Lalikharka February 21. 2001 Yesterday I had a great time with Joe, Peace Corps Volunteer living in Phidim on top of a hill outside of town. His digs were the whole top floor of a Limbu home he remodeled himself to the tune of $30 US and now he is the envy of the village for his natural wood-sided ceiling.

The exhausting bus ride that left at 4 AM from Gopetar to Phidim (with an old man who sat at my side the whole 5 hours playing “elbow sword-fight” with me) did not stop me from enjoying the chance to talk to Joe – a huge and gentile intellectual mixed man with a science focus from Nebraska. His feet are size 18 and his boots had to be made special off a custom last for $1000 US in the states. I love the way he has decorated his place and he has an extra bed for guests. He taught me that the best biscuits are Horlicks and now I am jaded for good. I made an ass of myself with Joe right off the bat by characterizing another Peace Corps Volunteer I had met on the trail outside of Gufa Pokhori as exemplifying the annoying North American trait of saying everything is “great” no matter if it is shitty or not (this evidently considered the virtue of “being positive”). I lost a card game to Joe and Ben (the other Peace Corps guy in town), heard them talk about bee keeping as a hobby, took kernels off dried ears of corn in the company of the sassy Limbu granny (from beautiful Nesun village by the way) of Joe’s host family with my bare hands (thereby making them RAW). This morning there was great picture –taking light but I took no great pictures. After eating in town there were no buses left going to Ilam so I walked up the side of the mountain Ilam way and am now waiting in the dying evening light for passing transport drinking tea in a roadside grain store. Looks like through my walking efforts I chopped 1.5 bone jarring unpaved uphill hours from the journey. I am excited that after visiting Ilam I can go the Khosi Tappu wildlife reserve to break up the big bus ride to Kathmandu.

Khosi Tappu Wildlife Reserve February 24, 2001 Now I am in the bus heading from the wildlife reserve to Kathmandu. The day I spent in Ilam complete waste of time. No tea factory in Ilam since government deregulation – just scads of pissy unsuccessful hotel owners. Stopped in a Bhutanese refugee camp near Damak City on the way. 100,000 refugees in one camp. Took friendly English-speaker from Damak with me for the price of Nepali lunch and interviewed the refugees. They have been here in the camp for 10 years since the Bhutanese began ethnic cleansing campaigns that drove them from the country ( four centuries back they came from Nepal to Bhutan). Now they are not Bhutanese and they are not Nepali – they want to return to Bhutan and the light of hope burns on. Meanwhile, they are the most educated bunch of people I have met in Nepal. They do nothing but study and weave material for Nepali Topees (traditional hats), Material conditions were neither horrific nor luxurious – just humble. Spiritual health of people appears quite good. The Khosi Tappu wildlife reserve turned out to be an ugly trap that looks more like the I&M canal in Illinois than anything else (no, correct that. The I&M is more beautiful and the water may even be dirtier here). The rangers are very hospitable here and they let me stay in the incredibly slum-like VIP quarters (filled with noisy exotic vermin dashing around the floor in the middle of the night) for free. Now in just 12 short hours I will be back in Kathmandu. Next Entry