24th of April, 2023.
Hitchhiking in Nepal.
Many trucks are passing by. I decide it is better if I get one until the intersection in Mugling, even if it will take more time than a regular car, but at least, once there, I can easily get someone going all the way to Pokhara.
And I am very successful in my decision and my ways. Only a few minutes waiting at Mugling Bridge, and a car with three friends going to Pokhara picks me up! Yay!
Rahul, Ragu and Niraj are three friends on holidays. Rahul and Ragu are both cooks, and Niraj is a business man. We stop to have some tea and also have lunch together, which is very nice of them. The guys are also very fun so we have good laughs together.
Once in Pokhara, I go to the Lake Lovers Café, where I am to meet Miles and Simram. We bump into each other on the way, right when I couldn’t really find the place. Funny.
Talking with the guys I discover that they are actually just about to leave to the border. What? Yep! They have some paper work to do with the van, regarding being from India, so they have to go all the way back to Sunauli. Which sucks, because I was hoping we could hang around here together for a few days, while I keep looking for a place to do some volunteer work. They would sleep in their van, I would camp by their side, and it would be like old times in Bir. Unfortunately (or not, who knows?), fate had a different plan for us.
Looking for a place to stay for the night, something really crazy and unexpected happens. I walk to this Women Empowerment “thing”, building, whatever, hoping that they can let me stay there for the night. It is a bit late, but not that late, so everybody is inwards already. But a guy who is passing by, tells me I can just walk in and talk with somebody. So, I do. Some ladies receive me and listen to my story with huge excitement. They seem happy to have me around. But then a complete prat arrives and start to yell at me, saying that I must leave and that I broke into the building. What? He is super rude and totally out of his mind. The worst thing is, he says to be the responsible for this place where these ladies are staying. And that scares me because now I am worried about them. And the weirdest thing is, the same guy who told me I could walk in and talk with the girls, is now with this rude man, denying that he told me I could walk in. What? Luckily, I have Miles with me to confirm my story, but still, it is a very unpleasant situation.
The guys must leave because they have a long drive ahead of them. But I tell them that I will be fine and most certainly find a place either to stay, or to camp.
A few metres down the road, I see some youth people carrying some groceries, so I assume they leave nearby. Talking to them I get to know that they are actually staying in a hotel room, they are from Nepal but they are tourists here in Pokhara. But immediately they say I must come with them that they will help me.
Initially, they offer to pay a room for me in the hotel, which I strongly denied. Listening to all this, the man at the reception say I can stay in one of the staff rooms, which is vacant. Everybody happy, the youth give me a bottle of water and go to their rooms. I get settled in the staff room and try to catch some sleep. Tomorrow I must find a definite place to stay. Well, for the short term in which I am definitively staying in Pokhara.
10 Years Around the World 