Getting better

Day 13
I woke up early, and went out to the common area for some tea. One of the Hostel guys served it to me and told me that it was what they called the "magic tea, brother". This meant that the tea consisted of huge amounts of ginger, crushed lemon and honey. It did feel like magic tea, at least for my throat. Romi got ready to check out and we decided to eat breakfast together one last time, before she went to "Bagnes lake". I had my favorite Nepali dish, "Paneer Palak". and she got a banana porridge. We said goodbye for now, and I went on alone. My cold is still too much for me to walk around Pokhara, so I'm staying indoors at the new hostel called "The North Face Inn". They are working on reconstructing the reception area, which turns out great for me because I'm getting my own room, for the same price as living in the dorm. Sometimes you get lucky I guess. I'm just going to tough it out in here with my banana muffins and some Youtube binge watching. I really hope that this cold will leave me

alone tomorrow!

Day 14
The time is about 09:00 and I've walked to a place called OR2K. They serve gluten free pancakes and offer the best wifi in town. My current hostel doesn't have a very good wifi, so this is needed to keep in touch with the travelers in the area. A lot of people use this restaurant as a hub and main hang out place. I'm going to stay here until lunch and after that, I will pick up my laundry. The view in Pokhara is always beautiful. behind me are huge windows facing the lake, and in front is a delicious pancake.

Today I might meet up with the group from Singapore. It all depends on how their night bus went I guess. If they got some sleep they should be up and looking for lunch about now, in that case, I'll see them here in a bit!

After much debate on where to get food, they finally made up their mind and we decided to go get Korean food. They are doing a trek tomorrow and that means seven days of Dal Bhat only! Apparently Shao kai was hospitalized a few days ago due to altitude sickness. He also had to get antibiotics for some infection that sounds very similar to what I'm feeling.

During our night out, I got worse and decided to head home as soon as we finished dinner.

Day 15
I woke up at around 08:00, went out to find a pharmacy and bought some antibiotics. According to

Kandice, who is a pharmacist back in Singapore, I should get a certain type, and eat about 3 pills a day. This should get me back on track in no time!

I already feel better and its only just time for lunch. I've stopped coughing and I can actually enjoy going outside... The time spent sick, however, was not a waste. It gave me a chance to reflect on what I've learned so far, and even if I didn't leave my bed much, I'm still very happy. I realized that you can never have enough toilet paper while traveling Nepal. Many of the bathrooms only have a little hose with water and no paper at all. I have also been forced into a kind of go with the flow state, nothing else works here. On a more serious note, I think that I've learned that people are actually very helpful, if you give them a chance. I've already visited so many amazing places and no matter where I decided to go, there was always another traveler, a friendly local or an employee of the current hostel, who didn't think twice about helping me. Friends I've met so far refuse to have dinner at a place that doesn't seem safe for me, to the point where they practically drag me out of there.

I feel like there are a lot of things that I take for granted back home. The same money that I could use to buy a snickers at the airport is enough to feed a family of 4 here. Even if the differences are so huge in terms of money, the people are incredibly friendly. I wanted to rent a motorbike for example; (drivers license wasn't even asked for) One of the guys working at Zostel, told me that if I wasn't certain on where to go, he would walk into the city (30 min),

get me a bike and drive it back after getting a better deal than any tourist could ever have gotten. He turned up on a "Royal Enfield Bullet". "Here you go brother, I got a good deal for you."

Day 16
I felt like it was a good time to start moving again. I'm glad to have spent the worst part of my recovery time in my own room, in order to not disturb any dorm mates but it's time to meet up with some new friends! I'm going to a place called "Pokhara Backpackers Hostel", it has amazing reviews and seems to be located in a great area. After going there I want to meet up with some people who live there and see if anyone wants to go to a local market tomorrow.