So we're changing our plans and heading to Lumbini tomorrow (we think...), a bus strike/street strike stopped all hopes of going anywhere today, and since we have been sitting around doing nothing for a bit, we are suitably antsy. Thus we're headed to the birthplace of Buddha, for some relaxation, some silent meditation, and probably some yoga as well. Hopefully that will put us in the right frame of mind to return to India! Our visa expires on June 14, so we'll be in Lumbini until then if we are enjoying ourselves. We are going to save more trekking and rafting until we return to Nepal (in 4 to 6 weeks), since river levels are very low right now, being pre-monsoon.
That's that in our ever-changing world, a freaking thrill a minute!
Peace
A&E

We're formulating our plan today, for our remaining time here in Nepal (through June 14 when our visa expires), and then more time in India (where our multiple-entry visa expires August 26). We only have, then, about 2 weeks more in Nepal - crazy how fast our 2 months have disappeared! We haven't even been to Kathmandu yet, so it is a good thing that we will return, albeit during the monsoon, for at least one more month. We've heard rumors that a second entry into Nepal, during the same calendar year, is a freebie so long as you spent over 15 days in the country the first time. If not its the same $30 we'd have to pay either way to be in Nepal longer, so we figure we might as well go to India sooner, when the monsoon isn't at its worst - which means it is still unbearably hot, humid, and occasionally very rainy.
This also means that our short term plans are adjusting, since we think it is somewhat redundant to go to Kathmandu twice, this first time for only just a few days, so instead we will, after a few more days in Pokhara (about a week), most likely head to Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha, in the far south-central area of Nepal. The town is full of temples and monasteries, and is supposed to be a very relaxing place - good preparation for our return to India! Plus we've heard about a voluntary (no time agreement) silent meditation program there, which sounds quite intriguing. Many such programs are a compulsory 10 days, which sounds a bit daunting, and perhaps more quiet than is necessary :-)
Today will be spent doing a microscopic amount of stereo-typical Nepali tourist goods shopping, as well as booking a rafting trip, either one that starts tomorrow if we can luck out, otherwise one beginning on June 4/5, so that we can do the 2/3 day Royal Trek beforehand. Either way is fine, just have to see which way the wind blows us...
Probably have steak again for dinner tonight then, the Pokhara steak phenomenon is a little hilarious - Calcuttan cows are imported to be served to Westerners in the Himalayan mountains - but the beef is quite tasty, affordable, and cooked quite well. We've had several steak and eggs for breakfast (yes, Liz now likes scrambled eggs, at least to some extent - breakfast in the Muth household has instantly improved exponentially!) for $2.50, plus all variety of steak dinners, with the maximum cost being $4. We've discovered different places have different quality cuts of meat, so depending on what you want you can just select which type of restaurant to go to. Just like every "tourist-town," Pokhara has cookie-cutter (or identi-kit) restaurants, that have very similar menus of global cuisine, similar prices - though always with irregularities/oddities, and the same subcontinental-Perkins feel. As in, all the food is pretty good, but it costs a bit more than it really should, but the atmosphere is comforting and familiar. Except here they all serve beer and bottles of spirits (up to 180 ml), too, while I don't think Perkins has included liquor licenses in its business plan...
These restaurants feature Nepali, Indian, Chinese, Mexican, Continental, Thai, and American food, all from the same basic set of ingredients, often with inadequate spicing. We are on a constant quest for genuinely spicy food, which although we ask for it at virtually every meal, the amount of return is unfortunately quite low. Most of the food is still delicious though, and compared to American/Western pricing, everything is definitely very cheap and good value (example: face-filling enchilada for under $2, big pot of tea for 75 cents).
Speaking of such restaurants, that's where we are now headed, since it's 2 pm and we're starving!
Peace
A&E

Today's much a repeat of yesterday, Anderson attempting to lay low and let his eye relax, while Liz suffers through the boredom nobly alongside him. We've been in touch with a very helpful optician from Colorado, Dr. Simonson, so it seems that the recommended course of action for Anderson's eye is sound. Now it just needs to work, which it seems to be doing, as his left eye vision has improved since yesterday. Fun, fun. Anyways, to backtrack in time a bit, here are some more details of our trekking on the Ghorapani - Ghandruk loop, albeit on a northerly-altered route such that we skipped Ghandruk entirely, opting instead to relax in Junidanda's hot springs. Talk about a spoiler!

Day 1: Pokhara -> Naya Pul (2 hours by local bus - 80 Rs/person); Naya Pul -> Ulleri (4.5 hours walking, including a final stretch up 3200 stone steps; also where A's eye problems began)
Day 2: Ulleri -> Ghorapani (4.5 hours walking, mostly up hill, though not too steeply; highest point of elevation for a lodge, at 2800 meters)
Day 3: Ghorapani (stayed for the day, went to Poon Hill, 3200 meters, for sunrise, also went on a day hike for 1.5 hours in the surrounding woods, before the rain arrived; being at altitude, and walking most of the way there, ended up being rather tiring, plus our bodies needed a day to adjust to the rigorous new method of transportation)
Day 4: Ghorapani -> Tadopani (5 hours walking, first hour was ridiculously leech-laden, often times many on each step, but saw some good views along the way; less traveled section of trails, which was nice, and after 1.5 hour of steady uphill, was mostly easy hiking)
Day 5: Tadopani -> Junidanda (6+ hours walking, along some tough trails, went a back route inadvertantly up through the hills and had to do a bit of death-defying trail-climbing; went down to hot springs at the end of our day, 15 minutes down, 20 minutes back up - 2 pools of differently-heated water, set right next to a roaring river, were perfect to relax in after an exhaustingly long day of trekking through seemingly endless hills!)
Day 6: Junidanda -> Sayuli Bazaar (4 hours of primarily level walking, lot of downhills, though legs weary from the day before, as well as a late morning 2nd visit to the hot springs!)
Day 7: Sayuli Bazaar -> Naya Pul (1.5 hours of very easy downhill walking, the initial section to Bantanthi was supposed to take 2 hours, took us just over 1 hour, which fittingly demonstrated the lack of accuracy, as well as the variety, in the ever-evolving series of sign-posted time estimates all along the various paths); Naya Pul -> Pokhara (bit under 2 hours by local bus, 70 Rs/person... why do prices in the subcontinent never seem to quite match up? :-)

Day 5 was without a doubt the most challenging, though maybe being one-eyed to start the day in Tadopani has made me a bit biased... though having to do a Spiderman-impression to climb up a hill later - while looking down at a many-metered fall, plus personally wiping it in a corn field while descending through Chongju (?), all added up to more challenges than leeches or altitude, our biggest foes previously!
We saw many spectacular views along the way, of which corresponding photos will eventually be posted on our Kodak site, not only of the magnificently snow-capped Annapurna mountain range (though to be honest our best, and most complete, view was actually from Sarangkot on our one-night trek there), but of many cascading waterfalls, low-volume but still-rushing rivers, plus deep, lush valleys, deciduous forests full of moss-covered trees and leech-filled paths, and every night (except Tadopani where a local dog refused to stop barking throughout the night) we slept quiet comfortably in "tea lodges," primarily eating daal bhat for dinner (4 out of 6 nights, toward the end of the trek, nearer civilization, pricing was such that all-you-can-eat lentils and rice wasn't exactly the best deal, nor the over-stuffing we desired).

(Specific lodge recommendations for the similarly adventurous will be posted here eventually, but then this text will probably be replaced :-)

That's about all for now, find out our short-term future (back to India tomorrow, or in Nepal until our visa expires on June 14) in the morning...