of books and marble and other such things
I have now booked a bus ticket to Kathmandu, hopefully. The people at the Hotel did it for me, but I haven't seen the woman today (not unusal, don't panic!).
I am now reading Whiteout by Ken Follett. It is utterly gripping! It's always hard to talk about books without giving away the plot... But I can say I like the way he spends time developing all of his characters and not just one or two. Even the more minor Characters have time spent on them, and i think that's a rare thing in modern authors. Very much to his credit.
I nearly bought Crime and Punishment today... the book was at a very good price (roughly 1.60GBP) but the guy didn't want to make a sensible offer for my Harry Potter book. When second-hand bookshops buy books off you, ettiquette is, in my experience, that they offer you about half of what they plan to sell it for (which is about half the RRP normally). Given I bought it for 1000RS i think offering 200Rs is an insult. So i decided not to buy from him either.
And they always try to say 'ah but it's second hand now...' as if anything in their shops is new... all of it is what they have bought off tourists or the backs of lorries. They could not afford to buy from the publishers.
Instead, I bought a book by Stephen Fry... The title is something like 'Stars' Tennis Balls' but i shall let you know for sure. We eventually did a straight swap, this book being 400Rs. I'm willing to accept that, as they already had the Harry Potter in question on their shelves at slightly less than 1000, they are okay. and it's only 80p.
I keep ketting woken up by a psychotic cockeral. The sun comes up here around 5:30-6am. the cockeral crows repeatedly from about 3:30-4am. I am very very close to killing it and demonstrating to the locals how to cook chicken without bones. It is, however, easier to use ear-plugs.
I think the hoteliers think I'm odd... I do spend about 21 of every 24 hours in my room. But there isn't much to do here once you've done trekking. I could do paragliding, but it's not quite within budget. ($75 USD is a lot cheaper than the UK, but still not within my budget unfortunately). If it was in season, I would get a boat and sail or kayak around the lake a few times, but they don't do it until summer unfortunately. (they won't even let me hire a boat on my own, which is what i would prefer to do anyway... seems a bit odd, given it's a pretty calm lake).
So really, all you can do is stay in the hotel... which has a nice garden, but if you try to read there the staff will talk at you and not take the hint. Or you can go to resteraunts and read and buy coffee. Or you can buy things. I choose to stay in my room and read, where it is quiet and free. I miss British (or European in general i'm told) coffee houses, where you can buy one cup of coffee and stay there all day. Here you feel under pressure to leave once you finish your food or drink.
Bars are different. But the local alcohols are pretty bad. Most of the beer is Danish, which is good, but it is expensive and comes in huge bottles. I'm convinced too much local liquor will make you blind. It all tastes vaguely like ethanol, regardless of what it's meant to be... I've tried Whisky, rum and apple-brandy with joel, and we both agreed the difference is pretty marginal.
marble
An interesting thing is Marble. In the UK, it's a bit posh to have marble work surfaces in the kitchen, for example. So much so that some people buy plastic ones that look like marble. We seem to use wood for most things like that, including stairs and floors. Here, even the cheapest places use marble for everything! The place we stayed in Mumbai had marble shelves in the room. Here in Pokhara, the floors and skirting boards and stairs are all marble. Yet it's an average hotel.
In fact, on the landings they've actually carpeted over the marble floors. And in the bathrooms, for some reason, they have tiles. I'd have thought it more likely to have marble bathrooms than corridors. Most odd.
I think it's actually considered a bit cheap and chearful out here. Marble is, to them, as cheap pine floorboards are to us. Not at all a status symbol. Most interesting how people's ideas etc. vary in places around the world.
I am now reading Whiteout by Ken Follett. It is utterly gripping! It's always hard to talk about books without giving away the plot... But I can say I like the way he spends time developing all of his characters and not just one or two. Even the more minor Characters have time spent on them, and i think that's a rare thing in modern authors. Very much to his credit.
I nearly bought Crime and Punishment today... the book was at a very good price (roughly 1.60GBP) but the guy didn't want to make a sensible offer for my Harry Potter book. When second-hand bookshops buy books off you, ettiquette is, in my experience, that they offer you about half of what they plan to sell it for (which is about half the RRP normally). Given I bought it for 1000RS i think offering 200Rs is an insult. So i decided not to buy from him either.
And they always try to say 'ah but it's second hand now...' as if anything in their shops is new... all of it is what they have bought off tourists or the backs of lorries. They could not afford to buy from the publishers.
Instead, I bought a book by Stephen Fry... The title is something like 'Stars' Tennis Balls' but i shall let you know for sure. We eventually did a straight swap, this book being 400Rs. I'm willing to accept that, as they already had the Harry Potter in question on their shelves at slightly less than 1000, they are okay. and it's only 80p.
I keep ketting woken up by a psychotic cockeral. The sun comes up here around 5:30-6am. the cockeral crows repeatedly from about 3:30-4am. I am very very close to killing it and demonstrating to the locals how to cook chicken without bones. It is, however, easier to use ear-plugs.
I think the hoteliers think I'm odd... I do spend about 21 of every 24 hours in my room. But there isn't much to do here once you've done trekking. I could do paragliding, but it's not quite within budget. ($75 USD is a lot cheaper than the UK, but still not within my budget unfortunately). If it was in season, I would get a boat and sail or kayak around the lake a few times, but they don't do it until summer unfortunately. (they won't even let me hire a boat on my own, which is what i would prefer to do anyway... seems a bit odd, given it's a pretty calm lake).
So really, all you can do is stay in the hotel... which has a nice garden, but if you try to read there the staff will talk at you and not take the hint. Or you can go to resteraunts and read and buy coffee. Or you can buy things. I choose to stay in my room and read, where it is quiet and free. I miss British (or European in general i'm told) coffee houses, where you can buy one cup of coffee and stay there all day. Here you feel under pressure to leave once you finish your food or drink.
Bars are different. But the local alcohols are pretty bad. Most of the beer is Danish, which is good, but it is expensive and comes in huge bottles. I'm convinced too much local liquor will make you blind. It all tastes vaguely like ethanol, regardless of what it's meant to be... I've tried Whisky, rum and apple-brandy with joel, and we both agreed the difference is pretty marginal.
marble
An interesting thing is Marble. In the UK, it's a bit posh to have marble work surfaces in the kitchen, for example. So much so that some people buy plastic ones that look like marble. We seem to use wood for most things like that, including stairs and floors. Here, even the cheapest places use marble for everything! The place we stayed in Mumbai had marble shelves in the room. Here in Pokhara, the floors and skirting boards and stairs are all marble. Yet it's an average hotel.
In fact, on the landings they've actually carpeted over the marble floors. And in the bathrooms, for some reason, they have tiles. I'd have thought it more likely to have marble bathrooms than corridors. Most odd.
I think it's actually considered a bit cheap and chearful out here. Marble is, to them, as cheap pine floorboards are to us. Not at all a status symbol. Most interesting how people's ideas etc. vary in places around the world.
posted by ash at 5:20 PM
1 Comments:
Oh man - you should see Athens and rome - Athens especially... They use marble as paving slabs; crazy! I actually thought what you said was alot in common with what I thought when I toured Europe.
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