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6/15/2006 - Thamel Times: Tales of Drinking and Climbing in Nepal by Richard D. Connerney

ICWA RDC SOUTH ASIA Richard Connerney Phillips Talbot Fellow studying influence impact religion Indian society letters Since Institute Current World Affairs Crane Rogers Foundation providedlong fellowships enableoutstanding young professionalsto outside United States write about international areas issues An exempt operating foundation endowedby Charles R Crane Institute supported bycontributions minded individuals foundations TRUSTEES Bryn Barnard Joseph Battat Carole Beaulieu Mary Lynne Bird Sharon F Doorasamy Peter Geithner Gary Hartshorn Pramila Jayapal Cheng Li Steven Butler Dasa Obereigner David Z Robinson Carol Rose John Spencer Edmund Sutton HONORARY TRUSTEES David Elliot David Hapgood Pat M Holt Edwin S Munger Richard H Nolte Albert Ravenholt Phillips Talbot Thamel Times Tales Drinking Climbing Nepal By Richard D Connerney June KAT HMANDU Nepal Some people their lives regrets I amazed claim because I haunted legion The I never I never friend I false I never kissed gentle hours before Some regrets sweet bitter still others hilari ously funny In opinion regrets avoided contain wisdom Regrets paths taken schemes never hatched lives lived Their contemplation allows confront future choices insight One small insistent regret plagued since college I never Spring Break While undergraduate classmates heading Bermuda beaches North Carolina I spent spring holiday chilly New England Today I images TV rowdy college students frolicking beaches Florida I piece passed This spring I decided remedy lacuna biography spending month May sybaritic repose Kathmandu Nepal This unfortunately created whole batch regrets Nevertheless experience interesting bears telling Living Thamel Kathmandu first experience ghetto By ghetto I ethnic enclave distinct culture Thamel where anybody Nepali their After Lucknow where white I cannot street without eliciting intense curios Thamel Although recent spasm civil unrest scared travelers Westerners walked streets Kathmandu given Lucknow Most their mountains residents lived there During Thamel I learned about small group determined people penurious owner beautiful breed belligerent brilli stripper saint given Nepal Nikki Gesundheit Soon after landing Kathmandu I Nikki Niek Gesundheit Gesundheit which I neither pronounce remember She Dutch woman Amsterdam sounds sneeze The first I heard I suppress desire gesundheit I sound Nikki Gesundheit another meaning To health Nikki And despite quirks I would drink continued being Nikki wherever Gesundheit It happened One night after three curfew finally lifted I walked through Thamel listening loudest I attended demonstrations riots street battles I stomach violence I needed forget momentarily about filled minded individuals The loudest night small second floor called Niek Place I walked inside noticed Guinness sitting behind brown haired woman Guinness almost unheard India I since I America You Guinness I asked No This friend woman It I thought moment I rupees about whatever I She shook No She smiled still refused Listen I rupees whatever Guinness final offer Sold smile I placed bills passed It cackle Another customer witnessed change You Guinness Rupees exclaimed You drive bargain Nikki Yeah another joined What Dutch people Are forced fight children Nikki Niek Dutch might tight fisted friendly enough She introduced friends friends introduced friends night turned riotous We closed Niek Place wandered going The night again Soon evenings started Nikki Bar During these nightly excursions Nikki something about running business Kathmandu She opened Niek Place about months previously because liked nightlife wanted living while enjoying herself As owners I spoke Thamel however turned profit Moreover finds working seven nights exhaust limiting She hopes Then I As I explored after midnight world Kathmandu I dismayed learn violent place The people Kathmandu extremely eclectic consisting every variety European Asian Wi enough drinking slight cultural differences cause friction Nepali particular seemed often drink themselves numinous state Fist fights common without hurly burly erupting between groups besotted young One night I arrived Niek Place brawling group young Nepali spilling street Inside Nikki trying convince drunk young Nepali To escape histrionics I walked balcony There I found group British soldiers British Embassy group American Nepali barflies At least there fight I thought myself A later however American party animal mistake offering British solider hashish The British soldier proudly proclaiming grabbed without looking threw shoulder street below A confrontation erupted British soldier taking moral ground claiming soldier confront wherever The American other wondered whether carelessly hurling burning objects street middle night really British military training whether simply looking excuse righteous buffoon Will Victoria Cross Before things Nikki appeared She declared conflict separated Brit Yank It second night acted