Newari dinner/dance Jan10/09

I have a note from Jess under my door suggesting that we go out to dinner tonight for a traditional Nepalese dinner-cool...I am up for it.

As Jess, Brad & I end up at breakfast together Brad will join us tonight as well. Jess is going by bike to tour Budha and Pattan.

I go back to Bag Bazaar to look for a sweather and dress shoes. I end up buying a sweather for 350NPR and showes for 500NPR. The current exchange rate is $1CDN=60NPR.

After lunch at the guesthouse I head into Thamel to look around. I pick up a Lonely Planet guidebook and look in the outdoor stores. At one store I meet a young Nepali man, Ming Ma that wants to learn English and I want to learn Nepali, so we agree that he will come to my hotel at 8AM on Monday to chat.

In Thamel I partially fall for one scam, a woman with a young child says that she needs milk formula for her child. So I go into the nearby grocery store with her, she picks up a huge container that is $1000NPR-I say no too much! A smaller one is still 350NPR-it is still too much, so I give her 50NPR and leave. It is after I leave that I think it is likely a scam as it seems very expensive for a grocery item.

As I am sitting outside Roadhouse Cafe to rest a young Tuk Tuk driver, Raj approaches me to see if I want a tour. At first I refuse but then when we agree on a price of 250NPR for an hour and lift back to guesthouse.

He looks young, he is 25 years old and has a wife and daughter.

He takes me to some interesting temples, through a big market area (Indira Chowk) and to a Thanka Painting shop where a woman explains the drawings to me.

At one temple it seems that there are 1000 pigeons flying around.

At the guesthouse we discuss which restaurant to go to. Rinku suggests one that includes entertainment so we agree and she phones to set it up for us.

At the restaurant we remove our shoes, receive a red tika on our forhead between our brows and sit cross-legged at low tables on cushions.

First we are served rice wine (that burns going down) then fried potatoes and then bean soup. Next is the main course of rice with different meats, veggies and a broth on the side.

During the courses musians play drums and flutes and different sets of dancers come out and perform including one dressed as a peacock which pecks our heads. The meal is 1100NPR plus drinks.

We catch a taxi back to the guesthouse. Jess and I will do a sightseeing tour tomorrow afternoon.