So it feels like I haven't got closure on the Nepal trip. Here are some details I didn't mention earlier.

1. Sleeping on wood is something I did more than once on my trip, and it wasn't fun at all. I understand that people do it all the time - but with all the traveling and sleep deprivation, I really couldn't take it. Then the bed bugs were the icing on the cake - with my ear swollen to double it's size, my arm, my finger, foot, and stomach! The night of the attack, I really thought I will die. I woke up and saw four other people sleeping peacefully in the same room, with one of them on the same bed as me!

2. My friend and I sat around feeding a chicken some fruit in the evening, went up for a nap, heard the chicken being chased, slaughtered, and then had it for dinner. Lovely, isn't it?

3. We went to watch a Nepali film "Jan Yudh" (People's War) in a local theatre. There have been quite a few mainstream films being produced on the Maoist movement since the cease fire was declared. You get to see the regular song and dance while the story of Maoism in Nepal unfolds. So we reached the theatre around fifteen minutes late, afraid we missed the beginning. But as luck would have it, we were right in time for the beginning credits. It was only during the interval that we discovered that the show had been delayed because of us!

4. I've never in my life shaken so many hands. In the "party", its normal to shake hands with everyone you meet, when you meet them, and when you leave them - even when there are say twenty five people in the room, and there were five of us. That's a lot of handshaking - hundred and twenty five, I think. The worst was after I had a beg bug incident on day 2, much before the final attack, and my right hand was swollen and in pain, and was shaken all around :(

5. Kathmandu is really beautiful. This is the view from the airport at dawn. The clouds were below the trees in the valley!

6. I was wrong about flying being unadventurous. My flight back from Kathmandu to Delhi was quite an adventure. I wasn't allowed to board the flight, since I didn't have my passport or a voter's ID. So I called up my friend, and we went to the Indian Embassy to get a travel document, before which I got my passport size photo clicked, only to find out that the officer who signs the document decided to skip work on a Sunday morning. They would give me the document if only some one died or was dying in Delhi. My need to go back home wasn't urgent enough for them. So we decided to go around Kathmandu, eat, shop, and make merry. My passport arrived in the afternoon, and I boarded the evening flight, after a very eventful day.

7. Flying was fun because of the circumstances, but I would still suggest going to Nepal by road. The journey from Gorakhpur to the border is full of mango orchards on both sides of the road - very green and fresh, especially when it's rainy. Then the whole way from the border to Kathmandu is far more beautiful and comfortable than any of the Himachal destinations. The roads were far wider, the valley gorgeous. MUST, MUST GO.

8. The first thing we noticed as soon as we crossed over to Nepal was the abundance of booze. Every tea stall had a cupboard full of whiskey, beer, and rum. There was so much of it that I almost didn't feel like having any. The only drink that made me curious was Orangeboom - but unfortunately I couldn't even taste it. The only alcohol I had on the trip was the rum chocolate mousse I shared with my friend on the last day in Kathmandu. Another thing on the list of things to do when I go back :P