nanny cited intoxicated patrons Even I unable avoid occasional fisticuffs Late night Fire Club small difference opinion between several patrons I escalated donnybrook Unfortunately I standing wrong place wrong found myself unwillingly caught middle confrontation squared Ne berserk drink An errant landed flush structural breaking chunk poorly mixed concrete My bruised badly I could Nikki witnessed entire event decided while I danger opponent I definitely danger furniture It matter I accidental unwilling partici brawlers business decided silent treatment The I walking alley looked walking toward front Our Then crossed alley entered store picked Cornflakes front I stood looking moment peered Part wanted confront I Nikki I wanted Come behind Kellogg product I there In I walked Vinnie Dream Nikki friend named Vinnie Gniachhi Brooklyn He habit thinking fensive remark possible spewing forth whoever nearby For example might apropos nothing You alley mange three You uglier When insulting people Vinnie constant monologue included rants about New York Yankees sexual organs torrent miscellaneous trivia became increasingly cogent evening Despite nightly imitation Tourette Syndrome everybody seemed Vinnie For thing never things For another notch He studied culinary Vermont apprenticed restaurant Nevada City California He Kathmandu month vacation which stretched culinary odyssey He offered position chief Kath mandu oldest respected restaurant With culinary talent Vinnie could easily New York City San Francisco other gastronomic center America Europe He chose Kathmandu because novelty restaurant outside hotels where traveler dining sense Kathmandu Many dishes creates never appeared Nepal before There first And there nothing being first His ambition confided Kathmandu first microbrewery In South Asia almost inevitably lager Porters ambers universe almost wholly unknown A microbrewery range draft beers would first Kath mandu perhaps South Asia itself The obstacles steep howev Getting government permission would Herculean involving numerous bribes tangles Still Vinnie poten tially strong market business Embassy personal various development specialists always looking gastronomic escape Nepalis experience authentic Western victuals Moreover tourists returning weeks hiking trails desperate luxurious meals enough If Vinnie achieves dream people longer rupees remains Guinness I asked Vinnie about fighting I Thamel According Vinnie violence INSTITUTE OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS Nikki Gesundheit refused allow picture unless I large amount money She however permission photograph quarters result alcohol drugs One night courtyard aiting Saturday night crowd gather group rough looking Nepali youths They looked around seeing small crowd again Vinnie before If place becomes popular Nepali owners explained They start fights deliberately scare tourists Nikki Part Two After I found Nikki Gesundheit hiding behind Cornflakes I decided I would again I refused attend party honor Queen Holland birthday Thamel however small place lasting emies A nights later I enjoying myself Tom Jerry Pub Norwegian tourists Viking stock healthy people About midnight I looked Nikki sitting alone She drinking heavily filled heavy Her lover mountaineer Britain returned summit unpronounceable Ti betan elected spend night Nepal without I angry about Cornflakes truth fully Nikki hearted person I But I couldn there herself devil knows Some might alone bruised heart So I Scandinavian companions tried laugh I unsuccessful could It But night invited return You Just punch anything The night round occurrence Niek Place As barfly Nikki I inter esting people One night expedition Mt Everest tuned Kathmandu Thamel needed relaxation Tim Wayne climber California extraordinarily weather summit One climbers David Sh bottled oxygen summit developed severe altitude induced condi during descent Tim oxygen himself meters He where fingers turned sickening shade black Frostbite I The doctor tells I probably The death David Sharp created uproar mountaineering community Everest pioneer Sir Edmund Hillary hearing about event faulted Mr Sharp fellow climbers claiming little revive ailing climber The people They anybody distress remarked interview New Zealand newspaper In conversation however Tim Wayne tered Hillary comments claiming Sharp located where night death Moreover conti climbers tough north Everest where evacuation virtually impossible Even Sharp family agreed other climbers mountain inculpable After controversy weeks altitude Tim ready steam He bought bottle Jack Daniels emptied remarkable speed While drink acquaintance svelte Russian beauty When drained whiskey loaded Musco marvel rickshaw disappeared alley The night I Tim again another bottle Jack Daniels How things Russian friend night I asked Tim shook smiled slyly It expedition I failed summit From Via Via Go Go Just outside Thamel building painted words Via Via emblazoned Inside floors converted comfortable lounge restaurant Behind Maya Sherpa exotic looking owner Via Via Her father Nepali mother German ended worlds With