Day 2

It's about ten to 9 on day two. The time difference is I think 4 or 5 hours and 45 minutes. Apparently they use the odd "45" minutes instead of 30 so they can be different to India.

Last night we went and wandered around the streets. We ended up a little lost but got back to the hotel before everything shut. We accidentally stumbled into the busiest street in the area - crazy! There aren't any foot paths here so you have to walk on the road the whole time, with the crazy motor bikes and rickshaws and little Suziki cars. I bought a couple things - just a jacket and a hat, and some books. Vince was approached to buy hash five times, but resisted. The hash sellers are pretty good though, you tell them no once and the disappear into the crowd, most of the guys who want to give you a rickshaw or taxi ride follow you down the street while until you physically go into a store to get away.

We had tea at the Everest steakhouse, but neither of us could finish the meal. It was embarrassing! It was cooked well, and tasted fine but we were just too full. We had to eat by candlelight as there was a black out. My feet were hurting a little last night - when I took my shoes off the heels were covered in giant red/white welts, the smallest about a pea size, the biggest somewhere between a 10 and 20 cent coin. Naturally, I took a photo. They look like an allergy thing I used to get ages ago so after a telfast and rubbing some itching cream on them they were fine. Today the aim is to buy some sandals to give my heels a break from the boots.

The power came back on during the night, but just as I was about to get into the shower this morning it cut off again. Luckily Vince thought to buy a bunch of candles last night and so I was showering by candle light in my overpriced rubber thongs (I bought them for 450r - about $10! I got confused about the exchange rate). After breakfast of eggs, potato and fried banana we hit the streets to find them blissfully empty. Unfortunately that's because none of the shops were open! We found a little corner store and bought a note pad and some other bits then went back to the hotel where we find ourselves now.

The plan for today is to buy some shirts, pants, sandals (for no more than 250-300r), and Vince needs some sunnies. I'm keen to start buying some trinkets and other bits, so that'll probably happen too. The bartering is a little tricky. I managed to buy a jacket yesterday for 950r, which I think was probably too much, but who knows. The vendor said it was 1300 when I first asked, but I think that's because we looked so obviously out of place. Today I'll try to get some better deals. Nothing over 750r. It's not uncommon for things to cost over 1000 - there are basically three kinds of shops here. Book shops, Trek shops, and tourist shops. The tourist shops are cheapish, but the trek shops stock "brand name" (but still home made) clothes and so charge more, regardless of the quality. I asked about a pair of sandals on the way back to the hotel this morning and he asked for over 1000. Psh! The book shops are awesome, I had to drag Vince out before he spent all our money.