What Next?

On Wednesday I met up with Aamir, he of the cricket related projects, and while they have clearly stalled enormously he still believes that he will get it up and running again. We went for lunch at a “traditional” Nepali restaurant (dusty floors, no cutlery) and ate a curry, which was probably a little foolish of me but everyone else ordered one and I didn't want to be rude!

Aamir told me that he has arranged for a cricket match between some Indian celebrities and some Nepali ones to take place in about three weeks time and wants me to help out with some of the organisation. It is also part of the launch of Visit Nepal Year 2011 when the government are trying to attract a million visitors to the country. Aamir has been placed in charge of the sports side of the event, which is rather convenient for me. He then took me to the proposed site of the new stadium (he and the guys with me really took the piss when I tried to put my seatbelt on – my protests of “I want to live” and “I've seen how you guys drive” fell on deaf ears and I was the butt of all jokes for several hours).

Next we visited a particularly fancy resort called Gokarna where there is a great looking Golf Course and hotel, before heading to his mates health/social club for a considerable amount of booze and food to see in the New Year (2067 apparently – they work off a different calendar here, something to do with the birth of Bhudda). His mate, known simply as “The Don” then hooked up a big screen and projector so we could watch the IPL while sitting on the roof terrace eating and drinking. To top it off I also managed to win R1000 courtesy of a little bet with the proprietor – thank you KP.

Thursday morning I had my first ride on the back of a Nepali motorbike, while feeling a little worse for wear, and I'll leave you with the fact that all my limbs are still intact, but only just. I then had to go home and prepare myself for a weekend at the beach...