large cheek bones cascading looks cross between Botticelli Venus Thai princess Maya husband Eve operated Via Via about three years Like owners Thamel confronted unique problems For Westerners moving through Kathmandu trekkers mountaineers backpackers wanderers They rarely Kathmandu This means every there crowd likes dislikes For particular seems seems status almost overnight Civil unrest ongoing problem Maya Via Via brink turning profit recent three curfew tourists packing Thus Friday night Via Via sometimes attended sometimes The faces could always count Via Via women lived across street From balcony adjacent house Nepali women watched patrons carefully through window If young found attractive would their brush Via Via patrons When I window night watched brush their Instead picked gated green gourd began waving Maya I What doing Maya looked window moment Wow They never waved anyone before I means That really vegetable I It intimidating Maya decried current state Thamel She prostitution drugs neighborhood Dance where Nepali girls gyrated stage skirts attracting large groups rowdy Thamel For glimpse Thamel become Maya suggested I Go Go Bar across street royal palace When I arrived PM scene outside Go Go Bar chaotic Female prostitutes plied their trade sidewalk impunity On street corner I group about They small plastic An older approached their receive Then began huffing fumes Inside Go Go Bar tired looking Nepali women danced dimly stage The rated PG women their clothes danced short skirts Bombay music When dancing joined patrons drinks Although INSTITUTE OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS dancers reportedly extra money after hours prostitutes seemed content drink their expense customer I never women Go Go Bar offer patrons anything occasional cheek In visit Go Go Bar would midget The employed three dwarf entertained crowd between girls mimick traditional Nepali dancing When waving deformed torso front crowd menace He wandered through crowd waiting until patrons engaged conversation Go Go Bar ladies stole their drinks cigarettes anything could hands When I reached apartment I lucky wallet still pocket Cast First Stone Not adult entertainers Thamel Nepali One night I found myself conversation Robbie strawberry blonde West Coast She returned prolonged visit Tamang village outside Kathmandu where trying NGO promote public health She returned Kathmandu register fledgling organization Nepali government It trying relaxing cokes Robbie articulate persuasive prehensive grasp political cultural complexities Nepal I assumed I talking somebody background development pubic policy I asked Robbie where school America I dancer responded What dancer I asked Ballet modern Exotic answered looking straight I exotic dancer A stripper She nodded She began dancing college tuition It money usually But usual perks expensive clothes condos beach interest On Nepal volunteer realized could extra better Now dances during summer clubs Las Vegas Seattle raise money Tamang village Her raise enough money first nurse returns I Robbie I always imagined adult entertainers motivated greed addiction abusive relationships emotional dysfunc discover Robbie motivated noble impulses epiphany Just think understand right wrong think again things always Robbie village inten tioned informed NGO recently attempted public lavatory villager But course pipes blocked stones because Tamangs stones clean themselves They stones I asked incredulously Yes Not village without water toilet paper I never heard I That strange Sticking rocks That strange knowing smile You should requests I Vegas Into Thin Air French People One morning later I entered tonic state while waiting Indian embassy I night before Nikki Vinnie Tim Wayne group others riencing numbness brought sleep Everest beers The world immovable queue airless embassy lobby incorrigible Indian sitting statue behind glass counter seemed million miles My mental consisted series scenes conversations slurred unsteady light chortling snort drunken humanity deranged faces painting Hieronymus Bosch Suddenly I heard voice communication different sphere It God however unless God woman Parisian accent I turned acquaintance French journalist named Dominique Humbert standing Dominique I startled Ami repeated looking You total sheet Nice Dominique I answered No joking Reechard You slept shaved smell stale cigarettes She right course journalist hadrefusedtosugarcoatthetruth Listenmyfriend agroup aregoing tohiketheAnnapurnas She Youcome fresh But I protested I writing story about Thamel Forget You safer Annapurnas We leave tomorrow morning You tonight bullsheet And excursion underbelly Kathmandu ended unexpectedly began The I quieter Pokhara starting place through Annapurna range I never Thamel friends again By I returned Kathmandu later Nikki Amsterdam pastry summer Tim Wayne California expedition Harley Davidson Vinnie British never heard again The nighttime world Kathmandu continue different faces rogues gallery would never again About later I suffering altitude dysentery total exhaustion meters kilometers below