so my quick and easy escape from Kathmandu was interrupted by a citywide fuel strike. The price of diesel for instance rose overnight from 60 Nepalese rupees per liter to 80 (from about $4US per gallon to about $5.20US), but the rise includes kerosene and other petroleum products. My simple plan to stay one night in Thamel district, pick up my luggage and custom t-shirts was twarted by fires in the streets and a few gunfights. I flew in from Pohkara and found I couldn't enter the citycenter safely. Hopefully tomorrow will be better since I'm supposed to fly out in the afternoon. I can only imagine Dain is experiencing the opposite problem since he was supposed to fly out this morning to Bangkok.
in similar but different news, West Bengal is being hit with avian flu. Even in the hills of Darjeeling, suspect birds have been found. Pretty bad spread of information there, there are still kids playing with sick birds and people selling birds which died from the disease. Not that reassuring that many of us became sick in Darjeeling. Seems that the real adventure is just starting now that the Rickshaw Run has finished. Oh well. Maybe next year the pimping will involve a gun turret and bullet proofing. One can only hope.
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