my hair three times in those 16 days. Once with a bar of soap.

Kathmandu is great and we're staying right off of Durbar Square, where a lot of temples, pagodas, and the old royal palace are located. We've seen a few sights but more or less just lounged around. Because of my Indian Visa fuck-up we will be forced to stay here for at least a week (while I get a new one) but that's ok by us as the city has enough to do and we don't want to move around too much after the hike.

This morning we went to the Kathmandu Central Jail and visited a foreigner being held on drug charges. A 25-year old Romanian guy. Our guidebook suggested it as a sobering experience but as something that can really benefit the prisoners, as they're supported by their friends and families and they usually need things that we can grab for them. We got patted down, had to check our things, and then selected from a list of the foreigners being held a Romanian guy (most of the inmates are from Nigeria and it looks like almost all of them are being held on drug charges), and our logic was that maybe he will speak a little bit of English. We took a seat across from the building with the holding cells, and the guards went and found our guy. He came outside, the only white face in sight, and took a seat on one side of a low partition. Luke and I took a seat on a bench across from him, next to everyone else visiting someone, and there were no screens or bars separating us from him. He shook our hands and we asked him a few questions right off the bat, "how long have you been here?" "what was the charge?" "how much longer do you have?" "how many other Europeans are inside?" "do you need anything?" It was a pretty quick visit and he told us that he was busted on drug charges (no details offered) and he had only been in Nepal for 2 weeks before he was arrested, at 22-years old. He was given a 16-year sentence without the possibilty of parole (if Nepal has parole at all). He didn't want anything from us but did give Luke a hand-written note so that we could email it to a friend or family member for him. It was in English so we were able to glace over it and he's hoping for an extradition.

I'm not sure what we learned from the experience because I think we would have assumed a lot of what he said was true anyway. Yes, conditions in a Nepali prison suck (he stays in a huge room with lots of other prisoners, but didn't give many other details). Getting busted for drugs in a foreign country is a major fuck-up. Stuff like that.

We, a little happier with our own meager problems and concerns, found a place that teaches Yoga and plan on going there for a 4:15pm session tonight. It feels strange to not be exercising after our hike and I think this is a way to keep up our momentum.

I'm going to look into plane tickets home after I post this entry, but Daniela's search came up with $900 tickets at their cheapest. Damn. Anyone wanna buy me an early birthday present?