Annapurna A month inactivity Kathmandu effect athletic ability I fighting breath unable balance hours Dominique sitting haunches clutching midsection I Ami There daylight I photos peaks We My I watched Dominique friends disappear distance I tried follow I could I struggled forward minutes collapsed rocky hillock As thick rolled Annapurna III covered treeless slope I tried think I wondered I would reach would morning frozen stiff In I began strange thoughts I imagined Uncle Eddie turning summersaults alpine grass seventh grade Cathy Carter picking flowers Prophet Elijah leaning against lichen covered boulder taking Between delusions I thought about Sir Edmund Hillary maybe something Some people climb lofty Himalayan mountain other people thing summit barstool Lost pursuit glory destructio nearest companion escape notice In either situation whether rising greatest height sinking lowest depth should remember human After allowed someone suffer alone terrible anguish That regret amount drinking Dominique tells French distinct terms regret regrete remords The first reserved something usually yourself second something usually others She notes neither emotion Annapurna INSTITUTE OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS INSTITUTE OF CURRENT WORLD AFFAIRS Current Fellows their Activities Richard D Connerney January INDIA A lecturer Philosophy Asian Religions Philosophy Rutgers Iona College University Hawaii Manoa Rick Connerney spending years Phillips Talbot Fellow studying writing about ertwining religion culture politics India described former U S Ambassador John Kenneth Galbraith functioning anarchy Rick B A M A religion Wheaton College University Hawaii respectively Kay Dilday October FRANCE MOROCCO An editor New York Times Op Ed years Kay holds M A Comparative International Politics Theory Graduate Center City University New York Bachelor degree English Literature Tufts University graduate Universiteit Amsterdam Netherlands Cours Civilisation Sorbonne She traveled written Haiti began jouralistic council reporter Somerville This Week Somerville MA Cristina Merrill June ROMANIA Born Bucharest Cristina moved Romania United States mother father Learning English retaining Romanian majored American History Harvard College there became captain women tennis She received Master degree Journalism New York University worked several U S publications Adweek New York Times spending years Romania watching emerge darkness Ceauscescu regime presumed light membership European Union NATO Nicholas Schmidle October PAKISTAN Nicholas freelance writer interested intersection culture religion politics Asia He spending years Pakistan writing issues ethnic sectarian national identity Previously reported Central Asia Iran published Washington Post Weekly Standard Foreign Policy Christian Science Monitor others Nick received M A International Affairs Regional Studies American University December He lives Rikki Andrew J Tabler February SYRIA LEBANON Andrew lived studied worked Middle East since Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Fellowship enabled begin Arabic language studies toward Master degree American University Cairo Following Master editorships Middle East Times Cairo Times before moving Turkey Lebanon Syria working Senior Editor Oxford Business Group correspondent Economist Intelligence Unit His ICWA fellowship bases Beirut Damascus where report Lebanese affairs Syrian reform Jill Winder July GERMANY With B A politics Whitman College Walla Walla WA Master degree Art Curating Bard College Annandale Hudson NY Jill ICWA Donors Fellow looking Germany through ideas viewpoints contemporary artists Before months intensive study German langua Berlin Thomas J Watson Fellow looking communist practice cultural politics transition former Soviet Czech Republic Slovakia Poland Croatia Hungary Latvia Romania Slovenia Ukraine Institute Fellows chosen basis character previous experience promise They young professionals funded spend minimum twoyears carrying designedprograms study writing outside United States The Fellows required report their findings experiencesfrom field month They write subject formally informally The result unique reporting analysis periodic assessment interna tional events issues Author Connerney Richard D Title ICWA Letters South Asia ISSN Imprint Institute Current World Affairs Hanover NHMaterial Type SerialLanguage EnglishFrequency MonthlyOther Regions East Asia The Americas Europe Russia Mideast North Africa Sub Saharan Africa ICWA Letters ISSN published Institute Current World Affairs Inc exempt operating foundation incorporated New York State offices located West Wheelock Street Hanover NH 03755 The letters provided charge members ICWA available libraries professional researchers subscription Phone Fax E Mail valley Web address Executive Director Steven Butler Program Assistant Brent Jacobson Administrative Publications Manager Ellen Kozak Institute Current WorldAffairs The Crane Rogers Foundation The Information contained publication reprinted republished without express consent Institute Current World Affairs