We have spent four days in Pokhara before trekking and we have spent another four here since returning. Its a nice town, very touristy but we found a nice guest house to stay in and decided that after 8weeks of yo-yoing across Asia..we needed a rest so we have set up shop here.
We started this trip like energiser bunnies and as a result have started to get a bit tired of moving around. For so long we didn't give ourselves longer than three days staying in one place before jumping to the next. At this stage we are just craving somewhere to settle and chill out!
When I think of what we have done over the past two months it could have easily be spread over four! So we have a new approach now, we are going to take our time and try not move around too much. W spent way more than anticipated at this stage but it's not because we have been treating ourselves, a lot of it is down to rail/bus/ferry/plane tickets and the visas that come with it too. Also, doing all the sightseeing trips on offer is not possible so we have to select what is really important and be happy with that now.
It's a really really good lesson learned.
Anyway, Pokhara baffles me....I have
never seen so many hippies in one small location, I just don't understand?!!! Almost every single person has dreads and it dressed in baggy pyjama pants, cotton shirts with waist coat of course and prayer beads..it is an absolute trend and I think it's quite hilarious!
My interpretation of hippies are free spirited people who want to do their best for their surroundings and the people around them. They have no interest in commodities and are content frolicking around in whatever humble threads they stumble upon.
But no, the hippie movement is the biggest trend driven group I have seen since leaving for travelling and it bugs me!
Especially the certain 'hipster' travellers we have met. One guy in particular rocked into our hostel and sat with us when we were having a beer. He wore the afformetioned pants, shirt, waistcoat combo and was wrapped in a huge felt blanket wearing no shoes with peace sign dangling earrings. He had both his hair and beard dreaded and an air about him that suggested he had some sort of humble earthy understanding. He said he came to Nepal from Thailand and I instantly assumed he must have come to Thailand many years ago and became immersed in some hippy commune or something like that. No, turns out he lived in LONDON up until two months ago, and now he is prancing about Asia like one of the lost boys from Peter Pan.
Uuuuuugh.
I have zero tolerance for people altering their persona's when travelling.
Another guy who we met in Malaysia boasted to us how he had travelled from London across Europe for nine months, all the way down through Asia on a budget of £800. Delighted with himself and his chosen 'basic' way of life. I knew that wasn't right at the time and obviously someone was paying out along the way. Then I read this great article this morning by travel writer Rolf Potts and he summed it up beautifully.
"The root of arrogance, it seems, was often money — the
lack of which was seen as a sign of true travel experience and virtue. Naturally, this attitude ignored the fact that relative economic prosperity in the West was what enabled all those temporarily jobless young people to travel in the first place. The Hippie Trail travelers who had money pretended not to, and legends abounded as to how cheaply one could wander across Asia. One storied Englishman is said to have hitched from Damascus to Delhi on just $6. In theory this was indeed a remarkable feat, though it infers that people happily exploited Asian hospitality in order to facilitate subcultural pissing contests. (After all, that storied hitchhiker could well have stayed an extra month in England washing dishes and traveled from Damascus to Delhi
in a way that benefited local bus drivers and restaurant owners)."
If you want to read more of this article you can find it here..i really enjoyed it!
http://www.vagablogging.net/remembering-the-hippie-trail.html
The hippies I have come across, especially this mass group in Pokhara and not very friendly. I walk alone quite often by the lake and say hello to everyone I pass, just out of politeness, most walkers do. Everyone responds with at least a humble hello...except the hippies who's smokey eyes penetrate right through my non dread locked head.
So I have one thing to say...hippies....get over yourselves. You are now apart of a ridiculous MASS movement and you are hugely different to the older generations of the hippy movements throughout Asia, who you try so hard to replicate. Your haze of mystery is no longer an intrigue and I suggest you all recall who you were before you left your HOME town and try harbour some of that individual once again.
I unfortunately have no photographs to illustrate this piece, as I would not like to give any of these people the illusion that I was in some way interested in them.
Rant over..that one has been brewing for quite a while!
